Completely New to Unity...

Hi there, I'm an average guy with some nice ideas for games to make. I was watching a demo play of the game "pinstripe" which lead me to Unity here. I've seen Unity before but never got into it because I felt like I didn't have the time and I felt a bit intimidated by all of the requirements. I love games with a passion and have some designs of my own I'd like to make happen... Unfortunately, I haven't gone to college and I don't think I'll be able to within the next few years, but I was wondering where would a good start be for making a game? I google and research the answers but I get a massive response in return about many things I need to learn... Then I end up asking myself the same question "so... where should I start?". I'm working off a basic laptop at the moment and want to create a 2d model game, but I don't have an industry/studio or anything like that... Overall, I simply don't know where to start. I'm tired of telling myself "I'll get to it eventually" or convincing myself I'll make a game some time in the future, I want that to be NOW. So... Where should I start? XD

EDIT: even the "where to start" thread of Unity looks intimidating... Should I do some things before I even get into Unity at all? Forgive me if I'm in the wrong section... I have more questions too :S

 

Honestly? Try watching some basic 2D tutorials on the web. Videos tend to make it easier to learn and might help you get started or give you ideas of what you could do..

I'm currently developing once myself so any questions you may have I might be able to address.

 

Do roll a ball or the new UFO tutorials that should get you started.

Then just watch learn section videos.

 

Do you know how to program? If not, start with those tutorials.

 

You shouldn't feel intimidated, game making is a learning process that never stops. Sure, there is a lot to learn, but if you don't take those first steps you will never get to make your own games. Don't try to rush or pressure yourself to 'make a game' - just learn how things work and play around with objects and components in Unity.

Start by familiarizing yourself with Unity's interface,

Then look at some of the beginner Unity tutorials on scripting.

It's like anything, you need to put in the time to reach a level of competence where it just 'flows'.

 

I've looked all the tutorial videos (except the tips/stuff ones because they feel a bit unorganized in the set) and I feel comfortable using unity but... I guess here's my question. I'm no artist, I don't make music, where/what exactly do I use for raw materials? Obviously I can't just rip someone's music/sprites and then say "I made this", but at the same time I'm not skilled in drawing/graphic art, or making music(at least decent music), and I imagine I'd need to hire someone for those skills so... Where do I start in that sense? I mean I've played around with a few other programs, I've learned HTML code, and made a few websites t understand the basic idea of coding's functionalities(though unity looks like it makes it so much easier to not have to work with scripting/coding as much).. But when I get to the point where I feel comfortable enough to use the program.. I start to draw a blank. How do I get what design/ideas I want? How do I import the music I want without it being copyright/trademarked and so on.... Don't get me wrong, I have original ideas here, but what can I do if I can't make them myself or I can't afford to hire someone to draw/design?

tl;dr: Where do I get these "raw materials" such as graphics/audio.

 

Honestly, you're just suffering from information overload. You don't need a hell of a lot of what Unity can do, for your idea. you should just focus only on what involves your game.

To start, I recommend following the learn tutorials - the getting started ones are helpful as @BoredMormon recommended

http://unity3d.com/learn

 

I definitely was suffering from that for a bit x.x;... but hey, I guess at least I'm back so that's something lol.

Well just for example.... I'm planning to make let's say a 2d side scroller beat em up in a steam-punk based style background with different characters you can pick from with different mechs they pilot... So where do I get any of the images for said background/characters/mechs? I mean backgrounds sure maybey but the rest?... Again, I went through the learn tutorials a bit and they give me an idea of how to do it all.. but when it's things like "load your project" and I start to go "...I don't have anything to start the project..." that's where I'm a tad confused.. I mean, Unity provides by default a lot of things but I'm certain it doesn't have what ideas I have in mind for sprites and so on. So if I say wanted to begin with making the characters... where would I get the images/etc from? Their sprite animations, so on and so fourth ._ take into consideration the earlier post about copyright and etc as well... Same for music.

 

Are you just asking what drawing programs are out there? Because for 2D graphics the big one is Photoshop.

 

Rather, I'm asking if I'm not skilled and can't afford to hire a more professional artist or music maker.... What do I do to actually design the game? lol. Are there artists or etc willing to group together in the unity community for a project?

 

Hi Alister,

First off, fellow beginner here, but with a few weeks head start on you

RE: your latest question about music and graphics my thoughts are as follows:

1) Asset store is your friend! Even if you don't want to use certain graphics in the final product, grab some sprites, models, animations, effects to get your basic idea off of the ground. Need an uzi for 1st person? No worries, there is a free one somewhere on the asset store. Use it to get your concept up and running!

2) Google is your next best (if a little fickle and misleading) friend. You need music? Check out sites like bensound.com. Sound effects? freesound.org. You won't always have what you need, but they have good 'placeholder' stuff. Just be sure to CHECK THE LICENSE! Whether is says "Creative Commons", "Creative Commons 3.0" or "Public Domain" a quick google search on the terms SHOULD show that you can use them in your game, provided you provided credit to the original artist and a link to the site/copy of the license - please check before you take, though!

3) Check out the "Standard Assets" pack in the asset store - again it has GREAT placeholder scripts to get your game up off the ground. There are some of the live trainging videos (Thinking of "Merry Fragmas 2.0") that show the tutors grabbing scripts from that stock of gear and dropping them onto objects to get them to work quickly!

4) if you want to get into making 3d character models check out Darrin Lile in Youtube - her has some AWESOME tutorial playlist. 'tis how I learned my skills - they aren't GOOD skills by any stretch, but they're getting my projects off of the ground

Apart from that, hang in there dude. Have fun!

 

Very helpful but now I have a question, what happens after I have all the placeholders in place? Just wait till someone goes "yeah I'll draw your game for you ?" lol.

 

Aha!

Well, this is where I would defer to the more experienced members of the forum...

But I believe it would be down to how you want to continue in your development. If you're like me and would like to make small-ish couch war games that concentrate more on tight gameplay and good laughs with your friends, then you MAY want to look into, again, either free resources on the net (not just asset store) or doing it yourself. All with the view to keep the graphics side of things simple.

I will state that I'm quite keen on learning a bit of the art side of things as well. Which is why I went through Darrin Lile's tutorials, then took a rubbish piece of doodled concept art that I drew, put it into blender, made a model, rigged it, animated it and then imported it into Unity. It's very rough (for now - still in placeholder stage), but she runs like an angel!

But then again... you may want to post on a community forum somewhere, place an advert, ask for some friendly free commision work (don't think that's likely to happen - but would love to be wrong), heck, even PAY someone for some work (I imagine that the more work that you do before handing it over, the cheaper it will be. Don't know for sure though). Again, it comes down to how big you want your team/expenses/development to be. Hell, if you know someone who's artistic, and who wouldn't mind learning some new skills, get them involved to do that artwork and stuff for you, whilst you do the coding. Of course you may end up with them involved in the design and decision making processes more than you originally wanted... but that can be a good thing to have someone to bounce ideas off of.

But as I said... I'll leave this one to the more experienced forum members... lol.

Well, I think I've muddied the waters enough. So with my work done, I shall be off, lol.

 

Maybe. If your game seems solid enough and you inspire people to join, that's a possibility. Otherwise, you could potentially find someone willing to work for profit-share in the event you ever publish.

In any case, this is putting the cart way before the horse. Don't get all caught up in this kind of stuff yet. Just start making games and see how far you can go, and only worry about the "what do I do now" stuff when you actually get to the now.

 

Totally agree with Schneider. In fact, may I suggest you go to this forum post and watch the third video called "Making your first game: Minimum Viable Product" - very practical advice. Here's the link

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/creating-your-first-game-extra-credits.291074/

 

On an unrelated note:

Reddito 42:1 wtf
"thou shalt not Kickstart games" - God

 

Well ty this was all very helpful <3. I think I have an idea of what I'm gonna do now... Now I just need to get the details down to get started(and find the time lol).

 

I do have one last question. While I'm sure I'll receive a lot of optimistic replies to this.... What is Unity's limit? Online gaming? Any specific genre that can't be done? Software that can't support any specific functions? Can't market off products you complete? Call me skeptic but I find it hard to believe Unity is this perfect... There's gotta be some flaws or some limitation that's preventing any ol game designer from picking up Unity and just having at it with whatever they'd like.

 

Well the main "limitation" is that making a game is a ton of work. That's not Unity's fault (indeed, Unity makes things a lot simpler than comparable game engines) but the fact remains that the main reason most people fail when trying to develop a game is because they can't power through all the work required.

 

May I suggest you look at these two sites. They show off some of the games that have been made with Unity - and this list is by no means exhaustive... I think you might be pleasantly surprised by what's been done,,,

http://madewith.unity.com/games
https://unity3d.com/showcase/gallery

Have fun Look forward to seeing your work...

 

Wow.... There's a lot of games my friend plays on that list o.o.... Huh.... Go figure. Well, my last question(I know I said that already but I was too late to edit my post lol)... With kickstarters. From what I understand, it's essentially a spot for people to donate money into a game to be made, but how does the money stay toward that game? Like how does anyone know if someone makes up a copy of a game and then decides to spend the kickstarter money on doritos lol?

 

I'm no expert on Kickstarter but if you want to start investigating their process to get a project going, here are some of their [[[rules]]] ...

 

That might be a question more suited for the Kickstarter FAQ or forums... just a thought...
EDIT: myVidcam got there before me, lol.

 

Fair enough XD, figured Unity sees a lot of kickstarter folk.

 

Never underestimate the importance of Doritos and pizza to building a succesful game.