Do I need to play games for learning

I am developing a game, and I found some similar games on Steam. These games get positive feedback and have playing videos. Do I need to play them or just watch Youtube to get the same result?

 

Personally, I always get a better feel for mechanics and tweaks by playing them myself then looking at the videos and comments to see what other people think about the same mechanics. I think it helps understand where my own thoughts fit in with different player types.

 

I think you'd probably learn a lot by playing them. That said, there is something about the way that good gameplay works that makes it hard to enjoy a game and analyze it at the same time. If there's a game that I want to learn about I usually watch someone else play on youtube.

 

Do you need to ask people if watching a film makes you an actor?

 

The question is does NOT watching movies potentially make your a bad actor?

 

I would argue that you have to play at least the best one. It's a form of commitment. And while you are playing it, have a timer set for every five minutes, or some kind of reminder and write down what you like, what you notice they did well, poorly. Pay really close attention to detail and study them, then compare that with reviews. I would read several pages of reviews. Maybe you could read all of the reviews and player comments. Think of it as your job to become an expert on the game you wish to clone.

Then, you should have an idea of how to proceed, and you will notice how the developers were faced with the same dilemmas as you and how they solved them, and you can make good decisions how to polish yours and make it stand out, without resorting to wasting a lot of time on useless features or going in circles.

Good luck.

 

I don't play games.
When I analyze someone else's gameplay, usualy they just run through something and I'm like go back, this is interesting.

 

By just watching videos, you will get nowhere.
You need start doing a game. Then see what challenges you are starting to get. All ideas and issues will come along development period, which may take quite a while. There is much more into it, other than WILLING making a copy of something existing, thinking I will be same successful as them. You should ask question, how to make game, to be successful. In the end, there are thousands of same/similar copies there already.
Nah, lets watch some videos instead.

Of course, you can make a copy to start off, and use it as good learning curve. We all copied something from somewhere. Even assets.

In my opinion, to make something effective, you should have at least some basics experience in your past gaming.
This way, you will know, how keyboards, mouse, or pad responds. Key bindings for example. Menu responsiveness, meaning, how long need to wait between one menu or other. Etc.
You will not experience all, just by watching. Videos are often biased, hiding quirks, which you wouldn't know if you don't play by yourself. Then start thinking, what causes it and how finally resolve it.

And finally, find a niche/target audience, based on what you know and what you like, to at least enjoy what you are doing for quite certain period of time.

Btw, steam reviews is good source of knowledge for me. However, funny saying that I mostly avoid positive reviews, as many of them tends to be paid. But I read negative instead, to see where there issues are. Along that you will find reviews highlighting positives anyway.

 

For real "game design" you gotta play.

For isolated features or fx or ui or something, video or images work.

I always look for videos/images on any feature I'm working on, but "game design" stuff you really don't get a sense for from video. You need hands on experience to really get it IMO.

 

Like other said, similarly, will I be a good engineer, if I just keep reading, without ever going into the field?

 

Watching somebody else play a game on YouTube is valuable for deciding which games to play yourself, but it is no substitute for actually playing a game yourself. You should definitely play some games yourself, since that will give you the best information about game mechanics.

 

Thanks all. I think I will play one or two, and watch others.

 

To be honest, unless you are doing something simple like flappy bird, this approach will not give you cutting edge.
It depends what is your goal and further direction.

 

So playing games is very import. I want to make an FPS. I made a prototype, and some feedback to make a horror FPS game. I have no idea, and I also want some survival game mechanics.
My prototype demo:

Horror FPS game on steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/661790/Witch_Hunt/
Survival FPS game on steam :https://store.steampowered.com/app/914620/Mist_Survival/

At least I have 4 paths to choose and I have no clue.
1, On my own;
2, Horror FPS
3, Survival FPS;
4. Blend them together.

 

Seams your issue here is, you have lack of expertise in selected genre and lack of vision, which may come from first one. If you have played such games, not 1, or 2, but many, you would know, what attracts you to the game, what repels, and what you would like to add/remove, which none/both of them had.

 

For instance, I like building games like minecraft Minecraft, Kerbal Space Program, and yet be able fight with creations, like From The Depths. Because I played number of iteration on first and 3 title, I know what I had missing, what I love to have and what players expects as well. + I learned about technical challenges involved on the way, which is very important, if I want to make something in relevant content.

 

Can you leave constructive comments? I'm not sure the purpose of your post. You're thanking someone for taking to someone else...why?

 

In fact, resources play no.1 in my game development. I am not good at art creation, and I have to purchase assets. I can get a lot of FPS resources, so I choose FPS over other genre. In real life I never played FPS game, while I play strategy game(buisness sim game). If I choose business sim game, I can't make big progress.

 

Again, you are stepping heavily int area of lack of expertise.
From what you say, you got actually some experience playing, but completely different genre.

So I would ask myself, what is the issue? Can you elaborate, why you can not make progress?

 

Haha, we use the same subway asset

 

This is where more issues will start emerging.

You try plop assets into one bucket, thinking you are good to go. But hey, I have seen same game already. In fact few of them. Same scenery same characters/NPCs, same guns, same mechanics. Nah I won't bother (making big U turn).

 

I missed that OP talked about playing direct competition games, I thought he ment playing games in general.

I bought our biggest competitor, played it once realised it couldn't compete on any level and haven't played it since. I thinks it's better not being influenced and just do your own thing.

 

I choose to make an FPS game because I can get FPS starter kit and such tutorial easily. The developing progress is smooth because of efficient resources. Then I find I have to make a niche, and I have many options but with less knowledge:
1. FPS + RPG ( study fallout , very hard)
2. FPS + RTS ( study freeman, no tutorial, hard)
3. FPS + HORROR ATMOSPHERE ( This is my current path)
4, FPS + Survival ( Slow pace , no intense battle. I want it in, because the player has to spends much time on looting)
5. FPS + INTENSE BATTLE ( my prototype, while the player can go through it quickly)

I want the player spend more time in the game. So I want to choose bigger map and let the player search and loot items.

 

Sounds like you have watched too much Jim Strerling, the problem is not using assets the problem is if you are using only assets and not make the game your own.

For example our game has 100 procent own mechanics

Edit: I see OP use a fps starter kit, I would stay away from such things.

 

With current ASSET dumping into project approach, you getting further away form your question.
For learning? Sure is ok. But nothing more.
Unless you have really unique vision. And often you need to find out, how to hack and take appear assets, to making something of it, which stands out.

No offence, but I got an impression, you are trying to get bunch of 3rd party and common assets, making something quick with minimum effort and try to sell it. This normally don't work on long run.

 

Building an FPS with little experience playing the genre will result in a disaster of a game. Just playing a few FPS games for some quick research will not be enough. This is a genre that is all about immersion in the game, the feel and response of the controls, the balance of the weapons, etc. You'll only get a feel for what makes a good FPS after playing these kinds of games for a long time. The FPS player base is notoriously picky and detail oriented.

Also, any assets for a "starter kit" should only be used for prototyping or a school project. They will have been used endlessly in so called "asset flip" games and will be immediately recognizable by the players as such.

 

When I watch other indie games, I can immediately recoginze the assets from asset store. So I watched the indie games receiving many positive reviews, they also used a lot of assets from asset store.

While I spent many time on game creating. I also spend one month on wrting story with the help of one forum, and they focus on a special novel genre ( trace back to "Gantz" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434685/?ref_=tt_rec_tt). In Gantz, the player has to travel different city(or terrain) to complete different tasks. I didn't finish the story, but has a direction.

Youtube tutorial and udemy also gave me a lot of resources. I don't think just using assets can make my demo.

 

In fact, I think I made progress from starter kit. To make the game immersion, I plan to add horror atmosphere in it.
The demo without improvment:

.
Current demo: at #14

 

In fact, I made a lot of changes, and it evolves into a different one.

 

I know you just highlighted the prototype demo. But since you mentioned few times about horror, I would like point out, the fast shooter don't make a game horror. But if you cleverly implement stated atmosphere, then you get chance. First classic Halflife, or classic AvP 1 & 2 would be good examples. But you probably won't get chance to experience it.

 

If you wanna make a horror FP(S) look at Outlast 1 & 2, Alien Isolation and SOMA. I put the S in parenthesis because they are not really shooters

 

I want to combine fast shooter with horror atmosphere. I made a horror demo without battle. Be careful, the demo has some jumpscaries.

 

I absolutely, always, 100 percent of the time.... download the nearest game to what I'm working on, which is already successful.

I then analyse what they did really well, and what kind of control scheme they use, what kind of interface setup they have, and I read reviews and look for things other players complain about.

I consider this extremely important because players who find your game are gonna base some expectations on the most similar games, and if your game does something "worse" than the nearest thing out - they might not like it very much because they often expect the same quality.

I can't say it's a good idea to "rip off" ideas very blatantly, because that will anger the consumer somewhat too (and perhaps get you in legal trouble depending on the situation). But I do always take some good design ideas and run with it, to try and put my own unique perspective to it.

 

btw, this is a substance error, you need to download the substance plugin for 2018, they dropped the native support.

It should look like this

 

Thanks. The asset was updated several weeks ago. Now it's OK.

 

I watched the video of "layers of fear", and made a demo.

 

You would be surprised. About half the engineering industry do their jobs from behind a desk and never actually see what they are working on. Games is quite a different profession to engineering.

 

While you not wrong about the fact that many engineers do stays behind a desk.
However, by saying "going int the field" does not means, going outside taking sunbathing. Is simply putting hands on work. Either is cad work at desk, PLC programming, Server Installation, HMI design, or installing oil rig somewhere abroad.

Things you will simply not master, by reading, or just going to Uni.

 

A number of posts have suggested one over the other but I'm going to suggest you do both. When developing a game it's recommended you have other people test it in addition to your own testing because there may be something you pass up on that they will notice.

It's not just a thing that will happen with your own games. I have games that I've spent hundreds of hours playing thinking I had found most of the hidden secrets and some of the better strategies only to watch a video showing off things that were obvious to others that weren't obvious to me and even better strategies.

Start by playing the game yourself. You want your first experience to be unaffected by the experiences of others or you may find yourself playing like them and discovering nothing yourself. After you've done that go and watch a Let's Play.

 

People play games twenty years and don't know whats going on behind the scenes and in their own mind.

Whatever you do, prerequisite is you pay attention! If you learn to pay attention, you'll know when you are learning something useful or not.