Newbie wants to make a good first 3D game?

Hi, so me being a noob I wanted to know where I should start. See I have a big dream for an open world with loads of mechanics in it. Some people said a 2D game some said 3D so I'm wondering where I should truely start as a brand new person. Also when making a game whats the steps you should take to complete it?

Where can I go to find good videos to teach me all I should know for an open world?

Thanks for for any feedback.

 

If you don't yet have any experience making 2D or 3D art, it's easier to get started making basic 2D art. A 2D setting can also provide constraints to keep you from biting off too much. You're going to bite off too much anyway, though. We all do when we're starting.

Unity is ultimately a 3D engine, so it's not necessarily harder to make a 3D game. Just keep in mind that you're not going to make Elden Ring in your first attempt. Try for something like a single player Fall Guys. It'll still be an immensely challenging learning experience, but it's something within reach. Big, open world games are something to tackle quite a long way down the road. But you can't get there until you start walking on that road by completing smaller projects to learn everything required to make your games.

On the topic of art, the Unity Asset Store has lots of great art packs for very reasonable prices. After your game is framed out and working with placeholders (e.g., cubes and capsules), you could consider replacing the primitives with storebought art. But don't get distracted by pulling art into your project from the very beginning.

Unity has some great tutorial resources, as do Youtube streamers such as Brackey's, Code Monkey, and others.

You can also get involved in game jams, either online or in person. These are short events -- often just a weekend -- in which you make a small game solo or with a group. Especially with a group, they're a great way to quickly get experience making games.

 

It may be because I started game dev with Build Engine, but I really don’t think 3d is any more difficult than 2d, art included.

So long as you don’t want AAA graphics basic 3d models will work just fine.

Now that said my recommendation is this: make a simple mechanic by prototyping it with primitives. Add just a few orthogonal twists to the formula.

Then make the game.

And I mean MAKE THE GAME. All of it.

The hardest skill to master in game dev is how to pull everything together into a complete package.

This means figuring out what needs to be static (always in memory) and how to juggle memory.

Don’t depend on monster machines. That’s just lazy.

You need to know how to load content asynchronously, how to do a object pool, and when to sneak in the garbage collector (the pause menu and end of levels are a good place).

Oh, and of course this means all the menus and and saves you will need.

I HIGHLY recommend an infinite game for first time devs.

Either an infinite runner or a an infinite wave game.

And to circle back to orthogonal gameplay. If you know absolutely nothing about gameplay, you need to understand this one concept.

Put simply orthogonal gameplay means situational mechanics.

It means not giving players higher numbers, but more tools that serve distinct purposes. While enemies do the same.

As an example the enemies in Doom are not designed with the idea of being “hard” or “easy”. They are. But the idea of them is to serve a specific niche and make the player react accordingly.

Your goal is to constantly throw interesting problems at players, not difficult ones.

 

Some good advice posted, main thing is: if your goal is 3D, then start getting into/learning 3D... simple.

 

Drop the "good". I'm not being mean, and I'm not saying it can't be done or that you won't do it. But I'm definitely saying that aiming for it will make life harder and less fun.

Just make a game. Don't have a care in the world as to whether it's good or not. It doesn't matter.

And regardless of how it turns out, make another one afterwards. And another one.

In order to get good at something, you first need to let yourself be bad at it and just go along for the ride.

 

Is common to think that 3D is way more difficult than 2D, and people often says that you should start with a finished simple game.

My personal experience is that ignored al of that and I started with 3D. I will recommend you start not with a complete game but with prototypes, in order to adquire experience that you will use to make your games. If you start making, for example, a 2D platformer, the rest of your projects will probably be centered about platformer. When I started with Unity, the first thing I did was following the roll a ball tutorial, not to make the game, but to understand the basics of interacting with rigidbodies and colliders. Then I followed a tutorial about making a simple character controller and challenge myself to modify it to add crouching sprinting and vaulting. After making a lot of small prototypes, I know the basics of making almost everything in Unity (of coure Im more specialized in some concrete things), which lets me the option to make anything I want.

All of this is my personal experience.

And remember: Ther is not anything you cant do, even being a starter, you just need time. Dont somethingyou dont understand stop you. You will understand it some day.

Note: I started with Unity in 2019 with another account.

 

I have a team member who is making a platformer. It is beautiful, but as someone who is not an artist...except with terrain.... I find 2d as way to much for me. I am much better at making my terrain, level design, etc. Even if you start with capsules and cubes running around in your environment.

 

It doesn't really matter if 3D or 2D, what really matters is to choose a game concept small enough to finish it in a reasonable time.

 

I wonder if this would be a good start. I am admin in a small discord server and looking at Unity learn.
https://learn.unity.com/pathway/unity-essentials
I wonder if this is a good start for new people.