Noob Game Ideas?

I'm new to Unity and I'm wanting to learn JavaScript (UnityScript) through Unity by working on projects. I've already made game of Pong and I want to expand my knowledge by creating something new. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas on a game I can create (keep in mind I've only been using Unity for a couple of weeks)?

Thanks in advance

 

If you want to eventually end up working on unity, I strongly recommend learning C#. If your goal is to learn javascript and go into general web development, I would instead recommend a web IDE like brackets or phpstorm. Unity's javascript isn't quite javascript.

Anyway... the first game I always make when learning a new language is tac-tac-toe. It's an especially good exercise for unity because you can get familiar with how the gui works.

If that's too basic, you could try to implement chess. If that's too difficult, you could try to make an infinite running game. Either way, if you check out Quill18Creates on youtube, you'll be a pro in 8-12 hours.

 

Thanks Tomnnn, I actually do want to learn C#, the only reason why I used JavaScript for my first project is because the tutorial I used had created the game using JavaScript. Anyways, I'll try out the game recommendations you gave and I'll check out Quill18Creates.

Thanks for the answer

 

Once you've learned a few languages you'll see that the important part, the logic, is the same in every language. Good luck!

 

I completely agree there, and thanks

 

I like to recommend people try Breakout after Pong because of code reuse, but if you're interested in creating something new you might try Flappy Bird or Tetris. Both are pretty popular recommendations.

 

Thanks, I think I may try out Brick Breaker and Flappy Bird (As I've been wanting to create something similar for some time)

 

Flappy bird is good. That was the first finished game I cloned.

Spoiler: Shameless self promotion

 

If you do go the flappy bird route, please make flappy lenny. I haven't seen it yet, so why not.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

Breakout would be a natural "next step". You can add power-ups and perhaps even enemies like Arkanoid.

One thing to keep in mind while developing your technical skills is also to exercise your creative skills. Seriously. The world "needs" more GREAT games not just more games. For all of the fancy graphics and such there seems to be a huge lack of creativity out there. So... from now on in every project you do spend some time thinking and designing. Maybe a Break-Out game seems boring? Perfect! How can you make it exciting? What can you do to make your Break-Out stand out from all of the thousands of other ones? This stuff is so dang simple and yet it is rarely done.

Most people would immediately set out to make some rectangles and a circle (or cubes and a sphere if in 3D). Blah. Bland. Same old. No hint of creativity already. Maybe the blocks could be shiny gems that shatter into shards. That might be better, right? Of course, nobody ever said they need to be something like blocks. That is just what was done 35 years or more ago. You could make them into aliens. Perhaps even marching back and forth. Heck it could almost be a hybrid Block-Out Space Invaders game now.

I won't ramble on any more. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the answer GarBenjamin

I completely agree with you when you say the world needs more great games and not just more games, which is why I'm trying to constantly work on my game of Pong to add in new features, designs, modes, etc. Hopefully after I gain more knowledge I can work on more "great games" and have the ability to be more creative.

And I will try out Breakout next. Once again, thanks for the answer

 

That would be awesome! If I do create that I will post a link here ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) . Now to just figure out what to make the pipes be instead

 

Nice game, if you work on it a bit more it could turn out great!

 

I usually do space invaders when picking up a new language or tool. It has a core loop, finish condition, animation, progression, collision, destructive elements (shields), etc. Basically most of the core game mechanics. Is simple, but covers the basics.

 

That seems like a cool idea ZombieGorilla, I may try that out in C# to try and learn a new language and develop my skills.

Thanks for the answer

 

That's interesting when you say a core loop. That is the way I was used to developing before Unity. But Unity with its component model the main loop is no more or at least very different. I did try a test once to see if I could do things the "old way" and was able to make a system that had a single Update loop that controlled hundreds of game objects.

Just curious if you do something like that and have a single core game loop that updates everything or do you have an Update in every single game object's script? It seems like it would be far more effective to have one loop controlling many GOs instead of the overhead of having many GOs all independent of each other.

 

The loop is still there. Just controlled by the engine instead of user written.

Thanks. But the point was meet to make a great game, or even show how to make a great game. The point is to walk a beginner through a project as quickly as possible.

 

Right I get that. What I mean is I could just make a singleton called Game or MainLoop. Inside the Update I could process all objects. That would be the closest to how I was used fo before Unity. I'd just loop through all objects and update them processing their AI, movement and animation. Then I'd render all objects that were still active. It is not a big deal of a change to me really. I was just curious if @zombiegorilla was using the traditional approach of a single core game loop inside a Singleton or whatever that processes everything.

 

I do that from time to time when I'm up to it. It takes a lot to commit to the practice of everything have a sort-of-main function that will be called by a main singleton.

 

Out of curiosity, what would be the reason for doing this instead of using the built in game loop? Sorry, getting away from the original topic here.

 

Of course, @Tomnnn can give his reason. For me it would be more simplicity and performance. Simplicity in that the code would be more centralized. Performance because instead of having a hundred different objects all carrying a script only one script would be needed to control all 100. Basically making them lighter weight components that for sprites for example they would mainly be just sprites basically just a rendering mechanism.

 

I have no idea

Instead of a bunch of objects running their own update, 1 master object would run their public notQuiteUpdate function. This also goes with the practice instead of instantiating an object with monbehaviors on it, you just use new for a script that instantiates the object it will control in its constructor. Then you have scripts in your scripts like usual programming instead of the unity-friendly method of having a gameobject with a ton of monobehaviors hanging off it.

The differences are probably insignificant, the exception being you know the execution order of your code, but I would think the design of it is something you can more easily bring with you to other coding environments.

And we don't have to worry about the mystery of what unity does under the hood when we have hundreds of objects running an update function

 

Sorry, by "loop" I was referring to game loop in the design/mechanic sense, not the programmatic sense. When I prototype I usually skip the game loop, when I am building to learn I build the full loop.

 

My flappy bird clone took much longer than 15 mins
I read that a seasoned developer could do it in under a day so I figured how hard could it be. I accepted that Flappy Bird Challenge and a month... or 3 later it was done!

@OP - You could always rewrite your JavaScript game in C# or run with one of the Unity tutorials but I do understand that desire to start creating something from scratch to call your own - It's insanely rewarding.

 

Hey guys,
I see you're talking about flappy bird. Is it a good starting project? What I mean is that I'm a total noob, no experience with unity or coding of any kind, and I'd like to learn stuff through making a game, pretty much like what the original poster said. So what game is good to learn some basics of working with unity? Something like Pong or Flappy bird?

 

Yes

 

Personally I'd recommend creating Pong before advancing on to Flappy Bird. That way you learn the absolute basics. But if you want to start with Flappy Bird you can, since I heard it is not that difficult.

 

You could also make a full-blown multiplayer RTS, FPS, or MOBA game and fail. With that failure, you're going to learn many things and do 50x better next time.

I don't recommend cloning games because that's just boring. Sure you can make flappy bird or... Flappy Bird: Voyager where you have the goal of flying upwards into space. You can even add in another mechanic of flapping in the other direction and change the gravity to make the game completely your own. I'm sure you have a bunch of ideas in your head waiting to be put into a game or you wouldn't be trying to learn.

 

How about an epic RPG with Flappy bird as its main hero swinging the pong stick?

 

Oh mai gawd that sounds awesome! Flappy Bird, finally overcome with rage, goes on a mission to grow stronger and slay all pipes.

 

Flappy bird MMO?

In general first projects should be something you can finish in a day or a week. Design it, code it, draw some art, build it, show it to your mum, throw it away.

This approach will have you learning faster then half building a giant project.

 

Make a simple snake game!

 

Pftt... been done. http://flapmmo.com/

 

Why not create a simple game with simple graphics using default cubes and spheres ( maybe squares and circle if you want to make a 2d game) with some very interesting and new logic not shown in any game yet. I think it would yield more exp. and will be more fun to do than just cloning a game...

 

That's true. It depends on the developer. Are you creative and interested in fun? Make a new idea! Are you interested in complete projects and money only? Join the AAA industry cloning each other's work and never innovate.

Or you can take your favorite book / movie / tv show / whatever and build a game out of its defined universe. The story has been done already, but I'm sure some story elements would make a great open world game! And when you need new ideas, you can reference the source material. Avatar is the game I plan to use as inspiration for a small project with the sixense motion controllers. Who wouldn't want to wave their arms around to bend the elements? Such a great concept for VR

 

Definitely more interesting to make an original game. But the scope is that much bigger then a knock off clone. You have to worry about learning game design as well as learning how to code.

 

Cloning is for people who want to figure out how stuff works from the beginning. If a person has zero experience in coding and game design and using unity in particular, then tutorial lessons and cloning is the best way to learn stuff. We're not talking cloning as in cloning a successful game to make money. We're talking cloning like what art students do, or at least used to do. Trying to draw a picture of posed objects is something different than creating that picture just from your own memory or imagination. Art students often used to draw sketches and copies of other painters' paintings. Anatomy lessons with a live model posing for you is another type of "just cloning", because you're just learning stuff to be able to draw a person in that position without a model posing for you.
So asking what is a good thing to clone to be able to figure stuff out is a legitimate question IMHO, because it might help noobs like me. Those noobs will then make their first couple of pacmans, pongs, and flappy birds to familiarize themselves with how unity works and then they can try to make something of their own.

 

I've never thought of it like that. I've never done too much art or live anatomy, but I can definitely relate with piano playing. Gotta learn the basic scales and songs that incorporate them before composing your own. Still, piano isn't always about composing and art isn't always about creating - but game dev is. In the end, whatever turns out best is the best so maybe cloning is a viable strategy to learn.

 

My advice then would be to find something with a manageable scope that you or whoever would actually be able to fully finish. Or don't focus on games at all, but instead make a handful of modules that might end up in your projects later on. What started off as a module to experiment with making a player swim I ended up using for a ladder system in 2 other projects lol. I made a trigger around the ladder a 'swimmable' region. This worked wonderfully for my Cube project that had ladders on the walls, ceilings and floors... with shifting gravity.

You lost me with the art stuff though. My brain doesn't art.

 

Here is what you have been actually looking for OP:
http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/

It has dozen of simple games, which you can play and make by yourself or even evolve them.

 

"Essence is change. Change is survival. Collect and live. Stay still and die." - Dehaka

 

I didn't get the point at all.

 

Starcraft 2 reference. Sorry, I had to :C.

 

He told a story of a model posing so young art students can learn about anatomy. I'm sure you can appreciate that image?

 

Yes, that's true indeed. But, when i started learning unity by watching tutorials, there were some points when i was just like Copy the code. I was not trying at all to learn advanced coding( i was not familiar with game dev. so that was a very big and difficult start for me) when i started createing my own game, there was nothing to help me, there was no place to copy the code, so learning was the only option, and that gave me much more exp. But, it's good to start learning by cloning a small game and then create with your own creativity your own game, the scope should be small however.

Yes, that's it. Scope small or you would never ever be able to learn and finish.

 

My first game was a multiplayer RTS with 50 units a player and 8 players. I made it with Photon so needless to say... well, at least I learned a lot.

 

I can identify it as art by my lack of understanding. I appreciate your effort, but it's all for naught That portion of my brain is exclusively used for on the fly spatial calculations. This conversation would be better had with Ony.

And starting small saves them the time of coming to that inevitable conclusion anyway after failing a project that was too big ^-^

 

You are probably right. Ony is an artist first, coder later. As I understand it her games are primarily about art.

 

I've recently been reading through Learning C# Programming with Unity 3D which has been a tremendous help with anchoring down OOP concepts. I'm not sure how helpful it would be if I wasn't already familiar with C# and Unity but it does start very basic.

I also bought the Udemy course, Learn To Code by Making Games - Complete Unity 5 Developer, with a recent sale for $15 and that's the only reason I considered buying it. I'm not about to spend $197 on a tutorial when there are so many other good free ones but it was cheap and I was in the mood to follow a tutorial series.

Try a text-based game
Currently, I'm doing the second project in the series which is a text game, something I hadn't considered before, and in my opinion a great place to start for someone knew to coding and Unity. After watching the concept for the project I turned the tutorial off and began making a small, interactive adventure story for my 6yr old. I'm finding it amazing how complicated and challenging a simple 'choose your own adventure' text-based game can be. The story takes place in 3 rooms with a puzzle in each room - just tracking choices from room1 to room2, introducing the room2 scene and puzzle and keeping in mind room3 scene and ending, is crazy to keep up with. It definitely forces you to draw out the design document. I also intend to add in my kids artwork or create some, so that its more like reading a kids book.

 

Unless that language is Lisp.