One man game development question

Hi, Everybody

I'm new to Unity and I'm a freshman year in college.
Since I was young I want to build a game that let player interact with the world.
I share this ambitious and dream with my friend (stranger friend that is +intermediate programmer) for some opinion and they give me a feedback that discourage me from going forward. But that wouldn't stop me.
I use to think that making game alone is possible and I keep that word to myself.

Enough said, after downloaded the Unity, I see something called Unity Asset and that encourage me again that
making game alone is possible because I don't need to make all the 3D model, audio, sound fx....etc.

So, Is it really possible to be a one man game development? I want to success my goal.

Sorry for my English as it's not my first language!

 

Yup it sure is possible.

Their is people who can create (basic) but working games in 48 hours for Game Jams. (Competitions).
And that's all with building things your self!

So yes it is very possible, but you can't let anyone tell you otherwise - or you will start to eventually listen to them and never do anything with it.

 

Thank for the advice.

Those people are the people who see thing impossible.

The point of me learning Computer Science is because I have ambitious and that ambitious is I want to build Voice Recognition specially for game, Simulator Genre. And those people telling me that I'll never compete in international market.
They see thing so small and how will they success their life?!

 

Yeah I can't stand people like that, if they tell me I can't do something I just do it to prove them wrong lol.

 

Yes, it is possible.

Will you be able to pull it off? That is impossible to answer. It depends on your ability. Nothing else.

There are a lot of examples of people succeeding, and even making smaller fortunes, alone. There are also a (vastly larger) number of people who fail.

 

check this thread also,
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/1-man-1-year-unity-my-first-rts-game-armor-clash.375775/

 

It's totally possible. It's just not easy.

A lot of the times, discouraging advice is more a product of caution than it is of actual negativity. It's likely that your friend is trying to be realistic, not cruel.

I've been researching, practicing, and learning about making games since I was a freshman in college as well. I'm now in my mid-30's. After all that time, I've collected all the skills I need to make a game on my own. I know how, and have the practice projects to prove it. But even with all of that expertise it is still a difficult process, because of how much sheer time it takes to do it all.

You can get there. Just go in expecting this process to take a lot longer than you perhaps originally envisioned. The one-man studio is becoming a more viable option every year, but it will always be a challenging path to walk.

 

Do you mean you want to build a game with voice recognition? Or build the actual voice recognition engine? The former has become much easier but the latter is still a difficult field largely developed by big companies with big budgets and it still isn't anywhere close to perfect.

 

Hell yeah.

 

Sure you can but you need to learn your limits first and keep your ambitions in check.

When you are working alone (like me) you can't ask yourself: "what do I WANT to make?", you need to ask: "what CAN I make with my current resources and skill?"

 

It is possible, but it is not recommended to pursue this path, and it won't be easy.

You should be able to find some niche where you can cover all the areas by yourself, though... but that won't be those big AAA titles, for sure.

No, those guys have a point.

Once you're done with computer science, you'll have skills, for writing, say, very boring chess program.
Games also require art, music, animation, etc. And you won't have those skills. You'll have to invest the time into each of those areas.

So, how good are your artistic skills at the moment? Can you write, say, a script? What about soundtracks? Have you ever modeled and animated a humanoid character? Can you draw 2d pictures?

The easiest way is to team up with other people. And one way to team up is by hiring them and paying them cash.

 

So I think in March it will be three years of me being a 1-man-game-dev to create a rather complex game while doing a normal job and not shirking any responsibilities, or the rest of my life.

It's totally doable. Just don't get down on yourself, make lots of plans, and have fun. Don't think you'll be a millionaire. I had a friend who when I said I was making a game in my free time, asked if I was going to get rich from it. I said no, looking weird. He said then it wasn't worth it and to only make a game if I'll get rich from it. Funny, if it's not worth your while unless you'll get rich, you may as well as rot in your couch for the rest of your life doing nothing. Just have fun. If you make money, awesome. If you get rich, well even better. Just don't expect it to happen, I'm pretty sure.

 

Wouldn't the simplest way be to accept that you won't be able to cover every base and simply skimp on some areas to focus on the gameplay? Dwarf Fortress is my favorite example but there are likely plenty of others.

 

There's one way to find out, and it doesn't include posting on forums.

(unless of course you need help with something, in which case, post on the forums, there are people that are generally helpful here)

 

"Better, faster, cheaper - pick two, you can't have all three."

@OP - I'm a one-man developer, and I've written three games. There are others who have written more, or made more money, or whatever. But, it is doable.

 

Yeah, I get this from a lot of my friends as well. To be fair, a lot of my friends are business managers and accountants. So when I tell them about any project that I'm working on, how to make money off of it is just the first place that their minds go.

While there's nothing wrong with doing something for the money, that's not why I got into fooling around with game development. Money's fine, but sometimes you've got to do it for the love.

 

I've made plenty of games on my own. With a full time job. And a young family.

They are okay games. They aren't great.

 

Dwarf fortress is an entirely different thing.

Guys who maintain dwarf fortress spent 10 years on it. And they will need 20 more years to finish it.
ADOM is similar, it was about 20 years in development.

Would you spend 10 years of your life making one game?

This path is not for everyone.

 

If it paid and it were my dream game... I'd be tempted.

 

So to sum everything up and tie it with a bow:

Depending on what your goals are for making a game, game development can cost from 0 to infinity dollars and 0 to infinity years of development time.

 

Yes, its possible, but start very small, make 3 or 4 simple games to start.

Don't make your dream game as your first project.

 

Ok, a really good advice from you guys.

I will make a small games first and will be moving on my dream project whenever I have enough resource and time.

Here is my life's plan:
1st year in college - learn basic language and logic+algorithm and structure, apply for part time job, build tiny project
2nd year in college - get a job/volunteer job, Focus on learning new Language and structure of data. build small project
3rd year in college - get a REAL job, Focus on 3d modeling(School system) shift my language to advanced. build medium project
4th year in college - Internship, Get a full time job, moving on with life, Finish all the advanced program course, build a big project, gather a team, build a relation with other

After college - expect a job with 7 hour/day(database analysis), change my free time to full time making game and software project, Voice command to compete the "Voice Attack" and "GlovePie".
After the success of first indie game : have ($ + Time - stress) = Focus on my dream project that can and will compete the triple A

I will adjust this setting as life goes on

I'm happy to accept advice from you guys, thank!!!

 

What's stopping you from building a game today? Nothing that can't be fixed by trying, improving, and repeating. Grab a tutorial, tweak it, repeat.

Gigi

 

Tiny Wings, Flappy Bird, Hill Climb Racing and Traffic Racer are great examples for one-man developers. So, I think it's possible. (I'm trying too )

 

Yeah, I've done it. Pretty sure others here have, too.

The catch is that you'll need to design around your limitations. You won't be making The Witcher III on your own - you wouldn't have time if you dedicated your whole life to it (at least not with today's tools).

Figure out what skills you do have and/or want to develop. Figure out what skills you don't have and/or don't want to develop. Those are your capability and your constraints. Design something that (you think) fits, and have a go at building it.

 

Remember: There are no impossible things, there is only lack of skill needed to complete the task.

 

Yes, there are lot of people here who are alone and create games. It's completely possible no matter what anyone says but how much effort you would have to put in depends on your scope, how marvelous you want your game to be. We all who work alone do small projects, not because we don't know how to create big games but because we can't and even if we did create one, the final result might not be worth the effort we put into it. A single man can't build a whole skyscraper, it needs effort of several people to hit the sky.

And lack of will power. Being lazy is more harmful than being unskilled Though, I have heard that most of the successful people are lazy, and all hardworking people work under them.

 

Depends on the game. If you got ambitions, like i do, it is realy hard to calculate (more like impossible) how much time you gonna need for it. So it is a gamble.