A process that used to excite me during my early days of development is to choose a tool or framework. But now as an experienced developer, I realise that’s probably the most exhausting yet not very useful to spend a ton of time and energy to make difficult choices at the beginning of a project (or in this case even before getting started with the project). So I will put my thoughts until lunch today. Make the quickest decisions that I can make. Stick with till I’m good.
Guiding Principles
- I have to first learn a boatload of things. And it is yet to be seen whether I will stick to my commitment or I will get tired and give up. So
- This is a last time I process this choice. Before I complete my first game, I will not go back on these decisions. If I don’t get some feature I need, I will sacrifice on it rather than think back and change these decisions.
- Whenever possible, learn the art first. Invest money in tools later.
Time
The most important and difficult to get resource is going to be time. I have no intention of quitting my job and doing this full time. So my schedule would be to utilise the weekends and holidays to the fullest. It’s been very long and I have about a ton of gaps in knowledge to get where I want to be. So I don’t expect I’ll make anything significant at least for a year or even two. I’m also currently studying for masters, which will go on for one more year. So for one year this will be in the third priority. I can pickup a bit more speed after that. Strictly keep this to the weekends.
Hardware
I have a 13″ MacBook Pro 2015 and a 1080p monitor. I also have a Wacom Intuos drawing tablet too, in case I need something more than my Logitech Trackball mouse for drawing. I will purchase a small – maybe 25 keys – MIDI controller for making music. But only after 3 months. If I’m still going strong. Until then, I think I can simply use my computer keyboard to learn basic music composition. Decision here is that I already have everything I need. After 3 months, I will invest in a MIDI Controller – Akai MPK Mini MK3
Artwork
There wasn’t much questions here. Blender was the straightforward choice. But I need to learn to use Blender. Making 3D models can be considered my weakest skill in this whole endeavour. I practically do not know anything about it. I learnt some 3D modelling 20 years back (on a tool called Gmax – which has been discontinued now). I’m not sure whether I will remember anything or whether that knowledge will be useful now. I don’t think I will have to upgrade in future even after I become a good 3D modeller. Both Blender and Sketchbook are great tools even for professionals. So they should be good enough for me. So Blender and Sketchbook for artwork.
Music
There weren’t any good open-source music making software. I found LMMS, but it was far behind any decent commercial alternative. Almost nobody on the internet recommended it for a beginner. But fortunately, since I use a MacBook, I have GarageBand and it’s free. I will learn the basics of music composition and then upgrade my setup to a 25-key MIDI controller and FL Studio. I checked out another software called Reason – which appears to be great, but for a higher price. But in terms of popularity, FL Studio came out as a big winner, and so I believe as a beginner, it’s better I use FL Studio since I’ll have to be asking help from the community a lot. So decision is FL Studio.
Game Engine
A quick search on the internet showed me that I have two options Unity and Godot. I did some time-consuming research, before coming to the realisation that Unity is free-to-use. I don’t have to worry about its cost unless I am making significant revenue, which I don’t t think I will be making anytime soon. If you are making that much revenue, Unity’s licensing costs wouldn’t seem much. And Unity also didn’t appear to me as an evil company that would irrationally jack up license costs. So Unity it is.
So there. I have a big set of skills I’ll have to acquire in the next several months. Let me get cracking.
Code Creek 