How to create a strategy on a computer. What is Game Builder

Greetings. Do you want to learn how to create a game yourself and what are the stages of creating a game? Nowadays, in order to create a simple game on a PC or phone, it is not necessary to be a great specialist in this, there are special programs that allow you to create games from scratch alone.

In this article, all my personal experience

Of course, the quality of such a game, if you do not have experience and knowledge, can be very low, but everyone started somewhere. In this article, you will learn what you need to create a game and what are the main steps in creating a game.

Much more materials you can find on a special page in this blog:

I have identified 7 main stages of creating a game.

How to create a game yourself?

To create a game, you need to know the programming language, and now they are all in English, and they are complex, they have their own so-called syntax, which you also need to know. This is how you imagine making a game, right?

Not really.

Of course, almost everything is high budget games are done using one of the key languages, but for a beginner, even this is not necessary to know.

There are special programs for creating games, one of which is Game Maker. They were created specifically for creating games (the program is called so - the creator of games). Personally, I work in Game Maker and it allows you to make quite high-quality games for any platform, from android to ios.

You can also advise Unity or Construct 2, as good alternatives.

Personally, in my opinion, Game Maker is one of the most convenient programs to create games specifically for beginners, while mastering Unity from scratch can take much more time.

If you choose Game Maker, then my blog and channel will help you a lot in mastering it, but if you choose Unity or something else, there is also a huge amount of free high quality training materials in Russian.

In any case, the first (zero:) stage is the choice of a program for creating games.

First stage - design document

Next, you need to create a design document for new game. In other words, you need an idea for a game. What will the game be about? What will happen there? What genre will it be? How much time and money will development take? There are a lot of such questions, and before starting to create a game, it is very useful to draw up some kind of rough plan.

You can find the basics on how to write a design document for a game here:

Well, that's not exactly horror, is it? Bad of course, but not right here?

Well, I drew this with a computer mouse in a very simple graphics editor, and I learned to draw for 1-2 months, drawing 1 picture per week, maximum.

I think in a year you can reach a very good level if you allocate 1-3 hours a day for drawing and studying the theoretical base.

I have a video (16 minutes):

Fourth stage - sound

The sound and soundtrack in games is a very important part, which, however, is very often ignored by novice developers. Think, the player, like any person, has only a few basic senses, and the more senses are involved in the game, the better the player's immersion in the process.

How many sense organs does the player have?

Smell? No. Touch? Sometimes, which is related to some control systems in games. Vision? Everything is built on vision, this is the basis.

Therefore, such a high importance of graphics and visual elements. And in fact, in addition to vision in games, you can use only one more sense - hearing.

If you have played computer games before, then you probably have favorites, as well as some favorite OST (Music from games). And you could remember the game precisely due to the music. I wrote about my favorite OST here:

Sounds are another blow to the senses, the sound accompanying the action can, as it were, enhance the effect of this action. Just a shot and a bullet departure is boring. The correct sound of reloading, shooting, bullet collision with the surface (different for different surfaces), the case falling to the floor, and so on significantly increase the player's immersion in the process.

You know about all sorts of special sounds and phrases in games like Unreal Tournament and how much they increase the fun of the game.

In other words - the right sounds and music make the game atmospheric, emotional, human and much more interesting.

I had a little experience when I made the Lonely Dude game.

Then my friend wrote a unique OST for this game, and I just took the rest of the sounds from free sources.

What do I want to say? For a simple game, it is not necessary to bother much with the sound, it is enough just to put sounds into the game for the main actions (shooting, taking a bonus, completing a level, jumping, etc.) and this will already significantly enhance the overall impression of the game. Of course, writing music is much more difficult, but sometimes you can buy a track for some $ 1-5, or sit with programs like FL Studio in order to write a couple of simple tracks for your game.

Therefore, the game needs to be finished with a file as carefully as possible and this must be done before the release. How should the game be tested?

Just play it as much as possible and try different options. Think like a player would think, not like a developer who knows everything thinks. Put your girlfriend in the game and let her play, write down what problems she has and how she solves them, if at all. Where are the plugs, where is the imbalance and where are the bugs. Everything needs to be fixed.

Seventh stage - sale of the game and distribution

In any case, sooner or later, you will finish your game if you have enough strength and perseverance. Well, then you sell it, or distribute it for free, in any case, do you want people to play it?

How this can be done, I already wrote in my old article:

The general principles are the same for almost any game.

VK publics, your own YouTube channel, a trailer, a basic understanding of promotion and search engine optimization, and so on.

All this (Like every step here)- a completely separate and large topic, but the purpose of this article is to get acquainted with the process of creating games, nothing more.

That's all. I hope I answered your question - how to create a game yourself and highlighted the main stages of creating a game. Making games is a very exciting job (or hobby), as well as a real opportunity to earn money.

Good luck with this difficult task!

Of course, modern large game projects like WoW or StarCraft are the result of many years of work of experienced programmers, which also require significant financial investments. To take on such a project, you must at least have a diploma, some experience and organizational talents. However, the complexity of the project is not always a measure of its success and does not guarantee the interest of the players. And everyone can try their hand at creating games, albeit less technically complex, but able to arouse the interest of both users and, possibly, large game producing companies. For this, it is not even necessary to have knowledge of programming languages.

Firstly, most modern games are equipped with tools that allow you to change the game world to: draw new and labyrinths, transform the appearance of characters and game objects, even design new missions and tasks. This allows, on the basis of the same StarCraft or 3D shooter, a computer game of its own design, in which the original game will be extremely difficult. There are game engines specifically designed for creating games.

3D Game Maker is one of the most popular engines that allows you to create your own 3D game. Due to the extraordinary simplicity of the interface, a full-fledged 3D game can be created using it in just 10 minutes. We select the genre of the game being created, determine the number of required levels (the system allows you to design up to 20 different levels), select the main character from ready-made models. The game can already be launched and tested, although work on it, of course, has only just begun. After all, the game is still deprived of the most important thing, that which keeps the attention and interest of the user - the plot. Therefore, it is also necessary to select opponents, think over other necessary details. The cost of this game development is $35 - quite a manageable amount for game creators.

3D Game Studio is the most powerful tool for creating both 3D and 2D games, and programming as such is practically not required. A set of all sorts of template situations, examples and effects gives the game designer a fairly wide palette of tools to realize their fantasies. Natural effects, mirror surfaces, shadows, transparent surfaces - all these attributes can be fully used in the development of game interiors. Ready-made elements of the game interface are also provided to the developer, allowing the user to communicate with the game in a stylish and convenient way. The professional version of this engine will cost $900, but the beginner version is much cheaper - only $70.

If 3D worlds do not appeal to you, pay attention to Game Maker - this gives you boundless scope for imagination, allowing you to create a computer game in 2D format. We select objects, think over their interaction. Images can be drawn in any graphics editor and imported into the system. The game can be equipped with sound effects and signals. The interface is extremely simple and logical, ideal for beginners.

Sometimes players who often spend time playing various shooters, quests and other fictional worlds want to create their own universe. At the same time, if you use the developments of people who are more knowledgeable in this matter, then creating a computer game is not so difficult.

Consider some programs that will allow you to do this without programming. These utilities are called engines.

The best software for creating games

game maker

This is a game designer in Delphi. Supports both Windows and Macintosh. Advantages that designer in cross-platform, low price, integration with Steam. To shortcomings Game Maker refers to the fact that it is not convenient for creating large games, the 3D mode does not develop, the mission from creating games for computers has been transformed into games for mobile platforms.

Construct 2

This is a constructor for 2D games. With it, games are created for iPhones, Androids, Windows and other platforms. This game creation software free. If the creator wants to sell a game created on the utility, then he should buy a license.

In a special Construct 2 store offered by developers, creators can buy special resources for their virtual worlds. Music, sound sets, instructions - everything is in it.

Unity 3D

This utility contains everything you might need to create a great game. The program has a built-in engine that allows you to work with 3D graphics. Of the pluses, it also has special programs for developing landscapes, sounds, as well as physics.

minus Unity 3D is a must-have computer programming training from the creator.

3D Rad

This utility is downloaded and used for free. It is the cheapest among all the others that use a 3D engine. In 3D Rad you will find an intuitive interface. It also has the ability to create online toys.

game editor

This utility is from virtues has an excellent set of templates, and from shortcomings- cannot import layered images, and if the user does not know how to program, then all his projects will be of the same type.

All applications created in Game Editor have open source. The utility is intended for those who have at least a little mastered programming in C ++.

Stencyl

This environment for creating computer games does not require any special knowledge in development and programming. All scenarios are presented in the form of blocks. Those who love Photoshop will love Stencyl too. Since it has a function that strongly resembles this program.

CraftStudio

Here you can add and change objects not only in 2D, but also in 3D space. CraftStudio allows you to make game creation fun and interesting. The interface of this program is intuitive. There are no format incompatibilities or conversion issues here. For those who have in-depth knowledge in programming, there is a section − Lua Scripting. You can download the program for creating games from the official website.

Adventure Game Studio

The advantages of this utility are the built-in demo game, the import of sound files. To shortcomings include low quality graphics and the creation of a game of only one genre. The interface of Adventure Game Studio is also not simple, as it might seem at first glance. But present lots of clues. There is no Russian version.

Arcade Game Studio

This is a clear and simple constructor. To work with Arcade Game Studio, you do not need to have programming knowledge to understand it. It was created for writing shooters, arcades, runners. Here you can make a game dating back to the 80s or 90s. For many fans of the old school genre, such toys will do just fine.

Clickteam Fusion

This constructor can read sensor readings, apply shader effects. Of the shortcomings it can be noted that the license is not available in many countries, and there is practically no documentation in Russian.

The main feature of Clickteam Fusion is that if a programmer creates a utility for a mobile phone, then it can read readings from GPS devices. There is no Russian language, but you can download the Russifier file.

GameSalad

This constructor will be useful for novice programmers. You will meet a simple and clear interface. The utility allows you to add many sound files and pictures. GameSalad is easily compatible with different platforms.

A program for creating games on a computer can be purchased for a trial period of half a month for free, and the purchase will cost twenty-five dollars.

Visionaire Studio

This program is suitable for those who love puzzles and quests. Utility feature in that you can work in the style of point and click. Here you can choose which characters will participate in the plot, change them, prescribe various commands, riddles for the riddles you created.

The only problem Visionaire Studio is that only the demo version is free.

Blender

This application is designed for making 3D animations and 3D graphics. This utility is absolutely distributed free of charge. It has a lot of tools and options. Therefore, it may take a lot of time to study it. But it's worth it. However, Blender does not have a Russian version. In order to translate it, it is recommended download crack.

Construct Classic

This program is designed to create 3D and 2D applications. The games created on it can use technology Direct X. Here, all actions are performed using visual design technology. Therefore, no programming knowledge is required.

In Construct Classic, you can connect your own shaders. Supports most plugins have a built-in Python interpreter.

Unreal Development Kit

This utility is the most popular engine among developers of game applications. It supports X Box, PC, Play Station. Main feature in that the engine was created for the manufacture of 3D shooters. Here can be processed complex architectures, facial animations, physical objects. It also has its own library.

The Unreal Development Kit is free to download and use. But when you want to officially release the game, you will need to buy a license.

NeoAxis 3D Engine

This constructor, unlike others, has high-quality graphics and a relatively simple interface. Before we start recommended to master programming languages ​​C+, C++. But there are special libraries already with prepared actions. NeoAxis supports shaders, shadows, lighting.

It is very convenient and easy to use. This engine was developed in our country. The Russian language is set by default here.

CryENGINE 3 Free

This engine can be considered the best of all modern ones that support photorealistic graphics, as well as Direct X technology. Far Cry and Crysis were made on it. And also it allows create games for platforms X Box, Play Station.

Textures can be taken directly from 3D Max. CryENGINE is very popular. You can find a large number of educational materials in Russian.

Kodu Game Lab

This engine allows you to work with many tools with which you can release 3D applications. Kodu Game Lab created companyMicrosoft. It has many templates, allows you to upload your own content, has many built-in lessons on working with it.

Defold Game Engine

This constructor is designed for 2D, but can also work with 3D graphics. It is easy to create games for non-programmers on it. Defold Game Engine is suitable for application development for mobile phones, HTML5, lua scripting.

Amazon Lumberyard

This is a new game designer from Amazon. It is released as open source. With this engine, you can develop applications for personal computers, mobile applications. lumberyard- free constructor. But if you want to connect additional features, then you will be asked to pay for them.

Cry Engine 5

This is a game engine from the German company Crytec. The CryEngine 5 version is less demanding on your computer specs, but that doesn't make the graphics worse. There is support Direct X 11 and 12.

GameMaker Studio

This constructor is free version what we considered at the beginning of the review of programs for creating games. It allows you to create two-dimensional worlds in a few hours. Has cross-platform. GameMaker: Studio makes it easy to create applications for mobile devices, personal computers, Mac Os.

Every person dreams of doing something in his life - for this he chooses the profession that will allow him to do what he loves and contribute to the area that is important to him.

However, not everyone can just take it and become a game developer, because this profession requires a lot, and in return it may not start giving away right away. But how did an oh gamer not dream of creating their own game someday? Now this opportunity has become much closer.

Main hurdle

In fact, the creation of games requires certain skills, but they can be successfully obtained on your own, educational institutions in your specialty and without going through special preparatory courses. Given the fact that the Internet is now a huge source of a wide variety of information, a guide to creating games can be obtained from there. It's only when the average gamer comes up with the idea of ​​making their own game that they start looking for ways and run into the first and main hurdle. For search queries, he is given dozens and hundreds of results with tips and tricks. detailed guides, among which you can very quickly get lost, confused and lost. The user starts reading one thing, jumps to another, ends up with nothing to put together and decides to continue playing those games that have already been developed by professionals, rather than trying to create their own creation. It follows from this that man himself is his main enemy on the way to creating his own creations. And here is the question of motivation - if you want to create your own game, then you should not be stopped by the abundance of materials.

Try to systematize them, process them in small quantities, do not rush to concoct a finished project as soon as possible - better understand the theory properly, practice in practice, and then get down to business.

Availability of game building

Today, it is out of the question that game development is the advantage of a select few who have incredible abilities, as it was ten or twenty years ago. Then the creation of the game was a full-fledged miracle, while now it is a banal production process. And now any person who has the proper desire and has certain ideas in his piggy bank can join this process without having a specialized education. You just need to decide what you are willing to give in order to create your own game, because this process is time-consuming and requires perseverance and endurance. Therefore, first decide if you are ready to take on such a project, then indicate all your ideas that you intend to implement, and only then can you proceed directly to the game development process.

The main components of the game-building process

To create your own game, you need a clear understanding of what you need to be able to do.

The game-building process can be divided into two large parts - technical and creative. They are quite different, but if your plans do not include the creation of many hours of masterpiece with unique features, then you can easily manage on your own. So, to the technical part of the development process computer game include writing code, developing artificial intelligence, rendering graphics, designing 3D models, and so on. This half of the process is suitable for those who have a mathematical mindset - knowledge of programming, mathematics and other exact sciences will come in handy. As for the second half of the process, it is no less necessary if you want to create your own game on a computer and want it to be of high quality and unique. The creative process includes the entire content of the game, that is, the game world, characters, objects, locations, combat systems, development, finance, and this also includes the voice acting of characters and the creation of a soundtrack.

The easiest way to create games

There are various approaches to game development, but it is best to highlight three main ones, among which the simplest should be considered first of all. It is worth using if you are thinking about how to create your own game, but you have absolutely no knowledge of programming. To resort to this method, you will need to download a special game designer - a program that already includes the basic functions of creating games. One of the most famous builders is Game Maker, which is fairly easy to learn and has a decent feature set. As mentioned above, the main advantage of this way of creating games is its simplicity - you only need to bring your ideas to life through the opportunities provided by the program. But the main disadvantage here lies precisely in these very possibilities, or rather, in their limitations. In fact, with the help of the designer program, you can create a template game by selecting functions for it from the general list. If you want to bring a little personality to the game, add zest, your own special feature, then you will not be able to do this.

Development of a game on a ready-made engine

You can implement much more impressive features if you have a basic knowledge of programming languages, and you also know how to graphic editors and understand what game scripts are. If you have a ready-made game engine, you will be able to create not a template game, but a full-fledged game with your own personality - it's just that its basis will be someone else's, created by someone else.

But everything that you blind around the base - it already depends only on you. Naturally, this way of creating games is much more complicated than using a designer program, but the result is much more impressive. There is a possibility that in order to create such a game, you will have to involve other people in order to share responsibilities with them.

Creating a unique game

But there is also a third way, which is the most difficult, but gives the most impressive result. It differs from the second only in that you do not have a ready-made engine at your disposal, that is, the foundation, the base of the game - you create this engine yourself. This means that everything in your game will happen and look exactly as you programmed - down to the smallest detail.

You will have to write the game literally from scratch, in which case you will definitely need a team of specialists, so that everyone is responsible for their area: graphics, physics, programming, story, and so on.

New branch of the industry - mobile games

If you want to try something simpler and less global, then the ideal option for you would be to try to create your own game on Android, since mobile games have recently become no less popular than computer games, but they require much less time. and resources. You just need to know the java language and understand the principles of applications.

flash games

Another possibility to create simple games is flash. Such games have long been called "flash drives", there are a lot of them on the Internet, and their distinctive feature is simplicity and unpretentiousness. You can create your own game for girls or boys, you can try yourself in other genres, which are very numerous for such games. The main thing is desire. You should not make games "create your character and go to the unknown" - it is better to work out the whole game properly so that the gamer is satisfied with the result.

Games for a modern person are a significant part of everyday life. Today there are just a huge number of them - for the most demanding taste. At the same time, the range of such entertainment is very wide: from the smallest audience to adults. They are also divided by genre and size. But among the countless variety of the most diverse and diverse games, it is sometimes quite difficult to find your own. But it's always easy to find a guide on how to make your own game. It's not that hard if you're willing. The main thing is to tune in and find a good step-by-step instruction.

A bit of gaming history

In any form, they have accompanied man since the day of the creation of our world. Games served for entertainment and development. Children were distracted with homemade toys to do numerous household chores. And adults used them to cheer up. They found many ways to make a game with their own hands. And each had its own characteristics and charms. To this day, several items that served for gambling as early as 3500 B.C. But the most ancient are ordinary six-sided bones. They were made from various materials: bones, ceramics, wood.

For many centuries in several people at once. And only in the 21st century, thanks to automation, it became possible to do this one by one. Roulette and "one-armed bandits" appeared. Over time, games, instead of uniting, began to alienate people. Now almost the entire heritage of mankind has been digitized and adapted for computers.

How to make a game for the little ones

The development of children under the age of one is very important. And how can you teach your baby mindfulness, logical thinking and ingenuity? Of course, with the help of games. This is the only way to easily, without moralizing and strength, develop in a child many talents inherent in nature.

Many children's stores offer a huge variety of games, but sometimes it's better to develop them yourself. This is both useful and very interesting. Everything you need can be found in special editions that will tell everyone how to make your game.

The most popular children's entertainments, even at a “non-intelligent” age, are modeling and drawing. For this, mom can independently make plasticine and paints. Plasticine is the usual sweet dough. For it you will need flour, salt, lemon juice, water and multi-colored food colors. For drawing, you can also make safe, and most importantly, delicious paints from carrot or beetroot juice. All you need is flour, salt and a little vegetable oil.

It will also be interesting for the child to collect special puzzles. Here, before you make your game, you need to choose your favorite heroes and stick them on cardboard. You can cut it into two or more parts.

We make games for a fun company

Gathering with friends, what could be better and more fun? But, in addition to friendly gatherings over a cup of tea, properly selected entertainment will help create a good mood. For these purposes, you can choose both table and outdoor games. If there are no suitable copies at hand, you can easily make them yourself.

Before you make your game for a large company, you need to decide on some points: the venue for the meeting, the number of people and their preferences, as well as the presence of game elements. After that, you can start looking for suitable options.

If your friends are popular board games, then you can do it yourself, for example, " sea ​​battle"," Monopoly "or ordinary" Fanta ". To create them, you need colored paper, felt-tip pens, cardboard and a little imagination.

Every company should try the fun game "Twister". At the same time, it is interesting not only to participate in it, but also to watch. Making it is easy enough. You need two Whatman paper, adhesive tape, self-adhesive film of four colors and several auxiliary tools. Whatman papers are glued together, and multi-colored circles are glued on them (4 vertically, 6 horizontally). Then the dial is constructed.

All these games can be made by hand. You just need to set a goal and find or come up with an answer to the question "how to make a game." On a computer, in a special program, you can draw everything so that it is even and beautiful. This way you can save time and your own energy.

Modern technologies give us the opportunity to constantly develop, and with the help of a computer you can do anything on your own. Therefore, the question of how to make a game on a computer can be solved by finding step-by-step instructions.

It is worth noting that this business requires good skills and abilities in computing. But a simple toy can be made, if you try, even a “teapot”. To simplify the process, you will need a special program, for example "scirra construct", "FPS Creator". You can choose other options. By adding your own pictures, sounds to the program, building a story and possible actions, you can create a good toy. In order to do a more or less decent thing on your own and without these utilities, you need to be a very advanced programmer. Therefore, it is worth practicing and starting with the simplest.

and create?

The most interesting and at the same time simple is a variety of cartoons. Now they are made more even for adults than for children. And what could be more interesting and exciting than a cartoon, invented and created by yourself. A flash game is the same cartoon, with its own characters, plot and obstacles. That is why they are so popular today. But how to make a game on a computer in this genre on your own?

To create it, as for any program of this level, an ignorant beginner will need special utilities. Finding them is pretty easy. As a rule, such online constructors as "GameBrix", "Stencyl" are used. All such programs are created using the "ActionScript" language. The main tools for designing any Flash game are the Flash interface, creating text and buttons, importing multimedia elements into Flash, organizing and preparing a video for publication. At the same time, you need a good fantasy for an interesting plot and characters. If you do everything according to the instructions, then you end up with a pretty decent toy.

Online game. Learning to create programs

Here it is also easiest to use a ready-made service and simplify your task several times. All online games are created in the browser. Therefore, to resolve the issue of how to make an online game, you can choose several options. But the most effective one is to register on a specialized site and use the proposed constructor. There are several paid and free sites for this, for example, "MMO Constructor", "Kvester", "Clic.ru", "Ternox". There, step by step and in a simple and accessible form, any online game. You just need to find pictures and clearly imagine the plot and the main characters.

Social networks are a place where almost every person who has free access to the Internet spends the lion's share of his free time. Odnoklassniki is one of the most popular sites of this genre. Here they correspond, upload videos and photos, discuss events and play. By the way, with the help of the latter, you can also earn. But how to make a game in Odnoklassniki on your own?

First of all, you need to design any flash game of a certain genre: arcades, shooters, racing. Then you need to go to your page in Odnoklassniki. In the "Games" section, you need to click on the "Place a game" button. After that, following step by step instructions, download and distribute your own program.

Creation of games for Android

A phone is a device that we use almost constantly for entertainment or work. Now there are many paid and partially free applications for every taste. But sometimes you want to make a program yourself, for yourself. The question is how to make a game on Android.

The most popular engines for creating native applications on this platform are "Unity3D", "Shiva3D", "AndEngine" and "Instead". With their help, you can design a game of any level without knowledge of programming languages. Each program helps to create its own project.