BUILDING AN INDIE GAME

 

 

Let me start by being honest, I had absolutely no idea what went into actually building a game until I started working at  a game dev. I had the basic knowledge knowing that there was some art and programming involved but that was it. I have learnt that a whole lot more goes into it before the game is put out on the market. With bigger companies like Ubisoft, Sony and Nintendo, who have unlimited budgets and the very best staff working round the clock to deliver quality games, it makes the dream of being a successful indie developer almost impossible. You need a literal army to built a world class game, no kidding. But guess what?? It’s totally possible to do it with just a handful of people.

The number one thing you need is passion. I know this has been said over and over again but again working here has taught me the value of passion. Once you are into what you are doing 100%, it becomes almost easy. Yeah almost easy because there will be days that you feel that you will just quit. But remember it’s always darkest before daylight…….just saying.

Passion will move men beyond themselves, beyond their shortcomings, beyond their failures. – Joseph Campbell, American Mythologist, Writer, and Lecturer

Then comes your team. There is a lot more to this but you basically need a story writer, game artist , game programmer , game designer and a creative director.  Most of the time though for a small team, one person can find himself doing other stuff as well. Okay moving on to why you need teams people in your team.

Story writer: The plot of your game is very essential and players must be able to relate to their onscreen characters. It is the job of your story writer to develop your idea into a captivating story.

Game Artist: This person is responsible for all the visual elements of the game. His job includes creating concept arts to reflect the right images from the story.The game artist is also sometimes responsible for the animations in the game as well.

Sound Designer: He or she  creates the soundtrack for the game including the voices,spoken instructions and other sound effects

The programmer :The game programmer writes the computer codes that control the game.

Game Designer : He is responsible for the experience of the player and creates the game mechanics

Creative director : He  takes up the role of overseeing the whole team.

We are going to delve into the details of these jobs over the next couple of weeks so be on the look out every Tuesday. Namaste!

Author : Abena Addai Boakye