HELP:Getting Started
Hi Guys, I was just wanting to ask for advice. I'm kinda new to this(modeling,animation,just game dev in general) and I seem to have trouble deciding where to start. It's all just very interesting to me and I can't seem to stick with any projects. I have several just small unfinished things because there's just so much to learn and I keep jumping between things.
How do you guys decide where to start? I'm having trouble figuring out which game engine and such to work with. There's just so many engines and softwares that I feel lost
here are some links to various small projects I've started.
DE_Datacore
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=211883775
Army Men 3D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDQP3Y5SM6k&list=UU_0vMafnN_mxQMZiZg0zaOA
Painted Teams in Tf2
http://gamebanana.com/wips/40890
How do you guys decide where to start? I'm having trouble figuring out which game engine and such to work with. There's just so many engines and softwares that I feel lost
here are some links to various small projects I've started.
DE_Datacore
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=211883775
Army Men 3D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDQP3Y5SM6k&list=UU_0vMafnN_mxQMZiZg0zaOA
Painted Teams in Tf2
http://gamebanana.com/wips/40890
Replies
In terms of software, it doesn't really matter what you pick because your file outputs are basically going to be the same from all of them. There are plenty of great free tools such as Blender, Unity, etc., if you are a university student then you can likely get access to a free student copy of Autodesk software such as 3DS Max or Maya, and if you aren't doing commercial work then I suppose there wouldn't be anything wrong with taking a less legal approach to obtaining software for the sake of learning how to use it.
The game engine you choose should be determined by the project you are doing. This leads to the point about the project scope, don't aim to create the next big AAA title by yourself, that will only lead to you getting frustrated and giving up.
If you want to focus on doing environmental art for example, then start by learning how to model some small props, from there, move onto bigger props, then move onto a room, then move onto an environment.
If you want to learn how to be a programmer, then start by learning the basics of programming, then from there, try to create a very simple game that just takes user input and has an objective, it doesn't even need to have real graphics. My first game that I made with a public game engine involved collecting spheres to get a certain amount of points. Once you learn how to create an incredibly basic game, move onto something more challenging such as re-creating a classic game such as pacman, snake, etc. Then from there, you can move onto a larger project.
The same processes go for any kind of software related job, start small then work your way up.
Also, don't worry about using the wrong software. There is no right or wrong combination of software you can use. Some people love using a variety of different apps to get the job done, some people hate when they have to use more than 1 or 2 apps.
There are tons of great tutorials on youtube for getting started with different game engines, and if you have the money then you can purchase a membership to sites like Digital Tutors, 3dmotive, Eat3D, etc. There are also some sites that offer a lot of free high quality tutorials, Unity Cookie comes to mind.
Good luck!
EDIT: Oh and it goes without saying, don't give up. Game development isn't easy but nobody became successful in this industry without working their asses off.
If this is going to be a life long career you'll be at it for 30-40-50-60 years, let that sink in for a bit. It's plenty of time to try different things and to switch gears if you want to.
No one is going to hire someone who is moderately crappy at everything, unless they are really desperate. If that is the case? You should run screaming in the other direction because it's a disaster waiting to happen.
You do need to pay the bills and keep a roof over your head so instead of taking 30 years to get really good at everything, pick something that you seem to be the best at, put the other stuff on pause and take 3-5yrs to get really good at that one thing.
Make sure you limit the scope of your projects. A LOT of people get inspired by things that take multiple professionals months or years to complete and think they can bang out something similar in a weekend. Bitting off more than you can chew just means you'll choke. I know I know everyone has an epic project in them yearning to be let loose... But you'll never get if you keep dreaming bigger than you can realistically pull off. All that will net you, is a streak of disappointment and frustration.
Setup small projects and deadlines, set yourself up for success. I'm going to model a low poly boombox from the 80's. It will feel like a cheap win (because it will be), but it will be better than the bitter disappointment of putting an epic project on indefinite hold. You will then set the bar a little higher and work your way up to epic project, internet hero status, through small, incremental steps, each one allows you to go a bit higher, always pushing yourself but being realistic about what you can pull off. If you raise the bar too high, you'll fall, hard, which is fine I think everyone needs to go through that, but learn from it and always be real about where you are at and what you can achieve.
No mountaineer can claim to have climbed Everest by taking the lift (there isn't one anyway). Plan your route, make sure you can reach each basecamp and take it one step at a time focusing on those steps because some of them will threaten to throw you off the mountain if you don't hit them just right.
Oh yea and beware of dip shits selling jet packs or mule rides to the top, it's all bullshit, they see you as a cash cow with full utters. Just keep your head down and do what you need to do.
If you made said box and decided net time i will make 2 boxes one of metal and one of wood then your learning materials right there. Next week or so is 3 boxes, one of ice one of metal one of wood and so on and so forth.
^ This will help with future designs, such as characters with armor or even vehicles.
Once you get a handle on what works well v.i.a. the textures and modeling/sculpting you try to retain that and keep moving forward.
HOWEVER there will be failed attempts, you don't get made you scrap it and start over and trust me you'll be starting over a LOT if not with your own projects but with company projects if they so require you to refine remake or even totally redo a assignment.
^ I learned this via freelance, I've only once been in a studio setting i started in freelance, i guess it is cool for my story when people ask.
Still freelancing, some people don't do the studio thing and to be honest i am quiet comfortable working without distractions (not to say i don't like people, i just can't shut up when i am around them. lol)
^Just another thing to think about what is your aim target, studio or freelance.
Have fun though if you don't this stuff can give you a ton of stress especially if you find things hard to comprehend like i do.
The main problem I have is sticking with projects everything is just so interesting I didn't know what to start first. I think i'll probably go with environmental design because I enjoy it most. I just had a few other questions
1. If i'm working on environmental design do they need to be playable levels or just environments that i've put together?
2. I mostly use hammer, do you guys see that as being good for environmental design or should I work on learning something like Cryengine or UDK?
Thanks again guys!
here's an example of one of my hammer levels. It's a remake of Stalingrad from MOHAA
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/3390383650757751801/4D3E44EF38BB1D69942471C96D7C78A25779515D/
EDIT: Whoops, missed the second question. Source in my opinion has a really shitty content pipeline. I'd recommend just working with a different engine, personally I love UDK.
There are also some other factors to keep in mind such as the fact that UE4 requires an absolute beast of a PC to run well and then there's the $20 startup fee which could be a turnoff if you only want a realtime environment to render scenes with.
I'm just suggesting that you put your best foot forward instead of backwards.
Source still gets used for quite a few games even if it has quite a few warts (at least the SDKs they've released to the public), I think they made Titian Fall with it?
It might be good to branch out and experiment with other engines like CryEngine, Unity and Unreal, it won't hurt.
It goes back to the whole idea of doing projects with a realistic scope. The best thing to show off with the oculus rift would be a cool game you made with it, but to make a game you'd have to have programming skills, level design knowledge, art knowledge, etc.
I would suggest trying to sharpen your skills in one particular area of the industry, then try joining an indie team or a mod team to work on a full project. It is very hard to get a professional understanding of every area of game development and it will take many years to do, and so most people focus on a single area at one time and work with others who have knowledge of other areas.
On my own small development team, I'm the programming expert although I also dabble in environmental art every now and then, but I don't know anything about sound design, animation, or even UI design. That doesn't stop my project though, because my teammates, who know nothing about programming or environmental design, fill in those other gaps.
If environmental design is the position you want to work in, then until you get to presentation time, the game engine you pick really doesn't even matter all that much. The key to making good looking environments is making high quality assets in your 3D package of choice and combining it with high quality textures you make in your texturing application of choice.
One could go a step further and also talk about the importance of custom shaders in an environment but I would suggest focusing on 3d assets and textures before looking into making your own shaders.
That being said, you'll be spending 75% of your time using applications other than your game engine. Personally, I use Toolbag 2 to view my assets before I even import them into the game engine, although if you don't want to purchase Toolbag 2, then there's nothing wrong with just directly importing them into the engine to see how the materials will look.
I think you're worrying too much about the gameplay aspect of things for a job that has minimal direct impacts on gameplay. To clarify, an environmental artist doesn't even need to put a player spawn onto the map, that is the job of the level designer.
You shouldn't worry about which tools to use because at the end of the day, they're just that, tools. A carpenter doesn't worry about which type of hammer his coworkers are using, he focuses on the type of hammer he needs to get his own job done.
That being said, you are overthinking it. You really just need a primary 3d package such as Max/Maya/Blender/etc. For beginners, they are basically identical and the differences really only start showing once you start to specialize. I'd say it doesn't matter what 3D package you use as long as you pick one that you are comfortable with. I started out with Blender when I was first learning 3D but after a week or so, I realized that I was doing things incredibly slow due to constantly pushing the wrong buttons on my keyboard. I decided to change it up and gave Cinema 4D a try, after a week I noticed the same thing, then finally I decided to give 3DS Max a try and my productivity soared simply because I was used to all of the hotkeys.
You won't really know what you are comfortable using until you try using it. Even then, if you stick with an application for at least a month I'm sure you'll start to get comfortable working with it. Look up an introductory video on whatever 3D package you plan to start using.
After that, you just need an application for texturing. Most people I know use Photoshop, the are other available applications that can get the job done like Substance Designer for example, but again, you just need to pick something you are comfortable with and most people have little trouble learning how to use Photoshop, so I would say just stick with that.
Then finally, you need a place where you can place your assets in to see them in realtime, this is where the game engine comes in. In the case of environmental design, people like to pick the engines with the best available lighting out of the box, which as of now would be Cryengine or Unreal Engine 4 (but you said you can't afford it so I'd assume this would be UDK in your case.)
Regardless of which engine you pick, the content pipeline is going to be basically the same, import models and the textures you made, then turn textures into a material, then apply material onto asset to see what it looks like.
Once you get that down, then you can start to focus on how to set up lighting in a scene to help make an environment look more presentable. Although given your skill level, I would suggest sticking to learning how to make individual props/items first as you will learn basically all of the necessary skills an artist needs to know from doing that.
Check out the Tracker Knife tutorial from Joe Harford I PM'ed you, it should come in handy I think. Although keep in mind like I said, focus on the techniques rather than trying to copy what he does.
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Millenia also made a nice tutorial, it's a bit slower paced and he goes over baking in the same video (Harford does baking in the next video of his series if I recall correctly.)
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The basic idea is to allocate more space to the parts of your model that require more detail, generally speaking, these are the things that will be seen by the camera. Everything is covered in pretty good detail in both videos. Good luck!
I tried following tutorials for baking but my high poly models didn't show up where I could select them