4 ms·

Anyone here that makes games for fun or on the side?

by prox 3y ago

fncslothouber 3y ago
Yup, for fun. Building a game from scratch almost from from the bottom. Starting with a CPU, sound-chip and graphics-chip (using an FPGA). On top of that a Forth system and on top of that a platform game. Lots of fun and a great learning experience.
sk0g 3y ago
Absolutely, currently remaking and old arcade game (SAMI) with a team that has skills beyond engineering, because engineering and a bit of guitar is about all I have time for :) It's a great way to learn a lot, and it has definitely helped me with how I approach problem solving and software design in my day job.
pizza234 3y ago
I did for a bit, but it's a bit tricky, in the sense that differently from other types of products, games have a very strong separation between the artistic and the engineering aspects. This has very significant consequences. If one works alone on a game, they may find that they keep solving technical problems, without actually producing a game, but rather, producing an engine. If one works in a team, and nobody takes a creative lead, the same thing happens - technical advancements in the game, but no content. In the right conditions (either a balanced team, or a single dev who enjoys both aspects), game development is fantastic - from the engineering perspective, game development is a very challenging (in an interesting way) field. But I think it's not easy to find the right context.
trizoza 3y ago
Yes, I made rotaboxes and posted here recently [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33718124 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33718124]
erremerre 3y ago
I have started learning and have done a very unpolished pong to learn. I did write a blog entry here: https://blog.rmrubert.eu/posts/2023-06-17-making-my-first-game-another-pong-in-python/ https://blog.rmrubert.eu/posts/2023-06-17-making-my-first-ga... I do agree with this sentence on the article <<The meta stuff takes as much effort, if not more, than the core game. I mean the menus, instructions, release materials, API integrations for advertisements and high scoreboards, and so on.>> as the menu you can see in my game (which is very unpolished) took as much as the game itself.
jasfi 3y ago
I tried to when I was at school, but there was never enough time. In retrospect I should have severely scaled back the game ideas. Also, this was the DOS era, so getting better graphics/audio was always a preoccupation. But then who would be the artist, etc. Also, most of this happened before I had an internet connection, so not much to work with. That's why the game engines of today are really awesome.
a1o 3y ago
I made this sprite scaler game here https://eri0o.itch.io/dont-give-up-the-cat https://eri0o.itch.io/dont-give-up-the-cat I usually make these small games because I find easier to scope and plan and finish. Some I attempted with bigger scope remain unfinished.
- comatory 3y ago
  nice I like it
  - a1o 3y ago
    Thank you. I am making a new sprite scaler adventure in the same sense, but it's a bit bigger area with more things to explore and all, I hope to have at least something of it released this Sunday or maybe in the next week.
asyncanup 3y ago
I made https://crooked.notabot.ai https://crooked.notabot.ai - a relaxing puzzle game about Lines & Angles The game rules are actual math, and the puzzles turned out to be fun for kids as well as mathematicians (from my friend circle)!
- prox 3y ago
  This is actually quite simple to play but increasingly harder to master. Like it!
JimWestergren 3y ago
Yes, I am working on https://advinsula.com https://advinsula.com - Adventure Island MMO RPG. Free turned based browser game.
- prox 3y ago
  Certainly sounds interesting, I use to play no games except for Nexuswars.com, a browser based game with some d&d mechanics. The 15 minutes a day keeps it very controlled and manageable (unlike games that want to keep you in)
marginalia_nu 3y ago
I've tried to make games, but what I ended up was making game engines because that was more appealing to me. My penchant for huge overambitious projects is good sometimes, but not always.
vkazanov 3y ago
I do little game programming on the side. I don't program that much anymore on my day job so these little 1-2 kLOC projects with a quick feedback loop are quite enjoyable. Nothing complicated, really. Wolf3d-style, puzzles, etc. Because these are mostly made to have some computer-related fun together with my daughter, they don't really need that boring kind of polish a real game requires. So it's pure fun. After making a few stupid 3d game prototypes I've come to a conclusion that pure libSDL tinkering gets old really fast so I wanted an engine, and Quake 1 suits my purpose perfectly: scriptable through a simple language (QuakeC), a bunch of level editors available(Trenchbroom is a dream), as well as a small and welcoming community. And this is probably the last broadly used 3d engine that a semi-decent programmer can understand at all levels. I even made an Emacs mode for QuakeC editing. This is part of the fun!
- prox 3y ago
  Does sound like fun, as in being in control and understanding the whole thing from top to bottom.
drakonka 3y ago
I was in AAA game dev for a bit over a decade and also made some browser and console games on the side. They're all here: https://liza.io/games/ https://liza.io/games/ None of my side projects were very good, but I loved working on them. My personal favorites were Promiscuous Flea, Alien Tree, and Adopt-a-Human.
racktash 3y ago
Yes – it's both the most fun and frustrating hobby. :) Nothing gets me in that focus zone like working on a level or cl oding a new gameplay system. I think it's the thrill of tweaking, testing, tweaking, over and over again, which eventually produces a very satisfying product. I'm currently working on a Godot project (highly recommend the engine for hobbyists). The last project I released is a free total conversion survival horror mod for Half-life 2 – https://fourthstoa.itch.io/the-apocalypse-of-eden https://fourthstoa.itch.io/the-apocalypse-of-eden
susam 3y ago
I wrote a tiny invaders-style game last year: https://susam.net/invaders.html https://susam.net/invaders.html HN threads about it: • https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30334667 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30334667 • https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34464865 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34464865 It was, in fact, a childhood dream of mine to write a game like this. However, the little GW-BASIC programming I knew and the very limited access to computers I had during my childhood was insufficient to write anything more sophisticated than simple text-based adventure programs. This game is written using plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It uses HTML5 Canvas for graphics and Web Audio for sound. Although 25 years too late, writing this little game fulfilled that childhood dream of mine!
blarg1 3y ago
I am/was, some how I ended up with my own programming language instead.
Cthulhu_ 3y ago
I've had short stints but I overthink / over-engineer and lose interest very quickly, lol. A good platform that forces you to think small is pico-8, it's got all the tooling built in but it's on a very small screen and you're limited to something like 8K tokens of source code. But some of the games they've built in it are great, like Celeste. I've tried a platformer (from a tutorial) and a Zelda-like game, but got stuck at some point so I should make something even smaller / simpler. Maybe that tunnel game mentioned in the OP, I used to love games like that. Oh, and the first game I made from a tutorial was like the 'helicopter game', single button, randomly generated levels, that kinda thing. Can be cobbled together in a matter of hours.
courseofaction 3y ago
Worked in AAA, left to keep it a hobby. Great experience, but not the career for me. I'm very excited for AI enabling people with cool ideas to achieve them much faster - game dev is far too technically labor intensive for a lot of creative types, it'll be fun to see how AI-enabled tooling allows more creators to realize their visions. At a stretch, I'm hoping it'll produce the same explosion of individuated expression as widespread literacy did with the novel.
johnnyanmac 3y ago
Yes, and no? I work in professional spaces as an engine/graphics programmer for some 7 years now. But I've also been doing stuff on the side. Nothing serious tho, so no links to show you. Thing is, the kind of game I want requires some competent art and at this point I think it's better for me to learn that. So while (very very slowly) planning my game and learning knowledge professional, I want to do some classes in art for a few years, and hopefully by that time I can start to make a game that will truly wow people. The kind that makes you say "wow, this was made by 1 person?". That's my goal. Don't care if it takes 2 months or 10 years, but I feel like I already lost so much time. (note: I'm not opposed to help. Far from it. But I have nothing to offer and all my friends aren't really doing that kinda thing. I imagine the art I use may not even be final art. Just enough to show I'm serious and maybe attract an artist who actually knows what they are doing).
- karmakurtisaani 3y ago
  Did you consider using placeholder art, or paying a real artist? I don't think the prices would be exorbitant if you don't need gigabytes of art.
  - johnnyanmac 3y ago
    >if you don't need gigabytes of art Unfortunately, that is indeed the case. Think action adventure game with a moderately sized over-world and a few dozen types of enemies (I DON'T want it to be open world, but from a technical POV it will probably have similar challenges). I certainly can greybox some of this, but a lot of the feel will depend heavily on some good VFX, and likely some minor environmental deformation. I definitely can't put all that off into late development. I will inevitably have to pay for a few artists, but Ideally I'd wouldn't be asking for concepting more so than polish and giving a cohesive direction to it all.
falsaberN1 3y ago
I do, but only as a hobby. I could have taken it as a career choice but the fun is in pursuing my own ideas, designing my own characters, design the cinematics, the dialogue, their equipment and how they use it...and of course the code and visuals to make it happen. The idea of working on someone else's design seems atrocious.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 3y ago
Yeah. And no, I'm not linking them for anyone for two reasons: -I value the tiny shred of anonymity I have here so I can continue to express stupid opinions without being too self conscious about it. -Honestly they just aren't very good, at least not in any traditional sense. I find that I am not passionate enough about most of my ideas to expend the time that seems necessary to flesh them out into a coherent and worthwhile experience.
stuckinhell 3y ago
On the side using Unity as a family activity. The kids love the official demo projects, and I'm slowly teaching them code. My dreams of opening a wife and husband studio are dead dead dead after seeing all the failed hopes and dreams of indie developers on reddit, discord, etc.
- prox 3y ago
  Yeah, unless you get some good backing out of the gate it’s only something you can do on the side. And maybe hope for a banger like Project Zomboid time to shine. But sounds great as a family activity!

Anyone here that makes games for fun or on the side?

by prox 3y ago

Anyone here that makes games for fun or on the side?

Yup, for fun. Building a game from scratch almost from from the bottom. Starting with a CPU, sound-chip and graphics-chip (using an FPGA). On top of that a Forth system and on top of that a platform game. Lots of fun and a great learning experience.

sk0g 3y ago

Absolutely, currently remaking and old arcade game (SAMI) with a team that has skills beyond engineering, because engineering and a bit of guitar is about all I have time for :) It's a great way to learn a lot, and it has definitely helped me with how I approach problem solving and software design in my day job.

pizza234 3y ago

I did for a bit, but it's a bit tricky, in the sense that differently from other types of products, games have a very strong separation between the artistic and the engineering aspects. This has very significant consequences. If one works alone on a game, they may find that they keep solving technical problems, without actually producing a game, but rather, producing an engine. If one works in a team, and nobody takes a creative lead, the same thing happens - technical advancements in the game, but no content. In the right conditions (either a balanced team, or a single dev who enjoys both aspects), game development is fantastic - from the engineering perspective, game development is a very challenging (in an interesting way) field. But I think it's not easy to find the right context.

trizoza 3y ago

Yes, I made rotaboxes and posted here recently [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33718124 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33718124]

erremerre 3y ago

I have started learning and have done a very unpolished pong to learn. I did write a blog entry here: https://blog.rmrubert.eu/posts/2023-06-17-making-my-first-game-another-pong-in-python/ https://blog.rmrubert.eu/posts/2023-06-17-making-my-first-ga... I do agree with this sentence on the article <<The meta stuff takes as much effort, if not more, than the core game. I mean the menus, instructions, release materials, API integrations for advertisements and high scoreboards, and so on.>> as the menu you can see in my game (which is very unpolished) took as much as the game itself.

jasfi 3y ago

I tried to when I was at school, but there was never enough time. In retrospect I should have severely scaled back the game ideas. Also, this was the DOS era, so getting better graphics/audio was always a preoccupation. But then who would be the artist, etc. Also, most of this happened before I had an internet connection, so not much to work with. That's why the game engines of today are really awesome.

a1o 3y ago

I made this sprite scaler game here https://eri0o.itch.io/dont-give-up-the-cat https://eri0o.itch.io/dont-give-up-the-cat I usually make these small games because I find easier to scope and plan and finish. Some I attempted with bigger scope remain unfinished.

comatory 3y ago
nice I like it
- a1o 3y ago
  Thank you. I am making a new sprite scaler adventure in the same sense, but it's a bit bigger area with more things to explore and all, I hope to have at least something of it released this Sunday or maybe in the next week.

asyncanup 3y ago

I made https://crooked.notabot.ai https://crooked.notabot.ai - a relaxing puzzle game about Lines & Angles The game rules are actual math, and the puzzles turned out to be fun for kids as well as mathematicians (from my friend circle)!

prox 3y ago
This is actually quite simple to play but increasingly harder to master. Like it!

JimWestergren 3y ago

Yes, I am working on https://advinsula.com https://advinsula.com - Adventure Island MMO RPG. Free turned based browser game.

prox 3y ago
Certainly sounds interesting, I use to play no games except for Nexuswars.com, a browser based game with some d&d mechanics. The 15 minutes a day keeps it very controlled and manageable (unlike games that want to keep you in)

marginalia_nu 3y ago

I've tried to make games, but what I ended up was making game engines because that was more appealing to me. My penchant for huge overambitious projects is good sometimes, but not always.

vkazanov 3y ago

I do little game programming on the side. I don't program that much anymore on my day job so these little 1-2 kLOC projects with a quick feedback loop are quite enjoyable. Nothing complicated, really. Wolf3d-style, puzzles, etc. Because these are mostly made to have some computer-related fun together with my daughter, they don't really need that boring kind of polish a real game requires. So it's pure fun. After making a few stupid 3d game prototypes I've come to a conclusion that pure libSDL tinkering gets old really fast so I wanted an engine, and Quake 1 suits my purpose perfectly: scriptable through a simple language (QuakeC), a bunch of level editors available(Trenchbroom is a dream), as well as a small and welcoming community. And this is probably the last broadly used 3d engine that a semi-decent programmer can understand at all levels. I even made an Emacs mode for QuakeC editing. This is part of the fun!

prox 3y ago
Does sound like fun, as in being in control and understanding the whole thing from top to bottom.

drakonka 3y ago

I was in AAA game dev for a bit over a decade and also made some browser and console games on the side. They're all here: https://liza.io/games/ https://liza.io/games/ None of my side projects were very good, but I loved working on them. My personal favorites were Promiscuous Flea, Alien Tree, and Adopt-a-Human.

racktash 3y ago

Yes – it's both the most fun and frustrating hobby. :) Nothing gets me in that focus zone like working on a level or cl oding a new gameplay system. I think it's the thrill of tweaking, testing, tweaking, over and over again, which eventually produces a very satisfying product. I'm currently working on a Godot project (highly recommend the engine for hobbyists). The last project I released is a free total conversion survival horror mod for Half-life 2 – https://fourthstoa.itch.io/the-apocalypse-of-eden https://fourthstoa.itch.io/the-apocalypse-of-eden

susam 3y ago

I wrote a tiny invaders-style game last year: https://susam.net/invaders.html https://susam.net/invaders.html HN threads about it: • https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30334667 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30334667 • https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34464865 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34464865 It was, in fact, a childhood dream of mine to write a game like this. However, the little GW-BASIC programming I knew and the very limited access to computers I had during my childhood was insufficient to write anything more sophisticated than simple text-based adventure programs. This game is written using plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It uses HTML5 Canvas for graphics and Web Audio for sound. Although 25 years too late, writing this little game fulfilled that childhood dream of mine!

blarg1 3y ago

I am/was, some how I ended up with my own programming language instead.

Cthulhu_ 3y ago

I've had short stints but I overthink / over-engineer and lose interest very quickly, lol. A good platform that forces you to think small is pico-8, it's got all the tooling built in but it's on a very small screen and you're limited to something like 8K tokens of source code. But some of the games they've built in it are great, like Celeste. I've tried a platformer (from a tutorial) and a Zelda-like game, but got stuck at some point so I should make something even smaller / simpler. Maybe that tunnel game mentioned in the OP, I used to love games like that. Oh, and the first game I made from a tutorial was like the 'helicopter game', single button, randomly generated levels, that kinda thing. Can be cobbled together in a matter of hours.

courseofaction 3y ago

Worked in AAA, left to keep it a hobby. Great experience, but not the career for me. I'm very excited for AI enabling people with cool ideas to achieve them much faster - game dev is far too technically labor intensive for a lot of creative types, it'll be fun to see how AI-enabled tooling allows more creators to realize their visions. At a stretch, I'm hoping it'll produce the same explosion of individuated expression as widespread literacy did with the novel.

johnnyanmac 3y ago

Yes, and no? I work in professional spaces as an engine/graphics programmer for some 7 years now. But I've also been doing stuff on the side. Nothing serious tho, so no links to show you. Thing is, the kind of game I want requires some competent art and at this point I think it's better for me to learn that. So while (very very slowly) planning my game and learning knowledge professional, I want to do some classes in art for a few years, and hopefully by that time I can start to make a game that will truly wow people. The kind that makes you say "wow, this was made by 1 person?". That's my goal. Don't care if it takes 2 months or 10 years, but I feel like I already lost so much time. (note: I'm not opposed to help. Far from it. But I have nothing to offer and all my friends aren't really doing that kinda thing. I imagine the art I use may not even be final art. Just enough to show I'm serious and maybe attract an artist who actually knows what they are doing).

karmakurtisaani 3y ago
Did you consider using placeholder art, or paying a real artist? I don't think the prices would be exorbitant if you don't need gigabytes of art.
- johnnyanmac 3y ago
  >if you don't need gigabytes of art Unfortunately, that is indeed the case. Think action adventure game with a moderately sized over-world and a few dozen types of enemies (I DON'T want it to be open world, but from a technical POV it will probably have similar challenges). I certainly can greybox some of this, but a lot of the feel will depend heavily on some good VFX, and likely some minor environmental deformation. I definitely can't put all that off into late development. I will inevitably have to pay for a few artists, but Ideally I'd wouldn't be asking for concepting more so than polish and giving a cohesive direction to it all.

falsaberN1 3y ago

I do, but only as a hobby. I could have taken it as a career choice but the fun is in pursuing my own ideas, designing my own characters, design the cinematics, the dialogue, their equipment and how they use it...and of course the code and visuals to make it happen. The idea of working on someone else's design seems atrocious.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 3y ago

Yeah. And no, I'm not linking them for anyone for two reasons: -I value the tiny shred of anonymity I have here so I can continue to express stupid opinions without being too self conscious about it. -Honestly they just aren't very good, at least not in any traditional sense. I find that I am not passionate enough about most of my ideas to expend the time that seems necessary to flesh them out into a coherent and worthwhile experience.

stuckinhell 3y ago

On the side using Unity as a family activity. The kids love the official demo projects, and I'm slowly teaching them code. My dreams of opening a wife and husband studio are dead dead dead after seeing all the failed hopes and dreams of indie developers on reddit, discord, etc.

prox 3y ago
Yeah, unless you get some good backing out of the gate it’s only something you can do on the side. And maybe hope for a banger like Project Zomboid time to shine. But sounds great as a family activity!