In March of this year (2023, for future folks), I started my journey of becoming an indie game developer. The idea kicked off when I talked to my partner about how I was interested in getting deeper into the games, not just playing them but what made them fun or exciting.
We had previously looked at some schools and such online but had always found it too code-heavy, so I had shied away from proceeding. However, we got the Google keywords right this time and stumbled upon UBC’s Writing for Video Games. That marks my pathway toward deciding I wanted to be an indie gamer began.
While working through the course, I was highly intrigued by the material, and Unity was brought up as a platform many people start with. After some research, I found that Unity has its only learning platform and is an EXCELLENT place to start, even if you have zero background (cue me).
This was where things started to fall into place and shape for me. I created a plan based on various online and free or low-cost courses and videos that will enable me to make my first game. Yes, I know there are a lot of actual school programs out there, but at this point in my life, that isn’t my style and isn’t for me.
One of the key things I wanted to ensure I included in my plan was some art. I have done art as a hobby since I was small (I almost went to college for it but decided against it and got an information systems degree instead). The course I found was from the University of Michigan on Coursera and covered the topic of Pixel Art. The course is designed to teach you how to make pixel art and get it into Unity. More of my opinions on this course are below.
Ok, so with that in mind, here is the plan I constructed for myself:
The UBC Writing for Video Game certificate (minus the last course, because right now I am not trying to get a job in the industry, but rather learn an entirely new set of skills and have some fun).
The Coursera Pixel Art course, so I can get my head and hand back into drawing since I plan to make my own assets for the game.
All the Unity courses (Essentials, Junior Programming, and Core Creative).
A fun video tutorial on YouTube from Game Makers Tool Kit - The Unity Tutorial For Complete Beginners
Create a very basic game.
While this might be my first DevBlog, I have been progressing already through my plan, and I want to share my thoughts and opinions on what I have done so far.
I have completed the first course in the UBC program and am about halfway through the second. The coursework style is up my alley, as it’s a solid mix of videos and reading and then concludes with discussion forum-based assignments. It keeps me engaged, and the fact that they have real folks from the industry sharing the information alongside watching clips of video games and analyzing them is just better than I could have thought it would be. So far, this program is a 10/10 in my book.
I also just finished the entire Pixel Art course on Coursera. This one has some highs and lows to it. The joys include the fact that it pushed me to draw in new ways, and I finally found myself wanting to make art and having a purpose behind doing so. I struggle with making art just for the sake of it, so I like that making the assets has an end value or purpose. It was also decently structured in how they progressed from having you learn about assets, tile sets, and character design.
The challenge, though, with the course, and what I consider low, is the age of the course and the speed of certain things. The course is at least five years old, which means Photoshop and Unity have changed quite a bit since it launched. Either the steps were completely different or, in some cases, just no longer existed. Eventually, I understood to watch all of the videos and understand just the concepts they were trying to teach and then go off draw on my own and not try and follow along. For the Unity pieces that I couldn’t align, I would google away to solve them.
If you have the patience to work around those challenges, the course gets about a 6/10. Another important thing I did for this course and the remainder of my indie dev career was I bought a Wacom tablet with a screen. I tried using the small tablet you look at on the computer screen, but my brain couldn't get around everything being touch screen these days. It was an investment, but I think it was highly worth it.
As a result of the Coursera course, though, I did come up with a basic game idea. I already had a relatively complex game idea, but it was probably not the best thing to start with. However, I continue thinking about how things can apply to it once I have my big girl pants on.
I am not to give much away yet, but the plan is for it to be a pirate game (you make pirate assets in the Coursera course, so that’s how this started), but I am currently calling it the anti-pirate game. You might be wondering what that means; for now, you shall have to speculate. I hope to put it on Steam for free to see the process.
So that’s pretty much where I am at right now. Next is continuing to work on the UBC courses and finishing the Unity Essentials course. I should be back soon-ish with a new blog to fill you all in on my progress.
Check out some of my assets below, including animations that I made in Photoshop from pixel art to work in Unity.