I wanted to learn game development instead of playing because I got bored. I used to do programming as a hobby at hs, but I havent coded for 18+ months. Now I am back, slowly learning and trying not to use ai (hard)

I am 19 and I have a blue collar job, decent pay but all my money goes to savings for an unrelated reason, I left with little money to spend. I have 4-5 hours everyday for this hobby.

Should I start see it as a side part time job? Maybe save enough to buy an used old civic after couple of years? I watched some youtube videos about it and it may be doable, I am not trying to become the 1% or the next schedule 1/stardew valley/minecraft. I am unaware of the current market what are my expectations should be.

I dont have anyone to feed ahah, what harm to try right?

  • tomatosametomato@piefed.zipEnglish
    6·
    9 days ago

    Pong source code is available in many languages. You could have also made it in a second if you copied someone else’s work.

    Now seriously: I make games for myself for 8 years now. It’s really really easy if you don’t have to please someone else. They are fun too (for my use case: 1 or 2 thumb controlled bullet hell games for long train rides)

    However actual video games are hard to make. Can you make music/sound effects? Otherwise you have to pay for it. Can you make sprites/3D models? Otherwise you have to pay for it. There is balance (data science or you gotta pay for it), there is accessibility (you don’t wanna trigger someone’s epilepsy / can they play your game if they are missing a thumb?) Do you want a story (pls don’t), can you write it(pls pay for it if I have to suffer through a cutscene)?

    if you believe sum of all the costs would be smaller than the earnings, go for it. Otherwise it’s a very fun hobby like painting or playing the guitar.

    I like this video if you have 52/(youtube speed factor you can handle) minutes:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmwbYl6f11c