Indie game : Ayla

am 16, and have loved games, unlike many others and not just cod and the like. i have seriously thought of creating some of my own games as a serious hobby to keep me over the summer, how would/did you start to create an indie game, and what software and tutorials should i watch. Thank-you very much, i am also an accomplished Ms painter if that would contribute .

Start with Flash games. Easy, simple stuff and work your way up from there.

Quote from Serenius

Start with Flash games. Easy, simple stuff and work your way up from there.

i'd agree here... or even better, i'd recommend working on mods first. Small mods will allow you to have a great foundation to work off of before jumping into something more heavy. Id even go as far as working with an engine that would be easier for you to complete something (like Quake 1). The more times you go through a complete dev cycle through and through you'll learn a lot. From there, getting into your own from scratch games like flash, etc. will be easier.

A lot of people dive head on into an engine like UDK for their first time. I always advise against this as it is so much to learn and understand. There is too much perfume sprayed onto the core basics that a lot of the time the core basics are forgotten. For example, almost all FPS level design takes away the core foundations established in Quake 1. The programming side with QC is also rather simple and you can take away a lot of core fundamentals - as well as a massively documented dev community that is still breathing even after almost 15 years. It's always hard for people when first starting to accept going back to old games. But, it is really important to understand the core fundamentals of what makes good art, design and code within constraints. More than likely as you design your game and discover the art you want to accomplish- you'll find performance constraints are the greatest challenge. Working with constraints in mind from the gates will allow you to make fewer mistakes in the long run.

New engines and techniques allow people who know what they're doing to develop with ease... but it also allows people who don't know what they're doing make a lot of mistakes that are covered with the new perfume technology has given us (see abuse of: Depth of Field, Bloom, Crazy Bump, Global Illumination, MudBox, etc.)

Good luck! 16 is the age i started getting serious about game dev so i know its possible!

awesome stuff man, lovely video too.