All Questions
56,272
questions
427
votes
1
answer
42k
views
How can I effectively manage a hobby game project?
How can I successfully finish a hobby game project in my free time?
How do I motivate myself to keep it up and drive right through to the finish without losing interest or motivation along the way?
320
votes
1
answer
176k
views
What are good games to "earn your wings" with? [closed]
I believe that in order to become a good game developer, you need to make games.
From a programmer's perspective, what are some good entry level games to get your hands dirty? What skills and ...
311
votes
14
answers
27k
views
How can I find an optimum set of colors for 10 players?
I want to give each of 10 players a unique identifying color. Is there an optimum set of colors for this? How do I create one?
Every set I've come up with contains colors that are too similar.
...
- 2,945
271
votes
11
answers
110k
views
When should I use a fixed or variable time step?
Should a game loop be based on fixed or variable time steps? Is one always superior, or does the right choice vary by game?
Variable time step
Physics updates are passed a "time elapsed since last ...
- 2,859
252
votes
36
answers
37k
views
How to prevent the "Too awesome to use" syndrome?
When you give the player a rare but powerful item which can only be used once but is never really required to proceed, most players will not use it at all, because they are waiting for the perfect ...
214
votes
4
answers
23k
views
How can I store game metadata in a .png file?
Spore allows player-created creatures to be shared by exporting a .png file. That .png is a photo of the creature, but if it's ...
- 2,941
206
votes
17
answers
120k
views
How does a single non-artistic programmer make a game? [closed]
I'd like to try my hand at making games. In making some simple ones, I realised I can't do art!
I've tried to find others to help: Most existing teams wouldn't want me because of my limited ...
user7383
192
votes
35
answers
36k
views
How do you prevent inflation in a virtual economy?
With your typical MMORPG, players can usually farm the world for raw materials essentially forever. Monsters/mineral veins/etc are usually on some sort of respawn timer, so other than time there ...
185
votes
1
answer
49k
views
What is the role of "systems" in a component-based entity architecture?
I've been reading a lot about entity components and systems and have thought that the idea of an entity just being an ID is quite interesting.
However I don't know how this completely works with the ...
- 1,961
174
votes
10
answers
35k
views
Why is it so bad to optimize too early?
After looking into optimization a bit, I have discovered (literally everywhere) that it seems to be a universally recognized sin to optimize a game too early.
I really don't understand this, would it ...
- 2,759
170
votes
13
answers
150k
views
What math should all game programmers know? [closed]
Simple enough question: What math should all game programmers have a firm grasp of in order to be successful?
I'm not specifically talking about rendering math or anything in the niche areas of game ...
168
votes
3
answers
165k
views
What is Vulkan and how does it differ from OpenGL?
Khronos Group (the standards body behind OpenGL) has just announced Vulkan:
Vulkan is the new generation, open standard API for high-efficiency access to graphics and compute on modern GPUs. This ...
- 13.4k
161
votes
25
answers
29k
views
How do I get players to say "no" when they are afraid of missing out on sidequests or XP?
In my RPG, I have a companion NPC who is overconfident in his abilities and lacks self-control. I wanted to create a few situations where the player needs to reign them in and tell them "no"....
- 1,947
160
votes
8
answers
56k
views
Why are MVC & TDD not employed more in game architecture? [closed]
I will preface this by saying I haven't looked a huge amount of game source, nor built much in the way of games.
But coming from trying to employ 'enterprise' coding practices in web apps, looking at ...
- 1,731
158
votes
31
answers
170k
views
Must read game development books [closed]
Let's make a list of the best books that every game developer should read.
Each answer should have a single book (by title and optionally author), a link to buy the book, and a short synopsis of what ...
156
votes
3
answers
36k
views
What is the point of a borderless fullscreen window?
Quite a lot of game allow user to play in a "borderless fullscreen window" instead of a "fullscreen mode". I've been wondering. Why would one prefer a fullscreen window over the "built-in" fullscreen ...
- 1,792
155
votes
11
answers
65k
views
How closely can a game legally resemble another?
Most games build on other games' successes and many are downright clones. Where is the limit of imitation before legal issues come into play? Is it down to literary or graphic work like characters and ...
- 2,358
154
votes
18
answers
49k
views
What things should an indie game developer never do?
What are some of the biggest - and better yet: insidious and unexpected - mistakes that indie game developers make? Especially when making the transition from hobbyist to full-time indie?
149
votes
22
answers
49k
views
STL for games, yea or nay? [closed]
Every programming language has its standard library of containers, algorithms, and other helpful stuff. With languages like C#, Java, and Python, it's practically inconceivable to use the language ...
- 12k
148
votes
10
answers
91k
views
How do you generate tileable Perlin noise?
Related:
Simple noise generation
Understanding Perlin Noise
I'd like to generate tileable Perlin noise. I'm working from Paul Bourke's PerlinNoise*() functions, ...
- 17k
137
votes
11
answers
29k
views
How can I create borders in an open-world game that don't feel artificial?
When creating open-world maps, a big issue to take into consideration is how "borders" of sorts are implemented. Obviously, in an open-world game, there shouldn't be invisible-wall borders, as it ...
- 1,710
137
votes
1
answer
98k
views
What should a main game loop do?
Generally, what are the core things that one should do in the game loop, and what are some things that one shouldn't do in the game loop?
136
votes
9
answers
102k
views
What are some programming design patterns that are useful in game development? [closed]
I have a few books on Design Patterns, and have read some articles, but cannot intuitively figure out which programming design patterns would be useful in game development.
For example, I have a book ...
136
votes
16
answers
22k
views
How to avoid players getting lost in and/or bored by the meta game?
Yesterday, I noticed something that I had never noticed consciously before, but which had "ruined" more or less all games that I have ever played:
The longer you play a game, the more you get lost in ...
- 1,383
135
votes
4
answers
20k
views
What are "affordances" in game design?
I keep hearing the word "affordance" in terms of game design, most recently in the movie Indie Game: Life After. I also vaguely remember it from a UX class in undergrad. But I have no idea what it ...
- 5,775
125
votes
13
answers
146k
views
How to develop RPG Damage Formulas?
I'm developing a classical 2d RPG (in a similar vein to final fantasy) and I was wondering if anyone had some advice on how to do damage formulas/links to resources/examples? I'll explain my current ...
- 1,853
123
votes
20
answers
46k
views
Is it unethical to make a game AI that is secretly non-competitive?
In several games the AI is designed to give the player an easy time without their knowledge. This can be having a 0% chance to hit the first time you appear, enemy letting you sneak up on them by not ...
- 1,240
123
votes
12
answers
18k
views
Has piracy ever resulted in a developer getting shut down?
Has piracy EVER resulted in a developer getting shut down? That is, has piracy ever been so detrimental that it brought about the downfall of a game studio? If I were to release a game, should I be ...
- 1,247
120
votes
10
answers
20k
views
How does entity communication work?
I have two user cases:
How would entity_A send a take-damage message to entity_B?
How ...
- 7,562
118
votes
28
answers
29k
views
How to deal with "Scrooge McDucks" in my fixed-currency-amount game?
I'm currently working on a very small scale MMO game planned to support approximately hundred players per server, but we're having trouble with our economical model.
For various reasons we have ...
- 7,800
115
votes
21
answers
76k
views
Why is it so expensive to develop an MMO? [closed]
I want to develop an MMO, like World of Warcraft, but some basic research says that it is going to take a lot of time and money. I'd like to know why.
Why is it so expensive to develop an MMO?
- 5,105
114
votes
6
answers
44k
views
Version control for game development - issues and solutions? [closed]
There are a lot of version control systems available, including open-source ones such as Subversion, Git, and Mercurial, plus commercial ones such as Perforce.
How well do they support the process ...
114
votes
7
answers
257k
views
How do I get started making Android games? [closed]
I am new to game development. I am interested in developing 2D games for the Android platform. What is the best place to start with (i.e) What are the basics and how to proceed? I already have ...
113
votes
13
answers
33k
views
Why are people developing and publishing games online without charging money?
What's the incentive of sharing games one designs themselves for free online such as itch.io? I see people doing this and I don't understand.
- 1,233
111
votes
4
answers
24k
views
What is actually moving in an endless runner?
For example the famous Flappy Bird game, or anything that sort really,
is the player(in this case the bird, or the camera whichever you prefer) moving forward or is the whole world moving backwards(...
- 989
111
votes
10
answers
9k
views
What makes a computer opponent feel alive?
Are there any recommended blogs or whitepapers that talk about making the AI in an RPG game feel more real? (Specifically in turn based combat.)
I know something must be out there, but I am only ...
user159
111
votes
2
answers
40k
views
How can I create a "see behind walls" effect?
Divinity: Original Sin 2 has a beautiful see-through system. When I go behind walls, a splash mask will appear, and when I move around the game, it changes. It's like a dissolve shader, and has a ...
- 8,313
110
votes
7
answers
65k
views
How can I simulate a bad internet connection for testing purposes?
I am developing an online multiplayer game. It works well when I test it on the local area network, but before I release it I would like to test how the user-experience works out for someone who has ...
- 118k
107
votes
11
answers
39k
views
Good resources for learning about game architecture? [closed]
Are there any good resources for learning about game architectures? I am looking for high level overviews of different architectures. I tend to find information about the various pieces of a game such ...
106
votes
13
answers
30k
views
What are the advantages of putting cheat codes into a game?
Some games have cheat codes in them, but I'm not sure I want to add some to mine because I fear they'll ruin the game by making it too easy to beat.
What would be the advantages of putting cheat ...
- 1,819
106
votes
6
answers
177k
views
What is the proper way to handle data between scenes?
I am developing my first 2D game in Unity and I have come across what seems an important question.
How do I handle data between scenes?
There seems to be different answers to this:
Someone mention ...
- 1,998
104
votes
3
answers
15k
views
How can I create a 'flaming' effect like in Ocarina of Time's title screen?
I'd like to recreate a flaming effect like the one from the logo on the title screen of the N64 game 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time,' shown below:
A quick look into the textures used in the ...
- 1,163
104
votes
5
answers
21k
views
Why are games built on cross-platform engines sometimes exclusive to Windows?
If an engine supports Windows, OS X, and Linux, why do we sometimes see games using these engines, like Space Hulk: Deathwing, restricted to Windows only?
- 1,085
102
votes
12
answers
72k
views
What are some good podcasts for game developers to listen to? [closed]
This could include specific game dev, general dev or general game podcasts.
Please provide a brief description along with links.
98
votes
7
answers
6k
views
How to deal with (bad?) player suggestions
Every game which builds a community while still being in active development will soon be confronted with players who post suggestions for new features on its forum. Most of these suggestions, however:
...
- 118k
98
votes
4
answers
77k
views
How should a one-man team do game audio?
Most game development (game design, art, programming, etc.) can be done by one person with relatively little equipment:
A game designer needs a pencil and paper, an artist Photoshop or Paint, a ...
- 5,158
96
votes
12
answers
15k
views
What data-type should I use for in-game currency?
In a simple business simulation game (built in Java + Slick2D), should a player's current amount of money be stored as a float or an ...
- 1,317
95
votes
9
answers
57k
views
Why do we move the world instead of the camera?
I heard that in an OpenGL game what we do to let the player move is not to move the camera but to move the whole world around.
For example here is an extract of this tutorial: OpenGL View matrix
...
- 5,691
93
votes
2
answers
25k
views
How do modern game engines achieve real-time rendering vs Blender's "slow" rendering?
I'm new to both gamedev and Blender, and there's something I can't shake:
In Blender, a single render (even using the more advanced Cycles renderer) can take up to 45 seconds on my machine. But ...
- 1,045
93
votes
3
answers
15k
views
How can I clean up excessive player-created rubble?
In my latest game I'm making, you can slice a 2D object arbitrarily, demonstrated in this gif:
You can continuously cut it into hundreds or thousands of pieces. This doesn't create a lot of lag, ...
- 1,055