Chreative Gaming

Blog

Create a post

by Padre • admin

Apr 12, 2024

Team work makes the dream work! or does it make it jerk?

I'm sure many of you have for certain heard the expression: "Teamwork makes the dream work". But quite honestly, based on past experiences and stats, I realized that it's often quite the opposite... "Teamwork makes the dream jerk", because more often than not, that dream or objective gets slowed down and advances in a very unsteady manner, making the whole experience feel very jerky. So why would one still want to be in a team then? Well let's weight out the pros and cons. This is a pretty important step when thinking about being an indie developer. Choosing whether you want to do the adventure by yourself or with people will dictate a lot about how you work and what you work on as well.

Pros of working in a team
First, let's start with why people tend to do it. There are many reasons why people do it and I won't be able to list them all here, so I'll list just name a few that, in my opinion, are the most important ones. I believe, the biggest reason is simply the idea of 'divide and conquer'. One person can't be good at everything, so having multiple people in the team allows for strengths to be redistributed through the different aspects of the game. One person might be better in animation or art while someone else's strength relates to coding and programming.

Having multiple people on the project also allows for more brains and therefore more ideas and creativity on the project. When it's time to spitball some feature ideas, you're more likely to hear some interesting ideas coming from others that can expand your way of thinking!

Another benefit, and that pertains more to the bigger teams, so it applies more and more the bigger your team is, is that having a lot of people looking at the game prevents major bug issues. Whenever a new feature is coming out to production, if you have a bigger line of command, it might need to pass through 5-10 people (or more) before it can get release. That means, less chance of not spotting bugs or errors related to that feature.

Cons of working in a team
The other side of the same coin is mainly that sometimes there are too many cooks in the kitchen. You don't have as much freedom as working by yourself. It then becomes really hard to make a decision about something because everyone has their own opinion and wants to do it their way because they believe it's the best. One way to solve that issue is to appoint a leader that will sort of have veto over some of the decisions that are being discussed. Sometimes, the issue with that is that there might be some resentment over time towards the leader if they never pick one's ideas.

Another issue that might come up is timing and orchestrating meetings. The more you are in a team, and the more difficult and complicated it gets to organize a meeting where everyone's availabilities match. It's easier when everyone's working full time on it because they must have dedicated time for it but if it's still on a part-time basis, it can get very complex.

Lastly, not only meeting the right people to work with can be a challenge in and of itself, making sure that everything gets through the whole chain of commands can slow down operations tremendously. For example, if you want to change something, you would now have to talk to the director that would relate the information higher up the ladder to then eventually come back down to the designer and so on and so forth until someone gets the OK to actually start working on it. That line of communication, depending on the team you're working with can take days before getting a response. This issue is mostly relatable to bigger teams as smaller teams usually have a way to rapidly contact one another.

What's the verdict?
That being said, it's all up to you and what you aim to do with your studio or your project! I think both are challenging and you can have a good or a bad time whether you choose the solo route or the team route, it's really just about which one you're gonna stick with through the pain!

news

by Padre • admin

Apr 10, 2024

Hitting the gamer's block?

I'm sure most of you have heard of the writer's block. Well, if you haven't, that's either a really good sign, or a really bad sign. It would be a good sign if you have written many creative pieces, essays, dissertations and alike and have never encountered a time where you felt blocked in your writings. It would be a pretty bad sign if you don't know what it is because you've never really written anything. I think writing is great and a good way to externalize a lot of thoughts that we may have or even clear up one's mind.

Essentially writer's block is when you hit a wall in your writing. Usually a creative wall. You're trying to think about a plot or about the next twists and turns of the main character or it could even simply be trying to organize your thoughts, and nothing seems to make sense. That happens to the best of us and more often than one would think. If you Google it, the best way to deal with it, according to professionals is simply to write. Get on the writing and basically, don't let the block, block you.

Same goes for gamer's block!
Game developers are hit with the gamer's block when they have to create certain parts of their games that may require more imagination or creativity. A lot of the times, indie developers can have a hard time creating a new game that is 1. creative and original and 2. Fun to play. That comes from the exhaustive amount of other games that can be found online or on any game libraries. Game developers may feel like there are no other games that can be done that are not a rip off of something that was already made. There is some truth to that but there is still so much room for new creative games!

One of the best ways to get rid of that gamer's block and unlock full creativity when making a game is to let your mind wonder! We've worked with a specific technique and we decided to compile it in a very easy and comprehensible step-by-step method so here it is:

1. Figure out the type of game you'd like to make. ie. Fighting game, MOBA, arcade game, etc.?
2. Look around you and stop your sight on one or two things. This can eventually be extended to things you imagined today or things you saw today. ie. perfume bottle, yoga mat, earbud case.
3. Focus on one thing, look at it deeply and let your mind wonder. ie. focusing on the perfume bottle.
4. Come up with a basic concept based on that thing you observed. ie. Guess the ingredients of the perfume based on its scent description.
5. Think of different situations following that same basic concept. ie. Bottles could be watered down. They could have fake brand labels, etc.
6. Add features that add to the experience for the player without modifying the main objective of the game. Think of 'What if'. ie. What if a perfume changes its scent when in contact with oxygen. What if the character has to find specific ingredients to create the wanted scent, etc.
7. Repeat 5 and 6 until you're satisfied. Make sure you allow your idea to grow. You should know what aspect of the game you DON'T want to change and then be open to change everything else.
8. Set a core feature. ie. Player can only smell one scent and has to deduct other scents based on that one.
9. Imagine it! Very important step since that's the ultimate goal, to make a fun game. Ask yourself real questions. ie. Are there a lot of dull moments? Do you see people getting bored easily?
10. Repeat 4-10 until satisfied!

Here you have it! A step-by-step guide that can help you create a creative, original and fun game now without having to think for hours! That methodology will definitely get you over the gamer's block and if it doesn't, message me personally and I'll help you right away. It's obviously not guaranteed to work for everyone but it's at least something that has worked for me and the people I've introduced it to.

Let me know how it works for you and feel free to try it and leave your concept in a blog to share with the community!

news

by Padre • admin

Mar 26, 2024

Should I listen to feedback or to myself?

It's already a process to know and figure out what one wants to do when they enter the game development world, but unfortunately it doesn't always become easier as time goes by. Simply making the choice to become an indie developer over working for a company or vice-versa is a major decision in itself. These types of hard decisions will keep on coming as you get deeper and deeper in the game development world and especially on the indie side, since usually when you get to work for a company a lot of decisions are made for you.

Creating your own art
A big part of being an indie developer is creating your own style and art. What does that mean? That means you're putting your idea out there as a creative piece waiting to get criticized and judged by other people. A lot of people get offended when their game is not liked by everyone and with reason; you've put your blood, sweat and tears in the game and you just wish that everyone could understand and feel your vision for the game. However, that's not what art is. Art should be let for interpretation to an extent, and that's where comes all its beauty. The fact that not everybody experiences the exact same thing, or the exact same feeling is what makes art interesting. Same thing goes with games. Some games will bring different emotions to different people depending on their past experience and their stage of life. There definitely are games that I used to dislike and as I picked it up again after some time, I ended up liking them or vice-versa. So understanding that your game will NOT be liked by everyone is very important.

When should I be looking for feedback?
Always. At the end of the day, you're still making the game for the users and you still want them to find the game fun for them. The tricky part is as you're making the game, you'll have to be very vigilant because not every feedback is a good feedback. So, sometimes you'll have to figure out if that's a feedback that you want to keep or if you'd rather listen to yourself and your direction. Both don't have to always be mutually exclusive but making sure you keep your north is very important. Once you know what's the big picture and the general direction that you're trying to take your game, you can start asking for feedback. The ones that stray you away from your general direction might not be the ones you want to follow. The ones that understand the vision and tell you other ways to reach it, these are the most valuable ones because they align with what you're aiming to do.

Sometimes, if enough people tell you that the direction you're heading is not interesting for them, you might also need to consider pivoting and changing direction. That's very common in a lot of games and just startups in general. People start with an assumption that gamers or users will like and after doing some testing and some researching, they realize that their assumption was not quite true so they change to fit what the users want. That's a great way of pivoting.

If you're looking into knowing exactly and how to pivot, I suggest reading: The Lean Startup.

news

by Padre • admin

Mar 02, 2024

Are there gatekeepers in the gaming community?

It's often pretty hard to describe the gaming community as a whole since there are so many games right now and all the games have their own community that are fully different from one another. With different communities, there will inevitably be different cultures. More mature games like FPS (first person shooters) or TPS (Third Person Shooters) will most likely have a more aggressive and raw culture. If ever you want to have a good laugh, look at some Gears Of War competitions, they are WILD.

That being said, these communities are especially nowadays fully open to anyone who's good enough to play or even just willing to play. There are no gatekeepers in and of itself but is the culture appealing to anyone who'd like to join? Let's explore that.

What are gatekeepers?
Gatekeepers are typically people that will want to keep a certain thing only within a specific community. These happen often when talking about food in certain culture or ethnicities for example. People of one community won't want people from another community making their food.

It doesn't exactly that way in the gaming community, but the culture itself in some of these communities doesn't allow some people to thrive in these environments. For example, you'll rarely see a girl in a game like Gears of War because the amount of insult and aggresivity that one receives, it's not anyone that can withstand that. Same goes for marginalised communities. They'll have to expect to have some low-hanging fruit jokes and insults thrown at them because in the heat of the moment, comes out what comes out.

On the other hand, that's also what makes it so fun to watch and so entertaining. Furthermore, it is what makes competition even more fierce and intense and makes for great finals.

news

by Padre • admin

Feb 26, 2024

Game published = money?

Being a game developer or designer, you usually have a lot of different goals and objectives that you can be aiming for while you're making your game. It always falls under the dilemma of having to choose between your brain and your heart. That dilemma is present in a lot of spheres in life and is only accentuated in artistic and creative fields and industries like gaming. Your brain most likely will opt for the option that will generate the most amount of money and that typically is the more logical option, whereas your heart will tend to lean towards your more artsy and emotional side. Applied in gaming, that decision has to be made when choosing whether you want to follow the path that will sell more or follow the one that you feel represent more what you were going for.

Know where you're going
If you end up choosing the more logical and rational side, you'll aim to make your game as likeable as possible so that players and potential publishers can fall in love with the game as soon as they play it. Your goal at that point would probably be to get your game in front of some investors or publishers to get them to pick it up. If you've followed a few posts or have been to the Webinar #1, you would know that one of our games got picked up by a publisher. Whenever I say that, a lot of people ask: You must now be rich. And the truth is I am. haha, no, not quite but there's this assumption that if your game has been published, it automatically means that you made a lot of money. Let's get things straight, it does not!

Different strokes for different folks
There are so many publishing deals and publishers out there that it almost doesn't give you any information when someone tells you that their game was published. All you know is that the game was essentially shared through some type of gaming network that can potentially bring you extra revenue. However, not everyone is looking for the same clauses. For example, my publishing deal was on a per download basis as opposed to some other ones that could have a flat rate for the whole contract. Obviously the more budget the publisher have and the better the deals are, but also the more you'll have freedom to negotiate your deal.

Do it for the gram!
A lot of times too, it could be a newer publisher and they don't have that much money, in which case some people also accept to have it published for free. But at least that's a good and cheap way to get new eyeballs on your game, because at the end of the day, that's what really matters!

Have you had any experiences with Publishers? Dealing with them, etc?

news

by Padre • admin

Feb 16, 2024

How hard is it to hack a game?

There are a lot of things to think about as a game developer when developing a game. Not only you're thinking about the front-facing part of the game but you also have to be aware of how you write the back-end of the game. You often want to make sure that your code is easily readable and with a lot of comments so you can easily find yourself in it later on. Usually, a good rule of thumb is to aim to write as few as possible. You want to make things as concise as possible. That's generally the case but sometimes you have to make exceptions for different reasons that we might cover on a different post. But one big part to think about as well when writing your code is to have it be hack-proof.

Can you fully make a game hack-proof?
No. But that doesn't mean you can't try! It also depends heavily on what type of game and infrastructure you're building. Most independent games have the blessing and the curse of not having as many people playing it. That means that the odds of having someone that wants to hack your game becomes fairly low but also, it sucks because you don't have as much people playing your game. Comparatively, a any AAA games, since there are always a lot of people playing from the jump, you'll find a lot of people trying to hack them, and in thoses cases, it's important to be ready for them.

Indie protection vs AA protection
The way one is going to protect their game against hacking will depend on the target audience and the scale of the game. If the game is meant for young kids and children, you won't have to put that much time and effort into your hacker protection since if someone hacks the game, they wouldn't get much out of it, especially if it's not an online game. On the contrary, if it's a massive online game that affects a lot of people, you'll make sure to take care of all the possible hackers that could happen. There are some add-ons and pluggins that help you with that but you can also make sure that you don't put sensitive information in your code. For example, you can hide passwords and access codes into environment variables so that even if a hacker goes into the code to be able to change things, they still won't have access to that data.

How hard is it really to hack then?
For a smaller game, not very hard. There are a lot of programs and applications that will let you get into the source code in just a few clicks. Fortunately, there are also other programs and pluggins that allow you to counter these ones. At that point, it's just a matter of knowing who has the better application or pluggin. Obviously, it gets to a level where people program their own malware to get through the code and change specific variables or things in the game. That takes a lot of time and effort for people to do and most of the time, can be fixed and resolved within a few days once the hole has been breached.

All in all, everything gets hacked all the time and that's why there are people who make a living out of cybersecurity; people keep pushing the boundaries and finding new ways to hack. You just have to learn how to live with it. And Hey, if your game is getting hacked, that's a pretty good sign, You made it!

news

by Padre • admin

Feb 13, 2024

The most creative games I've played

Having been part of quite a few competitive games, I've always had an inclination towards games that allowed me to do what I wanted and more. I think that feeling that a player gets when they feel like they can do anything comes from the freedom of control and movement. Usually in a certain world, a player quickly understands its limitations, what they can and cannot do. That sets the tone in terms of control and movement. So, when the ability to fully control the part that you CAN control and even potentially control the parts that you thought you couldn't, is where the difference is made. On the production side, that's where the creativity aspect starts.

Why are competitive games very creative?
Within the confines of the world, the player finds himself, with a limited amount of options. Obviously, with a controller, there are only so many combinations that can be done as well. So, acknowledging the boundaries and limitations, the developers have to carefully choose every set of combinations whether it's for the controller or keyboard to make the player feel comfortable and not restrained. Taking League of Legends, for example, the movement is very basic and you only have 3 skills + 1 Ultimate. Now, what is one reason League of Legends feels so good to play? It's because even with only 3 + 1 skills, the player feels like they can move however they like. The developer opted to go with one of the skills always being a movement or 'escape' type of skill that would allow for faster and sometimes unpredictable movement. The other two skills then, just complement the character, ie. attacking skills. That competitive game breakdown can be applied to many highly successful competitive games such as Gears of War and its wall bounce or Smash Brothers and its Up-B recoveries. If you've played these games, you know!

Creative games do more than competitive games
There are many ways a game can become competitive, being creative is definitely a big part of it. However, there are also a lot of games that are very creative that are not necessarily creative. A good and fun way to explore fun and original concepts is to make a lot of minigames within one big game. That's a concept that Nintendo explored quite often. We immediately think of Super Mario Party or WarioWare Inc. Mega Party Game, but they utilized that idea in many more games such as Super Mario Sunshine or even some iterations of Zelda. It's a good way to test all the different creative ideas and to see what format sticks and what people like. Having said all that, so far I've only told you what I considered to be creative games and how they become arcade games or competitive games. So here are the games that I consider being very creative:

My list of top creative games in no particular order:
- Fortnite
- Bulletstorm
- Gears of War series
- Starfox Adventure
- Super Mario Sunshine
- League of Legends
- Super Smash Brothers
- Rocket League
- Omega Strikers
- Loadout

I loved every single one of these games as they each offer something that is unique and can't be found in any other game. That's enough of a read for today, I'll describe in a future post which feature makes them so original and different from other games of their genres.

news

by Padre • admin

Feb 05, 2024

Top competitive games right now

As we're starting the new year, a lot of people are inspired to start something new. Whether it's starting a new game or finishing one for once, or meet more like-minded people, it's always good to have new goals or objectives to want to reach with the new year. Some people in the community operate in the game development world and others in the gaming world. For those in the latter, they might be looking for a new game to get into that they could try and see if they'd want to go full professional about. Although there are a lot of options, not all games are quite competitive, but you have to find the one that's going to fit you and your playstyle.

So we figured we would give you a list of some of the hottest competitive games in 2024. Of course, there will be more, and of course some games might become more or less popular as the year goes on.

Competitive MOBA games
First, we have the MOBA games that are and that have been widely popular for a while: League Of Legends, Dota 2 and Smite. For these games, you'll require a good mix of technical abilities and agility on your keyboard, as well as good strategizing to get to the opponent's base and destroy it.

Competitive Shooting Games
Then, we have the shooters for those who like fast-paced action games like: Apex Legends, Call of Duty Warzone 2, Fortnite, Overwatch and PUBG. Whether it's a battle royale or a smaller team based shooter game, from first-person to third-person, these games will test your fast reflexes and ability to think fast on a battlefield.

Competitive Fighting games
Other than these two categories, we now have the fighting games like: Mortal Kombat 1, King of Fighters XV, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Street Fighter 6, Tekken 7 and Super Smash Bros Ultimate. These are even faster-paced game and even more technical so get your button mashing ready. This time, you're most likely on your own in a 1v1 duel to death!

Competitive Sports games
Lastly, we'll find the sports category with games like Rocket League, FC 24 and NBA 2k24. These sports team game will immerge you in a team where you can compete with the team of your choice and aim to make better decisions than your counterpart. These games don't require as much technical skills but a lot of thinking and will be needed.

Did I miss anything for this year? Well these should be the most competitive games of 2024 so if you want to jump in on any of them, now's the time to do it!

news

by Padre • admin

Feb 03, 2024

How did I get my game published?

It can be a struggle sometimes for game developers to make a living off of games. Let alone knowing what to do to survive as a game developer. There are obviously many ways to not starve as a game developer and they're not always so obvious. One option that we've talked quite a few times is to get funded. However it's not always easy to get funded when it's your first game or first project. Another option that is more attainable and also very effective is to go the indie way and try to get your game published.

What does it mean to get your game published?
There are different ways you can consider your game published. In most ways, it's understood that it went through a publisher (bigger than you), but in some cases the developer is self-published which means that they're not going through anyone else to put their game out in the public. A publisher makes the marketing job easier as they specialize in putting games out in an environment where gamers go to play. In that fashion, they can often almost guarantee a number of users before your game even goes live. It sounds beautiful doesn't it? So why don't all developers do it? Well there's an application process.

How do you apply to be published?
Different publishing companies will have different ways of applying. You usually only have to go on their website or platform where it's most likely listed there how to apply. Most of the time, it's as simple as imputing your name and your game pitch. But some other times it can be a pretty laborious process. Especially when we're thinking of bigger publishing companies that have previously published games that have gone viral, they'll be more meticulous about who they want onboard. You have to keep in mind that when publishers take you, you automatically become an extension of them and you now represent their brand, so it makes sense that they'd want to make sure that your game aligns with their values and potential customers.

How did it work for me?
One of the game on the platform: Are you Two Smart, was picked up by a publisher in its earlier days before I took it off the market. How did it happen? On my end, I simply aimed to bring as much awareness as I could to the game. Whether it was on social media, to my friends and family or creating a buzz around having a hefty reward for the person who would successfully finish the game. I also partnered with some influencers and media personality to showcase my game in front of their audience. I got a general pretty good result. A lot of people liked it and ended up recommending it to other people in their circle. That word-to-mouth caused that traction to lead to a few publishers reaching out to me to get to partner with them. After considering all of them, I was able to make a decision based on what I needed at the time and where I was headed. This approach will not always work for everyone as it's not a fail-proof method but I do believe that if you put your best foot forward, you'll get some good opportunities coming your way.

If you have any games that were once published, please feel free to share them with the community and tell us your story!

news

by Padre • admin

Jan 31, 2024

What's going to be Netflix's Avatar: The last Airbender's next game?

Avatar! Everyone knows about it. You've either heard about it or watched it yourself. It's been here for years and is still relevant somehow until this day. However, in case you don't know what it is, Avatar: The Last Airbender is an animated TV series that was first aired in 2005. It's about a young 20 y/o named Aang and he's the current avatar, the only person who can control all four elements -water, earth, fire, and air- while all the others can only control one element. Aang is also the last one of the Air style. So the series goes through his life as a young adolescent having to bear this big responsibility and navigating through life that way.

What came from Avatar's success?
Avatar was a great success at the time, so much so that the game even came out only one year later. The RPG action-adventure game turned out to also be a success. More than 90% of players said that's what they expected and wanted from a game after having followed the series on TV. The developers of the game chose the more direct option for the game as that's the easiest way to make a game out of a movie if you ought to keep the storyline.

A lot of people ask us if we can adapt games to films or movies they made. Of course we can, and we also give you the option of being chreative with the conception of the game. The most straightforward way will always be an RPG action-adventure game. If you look at games like Avatar, Spiderman, or Batman, they all have the same way of implementing a game after the films or television series. The reason why they do it that way is that 1. it makes it so much simpler to implement and 2. it makes the player connect and relate easier with the actual character that they've followed throughout the series' journey. That's pretty good but let's expand a little bit on both points to understand how a game of that nature is made.

1. By keeping the format as an action-adventure game, the developers don't need to focus too much on creativity since they already have the storyline laid out. All they need to do is adapt it to fit the expected length of the game. Once that's done, the game is halfway done since all the characters and objects are just sent to the artists to make them look as close to the series as possible. At that point, you can add a bit of flavor and your own personal touch when it comes to the missions and the side-missions that the player will have to go through but that's usually fairly straightforward. Some games, like Spiderman, opted for an open world that keeps the same fundamentals but is still more refined and more complex.

2. The player has already gone through many episodes of watching the main character go through all its adventures following closely how they act and behave. So in an action-adventure game, the player gets the opportunity to connect even more with the character they like by playing them and feeling like they can make their own destiny. That feeling enhances the user experience and makes it way more enjoyable for the player.

What should we expect from Avatar's next game after release?
Well, the Netflix series has yet to be released and will officially be aired on February 22nd. but no news on a game following it so we'll have to wait for confirmation, so this is purely speculative. We think that it'll be very similar to the first one but they'll make it open world this time to one-up the previous one. Who knows, this time they might surprise us with something else and a more creative game genre.

Speaking of creativity, we are leading a webinar on making games creative and helping people work on their imagination. It's a webinar that can help and be beneficial to anyone from game developers to gamers to game enthusiasts. You can register now for FREE! We'll see you on February 21st!

news

by Padre • admin

Jan 28, 2024

What makes a game competitive?

It's not everyday that we see games that last generations. When I said that, you probably automatically thought of Mario. That's a good example because indeed, it's a game that the boomer generation knows, that the millennial generation knows and the Gen Z now knows as well. That means it passed the generation test. However, not a lot of games can claim that, especially not in the same fashion. Most of the time nowadays, games that last for a while and keep a community strong are games that have a competitive community. That helps the game fresh and usually keeps players interested as it generates viewers as well as players of the game. A lot of people get into competitive gaming from watching tournaments but today we'll discuss the other side of it today from the point of view of the developer!

There are many ways a game can be competitive
When I say competitive gaming, you're probably thinking of League of Legends, Dota, Fortnite, etc. which are definitely the leading competitive games at the moment. This is what we would call very typical competitive games because you have two teams (or more) essentially competing to be the best, exactly like a sports game. However, there's another type of competitive gaming and that one is mostly utilized in mobile gaming and that's where the game gets competitive by its score and rankings. You can see this in the phenomenal game that took over the world for a very short period of time: Flappy Bird. These hypercasual games are known to be easy to play but hard to master and the competitivity comes from the latter part. When everyone can reach a high score, there can only be one with the highest score and that's when it becomes very competitive.

What are the keys to making a competitive game
Anyone can take any game and make it competitive. By anyone I mean anyone! There has been many situations in the past where a game was not meant to be competitive by the developers but the community took it and made it competitive. This notoriously happened with the Smash Brothers Series where Nintendo did not want their game to become competitive because that would deter casual players to play for fun with their friends. But the community decided otherwise and that's a big reason why the game is still thriving to this day. When people play competitively, they try to reach new levels and new heights which continuously makes the game more fun and exciting. On the flipside when the developers purposefully make the game competitive, they'll usually get the competitive community they want. The main downside is that because of maybe the more technical gameplay and mechanics now, it might not be as appealing to casual gamers which, let's not lie to each other, occupy the majority of the market. As a matter-of-fact, Nintendo made all their money banking on the casual gamers and that's why they're the leading gaming company today.

Make your game worth getting deep into
So how do you actually make your game competitive? Well, make sure that it has depths. Whether you go with the competition type of competitiveness or the ranking style, it has to have different levels of "being good". It helps when there are mechanics or combinations that are hidden and that the player has to discover on its own. That by itself will separate the people that know the trick and the people that don't giving a certain advantage to the people that do. If you take a game like League of Legends for example, it has a lot of depths and that's why it's still being played to this day. Making official competitions and having regular updates are good ways to keep fostering that competitive community too.

news

by Padre • admin

Jan 22, 2024

3.Keys to competitive gaming

There's always a point where young players are simply really enjoying the game and then comes another point in time where they think that they want to get even better. That moment is an eye-opening one because that's where you start getting interested in competitive gaming. That's what going to change the mindset from: "I'm just playing to have fun" to "There's now a purpose behind how and why I play". As I went through those phases myself, let's discuss about some keys to competitive gaming that I discovered in my journey.

I'll preface this by saying that really there are no 'keys' per se, there's not a single thing that anyone can do that will guarantee a certain outcome. Consistent practice is the closest you'll get to that. But even then, that doesn't even guarantee you success or even a successful outcome, all it guarantees you is improvement. What matters even more than consistent practice is the quality of the practice, or in other words, the 'how'. So, one of the things that will influence the 'how' you practice and is, in my opinion, a key to success in competitive gaming is Remember why you love the game and why you started in the first place. It's far too easy to get caught up in the motion of playing for competition and money and forget the love that we have for the game when we first got started. That is going to be a big factor and a big motivator when things get hard.

That leads us to the second big key which is patience and perseverance. Everyone would love to be the best in the world. Unfortunately, that comes with a lot of sacrifices and patience that not everyone is ready to make or to have. It WILL take time before you become really good and before you see some progress but you have to trust the process and you have to keep pushing no matter what. Some weeks will feel like you took 3 steps back and you start losing to people you've never lost to before, but you have to take the L and keep your head up and keep practicing!

Which brings me to our last and final key to success in competitive gaming: Never think you're too good to learn any lessons. This is a hard one to learn I admit. As you get better, it's hard to think that you can still learn lessons from the noob who just started couple months ago, but the reality is, people that are just getting started, they're starting with way more resources and people around them than you, therefore are more knowledgeable and will inevitably learn things faster than you did. When that happens, don't be bitter and reluctant to learn from them because you think you've passed their levels, instead be open and enthusiastic that there are opportunities for you to learn more and get better! It's a great way to humble yourself as well, so why not right!

There are obviously many more things that you can do to improve as a competitive gamer but would you agree that these are the foundations to any good competitor?

news

by Padre • admin

Jan 11, 2024

How do I meet like-minded developers?

With the new year often comes a lot of different goals and aspirations. For some, it might be finishing a game for once, for others it might simply be to get started on a game or a new hobby. Whatever it is, we wish you the best at reaching that goal and we trust that you'll have major success throughout the year. It all starts with believing in yourself and getting the right support to do so. That's what we want to be providing more and more this year: support for you! Whether you're an aspiring game developer, an experienced one, a gamer, or an aspiring professional gamer, we aim to offer opportunities for you to get closer to your goal every day.

It starts with a good social circle
They say you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Well in that case, wouldn't you want to be around high-level developers if you're aspiring to become one? It only makes sense that it's something that can only be beneficial for your career. A lot of times, people are seeking these relationships that only end up coming years down the line. Although you can't force connections that are not meant to happen, you can certainly provoke them to happen sooner rather than later. Some people will say getting those good connections happens by luck but others will say that luck comes with hard work. I personally tend to believe in the latter. So how can you put yourself in a position where you can meet such individuals? That's where your creativity and our support comes into play.

Events and gaming platforms are great ways to meet developers
There are thousands if not more of different platforms or ways to connect with people, so how do you choose the right one? Well, first, you can start by looking for events in your region. Events are a great way to be exposed directly to the community of game developers in your area who are also ready and willing to meet people just like you. These events can be found on Google or platforms like Eventbrite or even Meetup.

Other than events, another good way is through platforms like these, where you can get matched with high-end professionals in the industry for free! We host friendly competitions and online events and webinars where the winning prize varies but it's all about supporting you in your journey of becoming a better developer!

If that's something that you're interested in, stay tuned for the next competition and webinar that's coming up!

news

by Padre • admin

Jan 09, 2024

Is my game too ambitious?

New year, new me! Says everyone ever haha! And In the game dev world, that often translates to finally finishing one game for once. For those who don't know, there's a major epidemic in the game development industry and it's been going on for years. It's that game developers never finish the game they start. And every year, one of their new year resolution is the classic: "This year, I'll finish the game I started." and then proceed to do the exact same thing. Well, one of the reason why you may be finding yourself in such a loop is because you're not setting a realistic goal for yourself.

How to set a good goal?
A good goal-setting strategy is to first evaluate your resources and brutally honest with yourself and what you have. That includes your skills and experience. Everyone would like to do the next big AAA game that'll sell millions of copies the first day, but the truth is that it also requires AAA budget and AAA skills and knowledge, so basically AAA resources. Most people, especially indie developers, don't just have AAA resources. Even if in the odd case that they would have AAA money, maybe their parents are millionaires, they would still lack the 'how-to' and the structure of knowing how to build such a game from scratch. So even with that kind of money, that goal would be slightly too ambitious for a first game, unless you simply hire a AAA project manager to lead the project for you, then you could maybe get away with this.

What makes a game too ambitious?
As we mentioned above, evaluating your resources is a big part of checking whether your game is too ambitious or not. However, there are a few other things that can make your game too ambitious. You can start off with a budget and overall resources that match what you have and can afford but as you go, you constantly want to add more and more features. That leads to you working on the game for way longer than you should and you end up never releasing the game because there's always a new feature that you want to add. Same goes for being too perfectionist. It's good to want to want your game to be somewhat perfect but acknowledging and understanding that it won't be is crucial to the success and even more to the release of your game. If you keep trying to fix all the bugs that could ever happen in your game, you'll end up working forever and continually finding new bugs.

What next?
Once your game is not as ambitious anymore, you can start setting a realistic time map for when you want to release your game. and perfect or not, just release it! That'll not only give you the experience but also the confidence that you can finish what you started.

Hope this helped you in any way possible! Let us know if you have any other tips that you'd like to share with the community!

news

by Padre • admin

Jan 03, 2024

New Year, New things!

We wish you all a happy new year!!! Yet another year has gone by and it's the time of the year to be grateful for yet another year that we're still able to get out of bed and be one step closer to our goals and objectives.

We hope you got to enjoy every single day of the year and learned to enjoy the bad days as well. Since they're a part of life, you'll really only get benefits if you learn to appreciate the hard times. Nonetheless, we hope that you have a great new year 2024 and that your goals may be achieved.

On our side, we have a lot of new things coming your way that we're really excited to share with you. Firstly, you can expect more consistency on what's already on the platform. Things like games, blog posts, forums, competitions, and more, will be present more than ever. You can also expect some new features and functionalities on the platform available for members only. We'll be announcing a very good news for game developers within the next week and we're really excited for it.

Stay tuned because we have some great things coming for 2024 and we can't wait to share them all with you!

Let us know what you'd like to see as well and we'll make sure to do our best to make it a reality!

We thank you for an amazing year together and we can't wait to see how we're going to grow together this year!

news

by Padre • admin

Dec 28, 2023

Give the best gift to yourself!

It's Christmas time and for a lot of people it's the best time of the year! We hope you had some great holidays and were able to spend time with your loved ones and got some rest. We just wanted to remind you that it's a time to specifically remember to take care of yourself.

Whether you're a professional gamer or an aspiring one or a game developer or an aspiring one, you should take some time to pause and reflect on your year and what was good and what you need to improve. There are a lot of opportunities that come and go all the time and sometimes the hardest thing to do is to refuse one opportunity and believe that another one is on its way.

We hope that you remember to stretch before staying in the same position for hours, whether you're coding or gaming, and the most important is to take care of your mental health. As much as you take care of your physical health, you should take care of your mental health.

We want to give back for this holiday season so we want to offer you the opportunity to play any game you want. So, until Dec. 31st if you email us at [email protected] and tell us which game you want to play, we'll send you that game for FREE. I repeat, FOR FREE! So make sure you take advantage of that and play the game that you've always wanted to play! And stay tuned for the next game coming out very soon!

news

by Padre • admin

Dec 25, 2023

Can I make a game without programming?

It's Christmas! Merry Christmas to all! We send you our best wishes so that you may have a very merry and joyful Christmas alongside your loved ones and the ones you care about! On this Christmas day, we want to bring you something on the happier side of things that hopefully can give you hope if you're maybe only getting started in game development.

There are multiple things to think about when getting into the game development world that you'll have to think about. Planning is probably the hardest part since that's when you have to think about all the next moves that you'll be willing to take in the future.

Making video games includes a lot of math
A sad truth for a lot of people is that programming in general is very much math-heavy and you'll need to have a good base of Math to be able to apply a lot of the formulas. That's why you need your maths to go into computer science or anything related to software engineering. However, a lot of people, especially gamers who would like to start making games, are doing this on their part-time which means that they don't necessarily have the school mathematical background that is usually required before going into the field. That, then makes it harder for them to really get into programming and make the game.

Game engine makers listened
So a solution that sprouted out of this is instead of having game engines that rely on the user programming, you now have a few game engines that is completely programming-free! You don't need to write a single line of code and you can make a fully functional game! Something like Game Maker Studio will get you to a quick 2D platformer within no time without having to code a single line.

A good in-between for those who want to start learning but would like to start without coding is the Unreal blueprint. It's a good way to get familiarized with the different concepts of programming and how they work together without having to deal with the syntax and the needy greedy of programming, especially not with C++.

So, that's the good news for all those who don't want to program, there are ways to ease yourself into game development without having to program, so hopefully you can make use of that now!

news

by Padre • admin

Dec 18, 2023

Sunday News!

It's Sunday! Let's take a step back, chill and enjoy some of the highlights of what happened in gaming this week. These can go from new games, new releases, any gaming news to any game development news and anything in between.

We can't be saying new release nowadays without mentioning one of the biggest game ever. The game that beat the record for highest views on Youtube for a non-music video! You've probably guessed it, we're talking GTA VI! Then, we'll talk a little bit about the video game awards and our thoughts. Lastly, another soccer (or football) player joined the gaming world! That's some pretty exciting news so let's dive straight into it!

You have probably seen the GTA VI trailer by now, whether it's from the link provided above or you've seen it circulating the media. We've talked previously about how GTA VI is such a powerhouse in the gaming community. Everybody knows about it and/or has played it. After so many years of waiting for it and so many articles announcing some bit of news around it, we're finally somewhere that we can officially say that we're actually getting closer to it because the official trailer is out. The trailer, as mentioned earlier, was so awaited for that as soon as it came out, it broke the record for fastest growing views on Youtube within 24 hours, previously held by a Mr. Beast video. The trailer was honestly great and for most people reached their expectations, but we have to be careful because trailers tend to do that since it's only a short video but fans were happy with what they saw. Especially how realistic the world, the people and the beaches are. Now we just have to wait for the release in 2025!

Have you followed the video game awards? A lot of fans on twitter and Instagram had different opinions about it. Some saying that it was one of the worst video game awards show ever, mostly because over 60% of the show was NOT awards but rather trailers and promotions of upcoming games. Others think that some games got robbed and that some of the games that won should not have. Well we'd be curious to see how you felt about it if you've seen it and what you think could've been done better. We personally think it was same as usual. We were simply surprised that Legend of Zelda or Spider Man 2 didn't win the game of the year but GG to Baldur's Gate 3 for taking it! You can look at the full list of nominees and winners here.

Another player joins the gaming industry! Last we heard was that Messi decided to co-own an Esports team. Now, Vinicius Junior, great player btw, decided to hop in on the fun as well and join Messi, Aguero, Beckham and more to own an esports team. They see that the future is there and that after their playing career, that's something that'll be a reliable source of income. so why not. Plus they'll be able to carry their fan base to another place where they can keep following them.

Lastly, some quick news, The Esports Observer (also known as TEO), changed their name and branding to "Sports Business Journal". They're saying it's not quite a redevelopment but that there's a requirement for change to the franchise's name, so we'll just have to accept that as is. Also, sadly, we have to officially say bye to E3, since the pandemic, they never recovered from that and they opted to just end it there. It was a good run!

news

by Padre • admin

Dec 14, 2023

Can you make good money as an indie developer?

There are a few decisions that one needs to take after graduation or whenever they're ready to enter the life of making money to sustain yourself. One of these decisions is deciding to work for yourself as an independent person or opting to work for a company. After evaluating the pros and cons of each, you decide you want to go the independent route because you value your freedom. But then you wonder if you have responsibilities or things to pay for, are you going to be okay or will you be starving for the rest of your life. Let me tell you... You will be starving, so get ready for it now.

What you want is what you get
Haha no! It's really not black and white and even less pessimistic like that. There are a lot of factors that will influence your income as an indie game dev as well as your approach. As we know, there are multiple roads to success, and there's not one that is objectively better than another. It will mostly depend on your lifestyle, your goals and your situation. If, for example, you choose the path where you aim for funding before really diving into your project, the beginning will be slow and you might be eating ramen noodles during that time frame but once you get the funds, you should be able to go back to your regular lifestyle. You might say that it sounds unrealistic to put your life on hold while you look for funding as you're not even sure you'll even ever get anything. To that I say, that can be said for any investment in life. You have to sacrifice something in order to have something greater in the future, but you first have to believe that you'll get it. Obviously, some sacrifices are bigger than others and may not be worth doing but that's really up to you to decide whether that risk/reward is worth for you in your situation.

There are different funds you can go after
Also, there are so many ways to get money. Outside of government grants that would be ideal most of the time, you could also go for private grants (private companies trying to invest in their local communities for example), private investors, VC funds, partnerships, sponsorships, game dev pitch competitions, etc. One mentor once told me, if you really need the money, you'll find a way to get it, you just have to get creative sometimes and it will probably be harder than you would've expected. In that case, when you get the money, maybe from different partners, you can hone in on your project full time without having to worry about your financials or very much less than before, which could be a major stress relieve.

You don't have to depend on other people too
If you decide not to go that, there's always the bootstrapping method and gathering up all that you save and put it aside in order to give yourself time to make the game. During that time, you'll then live off of your savings in hopes that your game will bring you enough revenue to rinse and repeat the year after. The amount of money you'll make on this is highly dependent on your savings and how much money you make with your game. I've known game developers that were doing this and were able to rack over 80k to 100k/year working on their independent game every one or two years.

Lastly, you could also keep a part-time job if you're scared to not make end's meet while you're building your new studio or game.

I hope I didn't miss any other ways, and if I did, please let me know in the forum section!
If you liked this post, make sure to leave a like! :D

news

by Padre • admin

Dec 10, 2023

Is steam the best platform to publish a game?

As game developers, there are a lot of things that we have to think about from the making of the game, to the very end. There are a lot of steps that need to be taken before you even start writing your first line of code and similarly, at the end there are quite a lot of steps that need to be done after you write your last line of code. The latter is something very often overlooked at by game developers as they're mostly impatient to get their game out to the public as fast as they can. I don't blame them, the most exciting part of making a game is knowing that other people are having a blast playing them.

What you have to think about when the game is done
Most of the things that will be mentioned are things that can be thought of from the beginning of the game, but can be fully thought of in the later stages of the game. Firstly, you'll need to know what is your target platform. That is usually something that you should know at the start of making it since a game for mobile should be designed slightly differently than a game for PC or console, but you can start with a general idea and be open to changing it down the line.

Once that decision is made, you'll need to know your target audience. That is very important because that's the precursor to the next thing you'll have to think about which is where you want to post it. Different people go to different places and get their games from different websites. Steam is one of the most popular ones because it's widely known as the marketplace/hub where you can buy any new games. Big studios have mostly all switched to being available on Steam because it gives access to a community and to visibility that you wouldn't necessarily get otherwise.

What are the alternatives?
Although Steam is very good, its user base gets overwhelmed with new games every day. That makes for very volatile players most of the time. Especially if you're a smaller studio publishing a game trying to stand out, you might end up with a few sales but the week or the month after, you're already old news. In that regard, player retention on Steam is very very competitive. So, instead, you could post on smaller platforms that have less visibility but may get you more of that player retention like itch.io or other independent platforms like this. We want to eventually open the games section up to the members to post their games so that other members get first-hand try on them and you could get a real feedback from the members of the community.

That being said, it's not impossible to have player retention on Steam, it's just harder. So is Steam the best place to publish your game, well it depends on what you aim to do and the approach you want to use. That's why our games are all and exclusively on here!

news

by Padre • admin

Dec 07, 2023

Are GDDs still getting used?

Making a game takes a lot of money, time as we've previously talked about. That money and time usually goes to the staff you end up hiring or the people on your team helping you make the game. We've skipped through the whole process of getting a team and finding the right team members or partners but these are topics that we will cover in the near future, so stay tuned! Although, one thing that is also important is after you've found the people you want to work with, you have to get them onboard, which is where a Game Design Document comes into play.

What is a Game Design Document?
A game design document is very useful and widely known in the game development community because it serves multiple purposes. It's basically a document that summarizes the essence of your game. It usually includes a little backstory on how the game came along and where was the main inspiration. It also tells the story of the game. The goal is to paint a picture of not only the game but the world it's in and the vision of where it could go.

The document is used as a way to get people interested in the game by showing them why they should join the team, but it's also a way to get everyone in the team on the same vision. With a detailed Game Design Document (GDD), it can simply be shared internally with the team to get everybody on the same page of where we're going and what we're prioritizing.

What should be included in a good GDD?
The most important part is to have a good description of the end vision of the game with all the characters, the worlds and features. Once you can make the reader dream and imagine your game, your job is almost done. Then, you tell a bit of the 'why' you made it and how long you think it should take to get to the different stages and there you go! A GDD doesn't have to be super long and complicated. It used to be like that, but people quickly realized that the states of games change all the time due to a multitude of factors so a lot of things that were first written in the GDD end up not being relevant anymore, which now creates more work to go back and update it.

Instead, nowadays people opt to write shorter and more concise Game design documents highlighting the direction and the vision of the game. That way, even if a lot of things change about the game, most likely the vision and the general concept of the game won't change.

You really just have to do it once to understand, and once you've done it at least once, you'll feel way more comfortable doing it. We can also help you with your next GDD as we've written so many of them! Simply send us an email at [email protected] and we'll start on it right away!

news

by Padre • admin

Dec 04, 2023

What do you do when you're stuck in game development?

When I was in university, I remember one of my teachers told us that computer engineering and being a programmer in general really summarizes to 'The art of knowing how to Google'. That really stuck with me for the longest and even more when I entered the industry and fully understood what he meant. Indeed, when you start developing software or games, you'll find yourself a lot on webistes like stackoverflow.com or just Google to find the answers you need. Most of the time you'll be able to find what you need because you're most likely not the first person who's having this problem, so you'll probably find some solutions on forums where people discuss different ways to solve a problem. Another option recently has been using ChatGPT. You could now just post the entirety of your code as a prompt and ask ChatGPT to fix the problem, then with a bit of refining, it can help you get to the appropriate solution.

What if documentation is limited?
You'll quickly notice in your game development journey that not all game engines, softwares, programs, APIs, etc. have the same amount of documentation. Most of the time, it's related to its popularity and how many people use it. The less people use it, the less documentation there'll be. It could also be because it's a new API and even though documentation is out by the code writer, bugs may not have been found yet. So you might be the first one to discover new bugs and might have to troubleshoot on your own. In this case, there are a few things you could do. Simple troubleshooting should always be the first thing you want to do. That includes calmly looking at your code and understanding exactly what every single line of it does and why it's not giving the desired outcome. Once that's done, if you can at least figure out where the bug is, then finding how to solve is only the second half of the problem. A good trick is to look for the same conceptual solution in another language or even another software and understand how they applied it and then replicate it in your solution. Another option is to look in the code to fully understand the API and understand what everything does and what you can and cannot do. Usually, a lot of APIs are open-sourced so that's a big plus.

If there's no documentation... Start it!
The beauty of the game development world is that if ever you get to a point where you've tried all the above solutions and you still can't find what's wrong with your code. You can create a new thread! You can simply go on the API or the software's website and find a forum section. From there, you simply create a new thread explaining your problem. There are a lot of different forums and places you can do that, so it's only a matter of finding the right place to do so. From there, people should be able to help you debug your code and often even the API writers will hop in to figure out what your issue is. Nowadays, a quicker way to ask the code writers is to join the discord channel of the API. That gets you, not only a community but also answers and direct access to the API writers.

What other techniques do you use when you're stuck? What's your go-to? We also didn't even talk about the Ballmers' peak which is my personal favorite ;)

news

by Padre • admin

Nov 27, 2023

How to build a pitch deck!

As a game developer or aspiring game developer, especially an indie developer, you'll most likely be faced with the issue of getting funding. Whether you're working on your first project or your 50th, one thing you'll always need is money. Then, with money, you can buy time, especially other people's time. That's why it can sometimes be very hard to get started in the industry when you don't have the funds to do so. Most people will opt for two main things: Either they bootstrap it and try finding the funds on their own, or ask friends and relatives OR they opt for the other option which is look for funding. That is definitely the more viable and the one that leads to most success stories, however, it definitely takes more time and effort to use this one. Sometimes, depending on your stage in life, this might be the only option that would allow you to work on your passion project while still holding your responsibilities, ie. kids, wife, etc. Using this approach also means that you'll have to work on a pitch deck, which is a bunch of fun!

What is a pitch deck?
You can see a pitch deck as a document that you can share that will essentially tell anyone who reads it clearly what your project is about and how you plan on achieving the goals and milestones that you set for yourself. It should be presented in a way that the reader automatically understands what is unique in what you're proposing and what differentiates you from the rest. Usually, this document is shared with potential investors or clients for them to get an overview of your project and what its intended purpose is. Most likely if you're simply looking for funding for a game, you should probably prepare a Game Design Document (or GDD) instead, which will probably get you further.

What should be included in a pitch deck?
All pitch decks are different so you want to look at the ones in your field, in this case, gaming. You should take a look and be aware of the bigger studio companies that have their pitch decks publicly available online. That way you'll see what they've done that was different from the other ones.

Even though the content may vary from one to another, there are some essential parts that are usually found in every single one. You'll always find an elevator pitch of some sort. So a one-liner that really explains what your project is about in a very clear and concise way. Then, you'll find a description of the person or the company. That's a simple way to show the investor who they're dealing with and if you seem credible or not. Make sure to humbly boast there with all the experience and successes that you have under your belt. Then, that'll be followed by a more in-depth explanation of what the project is about. Where it's at now as well as where it's going and the different phases of it. Then, you start with the money talk. You do a financial breakdown that covers anything from how you plan on making your first dollar (or how you made it) to the different phases of income you'll be getting and how you'll be ending at your targeted goal income. At the end, you should also include how much the investor would get back from the initial investment they would've put in. Put it in 'x' fold, it always strikes harder, ie. 3 years after your investment, you would be receiving 5x your initial investment.

It's a numbers game
That's something you'll hear a lot in a lot of industries, but that's because it's true. But it's not the only truth. It is indeed a numbers game but you also need to make sure your content and quality are up to par. The best way to go about it, especially starting for the first time and not knowing exactly how to do it, is to ask for advice. "Ask for money, you get advice but ask for advice, you get money" is the good old saying. That simply means not getting too eager for money, it can be a long process and you have to be ready to persevere and keep the ball rolling until it can roll by itself.

For all the game devs that are not so much interested in getting funding for a studio but rather for their game and rather need instructions on a GDD, stay tuned as we'll be covering that in the next few weeks!

news

by Padre • admin

Nov 27, 2023

Sunday News Nov. 26th!

There has been a lot of new things happening in the gaming world this week. We would love to cover them all but we know you're busy so we'll keep it short and we'll cover the three news or stories that we think are the most interesting ones. If you encounter any other news that you'd like to share, feel free to share it with the community as well!

Get the game you've been wanting!
With Black Friday last Friday and Cyber Monday coming up tomorrow, there are so many ways to save money and more than that, that's the golden opportunity for you to buy the game you've wanted for so long. Not all games will be discounted but we tallied the ones that you can't go over. If you've never played Call of Duty, especially MW2, here's your chance. It usually sells for 80$ but now, it'll be yours for 60$ only! That's a pretty good deal to play a game that only came out last year! Next, you can have a go at playing Horizon: Forbidden West. One of this year's top games according to a lot of websites can now be yours for only 30$! That's almost 50$ rebate on the regular price! Any sports fan? Well, you can get Madden NFL 24 for 43$! Then, you might as well go look for FC 24 since it's been the sports game of the year! They're all with major discounts and so much more on Amazon and I'm sure at your local Best Buy or store you buy all your games! You still have until at least Cyber Monday to go make your purchase and take advantage of these deals!

Since it's Thanksgiving, we'll keep this one short and we'll take this opportunity to thank all of you for being a member of the ChreativeGaming platform and for sticking with us and giving us feedback on where you think you'd like the platform to go. We're so grateful to have you part of the community and we're only going up from here!

news

by Padre • admin

Nov 24, 2023

What skills do I need to make games?

Following on our series to help aspiring game developers develop the appropriate skills to get to where they want to get to, we'll cover some of the essential skills that one would need to be developing games. Keep in mind that all of these are what I believe are essential skills and are fairly subjective so if you ask different people you will most likely get different answers. Getting different answers doesn't mean that one person has to be wrong, it simply means that different people value different things and that would probably make a lot of sense if you were to look at their games. There are many variables that may impact what skill will be more prominent in one's game as opposed to another.

In general, game developers all need this...
Because there are so many types of games, they all require different types of skills, but there are skills that no matter what game you make, you'll need in order to simply make something that people will enjoy. One thing you'll definitely need is patience. That applies to a lot of things in life and game development is no different. Making a game can take a lot of time. From gathering the needed resources (money or staff) to getting the game to a level that is of your satisfaction can take anywhere from a few months to a couple of years. It all depends on your expectations, your staff, your skills, and how much time you're willing to put into it. Understanding that the first version of the game will most likely not get the result you expected is also key and is part of being patient. Keep working on your game over and over again, tweak it, share it on platforms like here to get other people's feedback on it, and enjoy the process of doing it!

Then, you also need dedication. This goes hand to hand with patience because dedication will basically help you get that patience. I'm not a very patient person myself but because I'm dedicated to the projects I work on and to the people I work with, it gives me the patience necessary to go to the end of the project. If you don't have the dedication, you most likely won't end any project and that's one of the biggest problems with game developers: Starting another game without having finished the previous one.

The ultimate game development skill
Last but not least skill that we will cover today is one that we believe is one of the most important ones, if not the most important. Actually, it's one we think is so important, that we named our company after that skill. Yes, you've guessed it: creativity. We can also put imagination with it because it's very similar and encompasses everything that is related to thinking outside of the box. That's what we believe will really give you an edge over your competition. What you're able to think of, in the details you're thinking of, you're the only one who can think of it that way and you should take pride in that. That creates an opportunity for you to share with the rest of the world what's happening in your head and let the people live what is inside your head. Once you can make people live in another reality where they feel like it's completely different than the one they're in, you've most likely won them over. Then, it's only a matter of making the experience smooth for the user.

There are many skills you need as a game developer
Obviously, this is only the tip of the iceberg as there are so many skills needed to make a good game, but unfortunately, we wouldn't want you to have to read through 5 hours of text so we took the more abstract skills and broke it down for you. If you can think of anything else that you think is more important, I'd be curious to hear about them!

news

by Padre • admin

Nov 17, 2023

Indie vs AAA studio

Being a game developer is not an easy task. There are so many things you have to think about before you can even make the decision of going in that path. Unfortunately, it doesn't end there, all along your time and career as a game developer, you'll have choices you'll have to make to further your career in the direction you want to take it.

Where do you see yourself?
That sounds trivial but it's the number one thing to know how you see yourself in the next few years. By seeing the end result and where you want to be, you'll be able to trace back and see how you want to get there. One of the questions that is very important to ask yourself once you're done learning and studying is: Should I aim to stay indie or do I want to work for a AAA studio.

Only where you want to end matters
Everyone has to start somewhere. It's normal that you're not exactly where you'd like to be when you first enter the industry. You have to be reasonable with a certain time frame of when you want to reach some goals that you put for yourself. What's important is, again, where you want your end destination to be. whether you'd like to go the indie route or the AAA studio route, both have their advantages and disadvantages. Let's start with the indie developer.

How is it to be an indie developer?
Ahhh! Everyone's dream to an extent. Why? Because a lot of people have this glamourous and idealized thought of what an indie developer is. Not to say that it can't be that but there's definitely the other side that needs consideration as well. Well first, it's great because you get to really take advantage of your creativity and you have full control over the game you're making. Whether you're by yourself or with a team, you get to dictate what you want. You also get to work on your own time whenever possible, although sometimes you might have to have another income on the side to support it. Freedom of time and creativity are the two most sought after pros that indie developers are valuing. Now, that usually comes with lack of capital on one hand. A lot of indie developers have to maintain another revenue source to keep afloat since their game usually is not making any money for the first few years. Another con is that you're not surrounded by a team of seniors that can help you if you encounter a bug or something that is out of your expertise. Therefore, you either have to spend a lot of time trying to figure it out by yourself all the time or pay someone to help you do it or to simply do it which adds to the overhead.

How is it to be a AAA developer?
Benefits!!! Say it again for the people in the back... BENEFITS!! Well, you'll get a lot of benefits and perks from working in big studios like these. You'll be with like-minded people, surrounded with professionals more and less experienced than you which gives you opportunities to learn and teach and you'll have a structured way of doing things, rolling out releases, game plans, etc. Sounds perfect, but there are a few cons. Notably the pros of the indies, so freedom of time and freedom of creativity. You'll be stuck being at the director's mercy to tell you the vision of the project. It can be good or bad depending on what you're expecting from the job and if you like to flex your creative muscles. Just know that there's something for everyone.

It's not a one-size-fits-all
Different people will value different things and that's what your choice should be about. There's no wrong or right choice. Some people suggest that you get experience in a major studio before and then start your own. It's your choice!

news

by Padre • admin

Nov 15, 2023

Should I try opening a studio even if I have kids?

A lot of people want to make the transition to become a game developer in a later stage of their life, which there's nothing wrong with. If you already know how to get started, it's a good start, although not everyone is in the same situation. Obviously, in the most ideal situation, you're in your mom's basement and you have the luxury to code away 12 hours/day without interruption and/or need of doing anything else; food is covered, expenses are covered and you'll always have a roof over your head. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen to everyone to be in those ideal circumstances when they want to move into game development.

I'm in a different stage of life trying to get into game development
If you know me, you know I'll never say it's too late or you can't do something. If you want, you can! Now, different situations call for different solutions. Opening a game studio is something complicated that takes a lot of work but also resources. Depending on the type of studio you'd like to open and operate, that'll dictate what you'll want to do and how you want to approach it. If you're looking to open an indie studio with a smaller budget that you bootstrapped or some crowdfunding, you'll quickly notice that the biggest thing running against you is time. That'll be your most previous asset that you'll have to figure out how to get it. Assuming you'd already have a 9-5 or some job, you won't be able to put in as much time as you'd want to. From here you have two solutions: either you settle with working slowly on your game until completion OR you make sure you save enough money to survive a little while, while you go full-time on your project. One solution is definitely less risky than the other but also has less chances of succeeding if you ask me.

I want to make a AA game or a AAA game
If you're looking at a bigger game, you'll definitely need a full team. Now, your most required asset is not time but money. You'll need to focus on how to get funding, and quick. Depending on how long it takes you to get money, once you get enough money to build what you aim to build, that's when the problems start but at least you'll be able to go full-time on it and dedicate 100% of your attention ot your studio.

What should I consider opening a game studio?
The main factor here about doing it in a stage of life where you have kids and/or a wife/husband that you need to take care of, in other words responsibilities, is what are you going for and how are you doing it. If you're going for an indie studio, you can easily put some money aside or get some small funding or crowdfunding to sustain a certain income that can support your partner and kids and you take on game development as a full-time job for a limited amount of time. Make sure you have the money well secured before you make the switch! You wouldn't want to put your family at risk! If you're going for a larger studio, it'll definitely be riskier since you now have to secure a bigger amount of money and you would then add on more responsibilities by having employees that depend on you to keep going. I wouldn't fully recommend the second option unless you're not scared and you believe you can take on the challenge but... you'll be in for a wild one! Please let us know if you do!

news

by Padre • admin

Nov 12, 2023

Sunday News!

We're back on another blessed Sunday! Everyone should get a pat on the back for having gone through another week of hard work! While you sit back and relax, let's go through some of what happened in the gaming world. As always, we can't cover everything but we'll bring you the ones that stood out to us! If you have a specific news story that you'd like to share, feel free to talk about it in the forum section or make a post about it!

When is GTA 6 coming out?
The question that has been asked for over a decade now is back on top of the news. I think, if anything, it's always just free publicity for Rockstar Games, the makers of the GTA Series. Well, it's back on top of the news since last Wednesday, November 8th, Rockstar Games has confirmed that not only they were still working on it but that there would be a trailer for it in December of this year. Just to make sure we end the year on a good note... How considering! Although, still no release date, but people are predicting somewhere around 2025. Yes, I didn't mistype it, if you've been waiting for 10 years already, since GTA 5 came out that long ago, you'll have to wait for another 2. GTA 5 turned out to be the second best-selling video game of all time, right after Minecraft. We'll simply have to see if it ends up delivering on the expectation of 10 years of wait time. This sounds oddly familiar... **cough** Diablo **cough**. Anyway, we'll make sure to keep you up to date with the development of this new GTA 6 if/when it's really coming out!

There's a new fighting game to try!
Have you tried Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl back in 2021? It was a big game when it came out and a lot of people in the gaming community speculated that it could've taken the place of the Super Smash Bros. series as that's the series that has the monopoly right now. Turns out, after the hype was gone, players were left with clunky mechanics and all-in-all what felt like an unpolished game. Well, not anymore. Fair Play Labs and Ludosity came out with Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2! The game came out only a few days ago on Tuesday, November 7th and the reviews are absolutely astonishing. Some people say it's the best game improvement in a fighting game series. A lot of people who were not fully on board with the first iteration of the series have mentioned that it feels like a completely different game, polished, smooth, and the sound and animations now all make sense. They've also added the mechanic of Slime which makes the game fairly unique in comparison to its counterparts fighting game.

Most 2D platform fighting games often get a lot of scrutiny because the Smash Bros. Series was so popular and liked by everyone that it became the standard of its genre, But now it seems like we have a new contestant!

Lionel Messi is about to dominate another sport!
I know we don't often talk about sports but if you're not aware of who Messi is... Lift up your rock and look around! He's only the greatest player to have ever touched a football. He is coming close to retirement now (after winning his 8th Ballon d'Or), and so we see that he's starting to venture out of his role as a player and take on opportunities that he'll be able to pursue after his playing career. One of the first things was accepting a deal to become a partial owner of the Inter Miami team once he's done playing for them. Another one that just came out is that he just announced that he joined KRÜ Esports as a Co-Owner alongside his former national teammate Sergio Aguero. Sergio recently founded the team in 2020 and competes in games such as Valorant and Rocket League.

It's huge for Esports because when you have someone of that type of influence that supports a community, it can really help merge two worlds together.

My mom does not like Esports -> My mom loves Messi -> Messi supports Esports -> My mom supports Esports

That's how it can positively influence people who are not into Esports.

ChreativeGaming: There's still one winner left!
Like the previous iteration, 'To The North Pole V.2' was a blast and people loved it! Only a few days after it came out, there were already 2 winners! The game is still available and there's still one winner available so take your chance now and play the game now!

news

by Padre • admin

Nov 07, 2023

Are there many women in the game industry?

There's a lot that could be said here so we'll have to break this down quite a bit. It depends if we're talking about the game development industry or the competitive gaming industry, in which the answer will largely vary. For simplicity sake, let's take the game development industry. There are a lot of things that encompass game development. I would say the two main categories are the programming side and the artistic side. It takes everything to make a game.

What is the percentage difference of game developers by gender?
There is a decent gap between the guys in girls, but I don't think that'll surprise anyone... According to statista.com, only 30% game developers are women while the other 60%, well are obviously men. Honestly, looking at this stat, it surprised me a little bit because I was actually expecting it to be more one sided but apparently in the recent years, there has been an emergence of female in the gaming industry and that's a breath of fresh air as it usually produces different types of games. We covered that on a previous post last year but we've shown that a lot of woman-made games are more story based and has more emphasis on the emotions that it makes you feel.

What about the percentage difference in the 3D art world?
What I'm about to say probably shocked me even more than it will shock you. But according to Zippia.com, only 16.1% of 3D artists are women. Although, 54.8% of artists in general are women, it's surprising to see that there are less than 20% of them on the gaming side. I believe it's simply because even though, women tend to be more artistic, they're not always interested in having their product in something that they're not going to be using. So if they're not interested in playing games, most likely they won't make art for that.

There are a lot more underserved communities
Even though these numbers sound pretty bad, and it might sound like there's a big gap between the two, wait before you hear the numbers of other underserved communities like the black game developer community for example. Only 5% of the community is Black. That's even smaller and last year, it was about 2%, so at least the silver lining is that the numbers are growing.

What's the solution?
Well, incentivizing game development to people that have no care for it won't bring us anywhere but I believe that giving them an opportunity to have a community and to not feel alone is something that could help them in the process.

We want to eventually have a space dedicated for underserved community to post their games so that other people from that community can see that they're not alone. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know!

news

by Padre • admin

Nov 06, 2023

Sunday News!

Well.. It's my third time writing it because the tab closed on me and didn't save so this will be a very short one. So let's keep the good energy up and take a step back to look at the most noticeable news of this week.

From one French convention to another...
Last week was the Paris Game Week and it was a great time for gamers and game enthusiasts to meet up with like-minded people and play unreleased games like the new COD: Modern Warfare 3 and Tekken 8. Well, if you've missed it, good news, in America, you'll be able to attend one of the biggest game convention in Canada. MIGS (Montreal International Games Summit) is a great time to meet people in the industry no matter their level and to really get your first foot in the industry. It's happening this week from November 8th to November 9th.

Another Call of Duty, but different this time?
One thing is sure every year, Call of Duty will come up with another game. They haven't missed a single year since the beginning of their franchise in 2003. That's consistency right there. However, this time they claim to be different. Sledgehammer, which takes care of the campaign of said Call of Duty, said that this is the best campaign of the whole franchise. Why would they say that? Because for once, it follows up on the end of the previous game. So players can now get right into where they left off. It was hard to do that in the past since for most of their history, they've been under multiple studios so they had to always split ownership so two titles could not always have been by the same producers. It's your time to try it out, it comes up on November 10th 2023!

What is the PlayStation Portal? Are we back in 2012?
Have you heard of the PlayStation Portal? Do you remember the PS vita? Or even the PSP? I used to love playing them so much. Well, we're not far from that. The PlayStation Portal is Sony's new handheld device that allows you to play your PS5 from anywhere in your house. Yes, you still need to buy a PS5 and No, you can't play too far from your console. My initial thought was that they would've made it like the Switch where it can become a standalone and you can basically play it anywhere, but I was wrong.. That's giving too much credit to Sony. It'll be available starting November 15th and it will be sold for about 199$. Are you excited to try it?

Are Dota 2 players going to go broke?
That is a major overstatement, but that's what gets the eyes ahha! Dota 2 have been known to have the biggest prize pool in all of Esports game. They don't play with the money they give to the players. That's why all of the top 10 richest Esports players are all Dota 2 players. That may change in the future. Valve, the developer of Team Fortress 2 and part publisher of Dota 2 decided that they wanted to separate themselves from the Esports side of things regarding Dota 2 and to hand it off to Savvy Games Group. Well, they were in charge of the crowdfunding and getting to these major amounts of money, especially for the Dota 2 World Championship, also known as The International, which was the most lucrative Esports tournament. Now that they're leaving, people are guessing that the money is not going to be the same. Guesses are that the prize pool will decrease significantly but will slowly grow back up to where it was, but fears are that it'll never be the same. Only time will tell.

That's it for this week's news! Make sure you read all the other posts this week and this coming week and don't hesitate to make posts of your own to tell us about you, some news you care about, or some game you care about! See you next Sunday!

news

by Padre • admin

Nov 02, 2023

How do I get funding for my game studio?

The idea of establishing a game studio is often started with a lot of passion and vision. Often because it was triggered playing a game and thought that they could also make a game that's as good, if not better than the one they're playing. That usually sparks motivation and a passion that is not always correlated with money right away. The good news is that you can get and use a lot of great game engines for free and use a lot of the assets available there for free as well so that makes it for a very little overhead which is really good when you start thinking about making your first game.

How much money do I need to make a game?
I think you'll be really happy with the answer. 0$. Yes, indeed, you could make a brand new game that doesn't cost you anything. Actually, that's really the beauty of game development nowadays. You could even have an AI write the whole game for you! However, rest assured, game devs are not in danger and you'll be able to keep developing game for a while.
All the money you need really is your personal overhead. If you're living with your parents or with someone and barely have any bills to pay, you'll have a blast! You could simply code away and not worry about whether or not you'll bring money back in. So, when you start, you don't need much money, if at all, to really get started on your game development journey. But what happens if you do have a rent or mortgage to pay? Then, you can opt to go the funding route, let's talk about it!

Where do I start looking for funding?
First-of-all, you have to know and make sure you 100% know that that's the path you want to take. I say this because raising capital is itself a full-time occupation, so you want to make sure you're investing your time properly there. Once that decision has been taken, you have to make another decision: Any funds or grants only? You have to weight the pros and cons of each and know what's best for your situation and your company. Are you willing to give up equity for money or would you rather have a bit less money and keep full ownership? Lots of questions to ask yourself at this stage.

Once that's figured out, a good way to encounter and get to know the different funding companies and entities is by Googling 'game development funding'. This will usually get you about one to two good websites. But the key is that from there, you scroll to the bottom of the page, and you'll see the a list of sponsors to that organization. That's where you start marking down and noting all the other organizations that do sponsoring. You can also go on games that you like's websites and look for their sponsors! That should take you down an exhaustive list of potential sponsors and partners. They always say: "Ask for money, you get advice and ask for advice, you get money", so keep that in mind when applying. Don't be too eager to get the big check, but rather enjoy the process of meeting new people that could potentially still be useful in the future!

Another trick is to look at the sponsor and partner list of a gaming event. There's always big banners displaying the partners. Simply take a photo and look up every single one of them and reach out to them.

It's a number's game..
That's not the whole truth. That's a truth, but not the whole one. It is a number's game for the big part but also there's a lot of knowledge and experience required on what to say and when to say something, but at the end of the day, it's just like a muscle. You just have to train it! We'll eventually write about our strategy to making a good game dev pitch deck, so stay tuned!

news

by Padre • admin

Oct 30, 2023

Am I too old to get into competitive gaming?

Gaming is an amazing thing because it transcends generations, it's been here for years and it's definitely here to stay. With the rise of technology, gaming in general is only getting more and more interesting and realistic which is good because it creates a more immersive gameplay. We've already covered one side of the coin, let's dive into the other side!

How old is too old?
There's a saying that goes: "You're only as old as you feel". I've seen and met some people who were in their 80s and almost looked like they were in their 60s. Healthy life habits and choices will help you 'stay young' even though the age might be creeping on you. However, one thing is sure, time doesn't lie. You can stay active as much as you can to stay in good shape but the physical body has its limits that sometimes you can't avoid. For example, at some point, you won't be able to kick a soccer ball as far or shoot a basketball as strong and that's normal. You'll find a bit of the same issues in gaming where age will play a role in someone's performance because of the reduction of their reaction time. On top of reaction time, age might bring some issues like arthritis or carpal tunnel. Problems that are not usually present in a young person's career.

What game are you playing?
Some games do not require that much movement or input to be really good at and are mostly about strategy. These are the games where you might find a lot more older people play because you can play for a very long time before feeling like age is restricting you from being relevant. If you take a game like Starcraft, for example, not a lot of older people will enjoy playing it, especially competitively, since it's a pretty high input per minute type of game. So could someone be too old for this game? Yes. But quite honestly, you could be early thirties and that could be 'too old' because of what it requires.

How can I make sure I can play competitively for a long time?
As mentioned above, a lot of the issues that come later in life as you grow older are problems related to the movements of the joints and articulations. The best way to prevent these is to stretch. I know it's boring and nobody really wants to do it (even in traditional sports) but they are essential to a long successful career. Other than stretching, maintaining a good and healthy life balance is really what's going to benefit you on and off the game! Without that, you'll see your skills slowly get reduced over time more than others.

So do you still think you're too old for competitive gaming?

news

by Padre • admin

Oct 30, 2023

Sunday News!

It's Sunday! Let's take a step back, chill and enjoy some of the highlights of what happened in gaming this week. These can go from new games, new releases, any gaming news to any game development news and anything in between.

This week we'll PGW, COD:MW2, SM2 and D4S2! That's a lot of acronyms so let's get straight into it!

The Paris Game Week is back!
Paris game week is an annual convention dedicated to video games. Even though, it started very recently in 2010, it quickly became the main gaming convention in Paris and a very considerable one in Europe. Good news is that it's open to everyone and it'll be happening this year from Wednesday, November 1st to Sunday, November 5th from 8:30am to 6:30pm every day at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. It'll be very exciting and a great way to meet many like-minded individuals as well as meeting some professionals in the industry. For more information, you can check their official website!

Another year, Another COD
As per usual, Call-of-Duty does not disappoint with bringing us another game one year after the last one. I will say that Modern Warfare II was pretty good so building up from that should be pretty good. The new MW3 had an open beta on PlayStation two weeks ago and from there, there are speculations that the MW3 season 1 and the New Warzone map will be coming out on December 5th 2023, so 5 days before the official release of the game on Friday, November 10th, 2023. Are you excited for this new Call of Duty?

Spider-Man 2 is amazing... yet again!
After the latest movies, I think Marvel had very big shoes to fill. With the movies having been so well received by everyone, you'd have to assume that it would bring a lot of eyes onto the upcoming games... and it did! Insomniac Games, the developer company who made Spider-Man, also made sure to deliver. On this last Friday, October 20th, 2.4 million people got to see the beautiful art that is in the game. Indeed, it's a record-breaking amount of sales for a PlayStation game in 24 hours. Looking at the players' reviews and comments, people are in awe of the movement and the fluidity of everything when swinging around the city and moving around. Well done, Insomniac Games!

More wait for Diablo IV fans...
Diablo fans must be the most patient people in the world. They had to wait about 12 years for the 3rd one, and then another 10 years for the 4th one and now the wait continues. Diablo IV fans were expected to get into the next season of the game titled: Season of Blood, which was supposed to be released on Tuesday, October 17th 2023, but unfortunately, it was reported that Blizzard is encountering technical issues with the launch and they will have to delay it a little. Following Blizzrd's announcement, their customer service were bombarded with questions regarding an ETA or something alike to which they all had to answer: "Do not have an ETA as of now". Sadly, I'm assuming the answer is simple... Just wait a little longer Diablo fans!

To The North Pole V.2 is out, and you could win 500$!
Best for last, as you know, 'To The North Pole' V.2 is finally out on the platform and the competition is on! You can play now and discover the new ways to reach to top of this 2D platformer with the new fun and addictive items that you can use. Furthermore, if you reach the top of the last level (6), you win 500$! Get your game on now!

news

by Padre • admin

Oct 25, 2023

What game engine should I start with?

Becoming a game developer can sometimes feel like a lot, especially when, like most of us, you're trying to figure out how to get from A to B in the most efficient way. Like everything, there will be a lot of trial and error to get to know what works for you and what doesn't. Some things could work for one person and be absolutely terrible for another, so you have to know that you'll never find 100% of your questions online and that a lot of the questions/doubts you may have, you just need to go ahead and do it in order to get rid of those questions. However, a good guide to get started can really help you figure out some of the questioning you'll be wondering early on and can help with some of the decisions you might have to face.

Which game engine is the best for beginners?
Let's dive deeper this time into your choice of game engine. Well, before we answer that question, what even is a game engine? A game engine is a specific software framework that is primarily designed for game development. That means it holds libraries, plugins and programs that will most likely be helpful for your game creation. Programming a game requires a lot and a lot of code. Thankfully a lot of the things that are in other games have already been written and you can use these pieces of code to simplify your coding experience tenfold. These code pieces (or libraries) can be used as many times as you want for free. Some obviously cost money. So every game engine will have access to different libraries that'll give them the possibility to do different things. Most likely, you'll notice that a lot of the basic ones will be in every game engines. ie. PlayerController (controller on a player), Camera Controllers (controllers on the cameras), Input Controllers (controllers of inputs) and so on. Because these are fairly basic and save a ton of time when you have them, you'll most likely have a library for it in whatever game engine you decide to use.

When you start, you want to go with a game engine that is very versatile and not focused on on thing specifically, and that's because when you start, you might not know right away what you want and what you want to specialize in. First, the language that it uses is crucial. You don't want to go with a low level language like C or even C++ (i.e.. Unreal Engine, id tech or spring Engine) , as they are considered as hard programming languages to learn, but rather, aim to start with higher level languages (the higher they are, the further they are from computer code [binary 0s and 1s] so the easier it is for you) like Python, C# or Javascript. (i.e.. Unity, Game Maker Studio, Godot). Some of the engines have their own languages, and these are good as well but it's a double-edged sword since you can become really good using it but you'll be stuck using this and not all the skills will be transferable to another engine whenever you'll be ready to move on. But the good side is that they're usually easier to learn and they usually have a lot of wrappers that help you write code very quickly, if any. Some of them, like Game Maker Studio, you could make a full playable game without coding a single line of code.

What are the best game engines to use for game developers
Based on what is previously said, there a few that stand out depending on your specific needs and wants. The most popular ones are obviously always good to go with since they have a lot of documentation and that's really important when you're trying to debug something. Going with something general like Unity Engine, Game Maker Studio, or Godot will assure you that all your basics should be covered and you'll find libraries and extensions for anything you need. Going with something like Cry Engine, Unreal Engine or C4 Engine may have more challenge since you might find yourself coding a lot more things. The good side of that is that in that manner, you get to fully customize and personalize your code and have your game exactly how you want it!

If you still want more...
Here's a list of most game engines out that you could possibly try now. Feel free to look some of these up and make sure you remember what we talked about and make an educated decision before starting your adventure towards making your first game!

news

by Padre • admin

Oct 22, 2023

What games can I make money from?

A lot of people, especially boys, at a very young age, start gaming. Back in the days (obviously, after video games were created and popularized), there was a healthy balance between going out of the house and staying at home to play games. The pivotal point in gaming that changed the lives of many young kids was when they introduced the idea of networking and being able to play at home with your friends. Why would one go out to see them now? Especially if it's cold or rainy outside! Once a kid starts playing a lot, they tend to keep playing up to at least their teenage years, and once you get into your teenage years and you discover money, you start thinking: Could I make money playing this? Or How much money can you make?

How dedicated are you to the game?
Are you good? I'm speaking like... really good? Unfortunately, the sad part is that getting to a point where you're actually competing is not usually as fun as it first may appear. Usually, you think you're good until you enter the competitive gaming scene (of that game) and start watching other top players play the game. Then, about three outcomes usually occur, either you're very impressed by what you saw and super motivated to keep going on your journey, or you think they're not that good and decide to continue because you think you could probably beat the top players easy, or you get discouraged by seeing the difference in level between you and them.

In most cases, you'll keep going, but your training regiment is what will determine if you'll one day be able to make money off of it. I will say, most games in one way or another, you should be able to make money with them but some ways might bring the fun out of the game, which, in my honest opinion, is the hardest part about making the transition from casual gaming to competitive gaming. A lot of times, what's the most fun in a game, is not necessarily what's the most optimal. So it requires you to be extremely dedicated to go through that not-so-fun period of time.

Is competitive gaming gambling?
I've heard of lot of people that thought, and maybe unfortunately still think, that going to play games for money is gambling. All they can reason with is the fact that you're 'playing a game' for money. But it's really the same as sports and I always compare it to just that and always answer their questions in relation to competing in sports.

There's really no way that it should be seen as different than traditional sports and that's what we're fighting for on the platform and want to help everyone with. When everyone starts treating it how it should be and respect it, we can start having larger and bigger tournaments! Can't wait for that!

news

by Padre • admin

Oct 19, 2023

What degree do I need for game development?

Growing up, there was so much pressure on what you wanted to become in the future and what your aspirations should be that it became very stressful to even know what you liked and disliked. I don't know about you but a lot of people in their teen years don't have a clue about what they're doing, even less about where they want to take their life for the next 40-50 years of their lives. That's a classic issue that is yet to be solved in the modern education system.

So eventually what happens is that young people. not knowing yet what they want to do for the rest of their lives, go into the options that will open the most doors for them which are usually related to the medical field or science. That's a reason why a lot of these fields are very selective. This eventually leads to questions like "Is the degree I have good for 'X'"? Well, let's explore the case for game development first. First-of-all, you don't NEED any degree to be a game developer. I've known people who have made great strides in the game development industry without ever getting a degree in it. With a lot of these types of jobs that are all about output, the education matters less and your ACTUAL education matters more. Let me explain, if you can prove with previous work, that you know what you're doing, it'll often be worth 10 times more than having a paper saying that you know about your craft. However, I must say that the more traditional way of becoming a game developer is with a degree in either programming, computer science, or software engineering where you'll learn the basics of languages like C++ and C#, two languages vastly used in game development.

I have another degree, can I use it in game development?
Yes, you can definitely make use of your other degree when becoming a game developer. In fact, I believe it's even better when you do! When you extensively know about a field or have expertise in something in particular, you can really dive deep into ways to relate with a certain demographic and audience that otherwise would not be as interested in a game regarding that topic. I believe having another expertise actually is a huge benefit as it allows you to explore different ways you can make a topic fun and exciting for everyone by gamifying it. Speaking of making topics fun...

Will I use a lot of math when programming?
YES! If you happen to have a math degree, you'll be happy because you'll be using it a lot! Knowing math and the different formulas and how they correlate to each other gives you so much power and flexibility when programming. I always find myself having to Google formulas or solutions for math problems that occur in programming, especially regarding physics. In a way, it helped make math more fun for me because now that I see the actual uses of the formulas, it doesn't seem so abstract anymore! Try to see if you see the different usages of math in this free demo! So will you be using your degree when becoming a game developer? Most likely so.

What skills do I need in game development?
As for the skills, patience and learning how to learn are the major keys that'll help you across your game dev journey. Once you understand that and you're okay with searching every day on the web for things that you theoretically might already know how to do, you'll be well off! The skills you need for game development are really the same skills that you need for your personal life and personal development! What a beautiful way to end this article!

news

by Padre • admin

Oct 16, 2023

I want to get started in game development, how do I start?

Who doesn't love gaming? I think a lot of people have this skewed idea of what gaming is so when you talk to them about gaming, they're immediately on the defensive end saying that they don't like it and they never play games. But then, I'll see something like Duolingo or the Elevate app or their phone. Why is that relevant you may ask? Well, these are learning or educational apps that have been gamified to keep you interested in using them. No one wants to be on a boring app that's just spitting information at you while you have to focus and try to remember everything thrown at you. People much rather have something interactive that brings to life whatever it is they're learning.

Past the misconception, there's a whole new world
Queue the 'Whole New World' song! A lot of people have one idea and one idea only of what a game is therefore their idea of a game developer and what goes in the making of a game is completely skewed. For example, there are so many jobs and careers that don't even involve the programming of the game but rather the more artistic side like art and creativity. ie. Game design, Concept artist, 3C artist, animator, rigger, etc. It might sound silly but when I first wanted to get started in games, I wasn't even aware that there were so many different paths I could take, that require a different set of skills for every one of them. Knowing that, I would say, is the first step to getting started in the industry. At least, once you know where you're heading, it's easier to know what you should do.

Let's go the programming way
Let's say, after doing your research, you confirm that you want to continue with game programming, where do you get started? I would recommend choosing a game engine that fits the style of game you'd like to create. You can go with Game Maker Studio if you're thinking of mostly making platformers, Unity for anything 2D or 3D that's not too heavy, Unreal Engine for heavier and more graphically intensive games, or Godot for something in between. There are obviously a lot more but these are the most known and common ones.

Once you've chosen the game engine that you want to at least commit to learning, I suggest diving deep into the language first. I think this is the biggest mistake a lot of game developers do, including myself, when starting: they only focus on learning the language on top of the game engine which already has wrappers and extensions that help you program. It's useful but what will save you the most time is understanding what is actually happening under the hood of each of these wrapper extensions.

Once you've got a good grasp of the language you're learning, you can start diving into your first game! How? Open the software and do something! Watch a tutorial and just go with it! Most important is to just do it. Something that I think is very valuable is to give yourself homework to go past what you learned in the tutorial and explore a little bit more every time to get to know more and more about the software every time.

Get creative!
The last part is the most fun part in my opinion, because that's where you realize that you have the world at your fingertips! The moment you realize that you could make anything happen and all you're missing is time and knowledge. So that's when you just have to dream big, be creative, and let your mind lead the way.

The best piece of advice
Something that you'll hear every game developer say is to finish your game! No matter what, aim to always finish the game you started so you get used to completion. A lot of game developers have this bad habit of having 53 'working' games and never finishing any one of them. I think it stems from the fact that when a game takes too long to make, you become better at coding and as you improve, looking back at your old code hurts your eyes and now, you feel like you just want to start fresh. The problem is this never ends, you'll always, hopefully, get better so at some point you just have to be okay with having parts of your code that are not as good as the rest of it.

news

by Padre • admin

Oct 15, 2023

Is competitive gaming hard?

Let's discuss the struggles and the challenges of competitive gaming. There are a lot, like anything in life, it has its own set of challenges that is specific to competitive gaming. You can see this as a continuation of this post, where we answered a question a lot of people had. If you haven't read it yet, I'd highly recommend you to go read it and then come back to this one as we won't be repeating what we already wrote there.

It's as hard as you make it
Firstly, I'll preface with this: it is what you make it to be. That is to say, especially if you don't rely on it for income and to put food on the table for you or your family, you have the luxury of setting your own expectations and goals doing it. The pressure of having to win to make ends meet is something that not only is really hard to deal with but on many occasions, is also something that will take the fun away from what you're doing. If you've read this article, you know how, when it happened to me, I turned the pressure and stress into motivation to get better and to strive. You can definitely see it as a double-edged sword. I think most struggles and challenges can be seen that way actually. That's the beauty of life: What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger!

I also knew some people who were in the competitive scene and didn't have those expectations for themselves, they just held themselves to their own standards; meaning that they would simply be satisfied with whether they considered they played better than last time or not. If they did, it's a win. I've also seen these people reach very high levels. I'm assuming it's thanks to them not putting as much pressure on themselves which keeps the game fresh and fun as opposed to almost feeling like a chore for some.

It is... until it's not
Everything in life is hard... to an extent. Especially when you're not used to it or don't know how to do it. It's all about understanding the skill it takes to effectively be able to do the task. With regards to competitive gaming, it takes the same skill as a lot of sports and a lot of endeavors that one would like to do on their own: discipline. Once you have the discipline to train on a regular schedule, go to tournaments, and study, then the process should be as fun as getting the reward and then it's not so hard anymore, because you know how to improve. Learning how to improve and how to learn is the major key foundation to getting good at anything, including gaming. Getting to that point is what's hard. One usually starts by following their favorite players and imitating their styles. Once one gets good at doing that, it's a very hard process to start detaching from those said players and develop one's own style. But once it's done, then the sky is the limit!

People, at the highest level of gaming, always talk about a curve that is, a lot of times very similar one to another. It always starts very slow and steady and then follows a pretty linear growth but at some point, there's a moment that it unlocks, and all of a sudden, it feels like they just improved tenfold! However, there's often what feels like a plateau right before the breakthrough happens, but it's part of the game!

Remember your why!
No matter how hard it gets, and it will get really hard the higher and better you get, you must always remember why you started in the first place because that'll be your fuel to continue day after day. That'll help you remember that do it for the love of the game and you loved it so much that you decided to pursue a competitive career! That's love right there! And if you do end up quitting because it became too hard or lame and now you're not having fun anymore, well it's also okay to understand that maybe this competitive gaming career was not for you, and better to learn it early than late. Honestly, some games do get pretty lame when everyone starts only playing to win, it feels like the fun just went out the window. But that's sometimes that's the sad reality of life: Not everything can be fun forever...

news

by Padre • admin

Oct 12, 2023

Who are the most paid in gaming and where do their money come from?

Let's talk money! There are many ways to get paid nowadays! With technology and the different platforms available, your imagination is really the only limit there is to how you'd like to get paid. Obviously, once you've imagined it, then you just have to work hard to make it become a reality. In gaming, it's no different. Not only there are many ways of getting paid but all the different ways can happen at different times and for some of them, you might find out that they can happen earlier than you think and then next thing you know, you're living off video games!

Highest paid off Esports
To encourage you, we thought that today we could give you a little sneak peek of what it's like to be at the top of the top, 'La creme de la creme'. We'll give you a few lists of people that are at the top of their respective income tables and... SPOILER ALERT: They're all doing pretty well off of gaming.
First category: Esports.
This is probably the most straightforward and known way to make money playing games (competitive games) but it's also the hardest. It consists of assisting many if not all the tournaments of that said game and aiming to always place in the money. Depending on the competition, that could mean top 3 (smaller ones) or top 10 to top 16 (bigger ones). However, note that with the money won, there is usually a slight overhead which is transportation to the event, the stay (if needed), food, and tournament entry. So, you ought to aim to receive enough AFTER paying back for all these expenses, which can be quite a bit at times. Well, here are the ones that made a killing off of simply winning tournaments and being good at the game they played:
N0tail (Johan Sundstein): USD7.18M$ with Dota 2
JerAx (Jesse Vainikka): USD6.49M$ with Dota 2we
Ana (Anathan Pham): USD6.02M$ with Dota 2

As you may have noticed, they're all playing the same game. In fact, the whole top 10 list is Dota 2 players. Dota is known to have very high prize pool tournaments to attract the max amount of participants as well as viewers, so it's not surprising to see that when people win these tournaments, they win big. Also, these people have played and competed for almost 10 years so it's understandable that it stacks up over the years.

Highest paid off online Gaming
This seems to be the more common way nowadays because not only it's more popular but it's also more accessible and the ceiling is even higher, if any. The reason is simply that in order to win money at tournaments, there must be tournaments and you must win them. When you make online content, you're your own boss and decide when you want to do what which creates so much more flexibility around your schedule and even the games you decide to play. A lot of gamers on Twitch or Youtube and such, won't only stick to one game but will play different games and often will hop on a game that's trending at the moment. That's a great way to get new subs and to have your channel be displayed on the trending page.
Here are the wealthiest gamers at the moment:
PewDiePie (Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg): USD60M$ through Youtube and Twitch gaming
Ninja (Tyler Blevins): USD40M$ through Youtube and Twitch gaming
Shroud (Michael Grzesiek): USD20M$ through professional CS:GO and Twitch gaming

As you can see, the numbers are way higher in this second category. that's no surprise given the benefits mentioned above.

There are many other revenue sources for gamers including sponsorships, partnerships, team salary, etc. so there really is money for everyone, one just needs to commit and focus to the craft.

news

by Padre • admin

Oct 10, 2023

How good do you have to be to compete in gaming?

In my good days of gaming competitively, a lot of people didn't fully comprehend what I was doing and if it was even a real thing. I had conversations where people just thought I was gambling at some sort of casino. There are a lot of misconceptions about the gaming community, especially about the competitive gaming community. Most likely to happen with the older generation that didn't grow up with it. However, even with the younger generation, I'll often get the question: "How good do you have to be to compete in gaming?". And to that, I say: it's no different than mainstream sports.

It's all under the same umbrella
Within the questions that I've been asked in the past about competitive gaming, there was this other popular one but it's really essentially the same answer. There are way less differences than people could think with traditional sports. What I would answer to people is: "What would you answer if I asked you the same question about Basketball or Football?". See, even if the person is not a professional basketball player or football player, they would have an idea of how good you'd have to be to make it into the big leagues. That's the same for gaming. It's all under the umbrella of 'you need to be hella good! Like the top 1%.' That's scary obviously when you have sports that have been there for decades and centuries because the more there are people playing the game, the harder it gets to get into the 1% pool. For example, when games are new, people value so much the first couple of hours that you get to play the game just because that's a lot of the time what's going to determine how good you'll be. If you get in the top 1% when there are only 100 people playing, you get to play and learn with the best, so inevitably, you'll most likely rise up and stay at the top with them so that when there are 1 million people playing, you're way ahead of the curve. If you take Tennis, for example, now it's much much harder to become part of the top elite group just because the skills have evolved so much that you have so much catching up to do before you're able to be part of the 1%.

So it all depends... as always
I always feel like it's such an unsatisfying answer but in some cases, it's the only answer that can be said. What is good enough for Raid: Shadow Legends is not the same as being good enough for League Of Legends or Omega Strikers. If I'd have to give you one advice... Participate to tournaments as often as you can to see how you measure against other people around the world and make sure you're always aiming to be the best you can be.

news

by Padre • admin

Oct 03, 2023

Why use Google when I can use ChatGPT?

I was having a talk on AI programming the other day and this is one of the interesting questions that came out of an attendee which I thought could be a pretty interesting question to write about. With the advancement of ChatGPT, AI, and technology in general, there are more and more questions that people start asking themselves regarding their lifestyle facing AI and how it may affect their day-to-day in the near future. We covered how it might affect the developers and the industry in the foreseeable future here, but in this post, we'll cover more about how it will affect developers or anyone using Google on the gaming development side.

We've all heard of StackOverflow
If you're a game developer or simply a programmer of any sort, you've most definitely heard and/or used StackOverflow. But for those who don't know, it's a platform where developers can post forums about issues they encounter while software developing. It's very useful because in one or two clicks or research, you quickly realize that someone else in the world encountered the same issue you're struggling with but a few months/years back so you can simply learn from them and that saves you so much time. Right now, the authority on StackOverflow is pretty big so looking for an error or a bug on Google will most likely bring you to a StackOverflow solution forum. Other than that, other platforms also have forums that are used for solutions and to help fix bugs.

ChatGPT has all the answers...
There are different reasons why one would be tempted to automatically use ChatGPT when facing an issue while programming. The obvious ones are that you can simply feed it the error message and it'll tell you exactly what and where the problem is. Another benefit is that if you don't get the answer you're looking for on the first try, you can simply keep injecting more details and specifications to what you want and it'll stack up on top of the previous instructions you have. You can also fully describe in your native tongue what the issue is and you'll get the answer laid out for you in the language you're most comfortable in. On top of all that, ChatGPT also always has an answer so you're certain to at least be able to try one thing to solve your issue. Those are all great solutions and I think they should be used. However, we can't totally forget about our good Ol' friend Google!

Google is like a hub
Google will not do what was previously mentioned about ChatGPT, but it will do something that ChatGPT won't do! Redirecting you to other humans that have gone through the same problem as you. It will point you to forums and documentation that should be relevant to what you're inquiring about and you'll have access to the newest and the oldest responses, depending on the versions that you're using. That way, you also have multiple solutions that you could try as opposed to only getting one (the one deemed most optimal) from a machine. Because every computer is different and operates slightly differently, it helps to have different solutions to try because it's not always one 'solution fits all'. You'll also usually have the latest information on the software you're working on since most likely other people have worked and experienced that problem on that software version before you. ChatGPT can only get data from the internet up until September 2021.

There are pros to both but know the cons as well
It's amazing that in today's world, we don't have to choose one over the other, we can just learn how to use both in Tandem. Understanding the pros and cons of each side is how you'll really get the best out of the Internet nowadays so you should really take advantage of that.

news

by Padre • admin

Sep 27, 2023

When can I start making a living off of video games?

Nowadays, there are so many life paths and so many different ways to make money. A lot of them were not necessarily present a few years back and that makes it decently hard for the older generation to relate and to even comprehend that there are new ways of making money. I think there will always be a generational gap with the parents, no matter how much they're connected to the 'new world'. It's not a bad thing but it's something to know and to acknowledge.

There are ways to explain to your parents that competitive gaming is viable but it can sometimes be tricky. Before you even think about convincing anyone else that it is possible, you first have to know for yourself that you can do it. First, you could ask yourself if you're old enough to even get into it, then you'll wonder where do I even start? But once all these questions will be answered (and they will be fairly quickly as you can find all your answers on the platform), you will finally get to that question: When can I start making a living off of video games?

It can start earlier than you think
For those who read my previous post on explaining to your parents about competitive gaming, you know that I told an anecdote about the time I lived off of video games for a period of my life. Sure, I wasn't eating prime ribs or wagyu beef every night, but I was making enough to go by. And I think that's really the biggest question that you have to answer for yourself. What lifestyle am I aiming for when I think of making this my career? There is a large gap between the people that are able to live from video games and the people that have luxury cars from video games and it all comes in due time.

Unfortunately, right now, the game you play matters
Different games have access to different budgets and different money pools, if you're stuck only being really good at Pacman, there's a cap that you might hit fairly quickly that might not satisfy you or the lifestyle you had envisioned for yourself. Although, games that really take advantage of their Esports teams and communities like Dota, League of Legends, Fortnite, etc. will invest a lot of money into, not only players but competitions to make them as attractive as possible and that way, a lot more people can make it a career. In these games, it's not rare to easily see the top 200 people playing the game being able to live from the game. Whether it's from winning competitions, getting sponsorships, or being part of a team, they can all make ends meet and usually more.

Then, it's all about leverage
At some point, you have to start seeing the game as a medium more than the end goal. What I mean by that is that, getting notoriety in a game for being one of the greats in the game is good. Being able to win tournaments or at least place and get decent money is great, but what's best is when you start using that clout and traction that you get from playing games and you create leads somewhere else. The most common example and the easiest way to do it is with twitch. We all know twitch and it's great because there are so many content creators that are so great at what they do yet they're not playing in any competitive teams and simply enjoy playing in front of an audience at home. Understanding that from that point on, you can lead the community that follows you anywhere you'd like is so powerful that it can lead you basically anywhere. Take for example, Kai, he started on Twitch but now he has businesses that go far beyond twitch and gaming. I don't think he ever cared to become a competitive gamer in any game necessarily but how he leveraged playing games for 'money' is how he managed to make all the money he's made so far.

Start now and embark on this journey and believe that there's a way out there for you, there always is, sometimes, you just have to be a bit more creative in some games than others.

news

by Padre • admin

Sep 22, 2023

How do I explain to my parents that competitive gaming is viable?

As a competitive gamer, you often have to go through many of the same challenges as would a traditional sports athlete. Getting to the top 1 to 5 percent of anything is always a struggle and is something that will require a lot of hard work and dedication. Competitive gaming is not different in that regard, becoming a professional gamer requires sacrifices and dedication. However, one major challenge that a competitive gamer will most likely face in today's day and age that someone in the traditional sports world might not, is having to convince people that it's a viable life path.

What does viable even mean?
Viable is something that is capable of becoming successful, in other words, something that has great potential. If anyone tells their parents they want to become a professional basketball player, their parents will most likely be up for it and will support them as much as they can because they know that there is a potential chance of major success. Not only that but they would also sort of know the process and procedures for the kid to go through in order to get to where that kid wants to be. On the other hand, competitive gaming is still in a fairly new stage. Because it's only really been a thing for the past couple of years, some of the older generation may not have been exposed to it yet, therefore can't even acknowledge that it's a possible life path. If they haven't seen it on TV, tey might just think you're talking about gambling or playing for fun which is not the case.

Exposure!
The other thing is that they might think about Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, or Stephen Curry when you tell them about basketball because those are names they've heard of and know that are successful and can properly live off of playing the sport. When you tell them about gaming, they have no reference of such to soothe their minds to tell them that their kid is going to be okay and successful following this path. I guess Faker, Doublelift, or Bjergsen are not relevant enough yet, especially not in North America.... So what do?

Not much you can do on your own..sadly
Well, there's always talking and trying to make them understand what it is, and how the industry is going, developing and growing. If they can understand that, then that's really good, but I know that that didn't work for me. What worked for me was simply proving to them that it IS a viable path even sometimes on a smaller scale. I once moved out of my parents' house and in a completely new city where I was studying, I decided to try it out and dive fully into the competitive gaming world and try to live off of it. It wasn't pretty but I wasn't dying of hunger! I also wasn't the best in town so that played a role but the point is that I was able to do my groceries, put food on the table every day, and even go out from time to time even with the level I had which was nowhere near the top 100 of people who played that game. When my parents got to know that, they started having more respect for competitive gaming as a whole.

We believe that exposure and education is definitely what's missing in the competitive gaming community right now and that's one thing that we're trying to solve on the platform. We need to support the people who are going into it and who are in it at the moment so it can grow where it's on TV and other mainstream media. By making events that are not only gamer-friendly but anyone-friendly, we get to intertwine different worlds to make for more educated people.

news

by Padre • admin

Sep 20, 2023

How old can I start gaming competitively?

Competitive gaming attracts more and more people every year and just like mainstream sports, it also attracts a lot of viewers. Viewers. however, only see the end product and what's on their screen but often, there are a lot of things that happen behind the scenes that people don't see. One of the things that people will usually be looking for when they're watching something is relating to someone who looks just like them. It could be by origin country, by skin color or simply by age. A lot of people like when they see athletes of similar age because it gives them hope that in an alternate universe, they could've been there.

Now, age is an interesting topic when we talk about competitions. In the competitive gaming scene, this is a question that is often asked. Either for themselves or asked by parents who want to bring their kids in. Understandably, the younger you start your competition journey, the better your chances are of reaching a very high level very early.

How does it work for traditional sports?
Whenever someone asks me when can they start gaming competitively or how old is 'too young,' I always answer with the question "How does it work for traditional sports?". A lot of time they don't exactly know the answer, but they'll answer something around the lines of "minimum age I guess" and for the most part that's correct, although it's not so much of a hard rule as it may sound. Sports are generally just trying to protect their sport and their players so that we can keep playing it and so they can keep making money. If someone is underage and acting as such, it doesn't look good on the league as the players are a reflection of the league.

For example, in the NBA, the rule is all Athletes must be over 19y/o. Even though, most of them are over 19 when joining the NBA, you have exceptions of people joining in earlier. The youngest player recorded in the NBA joined at 17 years old, so two years under the 'legal' joining age. You can read a bit of the story of Andrew Bynum here. Logically, an athlete still needs to go to school and become good enough to be able to play at this high of a level. It'll simply be very rare that someone of a much younger age acquires the experience and knowledge needed to start in a top professional league.

How does that relate to competitive gaming?
Well, it's essentially the same answer. Most games will vouch for a player that's legal so that it makes things easier legally when traveling and entering tournaments with money, etc. but I've also witnessed a few 13 y/o competitors accompanied by their parents, and I think that's beautiful. Parents who encourage their kids to compete in, what could be, such a fierce environment is very inspirational. But if you do, you have to know that unfortunately, you might expose your kid to foul language and bad behavior... but ay, that's part of the game!

Some games do have hard legal limits on who can even play the game. Those are games like Call of Duty, Gears of War, Battlefield, etc. that are PEGI18, therefore if a minor were to be seen in the premise, the whole venue and organizers would have a hard time explaining it.

Now that you know how old is too young to start gaming competitively, what are you going to do about it? How old were you when you first started gaming?

news

by Padre • admin

Sep 16, 2023

The Unity dev world is upside down!

What's happening?!
If you're in the gaming development world or have any interest in it, you must've heard of the drama with Unity. Unity has been for so long the pillar of game development for small companies. It's everything you would need from a software that needs to help you build a game. It's easy to learn, very intuitive, free, and only asks for money once the studio starts making good money. Unity is also known to be a company that stays close to its developers and supports them as they grow bigger. They even offer some programs with grants to support newer developers and studios.

Although, they've been good so far, this week, was not a good week. They've announced two days ago that they will be changing they plan pricing and some of their packaging plans. To every one's surprise (not), whenever a free-to-use company decides to 'change their plan pricing', it rarely goes for the better. Life is unfortunately only getting more and more expensive. Thinking back to Maya, if you're in the 3D model scene, you know, they switched from free-to-use to now paid business model. Needless to say, they lost a lot of users (me included) that simply switched to Blender which is still free to this day (thank God). Well, Unity almost pulled the same thing! Even though, they're not making the engine paid to use, they're now adding a runtime fee for the every installs made over a certain threshold. The fee will apply to your game if: 1. Your game has passed a minimum revenue threshold of USD$200k OR 2. Your game has passed a minimum lifetime install count of over 200k installs. Now, these numbers are for the Unity Personal and the Unity Plus specifically but they change for Unity Pro and Enterprise. You can refer to the official chart here.

What does that mean for us?
Well, it depends. That's a good question. What is "us". Unity claims that it won't affect 90% of their user base. What does that mean exactly? They're making it seem like it's not a big deal and it's basically only putting some taxes on games that are already bringing in big revenues. I understand that. I also get that as a game engine, when you have games that make millions and millions and you don't feel like you get a fair share of the money that's being made using your game engine, it can make you feel some type of way. Now, these thresholds might look high up for an individual, but for small to medium-sized studios it can make a big difference. There is a big outrage right now across game developers because they feel cheated by Unity. A lot of them are saying that they fully lost their trust towards Unity and that they will migrate to other engines like Godot, game maker studios or Unreal Engine.

A crucial piece in what made a lot of people lose their trust for Unity is that they retracted and went back on some statement. They initially said that reinstalls and redownloads will count as multiple installs therefore cost you even more money, that beta and demo versions counted as lifetime installs and that if they suspected any pirated copies of the game, they would contact the developer or studio and deal with them case by case. These three statements did not stand right with the community and after all the backlash and the disagreement of the community, John Riccitiello, CEO of Unity, backed out of these statements and changed them to: 1. Reinstalls do not affect the install count, 2. Betas and demo versions will not count as installs and that 3. For pirated copies, they'll have a report option that will let you automatically claim some pirated copies of your game. In my opinion, this was the smart move to do, especially on these statements where I didn't see him getting of it haha!

Now what?
That's what everyone is wondering. Some people decided to use brute force to see some change happen and decided to send death threats to Mr. Riccitiello. My boy is 65 years old, CEO of a big game engine company... He could've gotten a heart attack from the threat alone... But anyways, he also, thoughtfully, suggested that if any of his employees felt uncomfortable about the whole situation, that they could just stay home. He also closed two offices for now. Let me tell you this much, I don't think violence is going to solve anything. I believe it's a perfect time to make a decision if you need to make one. Nothing's binding you to the game engine. Sure you may have some pretty developed games, etc. but at the end of the day, you have to weight the pros and cons of starting over in a new game engine.

For myself, I'll keep using Unity because I never felt entitled to it being free of charge the whole time and I truly believe that if I were to have an issue with how much money they want to take for me using their platform, then I should just migrate to another game engine or build my own. All these changes are set to take place on January 1st 2024. For now, my games will still be available to play for you here! :D

news