You can start making your own games today. Yes, you!

[Read the post]

1 Like

5 Likes

I made a game earlier this year. Itā€™s about a Tuesday.

2 Likes

Wasnā€™t there just an article on how the notion of a game being ā€œfunā€ was outmoded?

[quote=ā€œboingboing, post:1, topic:59414ā€]You donā€™t have to be a professional writer to enjoy keeping a journal[/quote]No, but the output of professional writers tends to be held to a certain standard and may generally be expected to be of greater value than someoneā€™s journal.

That was great. I got emotional. SRSLY.

1 Like

Thanks so much!

As a bitter ex-game developer, this ā€œeveryone make gamesā€ thing annoys me, and I canā€™t even quite figure out why. Maybe itā€™s because itā€™s one thing to make a game, itā€™s another thing to make a good game, and once you learn the difference, itā€™s really, really hard.
Maybe itā€™s how established journos trapped in the horrible system get annoyed at bloggers who have freedom. I dunno. Just putting it out here.

2 Likes

My kids are already acing Hopscotch. They can do in 5 minutes what took me 2 days to do in 1985. And purddier.

I heartily endorse.

Would you say the same about woodworking? There are plenty of people who make a living by carving/building with wood. There are also hobbyists who do this but have no intention of it being their career. Occasionally the latter become the former, and I donā€™t think the former ever get mad about that.

2 Likes

lol I donā€™t think Zoe is anyone you would want to take tips from on the industryā€¦

A better comparison might be how anyone can call themselves a ā€œPhotographerā€ now, and it annoys real photographers.

1 Like

7 Likes

Isnā€™t such an outlook self-aggrandisingly exclusionary? I can be happy for anybody who feels accomplished in something that interests them. But using this to insist that others canā€™t/arenā€™t really doing anything seems quite petty. I canā€™t think of any endeavors which are improved by pissing contests.

1 Like

@Mindysan33 actually inspired me (inadvertently, or perhaps, conspiratorially) earlier today to consider the awesomeness of a game I would like to make called ā€œRPG Zombie.ā€ I was just thinking it would be really cool to make.

1 Like

Do it! That would be awesome-sauce.

I canā€™t really explain it, which is why I was just floating it out there w/o much explanation. And Iā€™ve noticed others seemingly acting the same (aforementioned journos attacking bloggers). I figured a forum would be an interesting place to solicit opinions on the idea.

Like most emotions, Iā€™m not saying itā€™s justified, nor do I indulge it (Iā€™ve actually talked to many amateur/aspiring devs, both on a hobby and professional level), so itā€™s not like Iā€™ve thrown any daggers myself.

Might be the Hollywood glossing of a profession. You donā€™t see people saying ā€œAnyone can practice medicine at home!ā€ much, but for some reason, the ā€œanyone can codeā€ meme has gone further, whereas when I was in school, I remember an awful lot of people taking classes where they tried to avoid a) math, or b) writing papers, so clearly thereā€™s some differentiation in mindsets.

The kicker for me was the Silicon Valley guy who decided to teach a homeless man to code, and somehow the idea that what you may have spent your whole life to do, some 20-something is trivializing away with a ā€œHereā€™s a ā€˜Teach Yourself JavaScript in 30 Daysā€™ book, study it in a week and Iā€™ll give you a salary.ā€ On one hand, weā€™ve got a whole workforce of experienced people out there, and on the other hand, weā€™re saying the experience is useless and you can just pick up a Ruby book and have a career. The ā€œanyone can codeā€ seems to subscribe to that philosophy beyond a simple ā€œhere, have fun building a ship in a bottle in your living room.ā€

Again, not saying I have a conclusion here, nor am I saying I know whatā€™s going on, but Iā€™m thinking itā€™s an interesting discussion. And the folks at BB are the type who Iā€™d figure might have some insight to share. I realize Iā€™m broadening this beyond games, but I do think itā€™s the same as the ā€œanyone can codeā€ idea, just a specific branch.

I do also know that the same ones donā€™t tend to say ā€œHere, learn openGLā€ as much as ā€œHere, play with GameMaker and make the 6.022*10^23 sidescroller or tile based RPG.ā€

1 Like

There are many people who are convinced that their careers should come with benefices. They feel entitled to certain markets - if not not individually, then at least for ā€œtheir own kindā€. From that perspective you are stealing from the pro you didnā€™t hire when you let an impostor shoot your wedding.

And as I am not an art history major, Iā€™d love to know if the same thing happened when you had the old guard who spent all their time learning to paint with realism and a new class of painter came along breaking from that representation in a way that didnā€™t take the same time commitment of skill.

Iā€™m sure this is like any other cultural/academic evolution of profession.

Yeah, thatā€™s probably a great example. Shooting on film with manual cameras is way different than a digital that does a bunch of the work for you, and as those become cheaper, the barrier to entry becomes lower and lower.

However, as photo development becomes turnkey, you start seeing a million of the same style based on the filters the camera/software has, instead of someone finding an interesting exposure in the dark room.

Iā€™m a hobbyist dev, and this website is really great. There is so much content farm, SEO-laden clickbait out there, it can be hard to shuffle through tp find real advice and information. A simple, well-laid-out interface of prescreened resources is really a goddessend.

4 Likes