The game development field has become quite amazing because many people have a dream of making their games; most of them have wonderful game development skills. Some of them have ideas and stories that they want to spread with the help of their games to reach a global audience, and others want to compete with big game development companies to develop a new sensation in the game development field.
But the problem is that the task seems almost impossible for the novice, perhaps because, in general, subjects related to the field of game development are not taught in the Arab world. Some new game developers do not have sufficient game development skills or technical experience, so they see the road ahead of them as long and tiring. Some of them started with game development but then stopped due to new the obstacles and difficulties faced by them as they don’t have any sufficient knowledge about this field.
Therefore, we create this blog, to be a reference for learning about game development skills, explaining the basic concepts and helping game developers to solve their problems, and becoming a platform for everyone to contribute to, and urging the dissemination of science in most areas of technology, because the development of a particular game is a process that needed game development skills from multiple sectors, including :
- programming and networking
- Artificial intelligence
- Engineering and Physics
- Graphics and lighting
- stirring
On the technical side:
- drawing and design
- Acting and voice acting
- Music and sound effects
- Visual and cinematic effects.
Here are Some Game Developer Skills You Need to Know
#1. Programming and Networking:
Programming is the foundation of the game, it is what brings you the game and the story at its own pace, allows you to control its characters and tools, and lets you achieve your goals and beat your friends’ points. And if you want to play with them on the network, you will go to multiplayer mode, which is based on networking, which connects many devices to each other, and uses global servers to achieve the best experience.
Also Read: Interesting Facts to Know About Online Mobile Games
#2. Artificial Intelligence:
In the field of the artificial intelligence world, you may see many game development experts uses AI and ML technology for making robust and exciting games. In the past, the intelligence used in games was different from the current systems, as it depended on fixed software conditions, but with the advancements of devices, some games have used what is known as Machine Learning, which gives new creative opportunities, such as changing your enemies and manipulating their skills according to your previous decisions in the game.
#3. Engineering and Physics:
Yes, there is a benefit to the laws of calculating area and length of vectors in geometry and mathematics, and the laws of ballistics and calculating the force of collisions in physics, and without this benefit, we would not have been forced to learn them in school (right, it is not the best way to teach us). The clearest example is the game angry birds and Mini Militia Mod APK. How is the location of the bird’s fall and a line drawn for flight once you pull the rope? I don’t think it’s just a guess,
#4. Stirring:
It is the natural movement of figures or figures, which is difficult to represent by linear movement, such as the movement of the hand of a basketball player, or jumping, running, and even walking, all of which need dedicated work, and in general, it is in two ways:
The first is by using the Motion Capture, where an actor performs the desired movement while filming it from a special device, to be transformed into files that the computer can understand. It is the technique used in most football games. It is mostly used for 3D games.
The second method, which is suitable for the environment and its models, is that the moving process is done manually, by moving each part of the model and keeping a snapshot of each movement, or what is known as a key-frame, and recording all the key-frames and displaying them in the recorded sequence. It requires a long time and experience depending on the movement required, but it may give better results than Motion Capture for the characters.
Read More: How to Make Games? 7 Steps to Become a Game Programmer
Game Developer Skills: Needed Technical Side Expertize
#1. Drawing and Design:
After defining a game idea, Concept Artists make a sketch, often on paper, to show the shape of game parts such as the environment, characters, figures, and other objects. Then, the designers convert the graphics on the computer into 3D models, or 2D graphics, depending on the style of the game and using design software like Maya, Blender, and 2D drawing software like Photoshop or illustrator.
#2. Graphics and Lighting:
After designing the environment and models and placing them in the game, the computer must display them on the screen while playing, this process is known as rendering, and it depends on arithmetic operations that occur in the graphics card or GPU after the CPU sends data to it, and since games, The most advanced perform complex calculations to display the game in minute detail, as it requires a stronger graphics card.
Lighting is part of these processes, but it often requires a specialized engineer to write codes that specify the details of lighting in each area or each object, and fortunately for us, game engines have facilitated this topic.
#3. Acting and Voice Acting:
The voice of the character or the speaker is one of the most important things that attract the player to know and understand the story, and his representation needs special experience, as in films or series, so large companies hire voice actors to speak in the place of the characters or the story narrator, and sometimes players relate to a game because of a specific actor if they like his performance and representation.
Also Know: iOS Game Development Via Unity-A Beginners Guide
#4. Music and Sound Effects:
By music here, I mean the tones that accompany you while you play, that get louder when the situation gets tough and calm down when you rest. They are said to sabotage or repair the game due to their importance in keeping and engaging the player and sometimes communicating feelings related to a particular scene within the game. As for the sound effects, they make the player feel that he is interacting with the environment and give his actions more weight and influence than movement alone. And all of them need specialists in acoustics.
#5. Visual and Cinematic Effects:
Visual effects are used as a factor to increase the realism and details in the game or scene, such as rain and wind, engine smoke, explosions, and fires, or during collisions, all of which increase the enthusiasm and keep the player attentive. As for cinematic scenes, they illustrate a particular event or idea and are often shown before or between stages.
There are still a lot of areas that we haven’t touched on, such as MR mixed reality and comprising virtual reality VR and AR augmented reality, which is on the rise in popularity and demand.
Final Words
So, if you think “how do I make my own game if I don’t have any of these experiences?”. Don’t worry just learn all these above skills from this blog and make yourself an expert in the game development field. Also, you can take the help of some tools such as game engines, drawing, and design programs, and modifying sounds to make attractive gaming apps.