So ive tried to code many times on my own but i feel like im doing things the hard way and im still unsure what to pick becasue ive been jumping around here and there. like most gamers i would like to try to make a game or something but im just not sure if i can or not becasue it seems really hard to do and im not sur eif ill enjoy it or not also my pc is low end so im kinda limited to say.
i feel like i have big ideas and im like yep thats good and then i try and give up, but i also get annoyed wheneve ri get a bug like a character cant stand untop of a platform or something like that, i tend to dream big and im not sure why.
/u/Mifuyne said it better than I can. “Big Ideas” almost never work for a first-time game. It’s usually safe to assume, most big published games have taken teams of people multiple years to build. I have some experience, but big ideas are still always my downfall.
Your first game should be a learning experience, and you should aim to finish as fast as possible, while still doing good work. If you are set on a platformer, try an auto-runner like the other comment suggests, or look at arcade games. One level from Donkey Kong or Mario Bros (not Super Mario Bros) is about the limit of complexity I’d suggest for a new dev. Even NES games like Super Mario Bros are pretty complicated, and would take a new developer many months. And there’s no shame in copying a classic game’s mechanics for your first game.
As a hobbyist developer that has been trying to make a game and giving up when I can’t figure a thing out since checks notes 2001?! 😢… Listen to these people saying to limit your scope! It’s difficult to find that sweet spot of simple but interesting enough to finish for me but it’s so important to LIMIT YOUR SCOPE.
Take your big idea and start chopping pieces off in your head and keep cutting it down.
At the moment, I’ve been on and off on a top down shooter like Vampire Survivors, I have this grand idea where it’s a space combat game where you move a giant fleet of capital ships that are driven by a flocking system. It’s a cool idea but too complex. I need a simple thing first and then add onto it. I’ve removed ALL of my spaceships in the fleet down to one guy, all of my gun types beyond one, removed all of the enemy types beyond one, simplified the upgrade system to something that just makes number values go up (Like HP, Weapon Dam, Defense, etc) instead of complex bonuses. It’s still hard, it’s still boring at times and I’m currently in a trough of disillusionment about the whole thing so I haven’t touched it in about a week. BUT this has had a better chance at completion than anything else I’ve done.