I have for a while been interested in game development, and every aspect that comes with it. Whether it's sound effects, music, story boards, gameplay, game design, theming, I feel like I love every part of it. But trying to find “likeminded individuals”, either people that are beginners just like me, or a group that are simply intrested in gaming on a deeper level, have been proven hard to find. I have searched random forums, discord servers and dedicated subreddit pages in an attempt to connect with people. But it simply hasn't worked. On reddit, everything was coding questions, showcasing of small projects and hiring offers. But you just simply couldn't discuss other things that were related to game design, like general questions, proposals of “hobby projects” or just simply share the passion. It was very limited to what you could post and engage with, as it pretty much boils down to “paid work offers” and “hey I have this coding glitch that needs to be resolved.” Nothing wrong with that, I'm just clearly staring at people who already have gotten their foot in the community someway, somehow, already.

It might just be difficult to find, proven the dedicated niche, and its nature. People that are on step above you likely won't engage with people lower on the ladder, with divided and newly developed skillsets and ideas. It simply isn't focused enough, which I can get behind. But I refuse to think that all those people just entered straight away, after secluding themselves and learning like coding for a year. We all start somewhere, and I find it hard to believe that they all dedicated themselves to learning one skillset fully before engaging in any community surrounding it.

There has to be a stage before “I'm ready to work semi professionally.”

Or at least I hope so lol.

Problem is, I've not been able to find such a place.

A place where beginners can propose hobby projects, talk about their passion for game design and gaming, and just generally connect.

I've done my best, but only to be met with lackluster results. I've gone on YouTube and tried to find how people that have developed semi-successful indiegames managed to get a team together.

The only thing I have to compare to my own experience is others, and I have really enjoyed watching videos like, “how undertale was made”, and the whole backstory of how the entire project came to be. And I've noticed a pattern.

After watching a lot of YouTube videos like “How X Game was made", there always seem to exist a connection before hand. I don't think I've stumbled across a single project where the origin of the game could traced back to “I was a developer that came up with an idea and hired additional people professionally to help me finish the game." If the game isn't entirely self developed and self published, there often is a couple of people that know each other beforehand, and they decide to join up to start producing a game, and then hire people additionally if needed… And it makes me wonder.

Do they just simply happen to be friends from before that happen to share the same exact interest? Or did they meet somewhere?

I feel like the “indie game dev” side is so much more disoriented than other communities. Like, if you want, you can go to any subreddit of any of your favorite series and immediately seek engagement. You can always find people willing to discuss things, or share insights. I've never seen like a “definitive place” to start engaging, if that makes sense. Here it's scattered. I've seen everything from strictly work forums, showcasing forums and problem solving forums. But never one dedicated to connecting people new to this. I wonder if such a place exists. Clearly, I haven't been successful in finding it. So is the barrier of entry literally to be fully proficient in one skillset before finding any type of community or “hobby project” opportunity? Maybe it really is gatekept by skill.

I've been writing almost every day for the past year, and produced music for maybe 3-4. Maybe I could join a game jam, as like a second back up or something, but I'm unsure if anybody would be willing to accept a beginner In on such a thing.

Even in discord servers I've tried to join, they say that hey are for “newbies”, but realistically, all the links and chats are dedicated solely to game design, and sharing semi finished games.

Are game jams the way to go? They seem to require quite a bit of experience to get in on. But how do you build experience if there is seemingly nowhere to go, nowhere to start? Once again, there's a barrier of entry. One I wonder you can grow under or get behind.

Sorry if this is a bloated thing to ask, but I feel like I've been stuck in my own corner, for way too long. I want to branch out. And reach out to people who feel like me, or can possibly help. There has to be someone out there.

I don't know if that's possible, and I'm not delusional enough to think that people will extend their hands out of the blue. But any little help or direction would be greatly appreciated, seriously. I felt like I've hit a brick wall when it comes to connecting people in this space.

Maybe this isn't the right place to ask this, but I have searched the internet far and wide, and genuinely can't seem to find a more dedicated page than this.

I don't expect anyone to read this, but if you've ever been in the same place as me, what's the secret. Please.

I'm starting University soon, and I would like to get a foot in the door before studies swallow up most of my time.

(PS. it was a reddit user who redirected me here. He said I shouldn't be stuck on reddit, and search for better alternatives, like for example this place as it was much more serious, according to him.)

(Sorry for being an headache to deal with, and sorry for being a newbie lol)

So you want to learn about game development. We have a page for that: https://www.gamedev.net/start-game-development/​ We recommend you start there.​

If you want to join or start a hobby project, use our Hobby Project Classifieds board: https://www.gamedev.net/forums/forum/29-hobby-project-classifieds/​

But the Start page may be the better place to get a leg up before starting Uni. Good luck!​

Wonderland said:
I don't expect anyone to read this, but if you've ever been in the same place as me, what's the secret. Please.

Personally, i never experienced the issue of lacking company. I always was the only programming kid around trying to make games on home computers, and i did not really expect somebody to join.
But there is no need for that. Make simple games alone, beginning with Pong and Space Invaders, and as you get better, Super Mario and Doom, or whatever. It's doable even if you have to start from scratch, which nowadays isn't necessary anymore since there are public game engines. There are also retro platforms like Pico-8 for those willing to learn from ground up while keeping it simple, which also is much easier than working with a C64 back then.

Once you have some finished projects to show, it surely becomes easier to find company.
Without any projects to show, nobody knows if you have the skills and passion to make games for real. This makes you more of a potential risk than a probable win for any community project.

So i would say: Make something small but fun by your own at first, to proof to yourself how serious and capable you are about it.
But i say so only because it worked for me. In fact idk if it's common these days to grow into gamedev with various forms of community.

Hello, and welcome

You're touching so many topics, I have no idea where to begin. I'll reply to some parts that jump out now.

I don't think I've stumbled across a single project where the origin of the game could traced back to “I was a developer that came up with an idea and hired additional people professionally to help me finish the game."

Did you ever try a at-the-back-of-envelop cost calculation of that? If you do that, you'll find that you need a bank account with enough money so it has at least a 7 digits number there.

Development from scratch takes a lot of time, and professionals are expensive.

Note that, unlike what many people think, an “idea” is not something valuable at all. It gets valuable **after** you developed a worked-out and solid plan around it (a game design plan), that can be (technically) realized. Before you start spending large amounts of your 7-digit number, you typically first want such a solid plan.

A game creates a imagined new world with its own rules and mechanisms. Every single item in a game (what are you in the game, what' others exist, what do they do, how do they live, what do they want), actions of you and the opponents, kind of obstacles (what kinds exist, how to overcome them), environment, background, lightning, sub-goals, levels, sounds, music, etc etc) must fit in that new world or they break the illusion.

An idea is like one sentence “rescue your girlfriend". A game design plan is a description of the imagined world, and a description of everything in the game. Realizing the game is then creating a form of everything in the game plan that the user can see and interact with.

Wonderland said:
Do they just simply happen to be friends from before that happen to share the same exact interest? Or did they meet somewhere?

Probably both happen.

Wonderland said:
A place where beginners can propose hobby projects, talk about their passion for game design and gaming, and just generally connect.

We do have a hobby-projects -classifieds forum, so the first item is covered 🙂

As for the other two topics, I am not sure what you mean. Everybody here loves game design here, so what discussions do you expect?

One thing to note here is that everybody here is in the area of creating new games. That's the general topic. Of course people look at and try existing art, and they analyze it. The end-goal of it is however not about the existing art itself, but about creating new art, new games.

You also seem to consider “game design” and “gaming” (which I read as “playing games”) as closely related. Others here consider those wildly different topics/goals. Consider food. On the one hand, there are people that enjoy having a splendid meal. On the other hand, there are people that know how to make such a splendid meal. Are these two groups of people the same? No. Techniques needed to create a good meal are very much disjoint from techniques to eat a good meal.

So, perhaps one thing to ponder about for you is, what is it that you like in game design (and other topics)? Is it about “admiring” existing art, and deeply analyzing it? Or is it about how to create new art? For games, and I don't know if you tried that, but I would expect the “admiring" topics to be more in the game-mod communities. “gaming” as topic is perhaps also more a relevant topic there.

As for connecting, I don't know how much you engaged in discussions of others, helped them or joined their project. I think that's how you “connect”. For example, because I just wrote this replay you now know I exist. You have some clues of the kind of person that I am.

I'll stop here. I probably missed a lot of other points you want to know about in your original post, but ask again in a more focused post, would be my guess.

@Alberth Thanks a lot, I guess the best way to get communication going is to create something in the first place. Yeah, being a beginner in game development is a daunting task, there are so many things to consider. But I'll try to engage with forums you mentioned as much as I can.

@JoeJ So you're telling me that creating something in the first place is the key to driving engagement? Got it!

A lot of people, myself included, have been burned by failed hobbyist gamedev teams. I have joined teams before that fell apart for any number of reasons (bad leadership, nobody knew what they were doing, drama) and I'm not alone. Experienced people are cautious about working for free with randoms because there's such a low chance that any of them will be worthwhile.

I met my current team at college, but it's hardly my first. I just kept saying yes to everything, learned from my mistakes and the mistakes of other people in the team, and by the time I met this group they recognized I knew what I was doing, I recognized they knew what they were doing, and we've been very happy working with each other since. I never stopped making games, whether I was working alone or with a group. I was always learning and improving. You just have to keep trying and be ready to grab the opportunity when it presents itself.

Online, your best bet is to show off. Make games out in the open and post progress. Show off your writing/music. Finish a game. Finish two games. Finish 60 games. For people in the know, the mere act of finishing something shows that you have skills most people lack and will get you an “in” with the sorts of people you want to be working with. It's hard to fake.

JoeJ is right that you should start off making very simple games. Clone some Atari games in an engine to learn the ropes. Finish the entire game, including UI, sound effects, music, and so on. Then move on to the next project. And post progress on a blog here! I want to see it.

There are tons of communities surrounding game dev, each catering to a different audience.

As for where to meet people, it's been covered, but I'd suggest make or join a team.

most of this industry is learn by doing.

Welcome and good luck.

@GeneralJist Thanks a lot for the warm welcome!

@Coil Thanks a lot for actually replying and seeing through the poorly worded description lol. I really appreciate that. I will try to follow the process you have proposed, and hope for the best. It would be hilarious if I found you down the road somewhere. Until then o7