Contents
- Stuff you should learn
- Documentation
- Creating A Computer Game
- Marketing
- University Of (We are one step ahead!!!)
- Salt Lake City Development Communities & Networking
- Extras
- Self Promotion
- Development Tools
Stuff you should learn
Web Development Html,Css,Javascript
Web/App Development FrameWorks: React Redux, BootStrap, NodeJS
App Development: Android , Alternative Tutorial 1
App Development: IOS
App Development: React Native Cross-Platform Framework
App Development: Dart And Flutter Cross-Plaftform Framework
Game Development: Unreal Engine Map Design ,MapDesign Timelapse
Game Development: Unreal Engine Development
Game Development: Unreal Engine VR Development
Game Development: AAA Development
Game Development: Get Started with no experience
Game Development: Harvard Intro to GameDev
Game Development: Unity C# Programming Fundementals
Game Development: Unity 2.5D Sidescroller
Game Developpment: Unity LongTutorials
Game Development: Fungus Visual Novel Maker in Unity
Game Development: RenPy Python Visual Novel Engine ,Used to Create DokiDokiLiteratureClub
Game Development: Phaser HTML+Javascript
Game Development : Code Architecture & Design Patterns , Design Patterns Book HardCopy
Game Design : RitX Game Design Series
Game Design : MitX Intro to GameDesign
Game Design : Game Design Principles
Game Design : Game Design Documentation References
Game Industry Analysis, 2
Computer Graphics: Blender 3D Character Modelling/Art , Alternative Tutorial 1
Computer Graphics: Blender 3D Prop Modelling Long Tutorials .Complete Workflow
Computer Graphics" Blender 2.8
Computer Graphics: Maya 3D Modelling Channels
Computer Graphics: Maya Character Pipeline .Box Modelling , UV Unwrapping Texturing Rigging
Computer Graphics: Maya HighRes Modelling
Computer Graphics: ZBrush HighRes Modelling
Computer Graphics: Voxel Art , Download MagicaVoxel
Artwork: Pixel Art , Online PixelArt Editor ,2
Artwork: Vector Art, Online Vector Art Editor
Artwork: Flash Animation
Artwork: Handrawn Art(Manga Art Style)
Learn Git Version Control
Learn SkillTree
Git GUI Client: GitKraken
Free Courses
Lydna (Free for SLCPL Card Holders) , register for a card here
Salt Lake City Library Tech Services
Real Programmers write their own software and do their own self-learning on their own to progress and adapt to any new trends in the tech industry. Those who don't are just code monkeys.
Documentation
Documentation Search
My Developer StartPage (Created in ReactJS)
SymbolHound
StackOverflow
UnityForums
UnrealForums
Writing Documentations
Unity Doxygen Integration ,Example
Github Wikis/Readme
Online Github Markdown Editor - Prose
Online Github Markdown Editor - Stackedit
OffLine Windows Markdown Editor - Typora
Offline Android Git Supported Markdown Editor - spck , (Web Version available)
Joplin //Markdown
Pure Writer, The Only Mobile App that has Good Version Control, Minimalist UI, Actual Markdown Support, fast performance, whatsapp-like backing up system and Categorization System
Project Management Tools
Boostnote - Notetaking app for programmers
Dropbox Paper
https://collegeinfogeek.com/best-note-taking-apps/
Writing documentation will keep your project in scope, and minimise feature creeps. Only real devs write documentation and manuals for their team and their users to keep the project going.
Creating a Computer Game
Game Development Opportunities
Itch Game Jams
Indie Game Jams
Weekly Game Jams
One Hour Game Jams There's no excuse to skip this jam, because it's too short
Ludum Dare Game Jam (Twice a Year)
Global Game Jam (Once a Year)
GameCraft Game Jams
Goal: "Finish a game, take it to market, and earn $1"
Time Limit : 48 Hours
Optional Challenge: Do everything Alone
GameJam Advice
In a gamejam, you have to quickly come up with an idea, and decide on an idea that is very clear, realistic,that everyone agrees with. If you don't decide on an idea, you'll be doing nothing for the entire jam. People usually spend most of their time in a gamejam creating the art assets and setting up their prefabs and characters, followed by designing the scenes,levels and UI. Programming is the fastest and the easiest part of a gamejam. Unless your project scope is too large. Making an object move on the screen only takes one line of code these days with so many engines and frameworks available. Code Architecture is the real problem. Good code architecture allows you to easily add extensions and new features to your game without wasting too much time modifying your old stuff. Plus, some online classes/tutorials actually teaches a lot of bad practice, so its up to you decide how you want write and organise your own code. Or you can make your own framework/library and reuse your functions from your old classes to save time instead of rewriting everything from scratch again. As for the game design, think about the user experience, what kind of feeling you want to invoke to your player. Don't just dump too much mechanics into your game like a feature creep, please limit your mechanics and features so that the player get to experience the parts that are actually unique, important and fun that only comes up in your game that you don't see in other games. Think of it as if it is some sort of combination/recipe that invokes different thoughts, feelings and experience, much like a drug would ~ dopamine. As for the Scene/Level design, how you structure your Scene/Level determines the difficulty, uniqueness of your game, think about how you expect your player to react to the game flow, objects and NPCs that are placed on the Scene/Level. Whether it is procedurally generated or designed manually by hand. Plus, we are not an AAA Game Company, we don't have that much man power to implement everything. Viability matters. As for the game art, think about people's first impression of the game on their first glance of the game's trailer and gameplay, there's a reason why so many smaller scope and badly made games with cute animals get so many downloads on the playstore. Think about your art style, perhaps a consistent and unique art style within your game makes your game different from other games. Written by nwy140 based on his limited self taught game dev experience and past mistakes.
The Asset Flipper
Visual - Assets
Unity AssetStore
Unreal Marketplace - Monthly GiveAway
Open Game Art
Itch.io Free Assets
Visual - 3D Models
Google Poly
BlendSwap
TurboSquid
CgTrader
Free3D
Archive3D
Giant List of 3D Models sites ,2 ,3
Visual - Textures
http://designbeep.com/2012/04/27/50-free-high-resolution-grass-textures-for-designers/
https://www.pexels.com/search/texture/
https://opengameart.org/textures/all
https://gametextures.com/freebies
https://itch.io/game-assets/free/tag-texture
https://www.textures.com/browse/pbr-materials/114558
SkyBoxUnity
Visual - Fonts
https://www.dafont.com/jason-nolan.d2354
https://www.1001fonts.com/free-fonts-for-commercial-use.html
https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/free-fonts-for-commercial-personal-use/
https://hackernoon.com/too-good-to-be-true-these-free-fonts-come-with-a-commercial-license-a4c8a2db26ad
https://opengameart.org/content/fonts-0
https://dealjumbo.com/downloads/category/freebies/
https://www.fontsquirrel.com/
Audio
https://freesound.org/people/nwy140/bookmarks/
https://gamesounds.xyz/
Japanese Royalty Free BGM ,Music Blends really well with the story in Towns of Tide
Plot/Scene Writing
Writing Advice
Game Dialogues References ,Stein;Gate VN ,PKMN:MysteryDungeon EOS/T/D ,Digimon World ,KH358/2days ,KHCOM ,GtaSa
Visual Novel ,1 ,2 ,3 ,4
Cloud Novel - Online VN Maker And VN Game References
Fungus Unity VN Intergration ,Fungus Dialogue Parser Conversation System
InkleWriter Unity integration
Development Tools that I Actually Use
Frameworks/Engines/Ide
Unity
Unreal
VS Code
Rider C# Ide ,Student License
Git Version Control ,Github ,Gitlab
Development Frameworks
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/game-framework-free-55334
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/makinom-free-game-toolkit-102686
Speedup Dev
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/utilities/55959
3D Art
MagicaVoxel
ProBuilder Modeller - Built in Unity,Demonstration ,ProGrids Snapping
Adobe Mixamo AutoRigger/Animator
3D Character Creators
Adobe Fuse High Res Char Creator
Make Human Realistic Char Creator
Daz3D Char Creator
Vroid Studio Anime Char Creator ,Mobile ,Vroid Hub ,Tutorial FullUnityWorkflow ,Details
VKatsu
2D Art
Inkscape , Adobe Illustrator Exporter
Anime2D - Built In Unity
Sprite Shape Organic Levels - Built In Unity
Live2D Anime VN Animations ,3D
Music DAW
Documentation
Project Management
Publishing Games
PlayStore Console
GameJolt
Itch.io
Marketing
Forum: TIGSource | MyProfile
Forum: GameDev.Net | MyProfile
Forum: IndieGamer | MyProfile
Forum: IndieDB | MyProfile
Forum: DevelTeam | MyProfile
Forum: IdleThumbs | MyProfile
Forum: FreeGameDev
Forum: AscensionGameDev
Forum: PokeCommunity
Forum: Open Game Art | MyProfile
Forum: Kongregate | MyProfile
Forum: NewsGround | MyProfile
Forum: Itch.io | MyProfile
Forum: GameJolt | MyProfile
Forum: UnityWIP | MyProfile
Forum: GameDev.tv | MyProfile
Forum: Reddit
Forum: GameDevStackExchange
Mobile OS Specific
Android Forums
Forum: AndroidForums
Forum: TouchArcade
Forum: DroidForums
Forum: BuildBoxForumHyperCasual
Forum: AndroidGamesForum
Forum: mobiles24
Forum: AppInvasion
A Huge CrapLoad of Facebook Game Dev Groups
Posting on Forums Guide
10 Places to find Beta Testers
GameDevSub
Posts FB Release
PlaytestSubreddits 1 2
ForumLists 1
Sequester Gaming Youtube Streamer ,Special Thanks
LiveStream From Browser
Record Screen Chrome Extension
Monetization
Google Admob , Generates $5USD from just 3000 downloads, and 100 active users, per month
Unity Ads ,Note: I've tried Unity Ads, its pays really little compared to Admob
All In One Threads/Articles
https://www.freecodecamp.org/forum/t/from-zero-to-game-designer-how-to-start-building-video-games-even-if-you-don-t-have-any-experience/285428
https://dvnc.tech/2018/05/10/ultimate-guide-to-getting-started-in-game-development-with-100-resources/
https://www.gamedesigning.org/gaming/reddit-threads/
https://www.gamefromscratch.com/post/2013/06/11/Creating-art-for-your-game-when-you-are-a-programmer.aspx
https://www.gamesparks.com/the-ultimate-list-of-free-and-low-cost-developer-tools-and-resources/
https://www.joshoneal.me/game-dev/
https://luminositymobile.com/37-great-resources-game-developers/
http://www.procedural-worlds.com/blog/best-free-unity-assets-categorised-mega-list/
GitRepos
https://github.com/Kavex/GameDev-Resources
https://github.com/mbrukman/awesome-gamedev
https://github.com/ellisonleao/magictools
https://github.com/Calinou/awesome-gamedev
Game Design
Good Game Design Documentation References: Amnesia,FallOut
More GDD Ref ,2 ,3 ,4
Archived Computer Game Manuals PS1 Atari
Archived Game Developer Magazines
Original GTA GDD
Saints Row Cancelled Game GDD
How to Write a GDD
How to Organize a GDD
University Of
ABCD
School Of Computing CS Lectures Archive
CS in Eae Syllbabus | Progress | Generic | Page
Writing Academic Papers
Etherpad ,Mozilla host
DraftIn Why use DraftIn?
DropboxPaper
Google Suites: Docs,Drive,Slides
Calender DeadLines
Library Journals Search
Academia.edu Journals Search
Google Scholar Citation Search
Citation Machine
Gen Ed
General Academic Resources
Gen Ed Requirements
Class Canvas Mobile App, Web Version
Online Services
Student Portal
Mail
Campus Bus Tracker
Map
Class Registration
Courses/Class Schedules
Register for Classes, send to cart to register
Course Information //Change Class Catalogue in URL
Course
Documents Collections
RateMyProfessors 😐
Communications and Networking
Tech Services
Remote Software
Safari Books Online (Free forr Students)
Marriot Library Free Movies
Hackerspaces
Marriot Library
Union Computer Labs
Hidden Campus Computer Lab
Salt Lake City Development Communities
Campus Events
UofU Events
Events AtTheU
Marriot Library Events
School Of Computing Calender
UofU GameCraft Club
Groups
Meetup.com ReactNative ,Slack Group
Meetup.com ReactJS ,Slack Group
IGDA SLC
Games Guild
Events and Meetups
Lassonde Studios Events
Meetup.com SLC
Salt Lake City Library Events
UofU CIS Handshake Career Fairs/Events Login via CIS
Extras
Self Promotion
Download My Apps On Playstore
Download My Games On Itch.io
Download My Games On GameJolt
My Youtube Channel And My Own Indie Game Trailers
Check my GitLab Repos
My Steam ID
Connect with Me On LinkedIn
Follow Me On Facebook
Follow Me On Twitter
My Pininterest Reference Board
3D Serious Character Art Sketchfab Portfolio (Current)
3D Art Low Poly Bad Programmer Art Sketchfab Portfolio (Old)
2D Art Artstation Portfolio
Mirror Link to this page
Development Tools
CS50 Online IDE
CodeSanbox - Online VS Code Like Sandbox
Developer Pledge
As a game developer, I can't let anything stop me from doing what I want, even exams and academics and whatever. I don't continue doing this because someone told me to, I only do this because I want to. Making a living off your passion is what truly matters to me.
No one told me to become a game developer or an app developer, no one told to me to get a gamedev internship, I do it because I want to. People tell me to go to college, study, do well in exams, do well in college, get a degree all the time, but is that what I truly want? But there's good in both side of the table, so the realistic option for me is to continue working on my own side projects, games and apps, that I will release to the playstore, while balancing my academic life. I mean, why not both? I was self taught before I chose to go to University for , but to be honest, I'm kinda worried that it will destroy my will and passion to keep working on my side projects. I mean, not everyone is like me, not everyone writes mobile apps/games for fun, some people are 100% academic, who don't do anything beyond anything outside of the curiculum. I'm not sure why some people find CS so hard? Is it because they are pure beginners without any industry experience? Is it because some schools treat CS and textbook algorithms like solving maths equations rather than projects in which you create something for fun. Maybe that's why so many real world developers drop out, because they have something else to work on, and they don't find college worthwhile. But that doesn't mean I will drop out, I think I prefer to balance my situation, have something going on in your life like a part-time job or a college course so that I will not feel stagnant, while doing what I want only during a specific period like weekends or nightime... There's a reason why there are so many self taught developers out there right now, who are making a living off their own projects. Its because of the availability of documentation and open source frameworks, anyone can look up documentation online these days and start learning on their own, not everything has to be learnt in schools anymore. And sometimes, the things you can learn online are much more advanced and interesting than the things you can learn in school. I know that those who goes to schools to learn CS, tend to have a stronger foundation and understanding in theory and textbook algorithms, and they are able to learn and pickup new things really quickly, but some of them lack real world practical experience. I don't think most schools actually teaches you how to use these open source frameworks to develop your owns apps followed with marketing,monetization and publishing them, instead I think they are more focused on textbook algorithms and theory than the practical side of things. Whereas there are many self taught devs out there who already know how to do all these things, and they are making a living off it. The Self taught devs I met are very passionate about what they do and they are always working on their own project in any spare time they have, I'm a self taught dev too before deciding to go to university for CS, so I know what it's like. While your average CS student is just there dreaming about their GPA, who only does assignments when they are given one and not work on any of their own side projects or learn anything else in their spare time, perhaps not every CS Student is like that , I've met CS students who are different though, but I tend to find that people who are not passionate in what they do, to exhibit this kind of behaviour. There's a difference between graduates and talent, and initiative. If you don't have anything to show to others other than the fact that you are currently a student or a college graduate, then consider yourself average. It is important to create something on your own, make your ideas come true, anything, while you are still learning. Being good at solving textbook questions does not make you anything special, being good at creating your own software, getting it to a production ready level to be shipped, and putting it out there in the market is what makes you special. That's why the barrier of entry for tech jobs are no longer there, you no longer require a degree, most employers only care about your work experience and your portfolio, and the projects you have worked on and what you created in the past.
Think about it, what's the difference between a writer who doesn't writes their own books but studies literature and a writer who doesn't studies literature but writes, sells and publishes his books to the market? Its the same thing with programmers/developers, a developer who doesn't write his own software or work on his own projects, is a developer who does not make any real world progress. As a game developer, the more games you make, the more you learn, even if you never finished your project and and it becomes an abandonware or your project failed. If you don't start somewhere, you will never learn, you'll never know what its like. The more you fail, the more you learn. And eventually, you'll get the hang of it, you'll discard the bad practices that have been implanted into your mind and start adopting a better workflow, and eventually, getting a project to a production ready level and taking it to the market is a norm to you.
Written before joining the UofU
One thing I find is that people who goes to school are very academic.
They feel that they must finish all their academic assignments, gen eds requirements and a bunch of other FILLER classes and assignments and chores BEFORE they can start doing what they want.
Self Taught people ignore all those FILLER and start doing and making what they want right away.
E.g Writing an app, College students will put all their minds into their assignments will take it to "A good enough for that grade" level that usually will be thrown away into the trash can after it has been submitted and graded, whereas Self taught developers will take it to a production ready to be shipped level and publish it and put it out into the market as they are being realistic and they are actually trying to make a living from doing what they actually want to do.
I stay awake up late at night to work on what I really want to do, even if I am tired.
While those who are very academic, will keep dreaming about college assignments and grades, they will lie on their beds and look at their phones all the way until they sleep right away after they finished their classes and returned home. There are many Wannabes Programmers and Game Designers - Not Developers, in College. It's true.
If you want to be a real indie developer, instead of some code monkey who jumps from one company to another, who keeps working in AAA companies, then, write your own software, make your own games. Don't expect anyone to spoon feed you with anything.
I know a lot of wannabe programmers and game developers in college, who has no real experience at all, who have never made a real software or a real game before. They are just expecting their college courses to spoonfeed them with everything. Wannabes are everywhere in college. When I go to developer conferences and meetups, I rarely see any wannabees, most of the people I've met are self taught real developers who have done more than any of these college wannabees.
You know, honestly, a lot of the shit that they teach in college, you could've easily learned them online on your own.
I don't like spoon-feeding, especially in college ,I'd rather learn new things on my own. I mean, there's no way college will teach updated tech and new frameworks such as Flutter or React Native... They'll be teaching outdated stuff such as Java and the general programming languages... What's the point of learning Java in college anyway? It's too unrealistic. I mean, who uses Java to make native mobile apps these days anyway? With so many cross platform frameworks available.. I'd rather just learn flutter and react native. And make my own mobile apps on my own.
I don't go to college to learn how to program, or learn some textbook algorithms, or to get a degree or something.
College is just something to keep myself occupied, so that my brain won't die from doing nothing
okay, let's be real here who goes to college to learn photoshop or 3d modeling , and game engines such as the Unreal engine anyway? you can learn all those hhings online, for free. Like seriously. the uofu games major, is a cash cow. I am being honest here. I just took a 3d modeling maya oourse. And it was really introductory. It only covered modeling. it doesnt cover rigging,animation and uv unwrapping all in nne class. It expects you to waste more money and take a separate llass for that
https://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/comments/c64fon/should_i_study_computer_science_at_the_university/ I just started my first semester at the UofU, with the intention of majoring in CS with EAE emphasis.But there's one thing that bothers me,
a lot of these "Games" Major students are just wannabe game developers. They don't have a strong will to do their own self-learning , and they expect the university course to spoon-feed them with everything.
I've met a lot of self taught devs who are even better game devs than these students.
The only strong point of these "Games" majors student is that they have a lot of free labour man power. Each gamedev team usually have about 7-10 people, from what I've observed. These "Games" major students rarely work alone, it's like. I don't feel "Indie" here, it's like the people here are trying to simulate an "AAA" studio. I feel like I don't belong here.
As a self taught dev before joining UofU, I was always working alone, and working in 1-5 people teams, in a startup, and gamejams around my country.
Let me know your thoughts, PM me too if you have any questions.
I used to be a very active indie game dev,
before joining the UofU.
It's just that, going to college, and seeing people expecting to be spoon-fed with everything, and rarely does their own self-learning, and side projects on their own, with pure dedication, pure passion, just killed my will and creativity as a self taught indie dev.
A lot of these freshman and sophomore students have never made a real game before.
They act as if they know a lot, even if they have only done 1 game jam. And they expect a lot of opportunities to be handed out to them, and they only expect themselves to publish an actual game on their 3rd year.
it feel so wrong to me, I hate being spoon-fed, and working with wannabes who has no idea how things work, it feels so wrong. I used to work in a startup, with real game devs. Coming back to college for game devs, feels so wrong to me.
Maybe it might be different to you.
But, all college ever did to me, was that it made me feel less passionate about my work.
All lot of the things they will teach you, you could've actually learnt all of them in a $10 udemy course.
And they teach things in such a slow paced.
I just don't know what I'm doing here, at the UofU.
Leaving my job at an actual game company startup, to go to a university to study CS in eae games.Maybe, I should have just continued working, with the real game devs. And guess what, I got that job without a degree, with just pure portfolio, dedication and will.
The UofU is full of wannabes programmers and game developers.
Its true.
Think twice, before joining.
When I was self taught,I looked for opportunities on my own,
took as many online courses, watch as many video tutorials I can find,
started many game projects alone,
looked for internships on my own.
Went and did so many game jams alone, and sometimes with 1 or 2 strangers.
Created my own playstore account and self published my own apps.
And then when I came to the UofU,
All I see is wannabes and inexperienced amateurs,
who talk big about themselves,
who have never made or even wrote a real game before.These are the type of people who end up working as a labour force at AAA companies.
I just don't understand what I'm doing here anymore.
I prefer an Indie vibe,
than a AAA vibe.
I don't know what I'm doing here,
spending so much money for some CS degree my parents want me to go and get.
When you could've learnt the exact same thing for only $10 dollars on Udemy.
You can say, I'm suffering from imposter syndrome,
but it's kind of the opposite,
I'm suffering from academic disappointment syndrome,
I'm disappointed with academics, and I'd rather do the real thing, work in a real job, than to go college to be spoon fed with everything.
No wonder self taught devs are better than college taught devs.
We don't expect to be spoon fed with anything. We don't expect opportunities to be handed to us, we look for opportunities.
College kids want everything to be given to them, they are the true wannabes.
Yeah, I'm feeling down right now.
I used to be very full of myself as a self taught indie dev.
But college killed my will and drive.
But, for you, it might be different.
Maybe college just isn't for me,
the triple AAA vibe just doesn't suit me.
I'm an indie dev,
not some guy who wants to become a slave labour for AAA studios, or some guy who spents so much money on the things that you could've learn online on Udemy for only $10.
Seriously,
just think about it.
College might work for you,
but it just doesn't work for an indie dev like me.
I've been trying really hard to work on my own indie game on the side while balancing my college life,
but, I kinda lost my touch, I hit a wall.
And that wall didn't exist until I went to college.
Look at Awesome Tuts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKJ01MbX3x8&list=PL7K_cQ2aVeqn7VQFpv3QHpNszFCgvWoyv&index=2
That guy is pure self-taught, and he is the real deal.
Whereas the wannabes are all in college, and they want to be spoon-fed with everything.Think twice.
The only reason why I came here, is because I wanted to enter the American Game Industry.Not because I wanted my degree, or to take the gamedev classes at the UofU.
Spoon-feeding, academics, exams, assignments, all of these nonsense are distasteful to me.
Honestly,
maybe I just need to make something, learn something new. And stop acting like all these wannabes in college.
and act like my old self who used to work in an actual game company, and someone who self-publishes his own apps on the playstore.
Current Status: Real World Developer
Previous Status: Educated Fool
Previus Status: Solo Developer
Prvius Status: Experienced Code Monkey