How To Make Your First Mobile Game
keep it simple
If your reading this post, then you have probably though about some game that you wanted to build without worrying about the fine details and required effort to create a game like Fortnite, Minecraft, or Call of Duty. And, after realizing the work required, you eventually give up, thinking that you could never make that game.
Although it may seem impossible at the moment, creating your masterpiece is only some experience away from being completed. And the way to gain that lacked experience is by creating a simple game where you learn the ins and outs of game development.
When you make this game, make sure to keep it simple, like a Flappy Bird type of game that has limited functionality. This will allow you to better understand various concepts and coding languages to create future games. Additionally, Keeping your first game simple will give yourself a taste of the game development experience and motivate you to make future games.
how to build a mobile application
picking a development software
When you are designing a mobile application or game, the four main software that you should consider should either be Android Studio, X-Code, Unity, or Unreal Engine. If you are new to programming and game development in general, then it is probably best to use either Unity or Unreal Engine because they allow you to easily switch build platforms between various operating systems, allowing you to make games for both iOS and Android easily.
Now, to decide between Unity and Unreal Engine is the hard part:
- In terms of programming languages, Unity uses C# wile Unreal Engine uses C++. However, if you know either of these languages or any other programming language, then it is relatively easy to pick up most other languages, including C# and C++.
- If you want a more visual approach to designing your game then it is best to use Unreal which has a scripting map, while Unity is more conceptual, where you need to plugin scripts into each object. However, there are available assets that you can use on Unity that can make the process more visual.
- If you are working with a group, then Unreal Engine may work better because they have a cleaner cloud system compared to Unity. However, Unity does have a cloud based system to share projects between team members.
But the main difference between Unity and Unreal Engine is that, Unreal is geared towards 3D games and console games while Unity is better for 2D games and mobile games.
creating game art
Before you can even begin to code and program your first game, you need to create some game art for your game’s characters, obstacles, buttons, background, or any other element you would want to implement in your game.
Because your first game should be super simple, it is best to start off using free pre-made game art and pixel art that can be accessed here.
If you are feeling up to the challenge you can always use Adobe Photoshop, Gimp, Kirita, or Aseprite to make your own personalized game art.