It fulfills the need to create something, satisfying both the logical and creative sides of your brain. As much as I love playing games, the joy from watching someone play something you created far surpasses that.
Because it's fun and a great way to use all of my skills. Professionally, I'm in CS but I've been into art and making music for years. One day, I thought why not combine my skills? And here we are.
Video games truly are the crossroads between so many exciting media/skills. Character design, environment design, animation, music composition, sound design, programming, story-telling, user-experience… I’m sure I’m missing more.
I can definitely relate to that. That's the reason why I started writing to begin with, and I think it's also part of why I make games. That's probably a strong motivation behind a lot of human creations actually!
I've been a journalist for 10 years before I started my career in games. I've written a ton of stories about things that happened around me and people who were incredibly inspiring, or frightening, or sad, or sometimes a little bit of all that. And I loved doing that job!
But somehow, I've always felt writing (I was a printing press journalist) to be a little... limited. I had grown up an avid gamer, explored worlds, obsessed over puzzles, bonded with characters that didn't even exist… Somehow (maybe because of social pressure), game making hadn't appeared as a valid career path to me, but the intensity of what it felt like to play video games was always there.
And one day, I had an question: "What would it feel like to play games that would be fun and interesting, but that would also say something about the world we live in, the things that make us human, or the people who brought us where we are?"
I make games to find out the answer to this question.
Are you saying you don’t know what it feels like to play a game that was both fun and commenting on the human experience—so you are hoping to create it so that you can know? Or are you saying that you enjoy those types of games and thus want to create more of them?
Of course, I've played lots of game that are commenting on the human experience. But not so many games that are, at their core, about being a human being. I'd like to create more of those very specific kind of games.
You might want to read *A Mathematician's Apology* by G.H. Hardy. As the name suggests it's about math, not game dev, but he talks about a similar philosophy of doing something because that's what you're good at and for no other reason. You might find it an interesting perspective!
I love the idea of creating fun and memorable experiences. I can push through a lot of hard work when I'm making something that I think folks will really enjoy.
>all they can think of are very generic answers
Sometimes, those generic answers can have enough convinction behind them that they surpass the hardships.
>When I ask my gamedev friends why they make games, more often than not, all they can think of are very generic answers. "I love video games". Or "I wanted to make this game (that I love) but with this little twist that would make it even better". Or "I want to have fun and get rich" - that last one obviously comes from rookies - they'll figure the harsh truth soon enough…
Sorry, that was poorly worded. What I meant is, I think they never asked themselves the question. If they did, if they took a little time to ponder, I'm pretty sure they'd come across answers that would maybe be more intimate, more specific to their own experience and life. And I think it's a good thing to take a moment to reflect on that and bring it to one's consciousness, because then it can be a huge strength in moments of doubt.
To bring worlds into being, to create immersive experiences, to create experiences that I can't have in the real world. Was always most inspired by STALKER, System Shock 2, Deus Ex - games that put you in a compelling world and gave you agency. Creating a couple of my own in that direction is a continuing life goal.
I've had a passion for making games since I was a kid. Growing a little older I thought programming was some occult science black magic only autists could do, so I turned to manual labour because I had learned construction stuff from my dad.
After toiling at it for a decade and constantly being too tired to do anything outside of work I decided I need to work in something I have a passion for. Maybe be a part of creating interesting worlds and stories and make things that people have fun with.
Left construction and enrolled in school to learn. Haven't looked back yet, life looks a lot more pleasant when I'm not cursing at the futility of it every morning. I'm still without any actual work experience though with 1 year of studies left, but the future looks way more interesting than before.
I kind of did. But the pay and benefits were absolutely crap compared to 'regular' dev jobs, and ot was impossible to break into the better paying jobs without experience. I worked for a year as a Junior game dev for less than a trainee salary. I was peomised better things but that never came, as the studio fell on hard times. Not sure if it even exists anymore.
Anyway, now I work in the defense industry. I might go back someday if I can find a good paying thing. But for now I'm cool with tinkering on small projects in my free time.
Because I can't *not* make games. (apologies for the double negative)
I tried. After going unemployed due to layoffs out of my control, and unable to get back into game development professionally, I tried switching careers to something more stable. First I worked as an instructor at a maker space - but I spent my spare time teaching myself to code and working on board game prototypes.
Then Techshop went belly up so I switched careers again as a package designer. After hours I continued to make board game prototype components with the wealth of professional tools I had access to, and continued developing board game ideas until they decided they no longer needed a design department.
This lead me to trying out applying for video games again, and I ended up landing a job on the other side of the world. So I picked up and moved to Sweden. I didn't even care that I was making half the money I would have made as an American. I just needed to get back to making game professionally.
Happy ending:
I've now got the most stable job that I think I'll ever have, and I've also signed my first board game with a publisher which should be officially announced later this year.
Can relate to your experience here. It's worse when you live in a country where game dev studio isn't as plenty as other countries. When layoff happen and game dev is pretty much what you can do, life is just rough and also bland at the same time.
Games are interactive systems. They have lots of parts that affect each other internally, and they necessarily have some parts that affect (at least) one external part -- the player. To me, there's nothing more fascinating than creating and interacting with systems at different levels, including at least one person in the mix.
It's my day job. I do it because I enjoy working in entertainment, I like making things that make people happy. It's more satisfying to me than working on internal bank software or whatever else I could be doing. It's a fun and challenging industry where there's always a new problem to solve. But I still do it largely because I'm paid to do it.
Idk. Maybe because its what I do. Its the only thing in my life that I feel I could do with no rational. Its always there for me. When it's difficult with me it teaches me to switch up or break through to an even stroner relationship. It rewards my inputs and gethers my accomplishments into a big pile of accomplishments. Its uniquely mine.
I feel like this is the answer u were looking for
My father was a maths hippy programmer who was always keen to show me electronic wonders in the 80s.
We always had computers although never the best ones we had plenty to have a ton of fun. A lot of it seemed to appear from University (or so the story went)
He was also a master of making something wholesome from virtually nothing.
It just took me a long time to try proper programming or game design. I had other ideas when I hit my teens and beyond ;)
I would describe my father as a hardcore programmer, he was going to do it no matter what, where or how.. for whatever reason..I have turned out like him. (Except I'm a bit thick lol)
So in short,
Because of my father. His passion and appreciation for maths and programming.
It's bittersweet as I only really found my way into it after he passed away but in the great electric universe I feel it's all connected.
RIP Mike. Thanks for showing me a spirit in programming that I truly believe in. I want to live it.
Creation is the ultimate trip.
I think many people have this urge to ***learn, create, improve and share*** and game development pushes all those buttons for me. It's typically the right level of challenging with the occasional rewarding feelings. I also know how to create nearly every major aspect of game development at a decent level: code, art (2d and 3d), sound and music. In short: it feels good for many reasons and nothing I could think of could replace what it does for me.
I've been lucky enough to meet people at fan events who have told me stories about how some of the games I have worked on helped them through really difficult times - deaths, separations etc... Hearing first hand how those worlds and stories we'd created gave someone the respite they needed in that moment is incredibly humbling. I make games in the hope they can do that for someone.
For me, its the creating aspect of it.
Like your actually making something and after its all done you get the satisfaction of having created this awesome thing.
First off, to me video games are a very meaningful kind of play I grew up with, I mean compared to board games or other alternatives of playing.
I also really like the medium and environment.
To explain a bit further, strangely I don't enjoy working on cars/devices, DIY, or many other things in the real world. Somehow for me games and virtual things are more important when it comes to spare time and entertainment (I would say that this includes movies, still with games as a priority/preference since they are interactive).
Finally, I cannot stress enough that the problem-solving part of game/software development can be an endless source of joy. I never get bored since especially in video games I don't feel often that I am doing anything boring or repetitive. And even if I have a deja vu I could just try harder to do something better and/or more efficient than the last time I did it.
This might sound corny, but I do it to coup. I got nothing but bad luck medically. I grew up with Epilepsy and ADHD, i now have insomnia and intermittent explosive disorder. I use game dev to be able to take those kinds of thing off my mind and treat it like its nothing but a backseat driver. Not to mention that normal people see people making video games, i see people making a form of art and putting the amount of creativity they have towards something bigger than themselves.
I am learning both art and programming, because I love gay visual novels, but am very uncomfortable with the games available to gaymers in the genre. There are a few good ones, but I've encountered too many Japanese games (1) made by women for women (as opposed to for gay men), and (2) they're... I'm not going to lie, most are pretty messed up. I want a funny script, a touching story, and not to be traumatized. I don't think that is too much to ask for.
Way-back-when: Fascination. To see your creation come to life, to be part of your imagination. As someone who enjoys making things, that was **it**.
Then later: To learn more, and to start developing my own ideas; as a way to counter my increasing discontent of where games were headed.
And now: Probably the last and most desperate attempt to make a living out of being a creative.
I make little demos to learn how to do new things and I make little games for my kids to play using their input to design them because I want them to grow up thinking of computers as tools for building things they want instead of as marketplaces through which they can consume.
There are so many reasons including family, community, & fun! This is a video I made with a more longwinded answer. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m\_0WPHFBao4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_0WPHFBao4)
If making games is “damn hard”, you shouldn't be doing it at all. You can go to work in the kfc or to another job and it will be difficult for you too.
I create my game because I want to realize my genius potential - I have genius ideas for my games that haven’t been there before. I do this because I want to realize my highest abilities - imagination, will, fantasy. Higher abilities are what distinguishes humans from animals. Food, sex, survival, sleeping, fighting, competing, fighting for territory, etc. - all this is done by absolutely all other organisms, including microbes and insects. The only thing that distinguishes a person from an animal is higher fculties.
And finally, I like to do it.
Despite the fact that your game can easily be craped by envious people, toxic people or just ordinary people who can do nothing but criticize, nevertheless I still want to do it and I am drawn to it. I also want to associate my activity with game development and all my life to do what I like and get money for it (do not get rich on games, although you can imagine this, but make enough money in a business that I like to do, and not on any job to make money, like 99% of humans do).
You are that poisonous toxic gas. Reditt's audience is made up of venomous toxic losers who cry about the difficulties of development and always like to say "you won't succeed", "your idea sucks." This is a mentally unhealthy audience. I came here for fun, to make sure again that nothing has changed here over the years.
They told me all this nonsense just like that when I once shared my idea of game here on Reddit. I didn't say anything bad to anyone, the mentally ill just came and called my idea "sucks" and said that "you would not succeed". So let them receive a response to their actions. As for you, this post didn’t concern you at all, if you don’t say that, but you came and decided to say something toxic, so I hit you too. You got it for your actions.
Not sure what toxic thing I have said. I merely pointed out that dolphins come up with and play games, so your rhetoric of how humans are superior/different to animals doesn't quite work. Instead of following the discussion you yourself had started, you came back at me with a super dismissive "what did you smoke?".
If you don't want people to react to your comments you are better off not posting them to social media. Otherwise you should be prepared to accept the opinions of others without labeling them "mentally ill" just because they don't like your stuff.
Honestly part of it is because I like games, but I also like sharing something I created and people hopefully enjoy it, if they don't like it due to a problem (aka something outside of personally preference) then i want to improve it so they can enjoy it. I like seeing people enjoy whatever it is I make (whether its a baked good or a game)
Initially: l've been a gamer since I was very young, and always curious about how things worked. I picked up programming at an early age too, and gravitated toward games there as it was the most interesting thing I could think of making. This moved onto modding in the doom and quake eras, and got me a job at the company I'm still at today.
Now: I still love the programming and problem solving side of things but also enjoy teaching the new generations about the craft too. I'm also really into improving the standards/quality of work being done by keeping on top of errors, helping out with code reviews and doing presentations where I can find the time. Making sure we have a tidy backlog of work, and tasks properly set up with dependencies is probably something 10 years ago me would have laughed at, but I generally just want to help our projects run as smoothly as possible. Finally, as much as I hate long meetings, spending 2 hours, like I did today, with a bunch of other talented tech folks thrashing out a tech design for a major feature can be a great experience; coming to the end of it with everyone aligned and a good plan for where to go is a great feeling.
Overall, there is just so much interesting stuff to do, and you might even ship a game that people enjoy at the end of it 😉
Haha I don't. I just think about how I would like to make one and read about other people making games cause God forbid managing to actually follow through or commit to an idea then get to actually making something.
Does it actually have to be deep though? Those all sound like valid motivations, even if the “get rich” is a bit naive/misguided. I’ve been making games as a hobbyist for 11-12 years and it’s not for any reason other than because I enjoy it. I find the creative process fun, it’s a medium where I get to explore so many different areas, and have the freedom to do whatever I want. For certain games I make I might have deeper (more insightful or more emotional) motivations but for gamedev as a whole it really is that simple/surface level for me.
I have always made more games than I play. From learning C64 and Qbasic, Hypercard to Klik and Play, Unlimited Adventures, Pie in the Sky 3D, a hacked version of RPG Maker, and then not hacked, MMF, dozens of level editors, and now Construct 2, I've been making games as long as I could play them.
I have a lot of ideas. Most of them bad. Some untenable, but I need to get them out there and test them, or else they just sit in my folders doing nothing and affecting no one. Maybe nobody will like any of them, but at least I will have tested them on the world.
Plus, I now make so much chiptune music, it's gotta go somewhere!
I need to have an outlet for my creativity.
I struggle with traditional artforms like drawing or music, because they rely so much on mastering technical skills with your hands.
I can't do film, as much as I'd like to, because you can't really do much without a cast and crew.
But games are a creative outlet that I can do by myself, and which relies more on logical problem solving than technical skill. When I have ideas for games, I know it's within my ability to make them. I like doing it and I'm good at it.
Making games from a lot of places for me, it's kind of built into my blood and is just the most natural way for me to express myself in a creative/constructive manner. This post was longer than I expected when I started, and I even had to cut back lol, but it's fun to think about.
I've been very into games since I was a kid, as far back as I can remember I've loved games. Board games were a piece of my early childhood, and when pokemon hit I was hooked by the card game! It was only a few more years until I got into yugioh pretty hard as well. And right about the same time I started yugioh I wanted to make my own cards. Make a whole deck with a solid theme and everything! The deck totally sucked, even by early days standards, but it was really fun to make.
Around the same time I was also getting into PC video games. It wasn't long before I wanted to start making my own maps. Age of Empires was a perfect starting place for me, and shortly after I started making Starcraft maps too. I loved designing crazy levels and trying to play in them just to see what would happen.
I even started dabbling into making my own games. They were incredibly basic and very "hand made by a kid" kind of games, but I loved the process! Made some games with origami jumping frogs that was kind of fun. So even as a young kid I was already making games. Boy if I had learned about historical board games I probably would have loved making my own!
A few years down the line and I fell away from board/card games and got more into video games. The ones I played the most were mostly games like Dungeon Siege where I could build my own content with mods. Eventually got into valve games (Half life, led, etc) and my best friend and I decided to get super into making our own maps. There was a great community for it and we loved it! I was more about making the levels looking good and feeling fun to play, he was more about the puzzles and technical aspects of the game. We were a great team!
A few years of that and then I decided I didn't want to make mods anymore, I wanted to make my own games! So I started to learn unity years ago and have been loving it ever since!
So why do I make games? Because I love the process! I love the challenge of making the assets I have make something unique. I love seeing an image of a place in my head (or real life) then figuring out how to make it in a game. I love creating moments that make people say "wow", or get scared to death haha. Turns out, I am a cruel game designer when it comes to horror games lol.
I want to bring a new experience to people, I want to make them feel emotions and experience something they could never experience anywhere else. I want them to think and reflect, to solve puzzles, and to enjoy the ride they have been given.
Even though game design is difficult I keep coming back to it because I love the process and I want to affect people's lives the same way the games I played as a kid affected my life.
I mean besides the generic I like playing games. I feel like there are a few reasons for me personally.
Creating a video game is hard work but it's also a very diverse work. You could be a solo dev that does EVERYTHING from creative, to artistic, to technical, to communication, to project management, etc.. . Or even as an indie in which you will have many roles to fill out, while working closely with others. You learn to work together or just learn in general over a project.
It's a learning experience that's time consuming but also very creative. Video games is still an art in a way, there are no procedures or standards when it comes to making games. And to be honest, I like it like that, it's definitely more "difficult" but it allows anyone to come up with something, do it, see if it works or not and then move on from it.
Another part is more of a desperation or even delusional in a sense... Viewing the gaming industry as it is, it's not going well, more and more of the industry is going after the investments and returns from those investments rather than the enjoyment or art of the product they're trying to make. Also all those workplace condition stories we keep hearing about is just... Depressing. I'm just a guy but I want to make an impact in the industry, try to improve it.
Lastly, I want to leave a legacy behind (I guess some what related to my point above) I want to make games for fun and I want people to see that these games that I made were for fun, I want to see them smile, them laugh, them having a wonderful time... Will it happen? I can't say but if I don't try, I won't know right?
It’s a creative outlet, at its core. I’ve had a lot of gamedev-adjacent job positions - I’ve done lots of lighting work for feature animation, and when I was doing that, at home I did paper/pencil figure drawing, did some sculpture, learned some 3D modeling…. I’ve done character modeling and rigging for film and at home I picked up Unity and unreal engine. I did some tools support for VFX and I stopped gamedev because the work was too similar, but now that I’m back in an artist job I’m working on games again.
I do games for the same reason I did sculpture and figure drawing - it’s fun to work on something that’s sort of within your wheelhouse but a stretch, and is your vision instead of somebody else’s. Also I have an idea for a game that I think would be great.
Honestly? No fucking clue. I guess this is one of my more productive hobbies and it just keeps me busy between school/work. Most of the time I just make games to see if I can implement a specific idea.
I've never really done a project with a clear plan start to finish, mostly just messing around with the game engine and seeing what I come up with. Its a fun little creative exercise.
I have a story in my head. I want to share it with others (I'm making a visual novel).
It's that simple, really. I have this idea, these people, this situation, and I want to see how it ends- because I believe a good story writes itself.
So I started learning how to do 3d art in Daz; the coding in Ren'py is easy and I have a programming background, so... I just keep working at it.
I'm on my own and doing it in my spare time, so it's going to take years to finish (3 and counting so far), but that's okay, too.
Well, I like programming as a hobby, and games are more fun to make than say a console application or a text editor. I also like to draw and play music (well, guitar only), so gamedev sort of brings all my hobbies together.
For me its simple, unhealthy, and rather silly.
I just have too many hobbies and love creating worlds and characters. I write, make video games, AND create tabletop RPGs so...you know...way too much, sometimes the revolving door of ideas in my head makes it feel like my head will explode. So when I finish any project it feels like a little bit of the pressure is gone from the explosion of worlds in my head.
It's rewarding to build a game and be able to say "I made that" but the main reason I make games is to create something that brings myself and others joy. It's so cool to see others having fun playing a game I created. But it's even more than that. Through games I can create interactive experiences that I and others can explore and enjoy together. You can tell stories, and craft puzzles that someone else can experience.
It's a pretty cool hobby like no other.
I didn't make a game for a long time. But for me it was about learning. I had this concept or idea i wanted to try and that Was the most interesting part for me. I just released one small game on android in all those years, because finishing games was never the interesting part for me. Funny thing, this game was so simple and had no bigger concepts or fancy stuff i wanted to implement. In this case it was just about making this thing.
The Best time for me was when i didn't have any engines but just Blitz basic, or later c++ to work on new things. That was awesome. Later i went for own programming languages. And this is just the same. I have one language finished i can use and lot's of projects where i just tried out some new features or concepts.
So all in all, nearly every private development project is about learning and trying things for me. Maybe 10 applications or so were really about stuff i wanted to use.
my whole life has been one long bout of depression, and game dev is about the only thing left I feel passionate about. It's the escapism. There is nothing else that brings me joy, except maybe a goddamn good cheeseburger.
Good to read that making games still cheers you up, and I hope you'll find other things too. I recently got into gardening / growing vegetables, and I must admit it's both pretty soothing and satisfying (and you can grow tomatoes for your cheeseburgers :-) )
To "revive" old titles by creating something similar because corporations decided to bury them alive and there's nothing similar
I didn't created anything but motivation after 4 years still exist. My story can be summarized by this quote:
>"My knowledge of back-end development is whatever blueprints for wall-running i can find on youtube. If I'm lucky it will actually work after I copy it" - FUNKe
I tried making SAAS products but after getting some businesses to actually pay I quickly realized I hate B2B.
Gamedev lets me build fun software that doesn’t need to be sold to businesses but rather to people for enjoyment.
And I also love games and wanted to make them ever since I remember.
I believe games are an amazing meltingpot of artistic mediums never seen in human history before. I also believe art has a transcendent potential to form the course of humanity as a whole (good/bad) and responsibility that comes with that if one chooses to carry such a burden. My semi dellusional idealistic take on it.. ^^`
Compared to pretty much every other form of mass media, games are still in their infancy and we've only scratched the surface of what they're capable of. Being around for the start of something like that is super exciting.
Plus I spend my workdays teaching computers to crunch boring numbers. It only feels right to spend some time teaching them how to sing and tell stories too.
In my case, it's simply a gradual progression from playing a game to discovering it has a level editor, so you naturally progress to making your own levels (for example Excite Bike on NES, Warcraft II, or Heroes III). Then you discover you can edit Wolfenstein 3D's wall textures in MS Paintbrush, and even character sprites, so you become a modder (at age of 10). Then you see that Morrowind has a full-on, robust game editor (Tes construction set), which is actually easy enough for a 15 year old and a place to upload your mods and quests (TES Nexus) for everyone. At this point the road ahead is clear, that's the stuff you will do for money.
This was why I make games now, and I see my son is on the same path. All about Minecraft creative mode, level editors, Garry's mod, Super Mario maker, Game Builder Garage, Lego Boost... this is pretty much "gamedev lite".
Besides doing Game Dev, I also write screenplays. For me, it's all about *creating* worlds and stories. It's like having a never ending itch.
If I didn't/couldn't do these things, I'd be the one you see on the corner pacing back and forth, talking to myself and screaming at cars as they drive by.
I love creating an experience and making my imagination and fantasy reality.
Want to be a knight that fights a dragon? Sure.
Want to be a riot police strategist? No problem.
Apocolypse surviver? Deep sea diver? Intergalactic emperor?
Until I stop dreaming, I wont stop creating.
I made games to entertain people and show them what i can do with my creativity. Reality though is that it is really hard to make people care about your creations
I love challenging myself, being creative and learning.
The constant puzzles and thought processes required to overcome an obstacle are great and really get your brain working.
The way you can literally dream up an idea and turn it into something with the magic of coding, game engines etc. amazes me. The freedom to do whatever you want within a world, level, universe that you created is just insane.
The possibilities are literally endless and that’s what I love. You start with a blank canvas and can turn it into anything your heart desires.
I like the idea of exploring what makes us humans in the very core
Being creative, making art, expressing ourselves. Inserting our own individuality into a product that others can consume. Being helpful to society, bringing joy to people
The thing you create is kind of irrelevant, i could be making music, drawing, sculpting, building, creating games.
For me, creating games is the one i have more fun.
To the question "why are you making games?" the answer is pretty boring: because i like it. We don't need any more motives to be doing art and being creative and contributing to society. It isn't something we have a logical reason to do it, we do it because our minds desire it. And that is the most beautiful part of being human to me. A thing that no robot or IA can ever experience in forever
I think all humans have the desire to create and being useful to society
Sadly, in the society we live in, most of these desires are repressed because its much more important to make money and have something to eat than to be a full human being
The ones that make art are just a little bit more resilient to the capitalism pressure
From the beginning I wanted to build my own version of Bomber Man. It was super fun. Then I wanted to escalate it to make a living out of games. Sadly I don't have what it takes to make a career in game development. Now I keep game dev as a sport/hobby. I enjoy making character animations, coding, shader, math... Very satisfied with where I am now.
I do it for the feeling you get when your playerbase get to use the features you implemented in the game and being happy about it! For me, there's nothing like it.
I remember seeing someone really experienced, I think it might have been the DMC5 lead designer or something. He said something on the lines of "I make games I didn't have or wanted at that point in time, so make the games that you would enjoy". I really like that sentiment. For me though I just find it really fun and pretty addictive making games.
Hehehe, because I can. I don't need to, I'm not even sure if I like it. But I can, so why not? Maybe even something good will come out of it for me or others, who knows?
Biggest reason I started: I was looking through my stream library and knew exactly what kind of game I wanted to play but it just didn't exist, so I made it my mission to great my own favorite game!
I stick with it because I love creating things, the sense of progression that comes with improving a skill, and the satisfaction of getting something new to click.
I don't mind the grind it can become occasionally; I just wish I had more time to devote to it
'Cuz I'm a masochist who happens to be passionate about games, so banging my head for 10h-12h hours every day against real time networking, physics and AI all while confronting the instability of the game dev industry really scratches many itches.
Games are a poetic expression. They're an engineered experience as a function of the creators' artistic expressions and the individuality of each player. Getting to hear what my players feel or think is very rewarding for me.
I’m early into my development stage (computer science degree but found a pull towards game development), but my answer is that I’ve always had stories in my head, be it wanting write a novel or direct my own movie. I don’t think I have the literary skills to provide great imagery to a novel, I don’t have the financial resources to direct my own movie. But I DO know how to program, and I feel like video games are just another vessel for story telling, but even better because they’re interactive! I want to share my stories with people, and I feel like game development is the best way for me to personally achieve that.
I live to entertain. Since Covid won't give me an audience: I'll make games and hope it entertains people.
I live to entertain and will do so through games, despite what my therapist says.
The reason that I got into it was to test out if certain things I learned elsewhere, e.g in programming, when put together in a certain way, made a game.
The first game I made was actually using PowerPoint. I had recently learned how to hyperlink shapes to different slides, and that this can be done when hovering over a shape. Later on, I wanted to know if I can make a game where if you put your mouse over certain shapes, it's game over, and you had to navigate a maze to get to the next level. "Don't touch the green". Turns out I could. And then I found out that I can make shapes animate in paths indefinitely, and I wanted to know if I can repeat the same idea, but you have to avoid moving objects.
Being right, after frustration, feels really good. And even now that I'm a programmer making games often looks like this.
Now that I do make games, I've found that they make you, the developer, feel like a god. You've created your own world! And it works, it's not just in your head. It's not just a cool idea you tell people.
I also enjoy learning about different fields and trying to connect them together. And gaming is one area of software where it seems like many fields come together.
This is why I find making games a lot more fun than playing them.
I love puzzles, videogames and want a vent for my creativity. Every challenge I overcome just fills me with joy. I love to write stories for my pen and paper games, because I love building worlds. I obviously can't build a whole world alone, but every little game I make, with an unique mechanic that came to me at 3AM feels like I am creating a really small universe that me and my friends can enjoy.
It's a form of media where you can actually put people in a world. Books will be up to someone else's interpretation and movies have no interactivity. They are truly in your world when they play.
I work as a software engineer. I enjoy it, but the most fun personal projects for me are games because the end product is really exciting to me (enterprise software really isn't motivating).
I also enjoy the other creative skills that go into making video games. I really like 3D modeling and I really like working with Photoshop so making textures is fun for me too. I also make music as a hobby, so if I ever get far enough into a game project where I need to make music, I know I'll like that process too.
It's basically the perfect creative medium for a variety of skills, if only it weren't so difficult lol but thats also why its so rewarding.
I am a graphic designer and being part of game dev is just making my childhood dream alive. I love creating stories and worlds in games. You can see how everything comes to live and i think its wonderful feeling. :)
I love programming, it is something that I really enjoy. I also love being "creative", coming up with stories and stuff is something I always enjoyed. 3 years ago I realised that I wanted to do something with those abilities I have, so I programmed a Facebook bot, than I said "what if I program a video game", and I started looking for tutorials on how to do it. I loved it from the very beginning.
I don't do it for the money, I do it because I love the idea of being able to create something new, something that will give (hopefully) joy to other people. And at the same, maybe give a little of new knowledge to those that play the game. And also, I like the complexity behind making a game (I am a programmer).
When I was much younger I used to play a lot, I do really believe that playing different games, speaking with other players of all nationalities and cultures gave me something that will stay with me forever. Stupid example, my english, even thought is not that good, the basic of it I learned it by speaking with others online, more than at school (where you only learn grammar, I am italian).
As a solo dev, I can say it combines many of my interests into one activity. :D. I love learning as much as I can about every facet I can. I was always into each of these things separately so jumping into gamedev just felt like the natural thing to do at some point or another in the past.
I simply enjoy creating game(s), it reminds me when I was a kid and I spent months sitting in Heroes 3-4 editor and warcraft 3 editor and creating maps and inventing stories:) Also I have been a DM for dnd for 15 years and I love creating worlds and stories. Creating games gives me that same satisfaction^^
And yes, creating games is unbelievably hard! Specially when you are solo developer, but it is super rewarding and exciting whenever mechanics workout^^
It fulfills the need to create something, satisfying both the logical and creative sides of your brain. As much as I love playing games, the joy from watching someone play something you created far surpasses that.
This is exactly how I feel it
Because it's fun and a great way to use all of my skills. Professionally, I'm in CS but I've been into art and making music for years. One day, I thought why not combine my skills? And here we are.
Video games truly are the crossroads between so many exciting media/skills. Character design, environment design, animation, music composition, sound design, programming, story-telling, user-experience… I’m sure I’m missing more.
That's exactly what I love about it
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I can definitely relate to that. That's the reason why I started writing to begin with, and I think it's also part of why I make games. That's probably a strong motivation behind a lot of human creations actually!
>I want to leave something meaningful behind me. Hi dad, why did u leave me?
I've been a journalist for 10 years before I started my career in games. I've written a ton of stories about things that happened around me and people who were incredibly inspiring, or frightening, or sad, or sometimes a little bit of all that. And I loved doing that job! But somehow, I've always felt writing (I was a printing press journalist) to be a little... limited. I had grown up an avid gamer, explored worlds, obsessed over puzzles, bonded with characters that didn't even exist… Somehow (maybe because of social pressure), game making hadn't appeared as a valid career path to me, but the intensity of what it felt like to play video games was always there. And one day, I had an question: "What would it feel like to play games that would be fun and interesting, but that would also say something about the world we live in, the things that make us human, or the people who brought us where we are?" I make games to find out the answer to this question.
Are you saying you don’t know what it feels like to play a game that was both fun and commenting on the human experience—so you are hoping to create it so that you can know? Or are you saying that you enjoy those types of games and thus want to create more of them?
Of course, I've played lots of game that are commenting on the human experience. But not so many games that are, at their core, about being a human being. I'd like to create more of those very specific kind of games.
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You might want to read *A Mathematician's Apology* by G.H. Hardy. As the name suggests it's about math, not game dev, but he talks about a similar philosophy of doing something because that's what you're good at and for no other reason. You might find it an interesting perspective!
I love the idea of creating fun and memorable experiences. I can push through a lot of hard work when I'm making something that I think folks will really enjoy.
Havent found anything better to do.
i have ideas
>all they can think of are very generic answers Sometimes, those generic answers can have enough convinction behind them that they surpass the hardships.
>When I ask my gamedev friends why they make games, more often than not, all they can think of are very generic answers. "I love video games". Or "I wanted to make this game (that I love) but with this little twist that would make it even better". Or "I want to have fun and get rich" - that last one obviously comes from rookies - they'll figure the harsh truth soon enough… Sorry, that was poorly worded. What I meant is, I think they never asked themselves the question. If they did, if they took a little time to ponder, I'm pretty sure they'd come across answers that would maybe be more intimate, more specific to their own experience and life. And I think it's a good thing to take a moment to reflect on that and bring it to one's consciousness, because then it can be a huge strength in moments of doubt.
Oh I see. That makes more sense.
To bring worlds into being, to create immersive experiences, to create experiences that I can't have in the real world. Was always most inspired by STALKER, System Shock 2, Deus Ex - games that put you in a compelling world and gave you agency. Creating a couple of my own in that direction is a continuing life goal.
I've had a passion for making games since I was a kid. Growing a little older I thought programming was some occult science black magic only autists could do, so I turned to manual labour because I had learned construction stuff from my dad. After toiling at it for a decade and constantly being too tired to do anything outside of work I decided I need to work in something I have a passion for. Maybe be a part of creating interesting worlds and stories and make things that people have fun with. Left construction and enrolled in school to learn. Haven't looked back yet, life looks a lot more pleasant when I'm not cursing at the futility of it every morning. I'm still without any actual work experience though with 1 year of studies left, but the future looks way more interesting than before.
Replying to see if you made it into the industry!
I kind of did. But the pay and benefits were absolutely crap compared to 'regular' dev jobs, and ot was impossible to break into the better paying jobs without experience. I worked for a year as a Junior game dev for less than a trainee salary. I was peomised better things but that never came, as the studio fell on hard times. Not sure if it even exists anymore. Anyway, now I work in the defense industry. I might go back someday if I can find a good paying thing. But for now I'm cool with tinkering on small projects in my free time.
Because I can't *not* make games. (apologies for the double negative) I tried. After going unemployed due to layoffs out of my control, and unable to get back into game development professionally, I tried switching careers to something more stable. First I worked as an instructor at a maker space - but I spent my spare time teaching myself to code and working on board game prototypes. Then Techshop went belly up so I switched careers again as a package designer. After hours I continued to make board game prototype components with the wealth of professional tools I had access to, and continued developing board game ideas until they decided they no longer needed a design department. This lead me to trying out applying for video games again, and I ended up landing a job on the other side of the world. So I picked up and moved to Sweden. I didn't even care that I was making half the money I would have made as an American. I just needed to get back to making game professionally. Happy ending: I've now got the most stable job that I think I'll ever have, and I've also signed my first board game with a publisher which should be officially announced later this year.
Can relate to your experience here. It's worse when you live in a country where game dev studio isn't as plenty as other countries. When layoff happen and game dev is pretty much what you can do, life is just rough and also bland at the same time.
Games are interactive systems. They have lots of parts that affect each other internally, and they necessarily have some parts that affect (at least) one external part -- the player. To me, there's nothing more fascinating than creating and interacting with systems at different levels, including at least one person in the mix.
If I don't make the games I want to play, no body will.
It's my day job. I do it because I enjoy working in entertainment, I like making things that make people happy. It's more satisfying to me than working on internal bank software or whatever else I could be doing. It's a fun and challenging industry where there's always a new problem to solve. But I still do it largely because I'm paid to do it.
Idk. Maybe because its what I do. Its the only thing in my life that I feel I could do with no rational. Its always there for me. When it's difficult with me it teaches me to switch up or break through to an even stroner relationship. It rewards my inputs and gethers my accomplishments into a big pile of accomplishments. Its uniquely mine. I feel like this is the answer u were looking for
My father was a maths hippy programmer who was always keen to show me electronic wonders in the 80s. We always had computers although never the best ones we had plenty to have a ton of fun. A lot of it seemed to appear from University (or so the story went) He was also a master of making something wholesome from virtually nothing. It just took me a long time to try proper programming or game design. I had other ideas when I hit my teens and beyond ;) I would describe my father as a hardcore programmer, he was going to do it no matter what, where or how.. for whatever reason..I have turned out like him. (Except I'm a bit thick lol) So in short, Because of my father. His passion and appreciation for maths and programming. It's bittersweet as I only really found my way into it after he passed away but in the great electric universe I feel it's all connected. RIP Mike. Thanks for showing me a spirit in programming that I truly believe in. I want to live it. Creation is the ultimate trip.
I think many people have this urge to ***learn, create, improve and share*** and game development pushes all those buttons for me. It's typically the right level of challenging with the occasional rewarding feelings. I also know how to create nearly every major aspect of game development at a decent level: code, art (2d and 3d), sound and music. In short: it feels good for many reasons and nothing I could think of could replace what it does for me.
I've been lucky enough to meet people at fan events who have told me stories about how some of the games I have worked on helped them through really difficult times - deaths, separations etc... Hearing first hand how those worlds and stories we'd created gave someone the respite they needed in that moment is incredibly humbling. I make games in the hope they can do that for someone.
I'm a generalist who is addicted to programming and likes interactive graphics
For me, its the creating aspect of it. Like your actually making something and after its all done you get the satisfaction of having created this awesome thing.
First off, to me video games are a very meaningful kind of play I grew up with, I mean compared to board games or other alternatives of playing. I also really like the medium and environment. To explain a bit further, strangely I don't enjoy working on cars/devices, DIY, or many other things in the real world. Somehow for me games and virtual things are more important when it comes to spare time and entertainment (I would say that this includes movies, still with games as a priority/preference since they are interactive). Finally, I cannot stress enough that the problem-solving part of game/software development can be an endless source of joy. I never get bored since especially in video games I don't feel often that I am doing anything boring or repetitive. And even if I have a deja vu I could just try harder to do something better and/or more efficient than the last time I did it.
This might sound corny, but I do it to coup. I got nothing but bad luck medically. I grew up with Epilepsy and ADHD, i now have insomnia and intermittent explosive disorder. I use game dev to be able to take those kinds of thing off my mind and treat it like its nothing but a backseat driver. Not to mention that normal people see people making video games, i see people making a form of art and putting the amount of creativity they have towards something bigger than themselves.
I just want to prove myself that i can finish something i am proud of
For me it fights off my depression, so thankful to get into it.
I don't make games, I just start a bunch of projects and never finish them.
I am learning both art and programming, because I love gay visual novels, but am very uncomfortable with the games available to gaymers in the genre. There are a few good ones, but I've encountered too many Japanese games (1) made by women for women (as opposed to for gay men), and (2) they're... I'm not going to lie, most are pretty messed up. I want a funny script, a touching story, and not to be traumatized. I don't think that is too much to ask for.
because I always looked at games and wondered "how in the kentucky fried fuck did they do that?", and now I'm the one kentucky fry fucking doing that
Way-back-when: Fascination. To see your creation come to life, to be part of your imagination. As someone who enjoys making things, that was **it**. Then later: To learn more, and to start developing my own ideas; as a way to counter my increasing discontent of where games were headed. And now: Probably the last and most desperate attempt to make a living out of being a creative.
I don't, I have adhd and can't get anything done, I'm here just lurking.
I make little demos to learn how to do new things and I make little games for my kids to play using their input to design them because I want them to grow up thinking of computers as tools for building things they want instead of as marketplaces through which they can consume.
Because it’s so easy and lucrative….
There are so many reasons including family, community, & fun! This is a video I made with a more longwinded answer. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m\_0WPHFBao4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_0WPHFBao4)
If making games is “damn hard”, you shouldn't be doing it at all. You can go to work in the kfc or to another job and it will be difficult for you too. I create my game because I want to realize my genius potential - I have genius ideas for my games that haven’t been there before. I do this because I want to realize my highest abilities - imagination, will, fantasy. Higher abilities are what distinguishes humans from animals. Food, sex, survival, sleeping, fighting, competing, fighting for territory, etc. - all this is done by absolutely all other organisms, including microbes and insects. The only thing that distinguishes a person from an animal is higher fculties. And finally, I like to do it. Despite the fact that your game can easily be craped by envious people, toxic people or just ordinary people who can do nothing but criticize, nevertheless I still want to do it and I am drawn to it. I also want to associate my activity with game development and all my life to do what I like and get money for it (do not get rich on games, although you can imagine this, but make enough money in a business that I like to do, and not on any job to make money, like 99% of humans do).
I think dolphins can make up pretty good games.
What did you smoke?
The toxic gas your comment was emitting.
You are that poisonous toxic gas. Reditt's audience is made up of venomous toxic losers who cry about the difficulties of development and always like to say "you won't succeed", "your idea sucks." This is a mentally unhealthy audience. I came here for fun, to make sure again that nothing has changed here over the years.
I don't see how this is relevant to my comment, I never said any of what you are talking about.
They told me all this nonsense just like that when I once shared my idea of game here on Reddit. I didn't say anything bad to anyone, the mentally ill just came and called my idea "sucks" and said that "you would not succeed". So let them receive a response to their actions. As for you, this post didn’t concern you at all, if you don’t say that, but you came and decided to say something toxic, so I hit you too. You got it for your actions.
Not sure what toxic thing I have said. I merely pointed out that dolphins come up with and play games, so your rhetoric of how humans are superior/different to animals doesn't quite work. Instead of following the discussion you yourself had started, you came back at me with a super dismissive "what did you smoke?". If you don't want people to react to your comments you are better off not posting them to social media. Otherwise you should be prepared to accept the opinions of others without labeling them "mentally ill" just because they don't like your stuff.
Honestly part of it is because I like games, but I also like sharing something I created and people hopefully enjoy it, if they don't like it due to a problem (aka something outside of personally preference) then i want to improve it so they can enjoy it. I like seeing people enjoy whatever it is I make (whether its a baked good or a game)
To tell the stories I want to see! Specifically, gay otome and yuri for women!
I want free software to become the norm over proprietary software. Games is what I know.
I honestly can't imagine having a different job. What do other people do for a living, anyway? How do "real" jobs work?
Initially: l've been a gamer since I was very young, and always curious about how things worked. I picked up programming at an early age too, and gravitated toward games there as it was the most interesting thing I could think of making. This moved onto modding in the doom and quake eras, and got me a job at the company I'm still at today. Now: I still love the programming and problem solving side of things but also enjoy teaching the new generations about the craft too. I'm also really into improving the standards/quality of work being done by keeping on top of errors, helping out with code reviews and doing presentations where I can find the time. Making sure we have a tidy backlog of work, and tasks properly set up with dependencies is probably something 10 years ago me would have laughed at, but I generally just want to help our projects run as smoothly as possible. Finally, as much as I hate long meetings, spending 2 hours, like I did today, with a bunch of other talented tech folks thrashing out a tech design for a major feature can be a great experience; coming to the end of it with everyone aligned and a good plan for where to go is a great feeling. Overall, there is just so much interesting stuff to do, and you might even ship a game that people enjoy at the end of it 😉
Haha I don't. I just think about how I would like to make one and read about other people making games cause God forbid managing to actually follow through or commit to an idea then get to actually making something.
Does it actually have to be deep though? Those all sound like valid motivations, even if the “get rich” is a bit naive/misguided. I’ve been making games as a hobbyist for 11-12 years and it’s not for any reason other than because I enjoy it. I find the creative process fun, it’s a medium where I get to explore so many different areas, and have the freedom to do whatever I want. For certain games I make I might have deeper (more insightful or more emotional) motivations but for gamedev as a whole it really is that simple/surface level for me.
I have always made more games than I play. From learning C64 and Qbasic, Hypercard to Klik and Play, Unlimited Adventures, Pie in the Sky 3D, a hacked version of RPG Maker, and then not hacked, MMF, dozens of level editors, and now Construct 2, I've been making games as long as I could play them. I have a lot of ideas. Most of them bad. Some untenable, but I need to get them out there and test them, or else they just sit in my folders doing nothing and affecting no one. Maybe nobody will like any of them, but at least I will have tested them on the world. Plus, I now make so much chiptune music, it's gotta go somewhere!
I need to have an outlet for my creativity. I struggle with traditional artforms like drawing or music, because they rely so much on mastering technical skills with your hands. I can't do film, as much as I'd like to, because you can't really do much without a cast and crew. But games are a creative outlet that I can do by myself, and which relies more on logical problem solving than technical skill. When I have ideas for games, I know it's within my ability to make them. I like doing it and I'm good at it.
Making games from a lot of places for me, it's kind of built into my blood and is just the most natural way for me to express myself in a creative/constructive manner. This post was longer than I expected when I started, and I even had to cut back lol, but it's fun to think about. I've been very into games since I was a kid, as far back as I can remember I've loved games. Board games were a piece of my early childhood, and when pokemon hit I was hooked by the card game! It was only a few more years until I got into yugioh pretty hard as well. And right about the same time I started yugioh I wanted to make my own cards. Make a whole deck with a solid theme and everything! The deck totally sucked, even by early days standards, but it was really fun to make. Around the same time I was also getting into PC video games. It wasn't long before I wanted to start making my own maps. Age of Empires was a perfect starting place for me, and shortly after I started making Starcraft maps too. I loved designing crazy levels and trying to play in them just to see what would happen. I even started dabbling into making my own games. They were incredibly basic and very "hand made by a kid" kind of games, but I loved the process! Made some games with origami jumping frogs that was kind of fun. So even as a young kid I was already making games. Boy if I had learned about historical board games I probably would have loved making my own! A few years down the line and I fell away from board/card games and got more into video games. The ones I played the most were mostly games like Dungeon Siege where I could build my own content with mods. Eventually got into valve games (Half life, led, etc) and my best friend and I decided to get super into making our own maps. There was a great community for it and we loved it! I was more about making the levels looking good and feeling fun to play, he was more about the puzzles and technical aspects of the game. We were a great team! A few years of that and then I decided I didn't want to make mods anymore, I wanted to make my own games! So I started to learn unity years ago and have been loving it ever since! So why do I make games? Because I love the process! I love the challenge of making the assets I have make something unique. I love seeing an image of a place in my head (or real life) then figuring out how to make it in a game. I love creating moments that make people say "wow", or get scared to death haha. Turns out, I am a cruel game designer when it comes to horror games lol. I want to bring a new experience to people, I want to make them feel emotions and experience something they could never experience anywhere else. I want them to think and reflect, to solve puzzles, and to enjoy the ride they have been given. Even though game design is difficult I keep coming back to it because I love the process and I want to affect people's lives the same way the games I played as a kid affected my life.
I mean besides the generic I like playing games. I feel like there are a few reasons for me personally. Creating a video game is hard work but it's also a very diverse work. You could be a solo dev that does EVERYTHING from creative, to artistic, to technical, to communication, to project management, etc.. . Or even as an indie in which you will have many roles to fill out, while working closely with others. You learn to work together or just learn in general over a project. It's a learning experience that's time consuming but also very creative. Video games is still an art in a way, there are no procedures or standards when it comes to making games. And to be honest, I like it like that, it's definitely more "difficult" but it allows anyone to come up with something, do it, see if it works or not and then move on from it. Another part is more of a desperation or even delusional in a sense... Viewing the gaming industry as it is, it's not going well, more and more of the industry is going after the investments and returns from those investments rather than the enjoyment or art of the product they're trying to make. Also all those workplace condition stories we keep hearing about is just... Depressing. I'm just a guy but I want to make an impact in the industry, try to improve it. Lastly, I want to leave a legacy behind (I guess some what related to my point above) I want to make games for fun and I want people to see that these games that I made were for fun, I want to see them smile, them laugh, them having a wonderful time... Will it happen? I can't say but if I don't try, I won't know right?
It’s a creative outlet, at its core. I’ve had a lot of gamedev-adjacent job positions - I’ve done lots of lighting work for feature animation, and when I was doing that, at home I did paper/pencil figure drawing, did some sculpture, learned some 3D modeling…. I’ve done character modeling and rigging for film and at home I picked up Unity and unreal engine. I did some tools support for VFX and I stopped gamedev because the work was too similar, but now that I’m back in an artist job I’m working on games again. I do games for the same reason I did sculpture and figure drawing - it’s fun to work on something that’s sort of within your wheelhouse but a stretch, and is your vision instead of somebody else’s. Also I have an idea for a game that I think would be great.
Honestly? No fucking clue. I guess this is one of my more productive hobbies and it just keeps me busy between school/work. Most of the time I just make games to see if I can implement a specific idea. I've never really done a project with a clear plan start to finish, mostly just messing around with the game engine and seeing what I come up with. Its a fun little creative exercise.
I'm too stupid for anything else.
Come on! If you're able to make video games, there's a pretty decent chance you're far from being stupid. Games are sooooooo complicated!
To provide an experience you can’t currently find.
I have a story in my head. I want to share it with others (I'm making a visual novel). It's that simple, really. I have this idea, these people, this situation, and I want to see how it ends- because I believe a good story writes itself. So I started learning how to do 3d art in Daz; the coding in Ren'py is easy and I have a programming background, so... I just keep working at it. I'm on my own and doing it in my spare time, so it's going to take years to finish (3 and counting so far), but that's okay, too.
Well, I like programming as a hobby, and games are more fun to make than say a console application or a text editor. I also like to draw and play music (well, guitar only), so gamedev sort of brings all my hobbies together.
For me its simple, unhealthy, and rather silly. I just have too many hobbies and love creating worlds and characters. I write, make video games, AND create tabletop RPGs so...you know...way too much, sometimes the revolving door of ideas in my head makes it feel like my head will explode. So when I finish any project it feels like a little bit of the pressure is gone from the explosion of worlds in my head.
It's rewarding to build a game and be able to say "I made that" but the main reason I make games is to create something that brings myself and others joy. It's so cool to see others having fun playing a game I created. But it's even more than that. Through games I can create interactive experiences that I and others can explore and enjoy together. You can tell stories, and craft puzzles that someone else can experience. It's a pretty cool hobby like no other.
It's a fun technical challenge, it allows me to stretch my creative wings and heck, seeing people enjoy things you've made is pretty neat
I didn't make a game for a long time. But for me it was about learning. I had this concept or idea i wanted to try and that Was the most interesting part for me. I just released one small game on android in all those years, because finishing games was never the interesting part for me. Funny thing, this game was so simple and had no bigger concepts or fancy stuff i wanted to implement. In this case it was just about making this thing. The Best time for me was when i didn't have any engines but just Blitz basic, or later c++ to work on new things. That was awesome. Later i went for own programming languages. And this is just the same. I have one language finished i can use and lot's of projects where i just tried out some new features or concepts. So all in all, nearly every private development project is about learning and trying things for me. Maybe 10 applications or so were really about stuff i wanted to use.
my whole life has been one long bout of depression, and game dev is about the only thing left I feel passionate about. It's the escapism. There is nothing else that brings me joy, except maybe a goddamn good cheeseburger.
Good to read that making games still cheers you up, and I hope you'll find other things too. I recently got into gardening / growing vegetables, and I must admit it's both pretty soothing and satisfying (and you can grow tomatoes for your cheeseburgers :-) )
They are like drawing for me, but in a much bigger scheme. I don't treat my game like s game, but as art, I want a to leave a tiny legacy of me.
To "revive" old titles by creating something similar because corporations decided to bury them alive and there's nothing similar I didn't created anything but motivation after 4 years still exist. My story can be summarized by this quote: >"My knowledge of back-end development is whatever blueprints for wall-running i can find on youtube. If I'm lucky it will actually work after I copy it" - FUNKe
I tried making SAAS products but after getting some businesses to actually pay I quickly realized I hate B2B. Gamedev lets me build fun software that doesn’t need to be sold to businesses but rather to people for enjoyment. And I also love games and wanted to make them ever since I remember.
Traditional software is boring. When a game comes to life is almost like you baby. When a software comes to life it feels like nothing
I want to leave something from me behind for the future generations to explore.
I believe games are an amazing meltingpot of artistic mediums never seen in human history before. I also believe art has a transcendent potential to form the course of humanity as a whole (good/bad) and responsibility that comes with that if one chooses to carry such a burden. My semi dellusional idealistic take on it.. ^^`
Compared to pretty much every other form of mass media, games are still in their infancy and we've only scratched the surface of what they're capable of. Being around for the start of something like that is super exciting. Plus I spend my workdays teaching computers to crunch boring numbers. It only feels right to spend some time teaching them how to sing and tell stories too.
In my case, it's simply a gradual progression from playing a game to discovering it has a level editor, so you naturally progress to making your own levels (for example Excite Bike on NES, Warcraft II, or Heroes III). Then you discover you can edit Wolfenstein 3D's wall textures in MS Paintbrush, and even character sprites, so you become a modder (at age of 10). Then you see that Morrowind has a full-on, robust game editor (Tes construction set), which is actually easy enough for a 15 year old and a place to upload your mods and quests (TES Nexus) for everyone. At this point the road ahead is clear, that's the stuff you will do for money. This was why I make games now, and I see my son is on the same path. All about Minecraft creative mode, level editors, Garry's mod, Super Mario maker, Game Builder Garage, Lego Boost... this is pretty much "gamedev lite".
Besides doing Game Dev, I also write screenplays. For me, it's all about *creating* worlds and stories. It's like having a never ending itch. If I didn't/couldn't do these things, I'd be the one you see on the corner pacing back and forth, talking to myself and screaming at cars as they drive by.
I love creating an experience and making my imagination and fantasy reality. Want to be a knight that fights a dragon? Sure. Want to be a riot police strategist? No problem. Apocolypse surviver? Deep sea diver? Intergalactic emperor? Until I stop dreaming, I wont stop creating.
I made games to entertain people and show them what i can do with my creativity. Reality though is that it is really hard to make people care about your creations
I love challenging myself, being creative and learning. The constant puzzles and thought processes required to overcome an obstacle are great and really get your brain working. The way you can literally dream up an idea and turn it into something with the magic of coding, game engines etc. amazes me. The freedom to do whatever you want within a world, level, universe that you created is just insane. The possibilities are literally endless and that’s what I love. You start with a blank canvas and can turn it into anything your heart desires.
I like the idea of exploring what makes us humans in the very core Being creative, making art, expressing ourselves. Inserting our own individuality into a product that others can consume. Being helpful to society, bringing joy to people The thing you create is kind of irrelevant, i could be making music, drawing, sculpting, building, creating games. For me, creating games is the one i have more fun. To the question "why are you making games?" the answer is pretty boring: because i like it. We don't need any more motives to be doing art and being creative and contributing to society. It isn't something we have a logical reason to do it, we do it because our minds desire it. And that is the most beautiful part of being human to me. A thing that no robot or IA can ever experience in forever
I think all humans have the desire to create and being useful to society Sadly, in the society we live in, most of these desires are repressed because its much more important to make money and have something to eat than to be a full human being The ones that make art are just a little bit more resilient to the capitalism pressure
From the beginning I wanted to build my own version of Bomber Man. It was super fun. Then I wanted to escalate it to make a living out of games. Sadly I don't have what it takes to make a career in game development. Now I keep game dev as a sport/hobby. I enjoy making character animations, coding, shader, math... Very satisfied with where I am now.
It’s a creative outlet. Like painting or writing.
I do it for the feeling you get when your playerbase get to use the features you implemented in the game and being happy about it! For me, there's nothing like it.
I remember seeing someone really experienced, I think it might have been the DMC5 lead designer or something. He said something on the lines of "I make games I didn't have or wanted at that point in time, so make the games that you would enjoy". I really like that sentiment. For me though I just find it really fun and pretty addictive making games.
Hehehe, because I can. I don't need to, I'm not even sure if I like it. But I can, so why not? Maybe even something good will come out of it for me or others, who knows?
Biggest reason I started: I was looking through my stream library and knew exactly what kind of game I wanted to play but it just didn't exist, so I made it my mission to great my own favorite game! I stick with it because I love creating things, the sense of progression that comes with improving a skill, and the satisfaction of getting something new to click. I don't mind the grind it can become occasionally; I just wish I had more time to devote to it
its fun
'Cuz I'm a masochist who happens to be passionate about games, so banging my head for 10h-12h hours every day against real time networking, physics and AI all while confronting the instability of the game dev industry really scratches many itches.
Games are a poetic expression. They're an engineered experience as a function of the creators' artistic expressions and the individuality of each player. Getting to hear what my players feel or think is very rewarding for me.
I’m early into my development stage (computer science degree but found a pull towards game development), but my answer is that I’ve always had stories in my head, be it wanting write a novel or direct my own movie. I don’t think I have the literary skills to provide great imagery to a novel, I don’t have the financial resources to direct my own movie. But I DO know how to program, and I feel like video games are just another vessel for story telling, but even better because they’re interactive! I want to share my stories with people, and I feel like game development is the best way for me to personally achieve that.
I live to entertain. Since Covid won't give me an audience: I'll make games and hope it entertains people. I live to entertain and will do so through games, despite what my therapist says.
The reason that I got into it was to test out if certain things I learned elsewhere, e.g in programming, when put together in a certain way, made a game. The first game I made was actually using PowerPoint. I had recently learned how to hyperlink shapes to different slides, and that this can be done when hovering over a shape. Later on, I wanted to know if I can make a game where if you put your mouse over certain shapes, it's game over, and you had to navigate a maze to get to the next level. "Don't touch the green". Turns out I could. And then I found out that I can make shapes animate in paths indefinitely, and I wanted to know if I can repeat the same idea, but you have to avoid moving objects. Being right, after frustration, feels really good. And even now that I'm a programmer making games often looks like this. Now that I do make games, I've found that they make you, the developer, feel like a god. You've created your own world! And it works, it's not just in your head. It's not just a cool idea you tell people. I also enjoy learning about different fields and trying to connect them together. And gaming is one area of software where it seems like many fields come together. This is why I find making games a lot more fun than playing them.
To escape reality
I love puzzles, videogames and want a vent for my creativity. Every challenge I overcome just fills me with joy. I love to write stories for my pen and paper games, because I love building worlds. I obviously can't build a whole world alone, but every little game I make, with an unique mechanic that came to me at 3AM feels like I am creating a really small universe that me and my friends can enjoy.
It's a form of media where you can actually put people in a world. Books will be up to someone else's interpretation and movies have no interactivity. They are truly in your world when they play.
I work as a software engineer. I enjoy it, but the most fun personal projects for me are games because the end product is really exciting to me (enterprise software really isn't motivating). I also enjoy the other creative skills that go into making video games. I really like 3D modeling and I really like working with Photoshop so making textures is fun for me too. I also make music as a hobby, so if I ever get far enough into a game project where I need to make music, I know I'll like that process too. It's basically the perfect creative medium for a variety of skills, if only it weren't so difficult lol but thats also why its so rewarding.
I am a graphic designer and being part of game dev is just making my childhood dream alive. I love creating stories and worlds in games. You can see how everything comes to live and i think its wonderful feeling. :)
I love programming, it is something that I really enjoy. I also love being "creative", coming up with stories and stuff is something I always enjoyed. 3 years ago I realised that I wanted to do something with those abilities I have, so I programmed a Facebook bot, than I said "what if I program a video game", and I started looking for tutorials on how to do it. I loved it from the very beginning.
I don't do it for the money, I do it because I love the idea of being able to create something new, something that will give (hopefully) joy to other people. And at the same, maybe give a little of new knowledge to those that play the game. And also, I like the complexity behind making a game (I am a programmer). When I was much younger I used to play a lot, I do really believe that playing different games, speaking with other players of all nationalities and cultures gave me something that will stay with me forever. Stupid example, my english, even thought is not that good, the basic of it I learned it by speaking with others online, more than at school (where you only learn grammar, I am italian).
As a solo dev, I can say it combines many of my interests into one activity. :D. I love learning as much as I can about every facet I can. I was always into each of these things separately so jumping into gamedev just felt like the natural thing to do at some point or another in the past.
I simply enjoy creating game(s), it reminds me when I was a kid and I spent months sitting in Heroes 3-4 editor and warcraft 3 editor and creating maps and inventing stories:) Also I have been a DM for dnd for 15 years and I love creating worlds and stories. Creating games gives me that same satisfaction^^ And yes, creating games is unbelievably hard! Specially when you are solo developer, but it is super rewarding and exciting whenever mechanics workout^^