Making my first game

Journal entry #1 of a newbie Game Dev:

I have just posted (as of 8.35am GMT 15/08/2023) my first ever game created and I just wanted to make a record of this, hopefully this is a good way to do so. It was my first time making a pixel art game, having joined the LOWREZJAM that began on 1st August, and it was my first time using Unreal Engine to make this kind of game. I had a year or two ago downloaded Unreal Engine with the goal of learning how to make a game, but found following a tutorial blindly from Youtube wasn't doing it for me. Instead, I decided to join this game jam and have the option to create whatever I wanted, within the Jam's restrictions of course. These restrictions were to make it within the confines of 64x64 resolution, which I found to be an interesting challenge (and one I think I ultimately failed to deliver on...Oops!)

I decided to use Unreal Engine purely because I had it already on my computer and intended to get familiar with it for future projects. This turned out to be a slightly larger challenge than anticipated as this software is apparently not the best for 2D Pixel Art games, but I have to say that I found it to be relatively straight forward to setup.....except of course I had issues making it in such a small resolution later on. The initial setup of the game, using Youtube Tutorials both old and new, was straightforward enough and I have to shoutout some Youtube channels in particular for their massive help towards the making of my game due to their really well made tutorials: 

Cobra Code - 'How to make a 2D game in Unreal Engine 5 - Beginner Tutorial' Great channel with tons of helpful videos

Gorka Games - too many Unreal videos to name, has tons of useful videos that help with UI menus to Objective markers in-game

Uisco - Again, multiple UI tutorials for menu's and options menus. Also has a long form tutorial video for getting started on a 2D game 

There are probably many more channels I picked a video tutorial from here and there, but these were the main channels I went to when I was stuck on a particular issue. This website was also a great resource for finding things such as Kronbits Free SFX sound pack, which was a great help for my game in particular. The gathering of helpful resources is one of the main challenges in using Unreal engine for this style of game, I believe, as not many people focus on this type of game in comparison to the countless 3D projects out there. Regardless, I found the flipbook creation and animation programming in Unreal Engine to be a straightforward process, thanks largely in part to the above Youtube Channels. 

One area of development that I was initially unsure of was the difficulty of the game I was creating, which was resolved when I had a brother of mine test out the game. As a personal lover of Dark Souls Fromsoftware titles and challenging games, I think I was in need of a fresh perspective and needless to say I was given that when my brother tested it. We are both gamers but it became quickly apparent that having developed the game and now a veteran of its quirks, I was not the best judge of its difficulty and enjoyment. I see now why games need to be playtested as you can be too close to it in order to be totally objective about the experience of actually playing it. I adapted the final version with some checkpoints and noticed a few little bugs here and there in the process, so hopefully what is now available is a better playing experience and far fewer issues with it running properly.

Again, this is the first ever attempt at making something and I had a blast. This process of trying to meet a deadline has worked for me and what I have achieved in less than two weeks of learning, creating and sending off this game has been invaluable and much greater than times when I have blindly followed tutorials or attempted to make something in isolation. So thanks go to JackOatley and Gurpreet Singh Matharoo for running the LOWREZJAM, without this challenge I wouldn't have learned half as much in double the time.  

Onwards and upwards from here, onto the next game and the next Jam! 

Cheers,

Mr Joshua