What should game designer know about technical details?

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2 comments, last by Tom Sloper 2 years, 4 months ago

Hello!

I am new to game development and i want to create a game.

I understand nothing in programming so i am going to hire about 5 programmers to do the job.

Problem is that i do not know how games are built, as i have never worked with programmers before.

In order to work with my programmers in comfortable way, i may need basic understanding of how games are built from the start to the release, including details in programming and coding. I want to understand how programmers build game and what details i have to pay attention to, in order to give them right directions.

Do i need to learn programming language?

Or learning basics of programming and some details without actually learning language itself is enough?

So what knowledge i need in order to understand and work with my programmers and give them right notes?

Thank you in advance.

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I would recommend you create something simple like Pong in Unity for example.
There are many tutorials about this, and you would learn what kind of functionality is given by an engine, and what you need to add yourself with some code.
Programming is not for everybody, but it depends on how hard the problem is. Pong should be really easy. Minor requirements on basic math and logic.
If it works out, you could still try harder things like Breakout, PacMan. Already challenging would be Super Mario or Doom.

IDK how common it is for roles such as producers or managers to have no experience in development, but personally i would not dare to invest anything without it.

GiorgiDev said:
What should game designer know about technical details?…

i am going to hire about 5 programmers to do the job. …

So what knowledge i need in order to understand and work with my programmers and give them right notes?

What a game designer needs to know and what a producer/project manager/boss/client needs to know are completely different questions. The fact that you are intending to hire and oversee programmers means that you are going to be the boss - that completely overshadows your role as designer.

To answer the question you asked in the title of your post: The more a designer knows about the technical side, the more effective he or she or they will be at working out compromises between the concept and the reality.

The more a producer knows about the technical side, the more effective he or she or they will be at coordinating and facilitating the team's activities and working out compromises between engineering and art.

Since your role as producer/client so totally overwhelms your role as designer, this thread is moved to the Production forum.

JoeJ said:
IDK how common it is for roles such as producers or managers to have no experience in development, but personally i would not dare to invest anything without it.

It's all too common, sadly. It will be very difficult to find good people to work for a totally inexperienced producer/project manager/boss/client. @giorgidev , you need to work on some projects to earn some creds before trying to hire people.

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

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