Ask HN: Recommend resources that helped your game dev journey?

Hacker News Discussion ↗

Design, Vision & “What Is Your Game?”

  • Several comments push the idea that design starts with a strong vision: what feelings, story, or “space” you want to create.
  • Some suggest the project may be more of a social “space” or sandbox than a traditional goal-driven game; expectations differ depending on how it’s labeled.
  • Others emphasize separating “play” (pure delight) from “game” (goals, constraints, winning conditions) and being clear about which you’re building.

Feedback & Playtesting

  • In-person, empathetic feedback from experienced players is seen as far more useful than anonymous message-board critiques.
  • Recommended approach: small, trusted alpha group → iterate → slightly larger group → only then expose to harsh public venues like Reddit.
  • Feedback should be filtered: not all gamer opinions are right; it’s up to the creator to decide what to adopt.

Scope, Practice & Game Jams

  • Strong consensus: make lots of small games, prototypes, and clones; don’t expect the first big idea to work.
  • Game jams (Ludum Dare, itch.io jams, private 48‑hour jams) are praised as the best way to practice finishing games and discovering what’s fun.
  • Multiple people warn against oversized first projects and stress being willing to abandon ideas that aren’t fun.

Mechanics, Fun & Studying Other Games

  • Advice to deeply study games you love (including board games) and write down what works, how it feels, and why.
  • Board games are highlighted as great lessons in minimal, clearly communicable mechanics.
  • Comments discuss “skill ceiling,” systemic mechanics, and the importance of polish (e.g., “game feel,” screenshake, responsiveness).

Marketing, Onboarding & Accounts

  • Strong criticism of forcing sign-up before play; many say they immediately close the page.
  • Recommendation: instant playable demo, guest mode, and a landing page that sells the core experience rather than technical features.

Tools, Engines & Technical Resources

  • Popular technical starting points: Godot (plus its docs), LÖVE, PICO‑8, CS50’s game dev course, tabletop design books, open-source game code, game mods.
  • Links to specialized resources: redblobgames, Game Programming Patterns, low-level graphics (OpenGL/WebGL), Game Boy dev, shaders, and simulation-heavy games.

Books, Talks & Video Resources

  • Often‑recommended design books include:
    • Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences
    • The Art of Game Design
    • Game Feel
    • Challenges for Game Designers
    • “Game Thinking,” “Save the Cat,” various essays and blogs (e.g., lostgarden, Liz England).
  • Suggested talks/videos: devlog analyses, “art of screenshake,” systemic design talks, classic FPS commentaries, game design YouTube channels, veteran postmortems.

Communities & Career Realism

  • Suggested communities: itch.io, Discord servers (general gamedev and specific creators), new sites like gamedev.city, subreddits focused on feedback.
  • Several comments stress that solo gamedev requires many disciplines and long-term motivation; commercial success is statistically rare, so intrinsic motivation and realistic expectations are important.

AI Tools & Information Diet

  • Some encourage experimenting with AI tools; others argue new devs should first learn fundamentals (art, code) themselves.
  • Sharp criticism of over-consuming startup/VC “thought leaders”; recommendation to “clean up your information diet” and focus on making and testing games instead of absorbing hype.