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

Hacker News Discussion ↗

Indie game developers trade concrete resources and hard-won lessons on how to actually get better at making games, beyond just learning engines or watching tutorials. Many emphasize iterating on lots of small projects, joining game jams, studying and cloning existing games (including board games), and getting in‑person or targeted playtesting instead of relying on anonymous online feedback. Recommended materials range from design books like “Designing Games” and “The Art of Game Design” to YouTube channels, open-source code, and communities on itch.io, Discord, and specialized forums, with repeated warnings against over-focusing on marketing, AI shortcuts, or “thought leaders” at the expense of building and finishing real games.

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.