Creating Video Games

M. Peter Engelbrite

About Me• M. Peter Engelbrite• 35+ years experience• Games I’ve created: Maggots, Heaven,

Brain Rot, Christian Founders 3D Adventure, Red White & Blue, WordZip, Mastermind, Tilebag, One Nation Under God, Christian Founders, Godspeed 3D, Scripture Solitaire, Captain Bible, Bible Builder, Todd’s Adventures in Slime World, Gates of Zendocon, Barbarian Bodyguard, The Games Summer Edition, Uneven Parallel Bars, BMX, Hackysack, California Games, Surfing, Ski Jump, Hotdog Ski, Luge, Bobsled, Pommel Horse, Stuffing the Briefcase, Cascade PC, Cascade Genesis, Music Processor, Music Video Kit, Mailman, Grape Vines, Asteroid Miner, Mouse Hockey, Reversai, Network Chess

What I’m Doing Now• “Indie” Game Developer• Single person developer• 3D Gardens of Oz• Slimeworld 3D

3D Gardens of OzA farming game where you get to walk around in your farm.

Slime World 3DA modern remake of my old retro game.

Game Development Jobs

• Game Designer• Engine Developer• Programmer• Level Designer• 2D Artist• 3D Modeling• Texture Artist• Shader Designer• Animator• Voice Actor• Musician• Utility Developer• Story Writing

• Information Technology

• Tester• Publicist• Community Manager• Server Programmer• Marketing• Customer Service

SalariesPosition Average Yearly Salary (2011)

Programming $92,962

Art & Animation $75,780

Game Design $73,386

Production $88,544

Audio $83,182

Testing $47,910

Business $102,160

Who You Work For• “Big” Development Company

– Specialist among hundreds– Regular Pay– No ownership

• “Indie” (Independent) Game Development– You and your partners work together for yourselves– You get paid eventually if successful– Potentially $Millions, more probably little or nothing

• Contract Game Development– You get paid lump sum to create part of a project– No ownership– Work in spare time

How Much Does It Cost?Game Cost To Develop

Star Wars Old Republic $200 Million

Destiny $140 Million

Defiance $80 Million

Average Game $1-2 Million

Medium Mobile Game $150,0000

Flappy Bird Pocket Change

Game Categories• Entertainment– Fun

• Educational Games– Teach

• Serious Games– Corporate / Government Simulations

Main Game Markets• PC / Mac– Steam

• Android– Google Play

• iPhone / iPad (iOS)– Apple Store

• Web– Lots of places

• Consoles– Xbox, PlayStation , Wii

This Changes All The Time!

Making Games Fun• Don’t copy existing game• You can’t compete with $80 Million• Inventive• Something people haven’t seen

before• Understand your customer• Great depth

How Games Make Money

(monetization)• Paid (iPhone, Steam)– Few downloads, but profit for each

• Freemium (iPhone, Android)– Lots of downloads, very few people pay

• Ads (iPhone, Android)– The video ads are paying pretty well – about 1 cent

per view. Forget anything else.• Downloadable Content– After your game has some success

How Much Can You Make?

• Clash of Clans + Hay Day - $5 Million per day!• Flappy Bird - $50 Thousand per day

Total Income Per Individual (iPhone)• 25% < $100• 25% $1,000 to $10,000• 22% $10,000 to $100,000• 12% $100,000 to $1,000,000• 4% > $1,000,000

Average: $165,000

What School Will DoThink of what you learn in school as the building blocks for what YOU want to do.• Math: Algebra, Linear Algebra (advanced Matrix)• Programming: C, C++, JavaScript, PHP, C#...• Science: Physics• Language: Storys, Game Proposals, Contract

Negotiation, Assignments for sub-contractors

Get Started For Free• You need a computer and Internet• Get your feet wet– Gamemaker: Studio– GameSalad

• More serious Game Engines (still free…)– Unity 3D– Unreal Engine

More Free Stuff• Free tools

– 2D Art: Pixlr, Paint.Net, InkScape, Gimp– Sound: Audacity– Music: MuseScore– 3D Modeling: Blender, Wings3D, Sculptris– Text: Notepad++

• More Free / Cheap Resources– https://game-development.zeef.com/ellison.leao– https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page– http://www.soundjay.com/index.html– https://pixabay.com/

Do LOTS of Googling!

The Future of Games

• Virtual Reality– VR Goggles– Big companies are spending $Billions on

this• Augmented Reality– Look through a screen to see computer

graphics in the real world where your are.

• Holodecks?