Hello!

I'm almost 50 years old, and I've been playing games my whole life. I have a 5 year old, and I'd like to make games for him to play as he grows up, so that I can include little easter eggs and hidden things just for him, like references to special places and events. I always enjoyed Star Wars Galaxies (SWG), and I was playing on an SWG emulator with him watching and he loved it. He's a Star Wars nut like his old man, but he's only 5, so obviously the game is beyond him.

What I envisioned is a top-down, 2d interface, like Stardew Valley, but an expansive open world like SWG. I've perused the forums, and watched some YouTube videos, but I am seriously lost, in that I just don't know where to start. There are so many options out there, it's overwhelming. So, basically, I'm looking for some resources to basically hold my hand in the beginning stages. Where is a good place for me to look for resources like that?

What experience in programming have you got?

A game like that is totally possible. There are lots of options, but it may depend on your skills (or what you are willing to learn).

Personally, I think the Godot Engine is easy to learn and is pretty good for 2D games (or simple 3D). Since I doubt you are trying to make a AAA quality game, it should be good enough. You will need to know programming, Godot uses GDScript (like Python) or also C# (though I would avoid C# if you are a beginner).

There are other engines that you can make games without code, like GameMaker (though I haven't used this in a long time). Also, you can consider RPGMaker, which would probably be the easiest but you give up some control and flexibility.

You were asking for resources, and there are an abundance depending on how you want to do this project of yours.

Here's a video with a guy making a simple tile-based 2D game:

https://youtu.be/HmnwNadwHWI

It may not be the best, but get Godot and try to do what he does. Then tinker with it. Eventually it will stick, and you'll be making more advanced versions of it.

Thank you, all! Most of my experience in programming comes from VBA, mostly in Excel. I looked at Godot and it looks very interesting, and there seems to be a lot of information out there. I'm pretty excited to start this project.

Tell us how you do, and if you want some more specific help next, programming stuff to expand onto your VBA experience etc. Good luck!

ChixenCounter said:

What I envisioned is a top-down, 2d interface, like Stardew Valley, but an expansive open world like SWG. I've perused the forums, and watched some YouTube videos, but I am seriously lost, in that I just don't know where to start.

For Stardew Valley, that was a single developer investing about six work-years in four actual years for the first version. Here's an interview he gave back in 2016: "On average, I probably worked on it 10 hours a day every day of the week during development," says Eric Barone. "Now that the game is out, I'm probably spending more like 15 hours a day on it." The game has had several additional years of work, tuning, and polishing.

Star Wars Galaxies was a big game. It looks like the core team had about 35 people on it, plus all the QA, studio support, production support, operations support, publication support, etc, with over 300 people total in the credits.

It is possible to do something on similar scale to that but you're talking about many years of dedicated effort. Even if you devoted your entire waking life to the project your child will be a teenager before it is finished.

ChixenCounter said:

Thank you, all! Most of my experience in programming comes from VBA, mostly in Excel. I looked at Godot and it looks very interesting, and there seems to be a lot of information out there. I'm pretty excited to start this project.

You can make games in Godot, but I suggest you think much smaller than your current scope. Think about games like pong, breakout, tic-tac-toe, connect four, and similar, until you know what you are doing.

Good point @frob . A full expansive game is definitely a huge undertaking (even more so if you are a beginner). But a game in that style with a smaller scope, maybe 1 town/area to start with, etc. That is totally possible. I'd also recommend starting with Pong, that is what I always do. I will write Pong in a new engine and then refactor it like 3 or 4 times using different methods to see what works best.