I have planned out a story for a game, and by that, I mean I have a very vague idea on what the story is supposed to be.
I have no idea where to start, such as
finishing the story line by writing it down
creating the first few characters
creating a map or something
learning how to script so I can actually make the game
creating physics and stuffs that involve scripting
Where should I start? Should I even start this project? I have no idea how long it could take, and I have no team to help, so it’s a solo project. Also I am absolutely trash at building and designing clothing, not to mention I physically can’t script, and I have no money to hire anybody for anything.
I’d keep this plan on the back burner for a while. Keep notes on your story line and what you want the final product to be so you’ll have that for building/scripting later. It’ll probably also help to keep you motivated throughout the learning process.
Practice building first if it’s a story game. Without a world your story isn’t going anywhere. When building cars/houses/scenery I always start with ‘place holders’.
One big Part for a building. A few Parts and wheels for a car, a Cylinder and a Ball for a tree.
If you have Terrain in mind then do a very rough version first.
If you want a building to walk through make the walls single Parts or just a few if you need doors or windows.
The reason for this is the next step is to explore it with your character. This will tell you what works or doesn’t. If you’ve made the scale of certain areas or items even slightly off now is the time to fix it, not after you’ve spent hours making something with detail and find out you have to scrap it because (for example) 2 doors hit each other when they open, or a tunnel feels really wide when you want it narrow.
You can try scripting a few different things to start. I’d suggest something like the Roblox Youtube Car Tutorial. It covers some constraints as well to understand how physics work. This will give you something to experiment with later to see how changes you make to a working item affect the physics or the scripting.
I’ve created a pretty decent story game before (link). This was actually my first solo story game.
Basically what you need to start out are two things: an idea/storyline and skills.
If you’re planning to do this game solo, keep in mind that it will be very challenging without every single skill (building, scripting, etc). Now I had money and I was absolutely terrible at building so I commissioned someone, which was helpful for me. If you decide to build on your own, it might be very hard making the map look nice. Designing clothing isn’t really that big of an issue - it’s not a big part of your game, and you can ask creators if you can use their UGC in your game, which is what I did (90% will say yes). If you’re unable to hire a team you will have to learn AT LEAST the basics of building and scripting. There are tons of helpful tutorials on YouTube. I can’t script your game, but if you need advice/help I’m happy to help.
Just learning the skills and creating a full story game can take months, if you’re prepared. Personally I spent around 1 hour per day for about 1-3 months making my game. If you’re truly passionate and motivated with making this game, I say go for it! You will gain a lot of skills along the way and it might even be successful!