Creating & Selling Your Own Video Game

Many people have always dreamed about having a video game of their own on sale. This is definitely one of those things that might seem like a pipe dream, but is actually perfectly easy and straightforward to do, and if you want to do it then all you will really need is the willingness to get it done. However, that does not mean that there are not going to be challenges that you need to overcome, or that it is somehow going to be simple procedure. In fact, it might be difficult at times and you might have to spend a lot of time and effort on it to get it right – especially if you want it to stand out as one of the games of the year. Creating an independent game also has a number of challenges which big companies won’t have, notably a tiny budget and maybe only a team of one, or a small group of people. Nonetheless, it’s perfectly possible to do.

If you are keen to make your own game, and you want to know how you can make sure that it is going to be at least a modest success, there are many ways that you might want to make that happen. The truth is that creating and selling your own video game is one of the most enjoyable and creative ventures out there, so this is definitely something that is worth thinking about. Let’s take a look at some of the things that might be involved here.

Ideation

First of all, you are going to have to come up with the idea for the game, the overall presiding premise which drives it. It might be that you have a particular image in mind, perhaps the world or setting of the game which you would like to make real. Or it could be that you know what story you want to tell, and you are keen to get  that down on paper and then on to the screen. Still at other times, the driving idea behind a video game might be more of a particular challenge or puzzle type which you would like to try out in many different forms and ways. Whatever your idea is, you need to be clear on it so that you can start to work on it as soon as possible. Make sure that you are absolutely certain what it is that you would like to do, and then you can move on to the next step.

Coding

This is probably one of the harder parts for most people, especially if you don’t have any or only little experience with coding in the first place. Anybody can learn to code, that’s true, but it takes a long time to get good at it – so what do you do if you just want to create a game now? First of all, you might want to consider hiring a coder – you can then tell them what you want to achieve, and they can put it together for you. That can be a great way of doing it – or you could try and learn a simple coding language yourself and put it together, but bear in mind that simpler languages are not able to achieve as much on screen in the finished product. Then there is the option of using a pre-made package.

Going for a pre-made package is one of the best ways to approach this, as it is a nice in-between. You don’t have to know how to code, but usually there will be a terminal you can use if you are able to code a little. With this software, you can basically put together any game you want to the degree you want, without having to have lots of coding knowledge. It’s the best of both worlds.

Marketing

Once you have put it all together, it will be a case of marketing it. This can be tricky, but it is something that you will need to think about if you actually want people to buy it. There are many marketing and advertising techniques out there to utilize, and for every instance of pop up ads for eLearning companies or whatever else, there are just as many for video games like yours, so you have plenty of competition. Just make sure that you are doing whatever you can to really get it out there fast, before you finalize the game itself.

Sale

Once it is all ready and finalized, you are then ready to put it on sale. Be sure to set a price that is fair and people will feel is reasonable, and then sell it wherever you can. There are plenty of platforms to choose between, so make sure that you diversify far and wide to really spread it around.