How to Make a Video Game All By Yourself: 10 steps, just you and a computer

by Matt Hackett

Unleash your creativity and bring your game ideas to life with How to Make a Video Game All By Yourself. Written by games industry veteran Matt Hackett, this inspirational and motivational guide takes you through the process of discovering your passion, picking the right game engine, and finding the fun in your unique game.

Filled with advice, personal anecdotes, handmade illustrations, and quotes from renowned game developers, this book is the ultimate resource for creative folks looking to make their own video game. It’s a lean, practical guide that gives you the tough love and encouragement you need to ship your game! Let’s get started.

Genres: Game Design, Nonfiction, Gaming, Design, Video Games, Audiobook

217 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 15, 2022

Reviews

[Phillip Rumpelthiin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read, lots of information and it really takes you step by step through the process of how to make a videogame.

This is exactly what i needed a couple of years ago when i knew i wanted to make videogames but had no clue about where to begin. I still brushed up on some great lessons and learned a new thing or two.

Took me only a couple of hours to read and if you're familiar with the book "Steal like an artist" this is the videogame equivalent to that.

Only bought the pdf but will be buying the paperback as this is a must read and i'll most likely read it again.

After reading this book you'll know how to find the information you want, where to start, the things you have to consider while making a videogame and much more.

This is NOT a book that tells you WHAT to do, but HOW to do it. You'll not be a game developer overnight (that doesn't exist), but it's an amazing first step towards that goal.

Highly recommend this book and very pleasantly surprised!

[Rachel Ashera Rosen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books where, naïvely and despite the length, I wanted it to be exactly what it said on the tin. It's not. It's very useful if you're trying to make an indie game and know what you're doing, but for those of us who are hapless n00bs, it won't help that much. That said, it is a very useful book in terms of creative project management, so it's worth reading.

[Allison Brubaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and inspirational read with an overview of the creative process for people new to game development—or game ideation, really. Includes lots of advice, best practices, and things to consider before you start creating. A good resource to revisit for some "you got this" motivation. Also helpful for starting a project plan/to-do list of the processes, tools, features, etc. you're going to have to research as you start your project and keep in mind as you work on it.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounding up to 4 stars.

It's presented in a clean, focused, and motivating way. Some metaphors and phrases are particularly useful and memorable (scratch your itch, oil, many headed boss of finishing a project, wearing your producer hat, save it for the sequel).

It reminds you that if you are making a game for yourself.. then make your own game. It's for you. It can express whatever weird things you want it to. It must "scratch your itch", and if it doesn't then.. it's OK to move on. (This advice seems applicable to many personal endeavors!)

Much of the process related advice was familiar, especially coming from software development (eg managing scope, tracking todos, version control, building new in parallel, always be playable).

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet book you can read in an afternoon. Lots of practical tips to keep you on task and in right mindset when undertaking a solo development project.

[Lindsay Bianco · Rating 5 out of 5]

We picked up the physical version of this book in 2022 for my 9-year-old who is an aspiring game developer. It's a smaller format that actually makes it easy to find in his stacks of books all over the house. Anyway, he has read though it a number of times and refers back to it as he is going through his other "more code-based" game dev. books. This one doesn't tell you how to do any steps, but it tells you all of the steps you should do when making a game. It is full of interesting things to think about or keep in mind. Game development is such a big topic and for a kid that is interested in Unity, Unreal, Game Maker, Godot, the Playdate, Minecraft mods, Python etc. (and that's before we get into how to make music, or pixel art or how to make objects in Blender) a section like "Pick a Game engine" was and is really helpful. And this book was helpful for me to figure out how to help him. Can't recommend it enough. I love that he pulled quotes from people like Carl Sagan and Voltaire along with Derek Yu, Toby Fox and Shigeru Miyamoto.

[Luis de la Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun and short book that will help you understand what it takes to create a video game. It does so at the meta-level, not teaching you a specific programming language, video game tool or art per-se, but showing you the process and roles (or hats) needed for production of a game.

I read it on PDF and it had a perfectly square shape which was different but good. It has illustrations that help reinforce the ideas contained within.

I found it quite good and have recommended it to other fellow game makers.

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of rather common advice for aspiring indie developers.

Most of the advice given here can be learned entirely through Youtube, GDC talks, and blog posts from people in the industry, but organizing all the advice here into sequential steps is welcome.

I'd recommend this to people who are entirely new to game industry work. There's not a whole of extra content you can learn here if you already are somewhat experienced.

[Gustavo Reis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to evaluate, on one hand 90% of it is pretty much motivational stuff, 10% is actual technical solid advice.

However, even the 90% is wrapped up in so much charm, wit, and lightheartedness that you can’t help but feel good reading it. It also flies by so fast, so you can’t quite complain about it with a straight face neither.

gg

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

This was exactly what it set out to be. Very enjoyable, informative (at a high level), and most of all motivating. I also might be biased as a long time LostCast listener who also enjoyed A Wizards Lizard.

[Brett Chalupa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise, clear guide on how to make games without diving into any of the technical specifics. Sort of like an incredible pep talk. Comprehensive without being exhaustive. Big take aways: start small, cut excess, and ship games. Keep doing it and get better over time.

[Mateusz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really nice short book that touches different venues of making games. Less from a team perspective and more from a single dev point of view. Still it's very useful for people that plan or already work on a team.

[Kryštof Kohout · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I liked the overall book as a top level overview of the entire game creation process, but everything was quite shallow - more like a long web post rather than a book. But the content itself was informational enough, with some cute illustrations.

[Matt Draft · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a new game developer with zero released games this was such a warm hug and cup of cocoa.

Just a simple list that shows what I need to think about, what pitfalls are common and yes, everyone who does game development struggles, you are not a failure.

Honestly thank you

[Sean Mckenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re looking to get inspired to start, resume, or finish making the game of your dreams - this book will get you going.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple guide but helpful

[Luka Kawashima · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sure is a book. Building replacement systems without breaking the current functionality and then swapping over is a good reminder though.

[Hasan Balbicak · Rating 4 out of 5]

teaches you useful concepts about making video games (especially on your own)

[Stathis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly inspirational; contains great high-level advise that is applicable to other software projects as well. A quick and great read, especially for beginners in the software development world.

[Ali Taee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommended book for anyone who wants to start game development and publish their first game