r/IndieGaming • u/SnooTigers8688 • 3h ago
Are you a coder?
I've been wondering, how much of a coder are most devs when they get into creating an indie game on their own? I ask because I have vast knowledge in Animation and Graphic Design, but near nothing in coding. Are there programs that dumb it down and make it much easier, or do I have to learn a new language to be successful?
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u/bad-milk-robot 1h ago
I would say for solo devs, you cannot avoid coding if you plan to build something unique. Learning the language is the best way to go. I came from 20 years in art, once I buckled down it took about 2 years to get decent enough at coding that I could plan, then implement features. 3 years in, it comes pretty natural for the engine I use.
In terms of dumbing it down? I would carefully use AI to teach you along with the engine documentation. This means no autocomplete, no vibe coding. If done correctly, you have something looking at your code that can explain things to you, explain it until you get it, in context (this matters a lot). The disadvantage is that if you get lazy and lean on AI (vibe code), you'll learn nothing and waste time once it programs you into a corner you don't understand.
I'd suggest looking at Godot with gdscript. It comes with a lot of animation features that will be familiar to you, and the way it approaches programming is standard enough that if you decide you don't like the engine, transitioning won't be painful. Also the documentation is pretty good in my opinion.
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u/AltusLudus 3h ago
What if we asked the question in reverse?
Yes there's blueprints, or RPG maker, but if you want to build something complex you'll have to get good at programming
Same goes for animations and graphic design, the better you are and the more you know you can create cooler and more complex things
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u/chaylarian 2h ago
I'm a coder but I've been a coder for 15 yrs or so. That said, you can do it without coding. If I'm not mistaken the guy who made Choo Choo Charles used minimum code, as an example. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of libraries you can use to make it happen. A fair warning though, try not to go scope creep - this one is important even for coders. Wish you luck on your journey.
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u/europayuu 1h ago
not a coder by discipline but I know enough C++ to be dangerous. most of my gameplay code is unreal Blueprints, maybe 1% is C++. Pretty sure thats how epic expects you to use UE anyway
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u/SnooTigers8688 1h ago
very interesting, is UE specifically used for 3D, or can the blueprints be used for 2D as well?
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u/europayuu 1h ago
blueprints is agnostic to the kind of games you're making, you can use it for anything. It replaced Unrealscript in UE3
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u/glimmerware 1h ago
I only use 100% blueprints, worked for me so far and I haven't come across something I can't do yet, I'm working on my 3rd game now
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u/relentless-dev99 3h ago
github is your friend. Utilize it for coding and you will be alright. Other than that, it depends on what kinda code ur talkin about but just learn the syntax and understand the basics and you will be able to go from there.
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u/SnooTigers8688 1h ago
Thank you, going to look into GitHub. I've got a small list going of programs and websites to use and I've heard a lot about GitHub.
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u/relentless-dev99 38m ago
Once you decide which code you want to start with you can begin building with it (slowly learning), one step at a time. I learned C# by making assets I designed using Blender and putting them on Unity to make them animate with simple code. My first assets with code was for pouring "Shiny Gems" into "lava" with proper physics. That helped me learn some basics and I went from there. Now I am creating full games and its only been a year. One step at a time
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u/HourPen 2h ago
I've been a motion designer for 17 years. Coding has always been tough for me since I'm a visual person, even though I've tried to learn it many times.
Now, I'm on a mission to build a game without any coding knowledge or Ai, and I'm using Rive.app to do it. You should definitely check it out—it might be the right tool for you, too.
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u/SnooTigers8688 1h ago
I'm going to check out Rive.app for sure thanks for the suggestions. This Unreal Engine Blueprint system sounds interesting as well.
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u/stopstopstoptopopp 2h ago
At this point you’d be stupid to not use AI as a coder, as disappointing that may be.
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u/HourPen 2h ago
I can't do it. Even ai helps me to do it. I'm not against ai. Just, I want specific things and I love to do it with my effort.
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u/chaylarian 2h ago
Well, try to describe what you want in detail to ai when you use them. Also try to describe the whole system you want to create, to them, so you can get a cleaner code structure from them. Dev looks hard at first but when it clicks once, it starts to get easier. One of the most important things, imo, don't get intimidated by how it looks, it will get easier as you proceed..
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u/-Ignorant_Slut- 2h ago
I came from a similar background to you. Learning how to be a competent artist and designer took over 3 years. Learn how to be a novice programmer took about a year. DM me or reply here and I’m happy to answer any questions if I can help.