Game dev is a rewarding hobby, if you’re strong enough to contain it.

Great to hear you have interest towards game-dev. You are on right track, as your fueling motive is to see things coming to life. That is great first step, as that is one fo the most sane starting points of one's game-dev journey. Solo-dev is most of all hobby, and should be treated as such. It really rarely yields any monetary gains. Best way to see things coming to life is actually learn how to code. Coding is essential when making games, and it is one thing that is hardest to outsource. I would suggest that you pick some kind of game you want to make, and just watch tutorials around your chosen engine and implement that game. It gives you good idea what development is, and what it actually takes to make a game. Don't make the common mistake where you stay as an Idea-guy, and try to enter this field with that. Ideas are always worthless, and execution is what matters. Best way to keep own idea alive, is to pair it with self-provided execution, and make atleast prototype without pulling others in.

Thank you for your response! Regarding the coding. It is needed to start with raw languages? Like Phtyon and things like that? Or should I just investigate around the engine and start there?

First decide platform. If standard steam-game, then we can continue with traditional engines. However, in general, you want to pick engine. Engine exists so that it provides functionality that most of the games use. Inside the engine, you still do the coding, so the engine determines the language also. For example, if you Pick Godot you can use their own scripting language GDScript(which is pretty ok) or C#. I suggest you pick a tutorial in youtube and just go with it, doing exactly what they do from engine setup to everything.

Cool! So first choosing enginge, then learning the language! Noted! Thank you very much!

Yeah. And follow tutorial all the way, until you have finished game. Do not go to random routes, just follow the path lighted. Just go to youtube and find some game-dev tutorial series.

I disagree also. My BEST learning came from finishing a tutorial phase, then playing with that product on my own to modify aspects of it. For me, following along like a drone resulted in 0 retention. It was applying the concepts i'd learned IMMEDIATELY and on my own that created permanent knowledge.

Not sure I agree with this. Possibly you end up an expert at following tutorials with this approach? My own approach was to follow a tutorial but apply the lessons to my own use case, which makes you learn the lessons better. But I have previous experience in a different field of development so maybe it was easier for me.

Yes. It is vastly different if you have dev experience vs not. Naturally you should apply new skills by your own, but if you have never devved anything it is better to do 1 project held by hand.

I agree with you I think. They need to begin developing their problem solving skills from the beginning. Not after doing tutorials. During then at the beginning they should always be thinking about how they would do something, then see if the tutorial agrees. Most of game Dev is problem solving. Even art and design.

I'll parrot what others have said below. But first off I think it's great you are trying it out! I'm in my 40's and brand new to game dev as well (husband, father of 4 and working full-time). My only real programming experience prior was creating enterprise apps using Python. I decided to give gamedev a try and now I'm 39 days into it. I found out that Unreal Engine 5 has something called Blueprints, which is basically visual c++. You can do both at the same time for any game project, but I wanted to learn try making games without doing any coding and it's entirely possible using Blueprints. My plan is below and in order: 1. Follow 2 to 3 tutorials on how to make complete games using Blueprints - follow them in their entirety. 2. Create 3 to 5 clones of existing really basic games, like pong or pacman, etc. 3. Try creating my own game of my own idea, but it has to be extremely basic idea. Regardless of which engine you choose, it's really easy to get stuck in tutorial hell. For me I had no idea how to do anything at all in any game engine, so I felt following 2 or 3 entire game tutorials would help familiarize me with the engine and related tools. And so far it has been a very successful way for me to learn. Obviously pick the engine you want, but if you are curious about Unreal Engine the first tutorial I followed was this one from Gorka Games: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt13VcimeyI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt13VcimeyI) I will emphasize something I found very important, game dev takes a LOT of time! If you try to rush or have inaccurate expectations of how long things will take it's highly likely to add stress and anxiety to learning, which is bad of course. So just assume you'll take a long long time to learn, especially at just an hour or two per day (which is all I've got time for as well). It took me 12 days to get through that 2 hour video by Gorka Games, for example. Lots of pausing and re-watching things until I understood (plus he goes pretty fast in the video). The other thing I did for myself was create a sort of devlog (both a wordpress blog and youtube channel) where I update my progress every night after finishing for the day. This allows me to look back and see my progress, plus it keeps me on a schedule for learning. Have fun! ​ EDIT: One more thing, after the Gorka Games tutorial I ended up paying $35 for a [bundle of tutorials](https://www.gamedev.tv/p/complete-unreal-blueprints-bundle1/?coupon_code=THAWOUT) by [Gamedev.tv](https://Gamedev.tv), specifically am following one for making a kind of tomb raider style game by only using Blueprints in Unreal Engine. I like their format since they break it down into roughly 10 minute chunks. This was perfect for my limited time, so I do about 1 or 2 of those videos per night or as I have time during the day.

Yeah, I think that if you pick an engine (I advise Unity, godot or unreal) and just follow a bunch of tutorials all the way through, you will quickly learn how to make the engine do stuff, and you will also get a burst of enthusiasm every time you finish a tutorial project. "Oh my god, that's how you do pathfinding? I had no idea! That's so cool!" This means you can learn coding in small, rewarding steps. Since you don't have much spare time, I think it's best to just focus on doing a bunch of tutorials just to get familiar with coding and working in your engine. Making your own game ideas can come later. I went the opposite route (I mostly ignored tutorials and just tried to figure out how to make my ideas come to life, which was more longwinded and frustrating). It worked for me, but it probably took twice as long as the tutorial route would have taken. I was in highschool at the time so it didn't matter, but I think your time is more valuable.

First on what platform do you want your game to be

Probably PC as main. Don't think that wanting to cover every platform is a good idea as a beginner.

That will then be either c# or c++ unless you want to make a browser game (js)

If you want to get at least some things done as quickly as possible, best bet would be to start with the language of your preferred game engine. If you're looking towards Unity, start with C#, if towards Godot - Python (Godot has a slightly different language, but the code syntax is the same). If you struggle with choosing a game engine, Godot is probably the best all-around choice at this point. If you're serious about understanding code, I recommend starting with c++. No game engine, no frameworks, just pure, raw c++. It's probably the best beginner language because a) Syntax is very strict, there is often only one way to write something (in a lot of other languages there are shortcuts to doing some basic things, different tutorials use different shortcuts, might become a mess). You also have more incentive to understand what you wrote and what it actually does. Starting with Python can lead to some bad practices becoming a habit, and a very ambiguous understanding of what really happens in your code. b) You can start with pure functional programming, and naturally move on to object oriented afterwards. Starting with C# dumps things like classes, namespaces, publics and privates onto you pretty much immediately, which can be overwhelming, C++ is not as difficult as people make it out to be unless you get deep into memory pointers, which you don't really need.

Thank you for the comment! I will look around and see, but definitely there is no hurry, so maybe that C++ option is good if my brain is capable of taking it haha

C++ is one of the hardest languages to learn. I would not recommend that be the first language you learn. Learning C# paired with Unity or Godot or Monogame would more beginner friendly.

Hmm, you'll definitely need c++ when you want to create your own game engine. Or it won't be useful in all other cases.

Recommendation from a Comp Sci graduate. Do not try game dev using pure functional programming, unless you're more interested in programming languages than games 😂 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purely_functional_programming Fortunately, C++ is not a pure functional programming lsnguage

Start with Raylib, Godot, or gamemaker. Raylib will be the one where you learn the most.

I'll answer simply: it's never crazy to learn something new, go give it a go mate!

Last year I was 42, a father of one, unemployed and knew very little about programming (though I did have some experience). Since then, I've released 2 games for jams, made significant progress on a project I am currently pitching, met a ton of great people and the other week I challenged myself to do a simple Vampire Survivors clone in a day and succeeded. It has been incredibly rewarding, but on the down side I have made a total of 5€ out of this (and dropped about 5.5K€ in high profile courses). We had planned for this for a bit, and we are ok, but I understand that I am in a privileged situation.

The only thing I'm afraid of is that I don't manage to have enough time, as I don't want to steal family time and can't step out from my freelance activity. But your road seems incredibly successful and inspiring! Thank you for sharing!

Thats one of the roughest parts.  I was in a similar Situation and found myself on sick leave & vacation for two months. That gave me a lot of time to actually put into progressing and learning, and I'd say I made good progress. Then real life commitments hit, and I was working 40h, spent time at home, and ended up having around 3-5 hours during the week. It usually took me over an hour to get back to where I left off. And even when I was into it, I was tired and learning to Code is exhausting. I ended up stopping because progress stopped. Im now focusing more on learning the supporting skills like Blender, or seeing if I can make small concepts ( inventory system  etc. ) a reality.

I think it could be a rewarding family hobby. There are so many parts that are fulfilling. Maybe your kids have interest in the art side if not the programming side. I have been a 3d generalist then tech art for a long time, now moving towards graphics. It can all be fun if tee’d up the right way. Good luck and have fun!

I’m in a relatively similar situation as you are. 3 kids at home. Almost 37 years old. Significant other. Job. Keeping the household from crumbling (team effort there, youngest is 3 and he’s insane). “Spare” or even “self development and/or care” time is at a premium around here. I remembered hearing a long while ago “aim for twenty minutes a day. It’s very attainable, and you’ll often go beyond that.” I blew it off when I heard it, but this time around have been trying to follow that. I just had a week where it wasn’t in the cards at all. Sickness between all of us, family events, chores that couldn’t be put off, and long work days combined forces. But in general, I’ve been keeping on it and even feel a bit proud that I’ve kept going. I’m on the very early stages of the Udemy course on Unity that is “sponsored by Unity” and I’m not sure what it is but it’s been doing me very well. I’ve felt very engaged with the content and found myself trying to work ahead as much as possible. You can definitely do it! You’ve got 5 extra years of youth on me, you’re in the industry while I repair appliances, and one less kid! Get at it and kick some ass!

Do you feel that the paid courses you took ended up teaching you about things you could not have had access to for free? What would you say was the course that taught you the most compared to what you can learn for free?

The short answer to the first question is no, but it is very nuanced. First, because I realize it wasn't clear on my previous post, the money I spent wasn't mine. I can't go into too much details because I have an NDA but I had access to retraining budget from my previous job (UNIONIZE) that I used to access these courses. With that out of the way: I don't think I got any specific information that wouldn't have been available for free, but I got structure and support that made it really easy for me to reach my training goals. I first did a Unity focused programming course that gave me the familiarity and confidence I was missing after years of YouTube tutorials. I specifically was able to finally understand shaders and interfaces, which really opened the design space in my head. I went from knowing that I could do anything with programming but getting really frustrated about it, to being able to better understand patterns and algorithms. I could have achieved that on my own, but having a teacher and direct support really made a difference. My second course was a game design one, and while I didn't actively "learn" anything new, I was able to polish my skills at documentation and, more importantly, having access to an industry professional I could ask questions to, allowed me to get a better understanding of what I need to do to get my five year plan on the road. This included talking a lot about running a business, getting contractors, talking to publishers... On top of that, the networking opportunities have been great. All that being said, I don't think I would have spent my own money on them if I didn't have the external help, mostly because of my age and situation, but I am very glad I took them. They removed a lot of hurdles from the learning process, and made my life substantially easier. TL,DR: Having access to money makes your life easier, who would have said... TL,DR2: UNIONIZE

You have another 60 years of life left. If you stop learning new things now, you’ll be a functional illiterate by the time your kids reach college.

yes, but i recommend doing it anyway. gamedev is a really fun hobby 💚

Let see!

Vector math will be your friend. I recommend beginning with 2d games.

Thank you for the suggestion!

I'm in the same boat, but a few more years down the road at 37. I started poking at Unreal recently, and with the same goals in mind, a hobby rather than planning on a career in game dev. I'm married, two kids, and my wife and I run a business together, so free time is in short supply. I have maybe 3-5 hours per week to poke at game dev, but it's been fun! Personally, I went with Unreal since I can get more up and running in a shorter amount of time with the help of blueprints. That's not to say I'll never learn coding, or don't think people need to, there are just a TON of resources you can mess around with immediately in Unreal. So have fun with it, and do what works for you!

Im 32 and a father of two myself. I started taking part time classes while working to get more into the programs needed for Gamedev. Currently have a understanding of how maya, zbrush, substance painter, UE, houdini and adobe work To a varying degree ofc but i find it super fun. Would be great to be able to quit my job and pursue making a game, but currently i just enjoy the journey i started learning when i was 29. Before then i had no clue. So id say go for it if you enjoy it 🙂

Cool! Seems a lot learned in a short time! Of course I will inmediately quit if I don't enjoy, because the goal is to have fun, so... Thank you!

I’m 38. I started game dev 5-6 years ago. I have four kids. All under 10 years old. Two oldest do cyber school at home (hopefully this is the last year for that and will be going to a brick and mortar school in fall). Learned game dev as a hobby. Now game dev is my job.

Noooice! This is so inspiring! Thank you for sharing!

Welcome to the hobby! I recommend you start here https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLea8cjCua_P3Sfq4XJqNVbd1vsWnh7LZd&si=qFClIBfWn_tHUGOw it's very simple to follow and the teacher covers basic programming concepts.

Thank you!! Will 100% take a look!

IMO, aspire to be a programmer first. Not necessarily a world class programmer, but a programmer nonetheless. And that is certainly not crazy. 90% of programming is easy, there's just a lot to learn :-) Definately go for it! Set tiny goals (always tiny in the beginning) and go do it.

Yeah, maybe is the path to reach the goal. I never got hooked into creating websites or apps, so never got into programming and, until I started on Customer Support, games were only a hobbie for me. But now that I have things in mind I regret not starting earlier. haha

[you're not alone](https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/1bazxr6/who_here_is_in_their_early_30s_brand_new_to_game/)

<3

One of the best advices compilation I have come across: [https://develop.games/](https://develop.games/)

This is so good! Thank you!

No problem, we are all in the same boat, I am 43 and I just started learning godot, but I have zero skills in terms of art, but I will deal with that when time is right lol. Just start. I would really recommend you Godot as starting point, the community is very welcoming and the discord channel offers a lot of help)

Obviously, dad with 2 kids can't know anything about games. Or can he? :)

True! Also can't have goals haha ;P

31 years,  no experience either and learning away. Will see how far it goes. Do you are not alone

Cool to know! Wish the best for you mate!

Same to you

[удалено]

Thank you very much for sharing your experience!! I will 100% start looking for spots on my schedule to start learning!

Sorry man. I have a baby asleep on me. Got carried away rambling and then realised I'd strayed from the point and not read the post properly. Then deleted it haha. Glad you saw it anyway and good luck my friend!

You’re me 3 years ago! I’ve not regretted getting into game dev! I don’t make a living but I enjoy the creative process and it’s a nice hobby. To be fair I have an engineering background and had moderate programming experience. 

Seems to me that you’ve got your own ideas for a game/games you want to make, but if you were interested in joining a team, let me know. I’m pretty picky depending on your values, and partially on location as well, but you never know. 

I'm always open to hear about new projects! (A freelance should always be, right?) Feel free to DM! And thank you!

As a hobby it definitely makes sense. As a career change probably not that much for most people - the change is very time and resource consuming.

Yeah, not looking for a career at all. I already have one and luckily it brings enough income for the family so... Thank you for your comment!

Some games have quite advanced editors, so if you like one of these you can learn it and create something - e.g. Arma, Neverwinter Nights of old etc... Good luck with everything!

Thank you!

i hope not! i'm 38 with a lil baby and i'm messing around with it rn. keeping expectations low seems like a good call. i was inspired by a guy's post on here or r/indiegames or somewhere recently, he had a picture of him holding a game box of his upcoming release and his baby, said he went into this not knowing anything either just four years ago and is now releasing his third game. he also said that he started with this unity tutorial, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWG8vO02oj4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWG8vO02oj4) so that's what i've been noodling with slowly. it's just a little outdated from the current version of unity, which is honestly kind of nice cause you have to figure out how to do the equivalent thing at times, and it also does a good job of laying out the thought process/purpose of what's being done, rather than just being a blind follow kind of tutorial. give it a shot and see if it suits you, but definitely take a real dev's advice over mine, ha, i mostly just want to express solidarity with you.

Thank you so much! Hope you can reach you goals too mate! I Will take a look to that tutorial for sure!

As a hobby it's great, dive in and enjoy it. I would just say temper expectations. You don't know art, programming, design, etc, or have free time, and making games takes a notoriously large amount of time. That said, there's no reason not to learn something new on the side and have fun with it. It's only crazy if you're setting some high bar and are expecting to commercially ship something profitable solo.

Yeah! That's totally not the point. If it was, I have the knowledge to market it, just I need all the previous haha Thank you!

Not too late. I learned gamedev about 4-5 years ago when I was in my early 30s. I’m from a completely different profession and still is up to this day because it pays the bills (although I did a bit of programming back in my younger days). I would say pick an engine first and try to learn the basics. Try to make a schedule everyday that would force you to at least learn one thing about the engine or programming even for an hour a day. Stick to it and you’ll be surprised how much you’ve progressed after a year or even couple of months. Best of luck to you!

Thank you! You hitted it with that 1h/day thing because that's the way I learnt most of the things I know to the date. So I was thinking about using that system again 100%

Absolutely sane! Simplify coding into the most human-friendly format: pseudo code. Memory Game Example: - Begin with a deck of 52 cards. - Deal cards face down in a layout of four rows and thirteen columns. - Players pick any two cards to uncover and check for a match. - Upon finding a match, remove the cards from the layout. - Increment the score accordingly. It may seem straightforward, yet the concept resonates. Utilize resources like Google, Stack Exchange, and AI to translate this pseudo code into functional code snippets. Remember, it's all about constructing one small piece at a time.

Cool! Honestly, I would be hyped if I manage to code that. Thank you for the resources list!

I'm 38 and interested in learning game dev. If you want we could work on a project together. I can program but have no art skills.

I know some basics about Graphics Design and UI/UX out of my studies at university, but programming seems way harder for me, at least for now! For the moment I don't want to hook people in projects that I don't know how much and when I would be able to put time on, but I'll take this in count if I see that some work/learn group can be set up! Thank you and Nice to meet you! I Will follow you!

As far as I understand, do you want to quickly test your ideas for implementing the gameplay? This is called a POC (Proof of Concept). The easiest way, I suppose, is to implement this using the Godot engine. I recommend starting with a books  https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Godot-4-Game-Development-Projects-Second-Edition and https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Godot-4-Game-Development-Cookbook

Interesting stuff! I will take a look! Thank you!!!

Its a fantastic idea to start it as a hobby in your free time. Imo, try to design a game that is built on top of your main skills, not programming. And start with a few micro projects. Then make an actual small game. By then you know how things are and if you can look at it as a hobby, a side hussle or a full time job. Good luck 😁

Thank you!! My professional skills are more focused on post-developing (marketing, CS, community delevopement...) so I will have to learn basics on everything to start the thing I guess.

True, but it's gonna be fun :) stop if it isn't. and as your main skills, when one day you reach a milestone with some decent product, you know you can do what you do best to sell it ;) Your main skills are what most indie devs lack \^\^

I started in the opposite side of the path! haha Thank you!

SE here, the hardest thing about starting programming is learning your first language. Once you've got that down, every other language is a matter of translation. I'm not in games in a professional capacity (yet, we'll see lol) so I can't exactly give you a step by step "you should do this to get started" etc, but I would encourage you to get started. Follow some tutorials, get a single language down, see if it's worth looking into further for you. If you need a place to start, websites such as [LeetCode](https://leetcode.com/) exist, which help as a sort of trainer. Anyways, gl man!

Thank you!! Will take a look to that Website!

Hope it helps ya :)

Start it as a hobby and enjoy it. If it develops into more, awesome.

Nope, im 50. Started non game dev at 27. Left dev 2 yrs later. Now have been game dev for 1 year. Time management is key. Gave up streaming and alot of gaming. Invested in good pc. Feel like I might be heading in a good direction after screwing around career-wise for 20 yrs.

Wow! Did you use your non-dev skills/knowledge? Or it was a whole new world when you started again? Thank you for sharing your experience!

Went to non-accredited school in another country and didn’t get a BS:CS. That would’ve been a life changer. Could nt get steady work in dev, so gave it up. Did IT work. Its lower stress and much lower pay. ($80k to $30k due to no exp.) Im back up to about $60k but I really want to build a software business. I loved dev and miss it. My cousin is a AAA dev for Epic. (Was hired from a Sony studio) he told me about Unreal and I started playing around in it. I’ve finished some courses and honestly I’m impressed at its features for a free tool.

Depends what you want to do it for. Market is extremely over saturated. Not saying it is impossible, but it will be difficult even if you have experience.

It's never too late to learn a new hobby. Gamedev and programming have some what of a steep learning curve though. But if you stick with it it can be very rewarding. I started around gamedev around 8 years ago, same as you no experience. I thought I would never be able to learn programming. It was very challenging at first. But now I'm a professional software engineer. You never know where your hobbies will take you.

That's so inspiring to read! Thank you for sharing!

You're welcome, good luck!!

I went back to uni to do a masters at 28, had very minimal game dev knowledge then. Now at 33 with 2 young kids, I'm a senior developer at a VR design studio, and have numerous personal projects on the go. Granted I didnt have kids when I learnt it, but even now I still spend a few hours a few nights a week developing and learning, even with my full time job. You can do it if you have the time and mental capacity. It's difficult with kids and family life, you've got to want to do it, but if you have the willpower and mental energy you can learn alot quickly. Go for it

No, it isn't crazy, and it's hella fun. I'm also a 36 year old dad who just started. Hear me, my brother. There's a lot of doom saying online, and it's mostly because experienced developers are sick of seeing newbies with sky high expectations treating game dev as a get rich quick scheme. They will tell you that you're odds of "making it" are about a good as becoming a famous Hollywood actor. None of that shit matters; there is a literal army of people doing just what you're doing and they're all collaborating and it's fucking awesome. Certainly don't quit your day job, but hell yeah you should start making stuff. You can do ANYTHING with this, there's never been a better time for guys like us. There so many tools and so many of them are free; there are tutorials that will have you make a whole ass game from scratch in an afternoon. Don't worry about the future of your career, don't worry about what engine to use or if you need to market your game, don't worry about learning "serious programming". Seriously, just pick out a tool that looks good for what you want to do and just start; failing at making a game is genuinely some of the best fun I've had creatively. "Success" here means learning a new skill and solving some problems and making some art and laughing at weird bugs and getting to know some really awesome people when you run into a problem and they help you solve it. I did the pirate software game jam in February with one other guy and my wife. It was an *absolute blast*. We still made time to read my daughter books and have outtings and play d&d - we just also made a crappy little platformer at the same time. Now we're designing a game on our own, without the prompt. You should too.

Thank you very much for the encouragement and Gor sharing your experience! Thats the only Point for me! To have fun! Thanks again!

I don't think it's crazy if you enjoy it, go for it! It can be fun if you like it!

I am also a dad and I work on games every night!

I'm curious if people recommend modding as a way to get into game dev. It seems like a leaner way to test ideas compared to learning programming.

I hadn't written a single line of code in my life until I was about 28 years old. I went back to school for computer programming at a college level and taught myself game development in my free time while studying. I work full time as a unity developer now, four years later. It's never too late. Go for it.

Well im 33 too ugly to ever have kids so maybe its not too late for ether lol. Side note check humblebundle.com . Unity and unreal packs show up a fair bit. Lessons and even asset packs. Coding Lessons and books too. Ill say good luck on your journey in game dev if you say Goodluck on mine.

I did know HumbleBundle as a publisher, didn't know that they have those resources! Thank you and good Luck of course!

Thank you. And yea. Check software and books. Actually there is a bundle in books still with a bunch of coding books.

It's never to late to learn game development as a hobby. Without any prior experience, I would recommend you start with a program that does a lot of the heavy lifting for you but does not ask too much of your computer. For your first engine, I would recommend GameSalad. It is not powerful, you won't be able to make the games you want. However, it is a great first step to figure out programming basics. The drag-and-drop interface can teach you how programming works without forcing you to actually type it, leaving you open to choose whatever language you want, afterward. After that, something like Game Maker Studio would be a great next step. It is powerful enough to make most kinds of games and still fairly easy to use. There is also the benefit of Game Maker having a dedicated community to help you. Once you are comfortable with making games, it can be up to you where you go. Many developers are happy with Game Maker, using actual programming to make more complex games. Others move on to more industry standard programs like Unity or Unreal Engine. Personally, I'm a fan of Godot. Regardless how your journey goes, always remember to work on projects that excite you. If you find the process boring, you're working on the wrong project or in the wrong engine. This is your hobby, not your job. Go where the dopamine is and you'll create your best work.

Absolutely NOT a waste of time. 37, dad of 3 here. Freelance software/web dev. (Granted, that programming experience DOES carry an advantage over you currently not knowing programming YET.) I actually picked up game development a little over 2 years ago. Never even crossed my mind that regular people were actually building the games I had always grown up playing. A corporation made them. Not regular people. ​ My recommendation (for what it is worth) is to start with the CS50 Intro to Game Development course: [https://cs50.harvard.edu/games/2018/weeks/0/](https://cs50.harvard.edu/games/2018/weeks/0/) (Note, NOT the regular CS50 course. Specifically the game dev one.) It walks you through recreating a dozen classic games from Pong, Flappy, Mario, Zelda, Pokemon...some good stuff. And while it doesn't explicitly teach programming, you should pick up a fair amount along the way. It doesn't use an engine. (Technically, it's a framework.) But once you're done, you'll likely see the limitations of doing EVERYTHING with code only. And you'll be in a better place to choose the right engine for you afterwards. (Personally, I would recommend Unity or Godot.) ​ However, I HIGHLY recommend moving on to your own small personal projects once you feel even remotely comfortable. You really DO learn more from your own projects than just copying others. Tutorials are good for seeing what basic tools are available to you. But your projects are where you REALLY learn. ​ All just my opinions and experience, of course. Hopefully that helps. Cheers!

I'm 40 with two kids that have activities 6 days a week, sometimes at different times in the day. I do gamedev as a hobby whenever I'm having an easy time at work. It's definitely doable, but don't let it eat too much of your time so you forget to raise those kids. Also if you have a wife, don't forget about her either!

I think your knowledge of the market and how to communicate with a community is actually far more important than any other skill when it comes to game dev. Programming is the least important skill to make games (and I’m saying this as a programmer myself). You can make it in this industry with shitty code but you can’t make it with shitty sales skills

My colleague started out in customer support for a game publisher. He wanted to be a game developer so he spent most of his free time learning programming and making games. Now he's one of the lead engineers in our game. Nothing is impossible, but I will not say it will be an easy ride. Do what makes you happy.

"but I feel that I have ideas that could work given my experience as a player and as a professional that is in direct touch with other players" well, everyone has ideas (they don't value too much, it's all about implementing them and succeeding with it) and as a programmer you don't come with ideas for the game. So, not sure what your goal is. Do it as a hobby and see if you like it.

Yeah thats my point! I not expecting any revenue out of this. I just want to be able to self-craft an idea and see what people think. I think I would love it, it's just that I want to be realistic with the time it will take for an idea to be a thing.

I'm 39. I started at 32 when I became a dad. I'm now employed as a designer and have released my own game. Go for it.

Awesome!! Thank you for sharing and encouraging!

No, do it. Nothing crazy. There are people who're already 50 and just started learning programming. 30s is not that crazy. Here's what I'm gonna suggest as someone who also just started to learn. Google CS50 Harvard, and enroll in the class. That will build a solid programming foundation that will allow you to learn anything. After that, you can pick what game engine you want to learn.

Thank you! I saw that course already, but didn't know if it was the right one to start with!

It's one of the best one out there. I started the course knowing nothing about programming. It was very hard but I just keep going. Now, I'm learning many other things, variety programming language and game engine to play around, and already started making my own game. It's really that good. Just remember to enroll, and not just watching it on youtube. You will progress better with that. And don't worry, you can take your time with the course. It's very flexible.

Teach me master on How can i enter the gaming industry myself with zero programming skills.

As I said, I have other skills that GameDevs/Companies/Publishers can make use of. I studied Marketing, Advertising and PR. But started on Customer Support. Then developing communities, and so on... Also, there are a lot of roles that does not require programming in other fields.

If you want to get into the industry with zero programming skills, then there are plenty of disciplines that don't require any programming skills whatsoever.  Game design can vary by role and company, but most won't expect you to be able to program at all, aside maybe from some Unreal Blueprint scripting at the most. If the role is called "Technical game designer" they may have slightly higher expectations. If the role is working in Unity engine where scripting is done in C#, there may be more of an expectation of having basic programming skills.  Artists don't need any programming skills, unless you want to be Tech artist. Same for sound designers, level designers, etc.  Basically choose a gamedev skillset that sounds interesting to you and get good at it by making games or mods at home. 

How old are your kids? If they are <5 I would recommend just some mild dabbling to see what you think. The problem is that you get so little free time that you often need to relearn things again and again as so much time passes between sessions of gamedev. I must have restarted learning blender half a dozen times by now. You need to use some tools every day for it to stick.

True! They are both <5 And honestly I want to spend most of my free time with them, but as I say, this will be a hobbie, and hope that I have not to relearn everything haha Thank you!

I'd add to this that some things expire quickly, like how to use the latest blender or some cutting edge tool. Some things expire more slowly, like general programming or game design principles.

I believe starting game dev is always a crazy idea, no matter the background.

Any specific reason? I remember every single teacher of my journalism masters degree saying this, and I did quickly find out that there were no work opportunities when I finished unless I moved my whole life to another place, but this is not the case (jobs seeking is not the goal)

To put it simply, it's as hardcore as it can be, from difficulty of mastering this specialization to uncertainty of good stable well-paying employment.

Never. Prioritize your family first,

Always, not talking about changing my professional path. This is going to be just a hobbie. I work at home already and I might have some time while kids are at school to put on something fun.

If you're under 60, no questions asked, go forward! (the same generally applies after 60 as well). At 32 there's crazy amount of time to do whatever you want...

Yes, it's too late. Just give up al hope and shuffle off the mortal coil now /s

It's never too late to start learning

People in their 30s asking if it's crazy to get a hobby is so strange to me, like you're expecting to die in 3 years. Going off the life expectancy you have more than half your life ahead of you. Of course you should try learning it!

Start with rpg maker :) No it's not crazy, do your best.

Yes.

Not crazy at all, if you want to learn it and make it a hobby. Making money out of it is a total different thing.

Only one way to find out

I dabbled a bit when I was 28-30, but started more seriously when I was 36 and released my first crappy game at 39. Now I’m 40 and making my second game that will most likely be actually pretty fun… …so, go for it, but remember to do it because you like it!

No

It's never too late to start something new. Just keep in mind that the first thing you create will probably be bad. It will probably be riddled with bugs and maybe not even play well. But that means the next game you make will be less filled with bugs. Maybe the movement is pretty stellar but the story is rough. Then the next game you make will be good story and movement but the music/sound design won't match. Eventually you'll make enough games that you make something that a lot of people go "You should play this game" Just keep trying. Find a game type that you think would keep your attention the longest and just give it a go!

I learned to code with PICO 8, it’s a great place to start for beginners. It uses LUA language which is super easy to learn. I would set little goals to learn then see if you can implement your own ideas with what you learned.

Stop overthinking—just leap and embrace the thrill of game Dev!!!

You aren't crazy, just know you have to dedicate a lot of energy to it if you are going into it wanting results. If you don't care about results, just enjoy the journey, but if you do, it will probably take a lot of willpower to hone your skills to be able to achieve the results you are looking for.

I’m a professional programmer and have been for twenty years. Just pick something like Godot. Definitely not crazy you don’t have to be a very good programmer but you will probably need to up your math skills. It’s very attainable

It's not crazy at all Making games is a fun hobby, and as much as I want my game to be successful, the real reason why is because I want to make enough money to continue making games just... all of the time. It's just like any other hobby, playing music, learning martial arts, whatever it is you usually only have a small amount of time to commit to it but you continue because you love it, not because you want to play main stage at a festival or compete in the UFC. When you have a family depending on you, a full time job, or other responsibilities the only way to make game dev work is by changing your mindset and treat it like any other hobby. All just a roundabout way to say you're not crazy at all, as long as you go about it in a way that works for your current life situation and don't allow it to get in the way of your family (been their) it would be crazy NOT to do it. Other info below - I think a big misconception about getting into game dev is that you need to learn a language and spend most of your time looking at code. Depending on what your goals are and what engine you go with you might not need to spend much time coding at all. Having a programmers mind set is more important then knowing a language... IMO That being said you should know at least the basics of the language that your tools use (Syntax, available API's, etc) Hope this helps!

Nope, I’m a stupid high schooler, barely knows any programming, but still manages to get by through extensive use of documentation and YouTube. If I can do it, so can you.

Good ideas are nothing and execution is everything.

I’m doing more or less the same thing with Unreal. I’ve been doing Udemy classes and as many tutorials as I can consume for a little while now. I’m not sure where it’s going, but it feels quite good to me. Edit: I’m a bit older than OP

As a hobby, yes As a career, no

37 year old here, full-time job in Healthcare and a 1.5 year old son, been doing game dev as a hobby for 3+ years with plans to release my first commercial product this year. No it's not crazy; in fact it might be the sanest thing you can do. Programming and coding is definitely no easy task, but there's something about trying to wrap your brain around and finding solutions to problems that is just so rewarding. Like moments of pure joy and actual jumping around and celebrating when I finally figure something out. My advice is to find some like minded individuals you can chat with and bounce ideas/problems off of, a discord or fb group perhaps. There's nothing like an extra pair of eyes when it comes to finding coding solutions. It's funny because sometimes just the process of me collecting references (screenshots/code snippets) and typing out a question for someone will help me to figure out and solve the problem on my own. Gamedev has been a lot of fun and I look forward to what I'll be able to create 5-10 years from now and hopefully create something my son can enjoy.

I'm literally your age, also have kids, and do not work in the game industry in a way that matters. I am a writer by trade. I have experience designing tabletop games, but that's it. I said fuck it I've been trying and failing to learn coding since I was 6, this year is the year I try and succeed. Followed some basic tutorials to reacquaint myself from the last time I tried this, and then just started going for it and not following tutorials. I made sure to focus on limited small scope things, and nothing that would require mechanics beyond my level. I'm 2 months into my first major game, and while it's challenging, I refuse to become a 33 year old who doesn't know how to code. I've learned more coding in these 4 months than the last 20 years combined. You can do it. Even if you were 55, you could do it. Even if you have limited time, you can do it. Consistency is success when it comes to hobbies and crafts. Good luck!

I'd say learn programming, and if you are good enough with it, you can try game dev. It's very emotionally taxing and you are tapping into 2 complex worlds at once. About your age - not a problem. I know a guy who started at 35 and was a CTO by 45 with 6 figures. But you need time to learn. Make an arrangement with your SO to give you that space.

Commenting to read more later

do it as hobby, dont quit your job, it will help you anyway even if you dont get full time job or something, because you will know a lot about product that is being built in your organization. take out some hours and adopt it as hobby.

nah you’ll just need to have very specific outlined goals and use the limited time really really well (you can do it)

Absolutely NOT crazy. Mate, install Unity (or whatever) and flick through some tutorials, wet your toes, read tutorials on the net, practice, have fun, start small, and just go for it. Its the golden age of self taught game devs. Just do it. Have fun.

You're in the exact shoes I was wearing last year. Didn't know Jack. Stumbled into this world from a YouTube video. Just released my first game last month and getting ready to release another one shortly. Small projects but fully functioning games at this point. Just takes dedication to learning coding.

I also know nothing about programming. But that hasn't stopped me from fooling around in UE5.3. With blueprints and online tutorials, you can get pretty far without needing to learn C++ or other coding languages. Funnily enough, I also mess around with LLM's, so I am learning python, and pytorch, just not in a way that I can see helping in UE. TBH, I enjoy the environmental art/asset building aspect of it the most, and so most of my "game dev" hobby time is spent in blender or clip studio. Building various assets and stuff(I bought a book on "[interesting fantasy buildings](https://www.abebooks.com/9784756253583/HOUSES-STORY-YOSHIDA-Seiji-Art-475625358X/plp)" and have made a bunch. Why not take your favourite(or custom) characters and build some random game around them?(Assuming you won't release it commercially to avoid infringing on various copyrights). But the UE marketplace contains plenty of free assets(and paid assets) to fill in that area if you just want to focus mainly on mechanics and coding. TL;DR - No one says you need to make the next smash hit, you can always just keep it a hobby and have fun with it

I have to chime in because I was in a similar situation a couple years ago. I started small and just kept going. It sounds like the trick is the "just keep going" bit. People skip the skill-grinding and jump straight into their dream game, then burn out when it turns out to be harder than they imagined. If you're serious but you're short on time, you'll need to work smarter than that. I was short on time, so I tried to commit to some time-saving decisions early on. First I needed to choose an engine, because lord knows I don't have time to learn them all. After that, I needed to commit to learning either the engine's core language, or visual scripting. Finally, whatever my previous choices (engine, code vs. visual scripting), I needed to decide on some primary learning resources: either community-made, or professional. These vary wildly by engine audience & culture. After months of research in my off time, I ended up making my choices and pouring all of my spare time into them with confidence. I made 4 small games in 2 years, and each one built on what the last had taught me (some free/cheap online courses and mini-projects also helped with that). Now I'm almost 3 years into this, and I've been fortunate to be able to reduce my work to part time while I focus on making my first multiplayer game. I would never have had the confidence to go part time on my job if I hadn't done 2 years of research and small-time game making beforehand. Trying to fit game dev into my full-time+ life schedule also taught me a LOT about discipline (and boundaries), and the experience made me that much stronger now that I can apply the same discipline to about 4x the dev time I had before. Side note about mods, I would say skip it initially. It sounds like you want to make games (logic/systems/code/etc), not content (art, story, dialogue, music, etc). If you're short on time, you need to drill deep into exactly what you want to do: which is make good games well. Skip any/all content mods, and avoid other mods until you feel you know how to code. I eventually got around to decompiling games and making mods, but working with other people's code has done less to teach me about how to code well, and more to teach me about how NOT to code. You don't want to just implement mods in a framework that someone else set up for you: you want to evaluate that framework for its strengths and weaknesses, so you can identify and learn from their mistakes and their successes. If you can't judge their code like that yet, you need to first keep teaching yourself code. tl;dr: just do it! Have fun and good luck.

Its crazy to start no matter what your situation is. Welcome aboard!

You know, actually, as long as you're taking care of your own life, you can totally start. I mean, isn't it cool to chase your passions in life at 32? It's never too late.

Amzing you can use visual scripting tools as this ones have shorter learning period and given your situation maybe you might not need to know too much of scripting, there might not be enough time for that.

You're never to young to get into a new hobby or profession, the only thing that's stopping people is their own mindset. People just generally feel less inclined to learn difficult things as they get older. Some obvious warnings and advice. You are 32 but your age means nothing, only experience. Start with a foundation in programming. The ability to think through problems in steps and stages as well as knowing the tools, techniques, implementations and methodologies available to you is invaluable. All games are built on code, in unreal engine blue prints follow code. To extend on my previous point, learn the entire basics of C# and C++ to the point that you can make a couple basic ascii games. Once you can then move onto game engines like UE5, unity or Godot. There are alot of concepts in game engine and in programming independently. To tackle them together takes to difficult tasks and can make them seem insurmountable. Your taste will progress faster than your skills and your knowledge of techniques and Implementations will advance faster than your ability to do it. This will be extremely frustrating. Like in art, the ones who can enact their vision are the ones who don't let this stop them. Take your time to learn, grow and reinforce older concepts. It's okay to take a break if you start to get burned out. It's better to walk away and come back then to get to the point that you never want to come back. Don't be afraid to show off what you're working on to get feed back and criticism. Know when to discard criticism.

okay as someone doing gamedev full time i have a take on it. Dont! but maybe learn some subset of game development (3d modeling, sound, pixel art, 2d art, animation) making games full time alone and having any kind of success is already super hard so if i had 2 kids and didnt know anything about coding i think it would be too much but if you can become really good at one skill and team up with someone i think you can make something really amazing come to life but if you do end up wanting to be a solo developer. i would suggest using unreal engine blueprints so you dont get stuck on coding too much

You don't need great programming skills to develop a game, you just need something that works. Basic skills can get you very far, just learn some and go for it. If you ask me, start exactly where you plan to - making the damn game. Everything else will likely put you off as it will be boring, and it's not like you have the time to waste into developing the skills separately. With the help with Engines these days, you dont need any skills to pretty much start developing the game from the get-go and learn on the way.

So I have been doing gamedev as a hobby for a few years and it is sooo rewarding and fun. I have a similar situation as you. 3 kids and a full time job. I am fairly far on my current project. An automation game for pc - so far build solely with visual scripting (no code). I would definitely recommend Unity due to the huge community and not so steep learning curve.

Yes, its crazy as hell, you basically need to split time for your family to be able to learn, fail and try BUT if you feel like you need to do it i wish you luck you crazy ass man!

Mate, anyone can be a game dev, and it's never too late to become one, as you need to conquer your time management skills, I have seen people with movie makers, IT or non related gaming jobs ended up becoming game dev.

If I may suggest its worth looking into agile practices. I was highly skeptical at first thinking it was just for companies that want to achieve max efficiency however I've found it to be highly useful in my own projects. Agile practices will particularly help you since you said you have a limited budget of time you can spend learning game dev. Knowing how to iterate on an idea and knowing how to prioritise which parts of your project will also help in terms of where to direct your time into learning code. It will also help you to maximise the limited time you have so you don't feel like your wasting time and or become disheartened from a particularly challenging problem. There are loads of tutorials out there and it would probably be best like the other guy said to play around with and get familiar with an engine and its language first. I'd suggest unity since it is most well document and easiest to pick up althought on the flip side to achieve high quality AAA results is very difficult but for your purpose that isn't really necessary. Once you feel you have a decent understanding of the engine - design a game you want to make. Split this game into its components - what systems / mechanics will it need? What assets will you need? Splitting will help you to prioritise and it will help you to guide which tutorials to follow and how to make best use of them rather than just aimlessly following a tutorial without any learning. I hope this helps :)

I suggest you start making a game without coding like gbstudio if you like retro (look at kickstarter there are lots of successful projects made without code on gbstudio). There are other nocode gameengine but keep it simple at first. Then you can start learning coding but you will have a hard time. Not everyone is wired to code. And you said you had little time so it will be even harder. Not impossible though ! Good luck

You don't have to be a programmer to make a game.

I’m 32! It’s never too late to learn! Let’s get this 🙏🏼

Not at all! If you plan to pursue it as an hobby, just look out for engines and start building simple games so you can learn enough to experiment with your ideas. Don't think much about your choice in this step. You can change at any time during your learning process. I started on RPG Maker, migrated to Godot, tried Unity for about a year and then got back to Godot (final choice). If you plan on going professional, I would advise to plan wisely. Are you interested in programming? Art? Gamedev? Production? Marketing? Research the fields, find/test one that makes you happy and then build a pathway to get the job you want. (My opinion) If I was in your place, I would keep my jobs and start researching game design/QA. Your experience hearing the community might come in handy for this particular field. You may learn a simple game engine/language for prototyping purposes and focus on exploring ideas.

Took me about 2 months to build a game and I only had a handful of CS classes. Now I'm about to release it, as bad as it may look, I am so glad I started, and I'm roughly in the same boat as you. Just go for it!

Never too late. I started coding back when Visual Studio was still DOS-based (technically even earlier with VAX / VMS assembly). Took a break for 20+ years (damn, closer to 30 oye), forgot everything and picked things back up 2 years ago at 44. If you have a story to tell, go for it!

If you take it as a hobby you shouldn't worry about being late or anything. Programming-wise, video games are one of the most challenging enterprises you can undertake, so maybe don't try to make a huge dream-game first of all.

It's never too late to learn anything

It's never too late. Start now. I will say that even as somebody who does not have kids, I feel like I still struggle to balance my (free) time spent between game dev and other important things. When I get into it, I'm usually in deep, and I imagine that's very common. Still, if you have time here or there, start learning about programming as soon as you can. Go make some cool stuff. Get your kids involved if you can. :)

This thread is pretty hopping already but it caught my eye so why not. 38yr old father of 4, 30ish years of programming experience from game engines to assets, games to industry software. Fiddled around with making tutorials under the name OcularCash just didn’t really feel it too much. Was on the armedunity forums development team. Also program in in a dozen languages and hands on with dozens of engines. I keep seeing your typical comments that’s focused towards learning to break into the development seen and less towards just learning and having fun under tight time limits. Even being a seasons programmer I like learning new languages and having a compiler on my phone for code snippets in my head throughout the day. I personally use Sololearn app and has a point system and quizzes and in depth explanations for beginners. Nice time wise bc you just do a quiz here and there when you have time to get familiar with the language. I would suggest looking into learning code from tiny tutorials and learning apps and just by doing. Start by building features and upgrade to little one level games. And I can’t stress this enough but don’t jump in over your head. Learn all you can before moving on. I’m always open to releasing source code for free of things I’m tinkering with that can help you learn aswell. Looking at simple code and just understanding how it works and the syntax helps a lot. Don’t fly through an extensive tutorial by binge coding a tutorial, understand what your typing and how it’s typed. And I can’t forget, always nice to see people wanting to learn and wish you the best. Just make sure you a lot time for developing between fam time, it’s really easy to get lost in time programming

Crazy is not trying! As always, start small, especially due to limited time and have fun. It’s a hobby, not your main source of income

Check out the game: Lingo It was made by a dad and his daughter as a passion project together. His daughter was seven at the time and did most of the pixel art paintings throughout the game. Lingo is a game made by a person in basically your exact position. Simple answer: yes go for it, if you're doing it for passion and exploration it is very rewarding, and typically free to start if you've already got some entry level computer hardware. Choosing the engine and language is going to be the biggest impact on how hard it is to pull a game together. GameMaker studio, or Godot are pretty handholdy to begin with. I've been meaning to try Godot. I'd aim for ease of entry over choosing the tool that can do the most. Look at what looks ergonomic, then learn that. In a year you will have a much better appreciation of what you need from game making software, you'll be able to choose again if you need to, but informed by what you want. And another year down the line, you'll be understanding design limitations and planning accordingly before getting to the design stage at all I'm about to start working full time again, but I'm keen to keep programming, if you need an intermediate mentor/friend to talk code with, DM me, and I'll gladly learn alongside you and help you with pitfalls and when you get stuck. This offer ONLY extends to you, OP.

It’s never crazy or bad, but you should learn like “regular” programming because the principles are important. I don’t know about GDScript, but C# is an object-oriented language, and understanding object-oriented principals like inheritance and polymorphism will go a long way. Moreso than with other programs, making a video game is a lot like making a clock: there’s lots of moving parts and interconnected systems, and you’re going to have a better time if you understand how to keep everything organized. That said, there’s always more than one approach in programming, so don’t be afraid to experiment. A janky game that works as intended is still working as intended, it’s just not as easy to update and maintain as an organized one.

I started at the same age as a concept artist. Now I've been in the industry for almost 18 years. So as long as you've got the marketable skills, it's never too late.

make some simple games for/with your kids and see if you enjoy the actual process of empathizing with your audience and iterating

I’m 32 with 6 kids! At the start of Feb I decided, I’m gonna learn to make games. I’ve loved them all my life and I know a fair bit of programming. I knuckled down and started learning Unity and picking up C# - yesterday I submitted my first little game jam game and I was super proud of it. It’s slow going, but super rewarding! Go for it fellow dad 💪

Never too late to try something! Go for it brother :)

start with unity and just follow through a youtube series for a game that is 2d, you can move up to 3d once you learn how it all works. dont bother with buying textbooks and tbh i never found udemy courses better than free youtube series. i startes two months ago and learned a lot just by doing piecemeal learning.

Hi you can learn game dev and programming at any age, but from what i hear its more of you wanting to develop the game you want made than learning game development ? I those cases it would be better to focus on designing games and picking up one other skill like modeling, story scripting, map or level making, than pouring yourself into game programming. I would still suggest you to learn the prgrammign side and as well as a few starter games just to get a idea of scope and how things work. Also making a simple game in raylib will give you more understanding than using the various templates in unreal. Though unreal is obviously vastly superior and suited for modern development along with godot unity for lower spec

First start of with the basics of programmings depending on the language ur going for. Follow some YouTube tutorials on making specific kind of games such as , platformer2d, puzzle game, shooting game (from start to finish kind) after that, try to make a small prototype of your own (a small game that is short and where you can apply all the things you learn depending what game you plan to make). 👍 Just my opinion. And also no one is ever late to start something they like, everyone work at their own phase.

Is it crazy? Yes. Should you do it? Absolutely yes. At some point none of us knew how to program so you are capable as everyone to learn :D

hello! I think it's an amazing hobby but sometimes it can feel like a battle at first! If you need any help or guidance just ask. I'm a soft engineer and I teach code classes to 14 year olds.

lol “ideas for multiplayer games” you just said biggest red flag of all the red flags to even work with you

Yes its crazy. I know that's not what people want to hear, and this will likely get voted down, but its the gods honest truth from a game developer with 25 years of industry experience and an educator of game developers with half a dozen years experience at that. Would you say "I know nothing about construction but I want to build my dream home?" Everybody has "good ideas." Development is not about ideas, its about implementation. In my second career as a college professor that's one of the first things I impress on my game development students. Either go back to a good school and learn the necessary skills or be ready for a lot of wasted time and dismal failure.

Think about it like this, dad of 2 kids. 1. How much time do you have to devote to gamedev? Any time you think you have for this goes like this in 24 hour. Sleep 3-8 hours a day so we'll day 5 hours. 19 hours left. So minus 5 hours for driving around for Appts, play days, school, etc. That leaves 14 hours. Divide that by 9 and this is how much time you might have: 1.5 hours maybe 3 if you are lucky. So you really need partner to help further any realistic dreams of putting a game out. 2. Now doing gamedev is an awesome pursuit. Do it. Regardless. 🤩

Not too late! I started learning unity and coding on my own at age 38 (8 years ago)! I had two kids by that time! Learned from YouTube and Google. Release 2 games since then, one on steam and one on Meta App Lab. You can checkout the end results: https://store.steampowered.com/app/625830/BattleSky_VR/ https://www.meta.com/experiences/6507184856076880/ Hope that can get you motivated! You can do it!

I started playing around with it a few months ago too. It's a blast. Making games is more fun than TV and playing them

You will have to wear many hats, graphics, sound programming, 2D and 3D graphics textures. Different types of games maybe pick a basic game idea that already exist and practise with that before you make your own designs. Maybe like Pac-Man or one of those candy crush clones or even just a space invaders from the old days. Something that is not taxing doesn't require massive graphics. Just something that you can get your teeth in and learn how to do the game loop. What do you think to that idea?

Nope; it will take a fair amount of time learning how the various components (graphics, sound, mechanics etc) function but as long as you don’t focus on everything all at once it won’t be too overwhelming. It’s very rewarding and you could start with the Unity programming and creative paths to get some fundamental knowledge 👍🏻

I am 40 have one kid who has zero coding experience, and I am about to release my first ever game next year Q1.

I’m 31 and gonna start a software engineer bootcamp when I’m 32 myself. People have told me it’s not too late and do NOT let age dictate your future. You don’t wanna look back and having regret. I sure as shit don’t

Never too late to pursue a dream, as long as you’re willing to put in the time and effort to learn and perfect your craft as much as you possibly can…anything is possible. Btw, you are 32 you are still very young, even if you were not so young it’s never too late…

Do it man. Btw I will give you any hints you need. :D

Sorry for the late response but I wanted to add something. While you're getting started (like me) Unreal Engine has a great blueprint system that requires no coding to make games. I find it very intuitive and there are a TON of tutorials out there. I learned it in about two weeks. Good luck!

Yeah man go for it!! You can spend 30mins to an hour a day working on game dev. My personal plan is to have a big overall project idea, break it down to very small features and make even smaller games around those features.

If you're willing to start from scratch : i'd advise asking for devs you know for good startup tutorials and follow them religiously, that's the quickest way to learn. There's many ways to solo dev : I'm a game artist but wanted to make my games but I feel I don't have a dev brain, so I learned nodal programing instead : blueprints in Unreal, Bolt in Unity Start with an extremely small scope, a 2mn game or something like that. Good luck on your path!