Web designers are the da Vinci of web development. They offer the skill set that almost all businesses clamor for – the ability to provide a user-friendly and fast-loading website that focuses on increasing visitors, leads, and – ultimately – sales.
Aside from their capability to create magic with just clicks from a mouse button, they are actually a couple of tools away from becoming a game developer.
Why would designers even make a video game app
Designers make for great freelancers. With the demand in the market for highly-talented individual who can create beautiful website designs, web designers should take advantage of the wealth of opportunities afforded to them.
At the same time, given the demand, there is competition that designers should deal with. They need to prove to clients that they have the skills to get the design job done.
Aside from showcasing samples of their past web designs, a mobile video game app should be a complementary fit to their current skills. Showing how your designs are seamlessly incorporated into the game shows how much you understand design as a component in the overall picture. Also, a game app can help build your brand and make you earn a bit of money on the side, both of which are never a bad thing.
So, where will designers start?
If you’re a designer who wants to get their hands on developing a video game app for iPhone or Android, here are things that you should consider:
Design tools
With your experience as a web designer, you will have tried out Adobe software (Photoshop, Illustrator (for vector images), and Creative Suite) well enough to be able to create and develop well-designed images for your video game app. Your ability to use these tools already make the learning curve shorter and will ease you into the more difficult aspects of creating a video game app.
Developer tools
As a beginner, it is important to take things slow when getting acquainted with the process of developing a mobile game app. Try out free services online like GameSalad and Unity, both of which are easy-to-use game development platforms, to create your game. For additional resources about the tools used in developing a game app, read and watch the free tutorials at Cartoon Smart and those found in this post at Creative Bloq.
Idea generation
While this normally takes place at the very start of the game development process, since you need to get your feet wet with regard to developer tools, this takes place at the very last. From here, you will have a better understanding on the entire process so you can come up with game ideas that you can do given your current skill set as an amateur developer.
This is your first attempt to creating a videogame so expect some rough patches along the way. The important thing is the invaluable hands-on experience you will gain in game development. Later on, as you continue to learn more about how to create a video game app, you can fix the bugs and improve the app – all of which is for the betterment of your freelance designing career.
Originally posted on January 24, 2015 @ 1:53 pm