What were the reasons I switched from one engine to the other?
Okay, so you might‘ve read about my background (link to about page) and my first steps with the RPG Maker series (link to RPG Maker post).
It was time for something bigger.
TL;DR
RPG Maker is great to get started. Unreal is for pros and people with patience. Unity is easier than you think (even if you‘re not into coding).
And most important: a good friend is the best thing that can happen to you 🤜🤛
RPG Maker MV After the disaster that happened in 2017, I recovered from it and pulled myself together. In the end I just wanted to create games.
So I made a little reality-check:
✅ I know HTML/CSS and a little JS
✅ I’m a UX designer at heart
✅ I’m good at planning and organizing
🚫 I suck at coding
🚫 I need longer than others to understand new tools
🚫 I’m afraid of Unity
So where to go from here? 🔀
I either start learning how to code or I can use the tools that I already know.
At this stage I just wanted to recover quickly from the aforementioned catastrophe, push my motivation and create a game. So I wanted to go back to RPG Maker and meanwhile learn how to code.
The only version available for Mac was the RPG Maker MV and so it was decided. I purchased a copy of it and started right away.
The list of games I wanted to create was long:
• An RPG with a city to rebuild that evolves and helps your character to grow
• A 4 player drinking board game paired with skill and character development
• A multi-twisted story-driven 2 player cognitive RPG where you walk by throwing dice
• A short 1-4 player racing game where players bet on different characters
• ..
Actually I made all of them happen except for finishing them 😥
To analyze what went wrong I created a full list of the lessons I learned in every single project. Most of it was indeed the scope (which is due to my stupid mind that doesn’t want to settle down) and the other big thing was that I at some point messed up the code and the overall structure. I then wanted to refactor everything but then I realized that it’s too much and the RPG Maker might just not be the proper tool.
So I continued to work on the next idea..
Why sticking to what you already know is bad
My mind was still bursting with ideas and it’s impossible to keep up with them, so I‘m writing them down (link to portfolio).
The best idea will be worked out, prototyped and - if worthy - implemented. Unfortunately I reached the limits of the RPG Maker too soon so I had to switch.
Since I‘m a User Experience Designer and have little skills in coding I was afraid of facing this big beast called Unity.
The urge to create the games I really wanted eventually overshadowed the fear of learning a new engine.
So I jumped into the beginner Unity tutorials and was surprised how easy it was to get started. I was thrilled, excited to finally have overcome this first step, ready to rock the world 🤩
A few days later I opened my laptop and launched Unity – ready to do my very first „real“ game!
I started with a cube and a plane, opened VS Code and wrote.. nothing!
What‘s going on?
I just learned how to write a character controller to move a cube. WTF did I learn? How can one forget so easily?!
Depressed from how little I seem to have ingested, I stopped and went back to the RPG Maker to make a little game idea generator (link to game idea generator) that was boring but mitigated the pain I felt.
It was horribly dissatisfying 😤
A Friend in Need..
At some point along the way I met a guy who became a very good friend.
He studied at the same university but was - unlike me - a god in coding and logic 🙌
I asked him every now and then to look at my logic and the code I was doing in RMMV and taught me (among others) a lot in JavaScript.
Over time he - unofficially - became my mentor (I don’t know though if he sees it that way too 😄).
My confidence and skills grew so quickly, thanks to him, that I finally was ready for Unity and C#.
Disclaimer: I‘m still not good at coding and will never be as good as others. But I‘m able to implement my ideas and get stuff done. I will however keep my focus on player experience and interactions.
Finally switching
After about a year I was all set to eventually switch. My ideas were to complex and RM couldn’t handle it without fucking up performance or making a big stretch when „coding“.
Detour
Unreal could be is not an option (at least for me).
I made a quick detour to check if Unreal might be an option (due to its Blueprint feature, which is great for designers) but it just didn’t feel right. Performance on my Mac was bad, it was unintuitive and the usability sucked – which is a no go for me as a UX Designer.. So my decision was easy.
Touching Unity for the second time (or third or fourth, I don’t remember) was awesome. As stupid as it sounds, it felt like coming home after a long trip – Hey I know this thing, this all feels so familiar 🙃
And that’s my big trip around the game engine world. For now there‘s only one:
Unity here I am 🤓