Start Making Games Today
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4 platforms that can help you make games — not all with lines of code
Making games might be something that you’ve dreamt about ever since you’ve first laid hands on your hand-me-down Nintendo, or maybe you’ve just started thinking about it as a passion project with your kids. Yet, when you start searching up ‘how to make games’ on, say, YouTube, you might start to realize just how much coding knowledge you need.
However, when making games, you’re not just limited to lines of code that makes as much sense to us non-coders as gibberish. There are many other, less well-known, but still nonetheless fun and educational, ways to dip your toes into the expansive and ever-growing world of game making.
Fortnite Creative
Chances are you’ve heard about the third-person, battle royale shooter game, Fortnite. If you’ve played it, and you’ve messed around with the game modes a little, you’ll also know that there’s a mode called ‘Creative’. In the ‘Creative’ game mode, you can start building games that you can then invite your friends in to play with you.
Best For: You’ll probably use Fortnite Creative if you are just starting out, and want to simply get a feel for game design, set building, and simple game mechanics without actual typing code.
Skills Learned: There is no actual coding involved, but you develop the game through settings you can alter with different physical game mechanics. Along the way, you learn game design and concept building, and also have fun with building the actual world in your game. In Fortnite Creative, instead of having to build your own sets(which you can still do with their primitive shapes), you have access to a whole gallery of buildings, decorations, lighting, and other helpful assets that you can use and combine to bring your idea to life.
Getting Started: To get started, you can download Fortnite on a device of your choice(here’s the official website link to the available devices) for free. After you create an account, I recommend you play a few matches(either Battle Royale or other Creative maps) to get a feel for the graphics and what’s possible to build, and also so you can smooth out your gameplay controls, if you’re not a big gamer and aren’t used to them.
