Developing Games on a Shoe String Budget

2 Million? 10 Million? 100 Million?! Over the last two decades, video games have seen an enormous increase in popularity and budget. L.A. Noir came in with a whopping 50 million dollar budget. GTA4 clocked in at 100 Million. These budgets are WAY out of the range of your average back room developer. So how do you compensate?

It's easy to see how the budgets build when you consider the cost of licensing things like 3D Studio Max, Photoshop, Illustrator, and game engines. Out of curiosity, I inquired about the price to license the Unreal 3 engine for a game. Unreal was nice enough to tell me that I couldn't afford it right off the bat once I told them I was a solo developer. Okay, so that's out of my price range.

So what is an indie developer to do? I want to make games! I want to make cool games! But I got a budget of... the moth that's taken up residence in my wallet! Enter the world of open-source, or cheap software! I've always had a soft spot in my heart for open-source software, and I want to release a lot of my games on that licensing agreement. So it only makes sense that I'd be working with that sort of software to develop with. There's a lot of really good options out there and I've gathered my favorites here.

Adobe Photoshop:
GIMP
http://www.gimp.org/

GIMP (aka GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a fantastic Photoshop replacement. If you've used Photoshop for a long time, it will probably take some getting used to to work within GIMP, but once you're over the learning curve, you're on your way. It's also got a fantastic community behind it that is more than willing to help out with your learning curve and newbie frustrations. It can do everything that PS can, and then some, and has some awesome features and filters that will make your eyes bleed (in a good way). And best of all, 100% free!

Adobe Illustrator:
Inkscape
http://www.inkscape.org/

I've used Adobe Illustrator and I've used Inkscape, and in all honesty, I prefer Inkscape. Everyone who's done anything with game design knows that vector art programs are essential in the process. Adobe reigns supreme with their Illustrator app in the professional world, but my preference (and not just because of the price tag) is InkScape. Gives you all the functionality of Illustrator, for the low low price of NADA! Fantastic app, with another super supportive community of developers and users who are more than happy to give you their input and advice as you learn.

3D Studio Max, Maya, Mudbox, etc.
Blender 3D
http://www.blender.org/

For those of you looking to make the next Halo 3, you're going to need a 3D Modeling software to get your space marines battle ready. Blender is the free answer to that question. This is one of the most full featured 3D programs I've found. Craft your basics a la 3DSM, then switch over to sculpting mode and carve in the details like you're playing in Mudbox. Another awesome feature of Blender is that it's got its own built in game engine with it. The Yo Frankie! Project proved that it was more than capable of handling some serious business. I haven't worked with their engine myself so I can't say much about it. But as far as 3D modeling and development goes... Blender wins. And yet another support community to boot!

3D Game Engine (Option 1)
Torque3D
http://www.garagegames.com

The Torque engines are the most expensive thing I'll list here. Cheap as you can get is $99, but that still isn't bad as far as current gen engines go. When you consider that this engine has been used for pro level games on the Xbox360, XBLA, and iPhone, the price is down right amazing. Torque3D is an awesome program and really easy to work with. Best of all, they even tout Blender support on their website! It's easy integration via Collada which is an industry standard. It's a fantastic engine if you can afford it. That $99 also gives you the full source code and access to one of the best communities for game development around. You will be rubbing elbows with the pros there.

3D Game Engine (Option 2)
Unity Engine
http://www.unity3d.com/

Depending on what you want to do with it, Unity can run anywhere from free and clear to $5,000 if you want to go full pro and be able to develop for iPhone and Android. Unity also has an amazing community to work with and again, you'll be rubbing elbows with the pros. It's a great engine to get started with and, like Torque3D, it's definitely industry proven already.

2D Game Engine (Option 1)
Torque2D
http://www.garagegames.com

Everything that applies to the 3D Engine goes for their 2D engine as well. It's a fantastically awesome drag and drop interface with a powerful back end code. If you can dream it in 2D, you can do it with this engine. This is by far my favorite 2D engine to work in, and as soon as I can actually afford to drop 99 bucks, I'll be buying it without a second thought. It's got everything from particle effects to physics and the community you're working with is the best of the best.

2D Game Engine (Option 2)
Game Maker 8
http://www.yoyogames.com/

This engine is my old faithful. I've been using GameMaker since version 5 and it's still a simple, fun to use engine with a great community behind it. They've been really making awesome strides toward greatness ever since teaming up with YoYoGames and they give a fantastic outlet for budding developers to strut their stuff. To me, the YoYoGames community and GameMaker is the epitome of entry level game design, and that's _not_ a bad thing! Everyone is willing to help everyone else, and even the community Pros are willing to get down and dirty with the greenest noobs around. You'll find people who are more than happy to work for free for portfolio fodder, and these people are _good_ at what they do. If you're just now getting started and you want a great community, then I'd highly recommend YoYoGames (and I'll see you there!)

All of these pieces of software require learning, they all require practice. Nothing is going to make your game for you, but if you're dedicated to making your game and getting into the industry, then these are the tools to start learning. You can easily start learning the other apps that you'll use in the mainstream world from the basics you learn with all of these apps.

Also remember, guys, for the apps that are free, almost ALL of them accept donations or have other things that you can purchase (like users manuals and tutorial DVDs). If you're going to use their stuff, give back when you can. A little love goes a long way, even if it's just making a HubPage and bragging about them :)

Talk soon!

Aaron