DEVELOPMENT FOR THE MASSES

WHO NEEDS TO KNOW HOW TO CODE ANYMORE?

Games like LittleBigPlanet, Super Mario Maker and Roblox have helped massively in demystifying the process of developing a game from concept to execution. These playgrounds of creativity have opened up possibilities for us as players to really make and share something that wouldn’t have been a possibility for us before without a fair amount of coding and programming knowledge.

“With the likes of Minecraft and Roblox, we’ve seen the innovative thinking that can be produced when you put easy-to-use tools in the hands of regular gamers,” says Gary Bracey of Terra Virtua. “Once you eliminate the barriers to entry so people no longer have to depend on programming knowledge or graphic creation to build a game, then you can really tap into the imagination of people who can more easily bring their ideas to life.”

That’s now led us to new game development tools that are easy to understand and simplified for inexperienced game makers to get into. But that’s something that may only expand further in the coming years.

“I strongly believe the tools we use to make games and access to game assets will get easier to use and integrate,” says Tribute Games’ Jean-Francois Major. “Where making games used to be about technical feats, the emphasis will hard switch to the creative side.”

Things like RPG Maker and GameMaker Studio offer even greater levels of depth to the creation process for those of us with much more limited expertise than your average developer, but could it go even further? That’s something Bracey is now exploring.

“In partnership with the Unreal Engine, we are developing something called Terra Forma, which will give access to games creation to everyone, based on the most powerful 3D engine in the world,” he reveals. “A suite of simple but powerful tools, which will allow everyone the means to bring their imagination to life within our platform.”