From an idea
to your first playable.

Step 01

Choose your engine

A game engine is the software you build your game in. It handles drawing, physics, sound and input, so you can focus on the game itself. We recommend starting with one of these three. Each can make a real, finished game, so pick the one that fits what you want to make.

Difficulty and time are rough guides for someone brand new, practising a few hours a week. Prices and licence terms change, so check each engine's own site before you sell anything.

Step 02

Decide what you actually want to build

Before you open the engine, get a clear picture of the game in your head. A small idea you can see clearly beats a huge idea you can only feel.

1. Collect your inspiration

   List three games you love. For each one, write down the specific thing that hooks you: the jump that feels perfect, the eerie music, the satisfying upgrade. Those moments are your ingredients.

2. Write a one-sentence pitch

   "A game where you ___, in a world where ___, and it feels ___." If you can't fit it in one sentence yet, keep cutting until you can.

3. Find the core loop

   What does the player do every ten seconds? Jump and dodge? Stock shelves and serve customers? That repeated action is the heart of your game. Everything else is decoration.

4. Build a vision board

   Gather screenshots, colours, sketches and music that capture the mood. One page is enough. It's what you'll come back to when you lose your way.

5. Shrink it

   Your first game should be small enough to finish in a few weeks: one mechanic, one level, one goal. Save the big dream for later. You'll make it better once you've finished something small.

Step 03

Learn one engine and its true foundations

Pick one engine and stay with it. Every engine is built on the same handful of ideas. Learn these properly and everything else gets easier.

• The editor

  Where everything lives: your scene, your files, and the properties of whatever you've selected.

• Scenes and objects

  Your game is made of objects (players, walls, coins) arranged in scenes or levels.

• Components and scripts

  Objects get behaviour by attaching pieces to them: a sprite to draw, a collider to bump into things, a script to think.

• The game loop

  Every frame, the engine reads input, updates every object, then draws the screen, around 60 times a second.

• Input and movement

  Turning key presses and controller input into motion that feels good.

• Physics and collisions

  Gravity, solid ground, and knowing when two things touch.

• Camera, UI and sound

  What the player sees, the score on screen, and the audio that brings it to life.

• Building your game

  Exporting a version other people can actually play.

Recommended course · Unity How to Make a Game in Unity 6: Full Course for Beginners Jimmy Vegas on YouTube Watch on YouTube

Each engine also has free official learning material: Unity Learn, Unreal Engine learning and the Roblox Creator Hub.

Step 04

Make a rough start

Now take what you pictured in Step 2 and get a rough version of it into the engine. It's meant to be ugly. The goal is to feel your idea for the first time.

1. Use boxes, not art

   Grey cubes for the player, flat planes for the ground. Developers call this "greyboxing". Art can wait until you know the game is fun.

2. Build only the core loop

   Get the one thing the player does every ten seconds working. No menus, no story, no settings yet.

3. Play it, then change one thing

   Play for two minutes, notice what feels off, fix just that, and play again. Small loops of change and test are how games get good.

4. Save often, and use version control

   Keep backups, or learn the basics of Git, so one mistake never costs you a week of work.

Step 05

Keep building, and keep talking to people

This step never really ends. The developers who make it aren't the most talented. They're the ones who kept going and didn't do it alone.

• Grow your toolkit

  Add skills one at a time: pixel art or 3D modelling, sound and music, shaders, UI. Learn each one when your game needs it.

• Join a game jam

  Make a whole game in a weekend around a theme. Jams like the Global Game Jam and the hundreds on itch.io teach you to finish fast.

• Show your work early

  Share clips and builds while they're still rough. Real players will find what's fun, and what isn't, faster than you can.

• Find your people

  Join the Helm community, local meetups, and groups like the New Zealand Game Developers Association. Ask questions, and help the next person when you can.

• Keep a devlog

  Write a few lines each week about what you built and what you learned. It keeps you moving, and becomes your story later.

• Finish, then start the next one

  Release something, even something small, then take what you learned into a slightly bigger second game.