I’m currently developing a short indie horror game for itch.io. I went to school for 3D animation and I’m fully capable at modeling, animation and all that. But I’m incompetent when it comes to programming. I tried Sololearn to see if I could learn c sharp, but I barely made it past the intro section. I also bought playmaker and Emerald AI hoping that would make it easier. But the documentation for playmaker is either limited or outdated. Emerald AI I do have a grasp on though. I wanted to code it myself, but based on my struggles, it seemed more and more likely that I’d have to get outside help.
I’d like to work on indie games with other people, but I’ve learned no one wants to take you on unless you can prove your skills in an already existing game. Which is a big reason for why I want this game made. I’ve signed on for many game jams only for my teams to flake out every time. I’ve met multiple coders on discord who were willing to help on my game in exchange for assets, who then ghosted me. I don’t have much money these days, so hiring is both unrealistic and excessive for a game that I need for portfolio reasons (wish I had spent that playmaker money on this instead.)
The game itself isn’t very complicated: player needs to flip four switches to unlock an escape door while avoiding patrolling enemies. So I don’t think these coders were turned off by the offer, especially when I was willing to make all the assets for an open world game.
At this point, I just want to have a completed game. I loathe the idea of resorting to AI (especially as an artist) but if I can’t find any other options, I may just have to go with it. I’d really rather it doesn’t come to that, so I need advice.
How should I proceed from here? Would it be unethical to use AI to just do the coding and correct it here and there with what little coding knowledge I have? What should I do to get this game done?
Edit/PS: I could spend the years it would take for me to learn coding, but that’s not my end goal. I want to be a game artist and learning to code seems like it would be a distraction from that. Is it wrong to think that way?
That’s kind of the big issue when starting out, finding like-minded people that are willing to work with you. Your best hope is to try again to find somebody that’s at your level and wants to help with the game. If you have any local gamedev community, even if it’s just your country, I’d highly recommend looking there as opposed to random people online because (in my experience) people tend to be more serious in smaller communities, especially if you can meet up IRL.
I don’t think anybody really cares if you use AI for your free hobby projects. The problem is that AI is really bad at gamedev, so you’ll suffer a fair bit with broken code and not knowing how to tie everything together in the game engine.
Not at all. Not everybody wants to be a solo indie dev that’s trying to be good at everything, most people I know are either just a programmer or just an artist. Get good at what you do and try your best to find a teammate you can trust who’s also serious about it.