>>3090756Step 1 is to not "learn to code games", because that's a very nebulous goal that's probably going to take you down a very boring path.
Instead, start by picking a game engine. Most of them have solid official tutorials to introduce you to the engine and maybe make your first simple game(s). If not, find tutorial videos/series on YouTube that walk through making a simple game from scratch and follow along with them.
Once you're comfortable working with the engine (or hell, you can start at this point if you're eager), you can go one of two directions:
- Follow more in-depth tutorials on making the specific genre of game(s) you want to develop
- Join a game jam (or just start making a game and set a time limit for yourself) and trial by fire it, learning everything as you go
As for which game engine to use:
- If you're making a visual novel, Ren'Py is the most popular choice. It's fine. Download Feniks' Easy Ren'Py GUI if you decide to use Ren'Py:
https://feniksdev.itch.io/easy-renpy-gui (it's a modified version of the default new game template, because the default new game template is built in the stupidest fucking way you can imagine). The documentation is dogshit and the community questions and answers aren't that much better. If you want to do anything even moderately complex it's probably going to be an uphill battle. For making simple VNs though, you can learn Ren'Py in an afternoon and it handles a lot of the complicated aspects (like save/load systems) for you, so it's very beginner friendly.
- GameMaker's a solid pick for 2D games. It has great documentation and good tutorials to make a variety of games. Not good for 3D, and there are easier engines out there for VNs. I had a very fun and easy time with it, and found it infinitely more intuitive than Ren'Py even when I was programming complex game mechanics. (1/2)
