Over the last couple of weeks I have been trying to figure out how to get started in game development; what to build, how to learn, what engine/framework to use and so on. Everywhere I went the advice from veterans was the same - "start small, build a tiny game, finish it, repeat".

Considering my history with 8-bit and 16-bit computers it just made sense to me to build out simple versions of these old classic games and when I found the Harvard course which walked through several classic games that served as the beginnings of a roadmap of sorts for myself. 

Yesterday I came across something called the 20 Games Challenge. This person wants to challenge himself to create 20 games, though without referring to tutorials, in order to learn. That's not really my style. I prefer to work through a few tutorials to see how other people implement certain mechanics, and then build my own version. 

I like the idea of a structured challenge though. Looking through his games list and the notes he's put against them, he's looking to move into the world of 3D games which isn't something I see myself doing. I'm far more interested in RPGs, strategy, management, simulation type games and building them in 2D. So I wouldn't use his exact list as it doesn't quite fit my goals, but I do love the idea of actually trying to build 20 entire games!

I've had a look around the web for people doing this, and many people successfully build the first game or two, but of course, not so many people are reaching game #20 or even #10. Stands to reason really, many people (including me!!) are great starters, not so great finishers! 

I've made Pong, and I'm eager to move onto another game even though the pong game isn't quite finished yet. I still haven't coded a win condition and the game basically plays forever until you get bored. The reason for this, is that I wasn't sure how I wanted to implement game state. I feel like I need to learn more about that first. 

For me, really my objective is to learn the core game concepts that are going to stand me in good stead for anything I build in the future. I'm not interested in hobbling together a crappy game in any old way, so long as it works. I've seen a lot of tutorials that do this - all the code in a single file, no OOP, magic numbers all over the place. Sure the game works but then what?

I want to learn how to build a bigger game, and learn how to build it the right way. On the other hand I don't want to try and code something as simple as Pong as if it were a MMO! I want to learn these key concepts as I go along and gradually build out more complex games along the way so that I naturally progress beyond the old classics into something original. 

Right now, because I'm right at the start of the journey, I don't know what I don't know if that makes sense. I don't even know what I need to learn so it just makes sense to build a few little games and figure out the gaps as I go. I'll document the progress on here as I go though :-)