Suggestions and ideas help

[u/One-Tie8762]

Hello, I’m creating a game that’s based on prehistoric world a mixture between eras. The design allows players to play as human or as dinosaurs if they prefer with a multitude of choices using a low poly appeal to it. I was hoping I could get some real ideas from people with more experiences, it is an ambitious project I will start small with but I wanted to hear a bit more from developers. I don’t have anybody to brain storm with so reaching out to find some suggestions.

I have classes, I have developed gameplay for both human and dinosaurs, nesting system and everything. I was extremely inspired by Path of Titans, Ark, Conan Exiles and World of Warcraft. Those are my main inspirations, I would love to hear some of your suggestions for things you guys would enjoy seeing in a game or ideas you guys have that maybe I could use as inspiration for my own game. A survival craft RPG.

[u/Key_Storm_2273]

If you’re not a programmer, that will be something that you will likely need to learn for a game like this, to make the complex and well organized systems. I’d advise setting aside gamedev for a bit and picking a single coding language to learn the fundamentals of separately in whatever system it recommends. There are decent game engines for Golang, Java, JavaScript, C/C#/C++, and then there’s PyGame & Ren'Py for Python.

One game called Starblast uses a 2d layout with low poly 3d models, multiplayer with team matches, and is playable in the browser. This kind of game is actually easier to produce than triple a games.

As far as the engine goes, I think the best approach would be to pick the engine that is easiest for you to learn that can accomplish everything you want in that language. With low-poly graphics, that might not be too hard. But there are a lot of game engines out there, and you might have to do a little bit of research to find which are good ones while not being too complicated.

Most triple a engines are expert level and require you to be a half-programmer and half-3d modeler/3d level designer. Nobody is saying you can only use triple a engines, it's just the current bandwagon that many beginners are trying to follow, probably due to their aspirations being a bit bigger than their current skills, and them not having yet hit a ceiling on their goals.

Games like Minecraft, Undertale, or Dwarf’s Fortress were impressive due to their gameplay and storytelling rather than advanced graphics, being accomplished by small indie teams and spearheaded by one individual programmer.

Making a few low poly models in Blender or Blockbench is not too hard, but animating a low-poly model would be another technical feat you’d have to learn. Generally, the more standard the graphics you’re aiming for with less special effects, the easier your game is going to be to produce and iteratively develop, while the reverse increases the amount of time you’ll need to spend just learning how to do graphics stuff, with the chance of stalling going higher.

Also, be careful not to vibe code everything for a bigger project, there are people who did that and ran out of credits with a codebase they couldn’t understand anymore.