GUIDE

How to become a game developer in 2026

Game developers are people who ship games. The skills are learnable: design, scripting, 3D, lighting, audio, testing and release. The proof is a playable game.

Duke Forger walks you through all of them in the order studios use, on your own game, so by the end you have both the skills and the portfolio.

The steps

1. Step 1: Define the game in one paragraph

   Write who you play, what you do, what you want and why it is interesting. This paragraph is the compass every later decision is checked against.

2. Step 3: Choose the first release's scope

   Decide the platform, single-player or multiplayer, camera and length. Multiplayer changes how every system and save works, so it is decided now, not later.

3. Step 5: Write the game's rules as observable behavior

   Movement, combat, health, enemies, objectives, progression and death, each written as something you can test. This list becomes your development checklist.

4. Step 15: Build a blockout test level

   A blockout is the level made from plain boxes. You settle room sizes, door widths, jump distances and routes now, while changing them costs nothing.

5. Step 21: Package a standalone build

   Packaging turns the project into a game that runs outside the editor. Working in the editor does not prove the packaged game works, so you do it now and after every milestone.

6. Step 23: Photograph yourself

   Headshot 3 needs only one front photo. For the best likeness, shoot in soft even light with a neutral face: front, both sides and three-quarter, plus full-body front, side and back.

7. Step 34: Start the world in World Partition

   World Partition splits the map into cells and loads only what is near the player. Turn it on from day one, because converting a world later is painful.

8. Step 53: Choose each track's source and record its license

   Music is AI-generated or bought. Suno Pro and Premier include commercial use (Suno keeps authorship and licenses it to you); ElevenLabs Music Pro covers indie games. Marketplace tracks come with a license file.

9. Step 59: Finish the vertical slice

   One region with final graphics, controls, combat, population, audio and interface working together. Everything later is measured against it.

10. Step 65: Test the complete game

    Play from a new save to the ending. Check every mission, death, menu, input device and save. Include accessibility: subtitles, readable text, remappable controls and motion options.

11. Step 66: Prepare the release

    A Shipping build installed on a different PC, credits with the asset and license list, store page, screenshots, a trailer made in Sequencer, and support details.

Common questions