GUIDE

How to make a video game, step by step

Every game, from small indie hits to open-world blockbusters, goes through the same stages: plan, prototype, build the content, polish one slice, expand, test and release. Skipping a stage is how most first games stall.

This page lays out that path in order. Each step links to a full guide that explains what to do, why it matters, and how AI can speed it up.

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 4: Set the limits

   Write your budget, your hours per week and your hardware, then split features into must-haves and nice-to-haves. Limits are what turn a dream into a plan.

3. Step 7: Choose an achievable first mission

   One small area, your character, one weapon, one enemy type, one objective and an exit. A complete loop you can finish before anything gets bigger.

4. Step 11: Create the Unreal project

   In Unreal choose Games, Third Person, Blueprint. You get a working character and camera to build on. Then tell Duke where the project lives so its agent can check it.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. Step 22: Playtest the rough game

   Watch someone play with no help from you. Where they get confused or bored is what you fix, before the world grows.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. Step 64: Measure and fix performance

    Pick a target frame rate and a minimum PC. Unreal Insights shows what costs time; fix the real bottleneck, then measure again.

13. 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.

14. Step 67: Release and maintain it

    Watch crash reports and feedback, fix by priority, test each patch, keep old saves working, and back up both the released build and the exact project that made it.

Common questions