How to create a video game: Basics with real examples

You’ve logged the hours, conquered the levels and probably had a few late-night thoughts like, “I could totally make a game like this.” And you wouldn’t be the first.

In fact, you’d be joining a growing movement of gamers stepping behind the screen to become creators. Australians spend over $4 billion a year on games and up to 5 hours a week, so there’s clearly a market. But more importantly, there’s an opportunity – for you to bring something fresh to the table.

That’s exactly what our first-year students did when they created Salmon Rush – a deceptively simple but surprisingly clever game about a bear preparing for hibernation.

In Salmon Rush, players control a bear navigating a river, dodging obstacles and predators while trying to catch and eat enough salmon swimming upstream to get ready for hibernation.

You can play Salmon Rush >

As part of a class project for the subject Game Production Foundations, students from the Diploma of Game Design and Development, Bachelor of Game Design and Development, and Diploma of 3D Design and Animation spent the trimester ideating, concepting and bringing the game to life.

If you’re serious about starting your own journey in game design and development, here’s a guide to building a basic video game with real-life examples from Salmon Rush.

• Video game core components and resources
• Tools and technologies used in game development
• Steps to creating and building a video game
• Game development and design qualifications

Video game core components and resources

To design a video game yourself, you first need to understand what makes them tick. Every game you love is built from the same core components:

• Game concept: The big idea (theme and setting) and what makes it different
• Game mechanics: How the player moves, interacts, wins and loses
• Game Engine: The software that holds everything together (Unity, Unreal etc.)
• Graphics and art: The visual elements of characters, environments, animations
• Audio: Music, effects, and the sounds that set the tone
• Coding and scripting: The invisible logic behind every action
• User interface (UI): Menus, buttons, and the heads-up display (HUD) that players interact with

Tools and technologies used in game development

Game development involves various programming languages and design tools. Commonly used languages include:

• Python: For beginner-friendly games (often using Pygame)
• C#: Widely used in Unity game development
• C++: Preferred for high-performance games in Unreal Engine

Design programs include Adobe Photoshop, Blender, and Aseprite for art and animation. For Salmon Rush, the team used Unity with C# for scripting.

Steps to creating and building a video game

Developing a game follows a structured process. Here’s how you can go from concept to completion:

Step 1: Developing a game concept

Every game starts with an idea. This idea will become the foundation of your game concept and will continue to influence all of your decision-making. It determines the overall gameplay, goals, and unique selling points. To help you narrow down your ideas, ask yourself what your ideal player looks like. What kind of genre do they play? The genre plays a large role in keeping your game viable. In 2025, the most popular genres include shooter, adventure and RPG (role-player game). Starting with the genre will help you decide if you need to focus on important elements in your game like developing rich storytelling or deep strategies.

Tips on how to develop a game concept:

• Brainstorm ideas based on genres you enjoy
• Identify a core mechanic that makes the game fun
• Sketch out initial ideas in a game design document (GDD)

Salmon Rush

Our budding developers wanted to create a simple yet engaging game about the challenges faced by a bear trying to feed to get ready for winter. They brainstormed ways to incorporate obstacles and power-ups to make the gameplay fun and challenging.

Step 2: Designing the game mechanics

Game mechanics define how the player interacts with the game world. It allows players to navigate, grow and become invested in the world you've created. This means game mechanics dictate how players and their avatars move and make choices in the game that leave the player feeling like they're having fun or being frustrated. Good game mechanics are vital in making gameplay feel positive for the player. If the mechanics are overly complicated and aren't intuitive, players may feel discouraged from continuing to explore the game and move on quickly to another. There are five main types of mechanics you can focus on when creating your game: physics, resources, level progression, tactical maneuvering, and social interactions within the game world.

Tips:

• Keep mechanics simple but engaging.
• Test different movement styles (e.g., grid-based vs. free movement).
• Ensure mechanics align with the game’s theme.

Salmon Rush

The students used a top-down view with arrow-key navigation to steer, dodge the toxic fish, and catch the good ones. There’s a simple health bar system and a special attack to smash obstacles.

Step 3: Creating the game assets

Game assets are the pieces of digital content you piece together to bring your game to life. They bring players into the rich world you've created through visual design, media files, and sounds. More generally, game assets can be classified into two groups, visual and audio. Visual elements players can see like 3D models, textures, user interfaces, levels, characters and effects. Audio elements are vital to creating atmosphere and audio cues that help players make decisions, and navigate and can create an emotional response by heightening the game's narrative. Audio elements include music and sound effects.

Tips:

• Use free assets from sources like OpenGameArt or create your own.
• Keep visual elements consistent in style.
• Optimise assets for performance.

Salmon Rush

The team used Maya and Photoshop to create assets, and then brought them to life in Unity. Sound effects were pulled from Creative Commons libraries – smart, accessible, and effective.

Step 4: Programming the game

Code is the beating heart of every game, adding functionality and interactivity. It brings together all the steps we've discussed above: art, sound, gameplay mechanics and user interfaces to teach the game how to interact with each different element to create a cohesive game. This includes coding rules for collision detection to the physics of the world.  Coding can be intimidating for newcomers but don’t freak out: take it slow, learn what you need as you need it, and you’ll be a pro in no time.

Tips:

• Learn the ins and outs of your engine’s native language (C#, Python, JavaScript, etc.).
• Start with basic player movement and expand features.
• Use debugging tools to fix errors.

Salmon Rush

The developers used C# in Unity to handle all the game’s core functionality, including the bear’s movement, collision detection with salmon, scoring mechanics, and health.

Step 5: Testing and iteration

This is the fun part! Testing puts you in the player’s shoes and ensures the game is fun, fair and free from major bugs. Testing a video game can look like playing the game on different devices, reporting errors, defects and bugs and presenting the results of the test to the relevant parties who can help you make your game even better. While we've listed testing as the last step, in complex game builds, game testing happens at the concept, pre-production and production phases. Often, testing continues even once the game has been launched especially when new content (e.g.: expansions, DLCs or updates) is added.

Tips:

• Conduct playtesting with different users.
• Gather feedback and refine the mechanics.
• Fix any glitches before release.

Salmon Rush

Playtesting was done in a controlled environment. Students had friends and family play successive builds, as well as teachers, who provided general production advice. Each round of feedback made the game stronger.

Game development and design qualifications

While it’s possible to be self-taught, pursuing a formal qualification in game development has many advantages:

• Structured learning: Courses cover essential skills in programming, design, and project management. Plus, they’re led by academics who can point you in the right direction, allowing you to progress at a quicker pace.
• Industry insights: Learn from professionals with real-world experience.
• Portfolio development: Build your own games to gain work experience, build your confidence and showcase your skills to potential employers.
• Networking opportunities: Connect with industry professionals and fellow game developers.
• Job prospects: If your goal is to join studio teams like Mighty Games Group, Nintendo or Ubisoft, a formal degree will help you stand out from other candidates, especially if you have work experience and a stellar portfolio.
• Team-building skills: Games are almost always built by teams. By working with your teacher and other students, you’ll learn how to collaborate, problem-solve, and deliver under pressure – something you don’t get if you build games by yourself.

If you're interested in a career in game development, a Game Design and Development and Game Programming degree can give you everything you need to join this dynamic and rapidly evolving industry. You’ll learn from academics and professionals whose wealth of experience and passion for gaming will ensure you get the most out of your degree and help you build your dream game, no matter what that may be.

Salmon Rush started as a student project. Now it’s a playable, polished game that the team can be proud of – and a strong piece for their portfolios. And the best part? This was produced by a team of first-year students. Imagine what cool stuff you could make in the second and third years!

You’ve got the passion. We’ve got the tools, the team and the know-how to help you turn it into something real.