Grab godot, grab some tutorials, make something. It really is that simple. Just set your expectations. Your games will be closer to Pong for a while but there’s nothing wrong with that.

If you don’t know what you enjoy the only way to find out is to try things, and it’s never been easier to try making a game. If you have zero programming experience whatsoever I’d say start here: https://gdquest.github.io/learn-gdscript/

Hobby? Absolutely!

Just don’t expect any money out of it. At all. If you DO get money out of it, consider yourself very lucky. Do it for fun first and foremost.

I know most of you will say do what you enjoy, the thing is im not sure what i enjoy.

Well, I suppose there’s one way to find out: give it a try!

Join us, and in 10 years you can look back on all the features your game engine implements, without having started work on the game play!

I kid. Ask yourself: what do you want out of this hobby game dev, and do you enjoy it. That’s really all that’s important.

If you do want to see if you like game dev, implement Tetris. All of Tetris though. You need a menu, pause, animations, etc. When you’re done you’ll have a better idea. Tetris is great because it’s not a huge project. You don’t need to wrestle with complex graphics pipelines, game design is mostly done, but you can take it in your own direction and add your own flourishes.

Learning to program I liked making top-down zombie shooters and platformers. It was a cool moment when I figured out a nice way to have smooth character positioning on a tile based map.

The beauty of game dev, is that you can make the most cursed codebase, and as long as it works, the only person itll impact is yourself.

Also, startup costs are basically zero, there is no need for a top end PC, whatever you have now is probably good enough to start.

Yes but also no. For me it kind of killed other games because I suddenly started looking at stuff like assets and how much effort was put into them. Gamedevs can put so much detail into stuff the average user does not notice at all.

Gamedev is like the ultimate digital hobby if you do it yourself. You get to program, do art, sound, game design, etc.

Why not?

You say you’re not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I think gamedev is a good way to learn a variety of skills. And doing it as a hobby takes a lot of pressure off and allows you to take things at your own pace.

A hobby is “good” if you enjoy it. That’s all that matters with hobbies. Don’t look down on yourself for wanting to do something for fun. It doesn’t have to be “efficient” or turn into an income or anything else. Just try it and learn. Learn the skills, learn if you like it

If game development interests you, it’s a great hobby. You don’t need to be knowledgable, but it helps if you like logic puzzles, because programming is basically solving one logic puzzle after the other.

Creating something from nothing is always a good hobby. Whether it be a jigsaw puzzle or planning/designing a game that does not exist yet.

The cost of entry is zero. (Assuming you have a computer.)

And if it doesn’t work out but you enjoy the building/coding you can look into building desktop or mobile apps for problems you might want to solve or have on hand for yourself.

permission to be rude, your question is meaningless.

it is a hobby, the single most important factor is if you want to do it.

everything else if secondary. go, try, enjoy it, learn, improve…

it’s it the most “efficient” use of your time? that question is irrelevant, it’s a hobby not a job.

Go make a game, make a shitty game because you have no experience, but make that game.

I recommend pico8, I think it’s the simplest engine that isn’t a kids learning platform. has a low skill floor, but (given what some people make, someone ported Doom to that 2d engine) unlimited skill ceiling.

Well, of course it’s a good hobby. Does it work for you? I don’t know.

I’ve been building random stuff for years. It has never amounted to a finished project, but I still keep doing it just because it’s fun to make things do things on screen. I didn’t start out as the sharpest tool either, but I’ve been getting better.

If you really enjoy it, I think you’ll just keep coming back.

I found it fun to do amateur gamedev, for my own little enjoyment (e.g. making a super-basic FPS with a gun that shoots a thousand cubes like a shotgun, then making it shoot a thousands spheres that explode on impact like a grenade launcher). Lots of engines are accessible that you don’t need to learn much/any programming skill to make something fun. You can do plenty with free assets, I never paid for anything, but if you are willing and able to pay small amounts for premade assets, then it will be even faster and easier to make something more pretty.

I’ve also done level design (and LoC) for some open-source FOSS games. This is easier for some games than others, but it’s also rewarding. I was particularly known for making experimental or puzzle-like levels, so it was nice to get feedback from others and improve. I’ve mostly grown apart from games these days, but I don’t regret the time I enjoyed making them.