Is it worth it to start coding?
For the past two weeks, I’ve been completely obsessed with the idea of making my own incremental game. I’m not trying to build the next hyperstylized 3D masterpiece, just a clean game with an addicting core loop, insanely rewarding mechanics (prestige, and many more) and deep progression systems.
Basically, I want to craft my own dream game. Something I can sink hundreds of hours into playing and tweaking over the next few years. Starting simple and expanding it over time. I couldn't care less about marketing, sales, or whether anyone else even plays it. This is purely a passion project and a hobby I want to pour myself into.
Here’s the catch: I have absolute zero coding background. Never written a single line of code in my life, and the whole domain is complete alien territory to me. But I want to learn. Badly. I’m thinking of something in the spirit of Zero Stress King or Fracture Field, but packed with way deeper, more rewarding systems. The gameplay loop will probably be something in between those two and much more to them. I have experience with website design, but zero background in 2D graphic asset creation or modeling, so I'll be starting from scratch there too. My plan is to dive headfirst into Godot for the engine and use a free Photoshop alternative (not sure which yet).
So, devs - am I setting myself up for a one-way trip to hell? Is it an absolute pipe dream to think I can solo-learn coding and asset creation from scratch without giving up, or is an incremental game actually a reasonable sandbox for a total novice to learn the ropes? Be real with me. Should I say screw it before I sink ten years into a project that goes nowhere, or is this crazy enough to actually work?
AI Disclosure: I don't want to vibe code, but only use it as a tool to help me understand and learn. Not make the decisions for me. For graphics I'll probably use it only for placeholders and maybe not even that. I don't want my end result look like an AI slop.