The substance of what games are made of
So you want to play GOD?
Do you want to make the next great game that everybody will play?
Making games is never an easy task, especially if you want to make good ones. 🙂
Making a game is like playing GOD – you have a pile of building bricks and you have to make something useful from them. You need to build them correctly for others to participate in your creation.
If you place the wrong bricks somewhere in your brick chain, the whole construction can collapse, so be aware.
As I see it, it does require skill to make a good construction.
After all, God made earth in 7 days, at least so they say, and had to reconstruct everything a few times before reaching its current state (Noah’s ark, etc).
I am not really a religious person, but I do stick to probabilities. And the probability that all bible stories are untrue is very slight!
Going back to our story…
So you want to make a game?
You probably already have made a game or two, or have been thinking about making one.
Well, stop thinking and start doing.
Seven Godly rules to start with:
1. VISION: Have the best vision of your game that you can possibly have. Visualize the gameplay in your mind to the point when you can actually feel that it is fun to play it.
2. DESIGN: Write down your vision in a document called GDD (Game Design Document) for you or to share with your team members.
3. GAME PLAY: These are the godly core bricks, the architectural base of your game. This is where everything starts and ends. We want the player to enter your godly world and enjoy its challenges and targets. This part is the heart and soul of your creation. Make a fun, challenging, interesting, and inspiring game play!
4. CONTROLS: How your player controls your game world (the player’s movement). Never underestimate the power of the controls. A great game can fail only because of not intuitive controls. This is the way you allow players to interact with your creation.
5. A GOOD USER INTERFACE, buttons, etc.: Make sure that your game UI is intuitive and flawlessly smooth. You want your creation to be an attractive initiative for its users. You want a player to struggle in your game, not with your UI!
6. ART & SOUND: If you are a programmer, your art skills are usually not top notch, unless you are skilled in multifunction, which is rare. Let the artist decide how it should be done. Of course, you can give guidelines from your vision if you have one. Be openminded to what the artist says. Usually, the artist knows better.
7. MARKETING: Market your game to get feedback and a larger audience. Listen to your audience since they are who populates your creation. If you get comments on something problematic, it usually means that there is a flaw in your creation and you need to fix it. If people love your creation, it means that you have made your creation useful and they enjoy using it. So keep updating, improving, and marketing!
A few more words regarding the first 3 godly rules:
VISION
I have made a few games, mostly mobile ones.
I am talking about the godly rule number 1 – Vision.
Sadly, in the gaming world, you can’t perfectly envision the final result. Actually, we can’t totally predict the outcome in everything in life. If we could, what would life be about if we knew the future?
I tried to predict the outcome of my game, but the outcome usually evolves in time and changes. Just like nature evolves to fit its surroundings.
As much as I tried to perfect my visions, I failed. However, the term “fail” is not in a negative meaning, it means you are evolving to create your masterpiece, are going in the right direction, and need to evolve it to the next level.
If your game vision came out the same as you had envisioned it, pop me a message.
DESIGN
I always design my games in GDD and frankly after the base game is completed I rarely look at it, just more like a historical artifact to check out if I’m missing something or to clear issues.
However, it does give a good foundation to your starting point mostly if you work with a teammate.
Do not skip the GDD. Write down your game description, controls, gameplay, a story (if you have one), levels, level design, goodies, baddies, etc. (This is for another post.)
It will be a printed version of your vision and help you turn it into reality.
GAMEPLAY
As I said, this is where everything starts and ends.
This is where you set your construction foundation in the ground which will dictate the strength and weakness of your creation. You need to reach a point when the game is fun and joyful for you and for whoever will test it even with poor/prototype graphics.
Thanks for listening and I hope this will help you to achieve your goals.
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