I've been busy working on my puzzle/adventure game Observatorium over the last few months and have been posting related news articles here. Everything is going well and we're hoping to get a gameplay trailer out soon and start discussing options for community involvement prior to release.
I'd love to post a little more often here on IDB - and my favourite news posts are ones that provide some value to others in the community - so I've decided to start posting general suggestions for game development here on my personal blog. Hopefully the information contained here will be useful: especially if you're new to game design or starting a new project.
For this initial post I'll provide some tips on getting started.
Getting Started
Getting started with a new project and staying focused can be a daunting prospect: you will dedicate hours, weeks and - if you're truly committed - months of your life to finishing your game. However, making a game you feel proud of is rewarding and if you grew up playing games and are passionate about getting involved you shouldn't let anything get in your way.
Getting started with the right mindset is great fuel for seeing your project through to completion. Here's some tips to jump-start your project:
Think About What you Want to Make
This sounds silly but before asking yourself what other people want to play I suggest asking yourself what you want to make. It's easier to commit your spare time to a project you are genuinely passionate about than one you're just grinding away at in the hope of making others happy. So why not ask yourself:
- Do you have a truly original gameplay idea?
- Truly original ideas will tend to grab more press attention
- Competition is ever-increasing - look for niches where possible
- Original isn't always better - improvements to old ideas are also valid
Antichamber, Fract O.S.C. and Five Nights at Freddy's are just some examples of great original games from the last few years: they all did something unique and with good execution.
- Is there a type of game or games you enjoy playing? Ask yourself:
- Why do you enjoy playing those games - is it down to the theme/world/gameplay?
- Do you have an idea to put an interesting slant on your favourite game or genre?
- Is there something a game does wrong you feel you could improve on?
- Can you make something more interesting by adding a new mode or mechanic?
- Could you merge 2 unrelated genres to create something unique?
Personally I love action, puzzle, adventure and roguelike games and anything with a strange or immersive atmosphere so for Observatorium I chose to focus on a puzzle/adventure experience.
- Do you have an interesting story that could be told interactively?
- Everyone loves a good story - if you can pull it off you'll surely get noticed
Frictional Games (Amnesia) and The Astronauts (The Vanishing of Ethan Carter) are particularly good at narrative-driven experiences as are The Full Bright Company (Gone Home) and Telltale Games (Walking Dead). Valve Software and Supergiant Games are very good at weaving narrative elements into their games but with more of a gameplay-driven focus.
Brainstorm
Before you get into the nitty gritty of game development - and the endless amounts of biscuits and coffee you will consume - get a pad of paper and start brainstorming. Work alone or as part of a team. Write down possible:
- Genres
- Themes
- Hooks
- Modes
- Mechanics
- Storylines
- Events
My number one tip for this stage is to keep your ideas loose and succinct: don't get too attached to anything. The following examples show just how brief you can be:
"Sci-fi horror game"
"Card battle game with weapons and upgrades"
"What if we took something like Papers Please and added multiplayer?"
The aim is to get your ideas flowing and start to home in on the sort of idea you're interested in making. Don't worry about creating an elaborate design document at this stage - you can always flesh this out after you have finished prototyping - but try and get enough information that will allow you to start building.
Prototype
The next stage is to take your favourite idea (or ideas) and start to prototype them. The great thing about being an indie developer in 2015 is we have companies like Unity and Unreal fighting for our attention.
Try and find the package that is right for you: one you feel comfortable in using. Don't worry if you end up switching engines after this stage. The point of prototyping is to prove your game design and not get bogged down on technical restrictions. Additionally, do not hide behind fancy artwork or sound for early demos. If you need final artwork/sound to prove your design you are not focusing fully on possible design flaws.
Focus on building the Minimum Viable Product - that is the smallest set of features that prove what you're trying to build is worth building. Say you're building a puzzle game, the minimum viable product would be a single puzzle from some point in the game. If you're building a first person shooter then your minimum viable product may be a single character with a single gun against a group of enemies in a small level.
I don't recommend building your game from the start: the reason being your tutorials will undoubtedly go through many different revisions and by the mid-to-end of your project you'll have a much better idea of how you want your game to start anyway. Focus on a simple demo that proves your idea and include some simple prompts on-screen where required.
Don't worry about all the ideas you have written down that you aren't implementing just yet - they will become useful later in the development cycle, on another project or may evolve into something you weren't expecting.
Review and Iterate
Once you have your prototype you'll want to review it (1) yourself and (2) with friends or the community. The process of playtesting is complex and I will cover this separately but for basic prototyping you should ask yourself:
- Do I enjoy the demo?
- Do my friends and/or the community enjoy the demo?
- Am I confident that I can push forward with this idea?
If an idea doesn't seem to be working - for some reason it just "doesn't feel right" - don't proceed past this step yet. Tweak your idea where possible - refine and improve what you can - and then get your friends or the community to test the game again. React to feedback and improve what you have. If things still just aren't working, park it for now and move onto something else.
Prototyping is an iterative process. You will most certainly end up changing assumptions you made during the brainstorming step as you realise the game doesn't feel exactly as intended. This is one of the primary reasons for prototyping: identifying risks in your project such as e.g. "not fun", "confusing gameplay", "story hard to follow" - and forcing yourself to think of how to resolve them at an early stage. This can help de-risk later stages of your development cycle and help you make better design decisions.
Don't be afraid to fail. After making a 1 or 2 poor demos you may find that after 3 or 4 iterations you suddenly hit upon something fun and unique. You'll also have alot of happy accidents: features that arise because you accidentally combined a few elements or messed up some code/design setup somewhere. Aim for 5 to 10 minutes that prove your idea and make sure you end up with something you're comfortable to push forward with.
Conclusion
That's it for part one of my game design tips. I hope this ramble has been useful to you. If you have any thoughts or feedback - or if there's any topic you'd like me to cover - then let me know.
I'm on twitter at @manwhoflewaway
Thanks for reading and good luck with your projects!
Clive Lawrence,
The Man Who Flew Away
Follow Observatorium development right here on Indie DB
