Set realistic goals for your games
Reaching your goals requires you to be realistic.
Yesterday I asked why not just make your own games and noted that you should set realistic goals for your first game projects. Rome wasn’t built in a day and it’s easy to aim too high if you want to create the next big hit game. Instead it is usually better to start with a simple concept and make a small and funny or interesting game out of it.
Even a small game will take quite some time to finish since adjustments always have to be made once you get started and it takes time and a lot of testing to figure out what really works. Later the game needs to be polished so that it presents itself in the finest way to the player. This includes adding the best possible graphics, sounds and music and also testing it on a range of computers to see if it runs acceptable on other machines than your own. If you plan too much at the start of the project then you risk spending forever trying to add new features that often create new unintended problems for the game – or you might simply grow tired of your game since you never reach a point where it feels right. Many refer to this as ‘feature creep’ – an endless cycle of adding new cool features but failing to make a complete game that simply works.
Think about many classic arcade games like Pac Man and Space Invaders or many popular board games. They work quite well even with their simple game mechanics and sparse graphics or abstract board pieces made out of plastic or wood. People like such games because they are easy to learn and fun to play, not because they have a lot of rules or features that you need to learn before playing.
I learned a lot by just making my own versions of classic games like Pong and Breakout. Once I had the basics running I could add a few twists to the game that made them more my own games. You could try that out as well if you don’t have an idea to begin with.
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