Why Your Game Isn't Finished Yet
Original: Link
Here's something I put together. It's kind of a game design primer and checklist. I hope it helps.
DO'S AND DON'TS
Design
DO Start small
When people start making games they normally have a dream project in mind ("It's like, Call of Duty, but with like an MMO thing - oh and it's in space with, like aliens, and loads of planets and galaxies-") Yeah, no. It's cool to dream of the amazing games you'll one day make but it's also important to be realistic. When you're starting out making games it can be a good idea to remake (but not copy!) a classic simple game (Pacman, Asteroids etc.) Even if you want to do your own project it's best to keep it simple and small. You can always expand after you've completed the initial idea, but if you take on too much at once you'll get disheartened and quit. I've done this more times than I can count, and it took years before I realized my mistake. If you take away nothing else from this list, remember this - Start small.
DO Plan thoroughly and completely
Here's another I used to do - think of a game idea and immediately open GameMaker, mess around with some stuff, get bored, close GameMaker and never open that project again. Sound familiar? Or maybe you spent a long time on the project but it's becoming really dull and you're slowly giving up. Everyone's motivated by different things - but there's something that seems communal in the games industry. Planning. None of your favourite games ever got made without at least a game design document. So the first thing you should do when making your game is write a list of every feature, character, level etc. that'll be in it. Explain what the game's all about. Come back to it, when you have new ideas. This can form a nice to do list for when you come back to project, and it keeps you motivated. You can just focus on one game play feature, complete it, and move on to the next one.
DO Be creative
I'm noticing a growing trend with GameMaker games - Zombie games. I even wrote an article about it here (
http://bit.ly/ehNWWa ). A lot of them tend to be similar and focus on copying the Call of Duty model. It's probably not a good idea to do this, especially if you want people to play your game. Why should people play your game and not Call of Duty? You should make some effort to differentiate your game. When I say "Be Creative" I don't mean start from a blank slate and be 100% original. I don't think that's even possible. But consider what might make cool features in a zombie style game (but which aren't impossible to make!). Maybe your game could focus on being more scary or the complete opposite - more zombies and more arcade style! Your big advantage over Call of Duty is your creativity - make it count! And as a final note, don't directly rip off anything like Zelda, Mario, Sonic, Battlefield, Call of Duty etc. You could get legal action taken against you if you're simply ripping off the game and you're not learning anything.
DO Realize "There's nothing new under the sun"
This kind of leads on from the last point. You need some inspiration for new game play mechanics or ideas. Well go search! Not just your Xbox 360 games, though. Search online. Find arcade games, classic games and stuff on other platforms. Look up YouTube footage, watch films and listen to music. Expand your horizons and you'll quickly end up with more ideas than you need! However, this can also work the other way - you might find out your super awesome game idea already exists. That's OK - learn from it! What did reviewers and customers think of it? Was it good? Great? Terrible? Use it that knowledge to make your idea better!
DO NOT Consider yourself alone/an auteur/a visionary
So maybe you've come up with what you consider a super unique idea. You don't want anyone's help because your idea is so valuable people will definitely steal it. You tried making it once but it was hard so you gave up. So now you just complain to everyone in earshot about how if only EA would give you a blank cheque you'd make the best game ever created. Don't be this guy. We all have our dream projects but they shouldn't distract you so much you do nothing else but think of them. Work your way up to that big project, maybe by taking chunks of the design and completing them as individual games.
DO START FOR GOD'S SAKE START
So you've got your awesome game idea. You've polish the document up, have loads of great ideas and long to do lists. You've looked up similar games, played them and learned from them. Some people seem to get stuck here. I've heard from people at parties about their amazing game idea they somehow never found the time to make. Don't be them. Start. Don't let time, skill, money or any other barriers hold you back. GameMaker has a free version! Find an hour or two a week to bash out some code! And skill, well, nothing teaches you game development better than making a game.
Production
DO Keep to your plan
You've spent time developing a game design document, a to do list and some other documents. So use them! When you finish stuff cross it off your to do list, and if you missed something - add it! These resources are only useful if they're kept up to date. If you find it a pain to use Word or Notepad, then write your list on paper. Or whatever - just use it! Cross stuff off a list is great - it shows you how much you've done and provides great motivation. However, while you should keep these documents up to date, don't treat them as scripture. Good game development is about iteration - finding what's wrong with your project, fixing it and testing it again. If you decide to cut a feature, that's okay, and your game design document should reflect that.
DO Stick to good coding guidelines
It's tempting when working on projects to cut corners, especially on stuff as dry as coding guidelines. But it's important to adhere to good coding guidelines. Example - I was working on They Hunt with a Hunger (link in my signature) and did a bunch of stuff to the shop interface. I then came back near the end of the project to change a few bits and pieces and was completely confused - where was that data again? Everything was neatly organized into data structures but without comments I couldn't find my way around. We don't adhere to coding guidelines for you right at this moment, we adhere to them for future you and other coders. For a great GameMaker specific guide to coding guidelines see
this topic. Thanks paul23!
DO Use appropriate sprites
Don't cut corners when using art. Art is what attracts most people to play your game so it's important that it at least looking consistent. Now I'm not an artist but there are a lot of great resources out there - opengameart.com is a good place to start. All my games start with basic programmer art like circles and squares for the player and enemies, but don't release your game with that stuff left in. Also, try to avoid using the default resources that come with GameMaker, because it can be distracting to people. It makes for great programmer art though.
DO NOT Use default show messages
This should be fairly obvious - they're ugly and annoy the hell of people.
DO NOT Hit "The Wall" (or if you do, plow through it)
"The Wall" is a running term - it refers to when you suddenly burn out of energy and need to quit in the middle of race. In other words, you've pushed yourself too hard. I think this can be applied to game development fairly easily. Although not as physically exhausting as running, on long projects people can lose sight of other things and burn out easily. Remember to balance your life, okay? Alternatively the opposite can be true - people can gradually get bored of a project and never finish anything. As I said earlier, everyone is motivated differently and I don't have a great answer to this - aside from keeping your projects short and focusing on the to do list. It's the only thing that's seemed to work for me.
DO NOT Use obviously copyrighted content
I mentioned this briefly earlier, but even if you don't copy the game play of an existing game, you shouldn't use their art, sound, music, names etc. either. I did this once, and really regretted it because it was so obviously ripped off and stupid. You risk legal action and deprive other artists of an opportunity to help you. It's just and douche move. I mean - how would you like it if someone did this to you?
DO Play test
No game is done unless someone else has played it. Your friends and family will (if you're lucky!) be interested in your game making hobby and be happy to give your game a try. Now, that's great and it can be super useful if you understand some ground rules: Your friends and family won't want to hurt your feelings and so they might not tell you if something isn't great in your game. Sometimes it's better to watch what people do, rather than what they tell you. Another point - try not to involve people too early in the process unless they've had some game development experience. They might misunderstand the kind of feedback you want or really be able to say anything constructive ("Oh I know that's broken, obviously I'm going to fix that"). Some game developers like Half-Brick (Jetpack Joyride, Fruit Ninja) swear by taking your game onto the street and letting people play it. As long as your prepared for it, this can be a great learning experience. Just make sure you know what you're doing.
DO Use content tested on multiple computers
So multiple people have played your game but have you tried it on multiple computers? Or if you're making an android/iOS game, multiple devices? This is a must for obvious reasons - what may work on one computer, might not work on another.
DO NOT Ignore problems you know exist but think other people won't see
I've been guilty of this one as well. You can't hide poor production from players - they will see it. If there's a UI glitch, or a small bug with damage then fix it!
DO Use music/sound effects
Games with great music and sound effects are much more immersive and enjoyable than those without. Try and find some to fit your game. That said, in HTML5 this can be pretty buggy, so don't worry so much about this there.
DO Polish
You can think of polish as refining something or making it elegant. Lots of polish makes a game a joy to play, whereas not enough can make it annoying or frustrating. I'm sure you can think of one or two instances of developers cutting corners or obviously not finishing something - it's especially common in bad games. Every bit of effort you put into polish improves your game and it's vital that you put work into it. In fact, if there's one big problem most of the games on the GMC suffer from, its this. There's a great video called "Juice it or Lose it" which explains exactly what I mean:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Fy0aCDmgnxg
Release
You've finished your game and are ready to upload it for everyone to play on the GMC, now follow these tips for maximum response!
DO Select the right forum
Fairly obvious, although people seem to not realize there are forums for each platform (HTML5, Windows, Mac, Android etc.) and WIP forums for projects that aren't yet finished. Don't annoy the mods by putting it in the wrong one. If you do make a mistake, that's OK, just PM a moderator.
DO Come up with a name for your game before uploading it
Come on, people, I really shouldn't have to say this. This should be obvious, even for Work-In-Progress projects.
DO Use grammar in your game topic
I know a lot of people on this forum are pretty young, and I'm not too strict about grammar and spelling myself, but you shouldn't use leet speak or poor grammar in your opening post. People will assume this lack of care extends to your game and so they won't want to try it. So run your post through a spell checker, okay?
DO NOT Use any of following in your game topic
Meh. Lol. Bad. LMAO. Heh heh. Excessive smilies. That dumb medieval one people seem to love. And for god's sake, don't go on a rambling monologue about how your game isn't done but you're bored and want attention. I don't care. I want to know why your game is great and why I should download it and review it. Okay? *breathes*
DO Upload screenshots
It's a scientific fact - made by like scientists - that topics with at least one screenshot get 10,000% more activity than those without. No, but seriously, people are a little hesitant about downloading strange programs onto their computer, so show them what they're missing!
DO Include relevant information about your game
Don't just drop a link and tell us to download it. Sell it to us? Why's your game great? Let us know about controls and any specific feedback you want. There's a great topic about this
right here. Thanks RhysAndrews!
DO have a download/play link for your game topic
It's a rule in the Completed Game and WIP forums that you have to have a download link to your game. If it isn't done yet, there are preview topics for screenshots and the like.
DO Get involved with other communities
The GMC is great, right? But there are other game development forums and communities out there - like the GameMaker subreddit on Reddit. Try and reach out to them to promote your game. However, make sure to follow their rules! They might not look to kindly on people only there to push their stuff on them.
DO Relax
Breathe. You've posted your game, made a great topic, spread it to the right communities and forums and maybe done a little post mortem. Take a moment and congratulate yourself - you've done something a lot of people wish they could. Reward yourself and take a break. You should probably go outside or something, as well.
DON'T Bump your topics after 2 milliseconds
"GUYZ COMMON THREEE DOWNLOADZ AND NO COMMENTZ WUT WUT WUT". Christ, calm down. Look it's fantastic that you're so passionate about your game - that's great. But don't harass people for downloading your game and not commenting. Some people don't have time or the inclination. Be patient. Maybe you could spend this time answering people's questions in Q&A or by writing a little post mortem about what you learned making your game. Or start planning your next one!
DON'T React badly to comments/criticisms/feedback
People are going to make flippant comments about your game or even react badly to it. Try and accept this - although I know it's hard. Try to see where they're coming from and learn from it. No game is complete without players so learn from what they're saying to you. If you respect people and learn from your mistakes, you'll be a master GameMaker in no time. Maybe. Hell if I know.
Other
DO Consider/Critique the games you play
This is so underrated. Don't treat every game as GOTY or total rubbish. Be able to use game development terms and critiques correctly. Really try and dig under the skin of the games you play and figure out why you love/loathe them. Before long you'll be thinking about how the developers managed to do this feature or that piece of art. This is good - you're learning. Although you might find it tricky to "lose yourself" in a game again, you will. And that's when you know you've found something special.
DO Join game jams
Game Jams are friendly competitions where entrants try and make a game in a very limited time frame. They're great - especially if you're struggling to finish any projects. The GMC hosts them pretty regularly - get involved!
DO Make One Game a Month
One Game a Month is project where the objective is to, well, make a game every month. And that's pretty much it. Edit: Though the original run ended in 2018, the same idea can be applied at any time. Check out the past results here:
onegameamonth.com
DO Get a website/blog
After you have a few games under your belt it's helpful to have a website or blog to organize them all. It doesn't have to be flashy or anything - just a collection for your games and any thoughts you have. There are plenty of free ways to get this set up so have a look around.
DO Buy the Game Maker books.
They're great. Probably the best game development resource I own (aside from GM, obviously). Clear, sensible advice and some great example projects with explanations for everything. The chapters on design are fantastic as well.
DO Realize these points are my own experience, yours will probably differ. And that's fine.
