2D Game Design - Concept for Indies A Must Read.
Adamgopro
Member Posts: 310
Hello gamers!
I read this article today and i thought it might be a good idea to share it with you guys this should help out alot of new people on here and maybe some of you veterans!
2D Game Design - Concept
The first step in creating a 2d game is to first settle on the idea for the game. It seems obvious but sometimes people waste a lot of time and effort by jumping into creating graphics and programming elements without knowing exactly what their game is actually about. The game idea - known as the concept - is extremely important and must itself be developed in great detail before progressing to the next stage. The concept stage can be broken down into three parts, idea generation, idea development and idea visualisation. Remember, the great thing about games is that anything you imagine is possible so set your imagination free!
Generate the Idea:
First things first then; you need to come up with an idea for your game. Idea generation is often called brainstorming but in reality brainstorming is just one type of idea generation. Brainstorming involves simply writing down as many ideas as possible as quickly as possible without considering their merit (whether they are good or bad). It is important not to think too much while doing this as logical or analytical thinking will restrict your creative mind.
Another idea generation technique is 'the random game' which involves creating headings of time, place, object and animal. You then give yourself a minute to write down as many things as possible under each heading. For example, under the 'time' heading you may write things like jurassic period, iron age, 1960's, 2012, 2233, yesterday...etc. So after 4 minutes you should have 4 full categories which you can use. The next part is the random part, simply take one word from each category at random and force yourself to put them into a scenario. Once again do this as quickly as possible without thinking to engage only the creative part of your brain. But if you still cant come up with anything, try out the following resource.
Develop the Idea:
Once you have your main idea the next step is to work out the details. For example, lets say you game idea is to play as a robotic turtle sent back from the future to the jurassic period to find the first turtle and save him from assassination by your future enemies the golden kangaroos (I did say anything was possible!). Despite having this brilliant idea in the bag there are still numrous questions that need to be answered. What will the game genre be, how many levels are there, what will the obstacles be, what will the game options be...? In order to help you develop your game idea we have developed some worksheets...
Visualise the Idea:
When creating a game you are often working as part of a team or working for a client or your boss. In any case you will need to create a game pitch to portray your game idea to someone else. As part of your game pitch you should also have some images to help visualise your idea. This may be through research images or photos showing the type of landscapes in which the game will be set, concept art or drawings showing what the characters will look like or internet images from existing games which are similar in style to what you are hoping to achieve. Whatever form you choose to use to represent your ideas visually does not matter the important thing is that you do represent them visually
It is not vital to have excellent drawing skills (although it wouldn't do any harm), the important thing is that you get your idea out of your head so you can show it to other people in order to get feedback or even just for yourself to see your idea in a physical form
hope this helps alot of you!
I read this article today and i thought it might be a good idea to share it with you guys this should help out alot of new people on here and maybe some of you veterans!
2D Game Design - Concept
The first step in creating a 2d game is to first settle on the idea for the game. It seems obvious but sometimes people waste a lot of time and effort by jumping into creating graphics and programming elements without knowing exactly what their game is actually about. The game idea - known as the concept - is extremely important and must itself be developed in great detail before progressing to the next stage. The concept stage can be broken down into three parts, idea generation, idea development and idea visualisation. Remember, the great thing about games is that anything you imagine is possible so set your imagination free!
Generate the Idea:
First things first then; you need to come up with an idea for your game. Idea generation is often called brainstorming but in reality brainstorming is just one type of idea generation. Brainstorming involves simply writing down as many ideas as possible as quickly as possible without considering their merit (whether they are good or bad). It is important not to think too much while doing this as logical or analytical thinking will restrict your creative mind.
Another idea generation technique is 'the random game' which involves creating headings of time, place, object and animal. You then give yourself a minute to write down as many things as possible under each heading. For example, under the 'time' heading you may write things like jurassic period, iron age, 1960's, 2012, 2233, yesterday...etc. So after 4 minutes you should have 4 full categories which you can use. The next part is the random part, simply take one word from each category at random and force yourself to put them into a scenario. Once again do this as quickly as possible without thinking to engage only the creative part of your brain. But if you still cant come up with anything, try out the following resource.
Develop the Idea:
Once you have your main idea the next step is to work out the details. For example, lets say you game idea is to play as a robotic turtle sent back from the future to the jurassic period to find the first turtle and save him from assassination by your future enemies the golden kangaroos (I did say anything was possible!). Despite having this brilliant idea in the bag there are still numrous questions that need to be answered. What will the game genre be, how many levels are there, what will the obstacles be, what will the game options be...? In order to help you develop your game idea we have developed some worksheets...
Visualise the Idea:
When creating a game you are often working as part of a team or working for a client or your boss. In any case you will need to create a game pitch to portray your game idea to someone else. As part of your game pitch you should also have some images to help visualise your idea. This may be through research images or photos showing the type of landscapes in which the game will be set, concept art or drawings showing what the characters will look like or internet images from existing games which are similar in style to what you are hoping to achieve. Whatever form you choose to use to represent your ideas visually does not matter the important thing is that you do represent them visually
It is not vital to have excellent drawing skills (although it wouldn't do any harm), the important thing is that you get your idea out of your head so you can show it to other people in order to get feedback or even just for yourself to see your idea in a physical form
hope this helps alot of you!
Comments
- Thomas
Anyway thanks for the post.
bump for new developers.
Thanks for the post!
Developer For BLUNTentertainment - Feel Free To Message Me! - Free Beginner Templates!
Thanks for the post!
Developer For BLUNTentertainment - Feel Free To Message Me! - Free Beginner Templates!