In what order to build a game

chicop

Hi everyone

thanks for reading this,

I am wondering what is the best order (in your experience) in which to build a game.

Ive been starting simply with the game play scene and going from there, but what is more practical?

for instance i will add movement, shooting,score, save etc into the level but later i might want to change to custom font.. or should i custom font first?

is it best to plan all the scenes ahead of time and place them right away or does it work just as good to create as you go?

thanks

ikhoata

I would create all actors and behaviors first in a draft scene.
When I'm sure what general/common things should contain in a level, I put those in a draft-level-scene, then I will copy and paste this draft-level-scene for new scenes.

Well but sometimes I have to traverse all my 80 scenes to change something that I did not think I would have to. So I have to be very careful since that experience.

Asobu_Games

The best answer is probably 'whatever works best for you', however there are certainly some tips that you might want to consider.

* It's great to write a detailed plan/document of all the different elements of your game covering story, graphics, mechanics, and the general experience that you want to convey. If you just jump in without an overall view of what you are trying to achieve you will have lots of elements that don't work together or reinforce a common theme.

* Many devs use a 'vertical slice' method of trying to get a few minutes of polished gameplay (perhaps one level etc) to an almost completed stage to determine if the game is fun, if it plays/looks how you expected etc. It's much easier to do tweaks at this stage then having to go back through all your levels to make tweaks.

* As for which order to build the game I would ask yourself what are the most basic, essential elements of your game and work on those first. If you are building a house you start with the foundation and then do all the finishing touches like windows, taps and lights at the end. In other words stuff like saving, scoring, fonts etc can come later.

KevinCross

At the moment I'm working on the mechanics first, that often involves separate game files for each feature as it's a little easier to get a small part of the game working without having the rest of the game getting in the way. I then take what I've learnt from those and put them in the one project.

Graphics, sounds, menus and all of that stuff will come last, partly because I haven't decided on a theme, and because I don't want to work on stuff like that and find out I can't do the game, or the game isn't as fun as I thought it might be.

Before GameSalad I used to do it in reverse and rarely completed anything.

UtopianGames

Usually i start with what i think will be most difficult to see if its possible.

I used plain actors with no art when i start a new project because if its fun to play with no art then ya got a winner.

I usually put in lives, death, game over etc etc after i have built the level and seen it working properly but what ever work flow suits i guess.

Darren.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

I agree with Darren prototyping major difficult things in a test project is best. I always prototype things in little projects so I don't have to wade through other stuff and keep my work focused on the issue at hand and it saves time in the long run. Once I have good code I will either recode in the project or use DBA's project merger where I can either bring in the scene or just bring in the actors and game level attributes into my main project.

chicop

awesome tips guys, thanks!

-Timo-

first think about the idea of the game and if its possible to be made... ^^
then make all the actors and behaviors.
and last the levels, menu, shop, pause scene and more

try your game often so you can fix the bugs

but do what is works best for you

good luck!

MillionairApps

How I do I make my games I hear you ask?

They are designed, now design for me isn't draw a pretty pic, its working out where button goes, where hidden actors have to be. Then comes a rule book, i work out the basics of the rules and wrote them down and a list of attributes that are needed. Then rearrange the attributes so they are more easier to access when placed in.

When I start, I do a demo first, make sure the gameplay works, then work out how to make it less code and more faster.

Then fresh project is open and the code is re done based on what I am happy with in the demo. Then all special effects to make the game look better are added, then things like menus are then coded.