Plan

Brainstorm

Idea List #1

Question	Genre	Action
…	…	…

10 - 20 entries.

Idea List #2

Describe a memorable moment (5s)	What excites me?	How is it challenging? (Difficulty tuning)	Features to be implemented	Visual style	Does it fit the scope?
…	…	…	…	…	…

less than 10 entries.

Idea List #3

What does 30s of gameplay looks like?	What are the controls?	How are you going to code the game’s rules?	What aspect ratio fits the game the best?	What’s the win/failure condition?
…	…	…	…	…

Development

First Playable

Your toy is your foundation, so think of what you can combine and experiment with it.

1. Inputs
2. Core Mechanic
3. Core Interactions
4. Win/Defeat Condition

Gameplay

1. Mechanics
2. Interactions
3. Progression
4. Tweaking

Is there anything about feature X which is distracting or broken?

• Yes - Prioritize it.

• No - Move on to the next feature.

Visuals

1. UI
2. Art
   • Form follows function
3. Animations

Bugs

• Game Breaking //stops game from working
  • Drop everything, fix immediately
• Annoying //distracts the player
  • Fix before moving on to the next feature
• Looks bad //player will notice
  • Fix if you get time

1. Reproduction steps
2. What is this step doing
3. Look for
   • Doing wrong thing
   • Doing additional things
   • Not doing anything
4. Fix the code
5. Test

Content

• Analyze every action parameter and experiment with it

• Always have a minimum and maximum for each challenge

• Let challenge define the game’s flow

UX Improvement

• See your game as a big OCR loop with micro OCR loops inside
  • Objective - Challenge - Reward
• Reward immediately EVERY positive or intended behavior
• Failures must have a cost
• Feedback tables to help with interactions

	SIGN (FORM)	FEEDBACK DURING ACTION	FEEDBACK SUCCESSFUL	FEEDBACK UNSUCCESSFUL
UI	…	…	…	…
VFX	…	…	…	…
AUDIO	…	…	…	…
ANIMATION	…	…	…	…
CAMERA	…	…	…	…

Extra

• Store page
• Saving systems
• Scene transitions
• Scenery variation
• In-game Tutorial