Plan

Ideation

• Can you think of multiple purposes for your desired mechanic?
• Desired setting? Can you think mechanics that fit this setting?
• What the controls would be?
• Can you clearly visualize the game’s first playable state?

Consolidate Vision

• Find one fitting persona and analyze mechanics that fit your game
• Create a RGD mechanic overview sheet (Input, Output, Difficulty)
• Mechanics should serve more than one purpose
• Make sure mechanics’ form follows its function
• Define winning and failure states (Try to use an innate part of the gameplay)
• Define a single customization/expression element (The reason the player would share a screenshot of your game)
• Define short, medium and long OCR loops
• Objectives that require you to overcome a Challenge and when you overcome it gives you a Reward
• Before start production make sure you can clearly visualize how each activity will be performed moment to moment, minute to minute

Planning

• Prioritize tasks with highest value-effort ratio
• Break down tasks longer than a Pomodoro session
• Set deliverable build milestones deadlines
• When adding a feature, check if the game does need it and if it will bring value to the targeted player persona

Design

• Make sure to communicate to the player how much they progressed and what is left to complete each OCR loop (short, mid and long ones)
• Give the player optional challenges. If possible, allow them to solve it in different ways. Things such as power ups that offer a different way to play or an alternative path.
• Remember the 2 seconds rule while designing your levels.

Implementation

First Playable

• Input
• Core Mechanic
• Core Interactions
• OCR Loops

If the game is not fun, it’s ok to start over.