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Question for indie devs about efficiently planning out a game

A topic by chez_dev created Jan 24, 2021 Views: 603 Replies: 8
Viewing posts 1 to 7
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I've been planning my dream game for a while now, and I don't feel I'm doing it right. I use Microsoft's OneNote, so finding a program to write down my thoughts and organize them hasn't really been a problem, but the real problem is what I should write down so I can approach development of the game without any problems with colliding ideas or whatever. 

I originally told myself to explain it to myself in different layers of detail, for example: first, I would write how I would explain it to someone in a brief way, but still including some detail. Then, I would describe it like I would in a game page, with detail but slightly brief. Then I would explain it in lots of detail, breaking down each part of the game and leave no detail out. (except for some extra info that obviously isn't crucial to planning)

I've been trying to do that, but recently I've gotten too lazy and just written any ideas about any factor of that came into my head. I'm back and forth on what I think will be the easier/better way to get my thoughts out and plan everything efficiently. Planning everything in bulk, or writing different things that pop into my head and compiling it all when I feel it's enough to start development.

My question is for those who have had the same problem as me, what did you do? What should I do? I'm open to suggestions of all kind! 

Thank you all!

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  • Draw the game - in a graphics programme or on paper, but draw it to scale.  That way you can see the layout you have in mind and see if everything will fit.
  • You need only the main ideas to start with, and the drawing. 
    • What's going to be unique about the game?
    • What's going to be the fun aspects?
    • How do you win?
    • How do you lose?
    • Will there be achievements or rewards?
    • What happens when you die / lose?
  • Decide on your target devices (i.e. pc or mobile etc.) and keep that in mind when you plan out the size and extra effects.
  • Create a small prototype of the game just using basic shapes - sometimes a game sounds fun in theory, but isn't when it's actually written. It will also give you ideas of what works, what isn't going to work, what is going to be a problem to program or to create graphics for etc. When I have the game working on a template level and I can see that it's viable - that's when I start planning the detail and the things to make it look pretty.  I've also learnt that when a game is extremely boring to develop that it is also going to be extremely boring to play - I abandon those or rethink the ideas.
  • Make a list of all the global variables and data structures that you will need (for example, score, health, weapons.  But don't go into too much detail - just the basics - it's enough to know you need to plan out the weapons in a data structure without necessarily listing every weapon you can think of.  You can add those in as you're working on the game and most software is flexible enough that a list can grow or shrink without much effort. 
  • Note down all the interface / menu items you need and decide where and how that is going to be implemented - will the buttons always be on screen or will you have a pop-up menu?  It's important to create with the pause / music / sound options in mind from the start, because they should be settings where the user can choose and you need to plan for that when you code - i.e. you can't just say, play sound, you have to say - if user wants sound - play sound.
  • I probably have at least 20 games written down and planned in detail that I've never written.  When I'm really excited about a game idea, I tend to plan them a lot less and jump into creating them sooner.  But that might just be me...  

thank you so much!! this helps a lot!

Moderator moved this topic to General Development
Moderator

Moved this to General Development.

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Use http://trello.com/to manage what features/stuff you have to do, what you have done/doing. It is a website for progress management and very cool!

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Trello is great! If you're looking for a one-stop-shop for to-do lists, project management, document archiving (maybe for GDDs or story docs), web clippings and more - all with the option to share collaboratively - I can't recommend Notion enough. 

I switched from Trello to Notion for project management and production bits, and it's been a game changer. 

https://www.notion.so/

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awesome, thank you so much for the suggestion!!

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chez_dev, I'd suggest mixing it to start coding and add thoughts within its text or in another file. Personally I'd add info like: banner's design, game's title, in-game features, stuff that being edited but not working or just got fixed recently. Or publishing-date, additional scenes or backstories, etc.

It sounds rather boring just texting how to get its story appear without directly coding it, I guess. Before releasing I'm saving a copy without script's // and similar !--comments-- so it just includes the attributes without thoughts there.

I also fuse some parts, divide it, editing or adding paths, takes a while also if I loose interest in one section, getting it mentioned as hint & continuing on another region, e.g. less detailed or just into alternate endings, etc.

In my case it's more like no scripted version, just getting surprised how the game turns out before publishing it and coding while thinking of how it could appear for viewers.

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got it, thanks!