Discuss : Efficient Game making process and design

Hello everyone !

As i made quite many tiny prototypes on different engines. And discovered recently the power and awesome possibilities

of C2... I start to struggle on the other parts of making a game.

As i start entering seriously in first real project, i wonder how i (and anyone) could possibly enhance the game designing and making process

by good behaviors and priorities.

So , i open this topic after searching in the forums, to discuss with anyone who wants about this.

Because as programming, making graphics and such are things that becomes more ad more accessible to peoples who want to make games,

designing à good game, and not losing time in the "making" is still something that needs experience, and feedback.

For instance, everyone maybe have heard about the "feature creep" trap when making your game.. And i feel i often fall to it.

• What is Your method, way of doing it ? Past learnings about the process and such ?
• When to make Final graphics ? before , while, or after prototyping the "system" of the game ?
• Do you create mockups for everything to see the "render of the game" then make tilesets out of it, or start with the invert then check mockup rendering ?
• Do you guys prefer adding features (like double jump, etc) before starting the real level design ?

or maybe do you just go making the game "playthrought" order (like i need this feature at this moment of the game, add it) to avoid making too complex

systems that maybe will not fit level design or gameplay later on ?

how to work efficiently , without loosing too much time making unused / or remade things in the end.

Can also talk about game design in itself, how to check difficulty balance, "fun" factor etc when you got the head on the road..

Thank you a lot for reading and i hope, answering / discuss about this.

For me personally, I've learnt that I should build only what my hands can hold. I have to know clearly if I can handle something. If there is any uncertainty about whether I can do something, then chances are that I lack experience, and that inexperience will lead me to certain failure unless I can gain the necessary experience.

What I try to do is create boundaries/limits to my work, so that the work doesn't exceed what I am able to handle. If I spend too much time imagining things, I overlook the boundaries to my physical limits, which make things overwhelming. I also think that focusing on the essential parts are more important in the beginning- things that hold the game together, or run deep throughout the game, like a dialog system or inventory system, menu system, save/load system, etc. Those sort of things should be created in the beginning rather than later because much of the game will rely on those. My specialty is with art, but I don't focus on art in the beginning at all, unless it is necessary to visualize something.

Hey Prominent !

Thanks a lot for your input.

For me personally, I've learnt that I should build only what my hands can hold. [...], and that inexperience will lead me to certain failure unless I can gain the necessary experience. [...]

I don't know about this. Thats true that seing too far can lead to failure if you can't do it. But sometimes, needs creates the knowledge...

So i think its still okay to plan things you don't know "yet" exactly how to , but you think you can handle them with some thinking, documentation

and learning. No ?

I also think that focusing on the essential parts are more important in the beginning- things that hold the game together, or run deep throughout the game, like a dialog system or inventory system, menu system, save/load system, etc. Those sort of things should be created in the beginning rather than later because much of the game will rely on those.

THAT ! Is exactly the topic that i'm wondering the most about actually.

Of course core systems are important to work on early and i agree on this, but for example i'm making a kind of plateformer / Beat em all roguelike game.

And i don't know if it's a good idea that i work too much on some systems before making the "real" game, IE the begining, first levels etc..

Planing things on paper is good. But reality of how your game design choices mix up all together is another thing. Sometimes it just doesn't work.

And making some features like " hanging on borders" "double jumps" etc maybe not suit the final gameplay.

I don't know where to go. Honestly.

And its quite the same about "graphics" and "level design / gameplay" relationship..

If I plan to learn something while I work, it creates issues with making progress on the work itself. If what I learn doesn't take too long, it is fine. But if I don't know how to do something and it takes considerable amount of time to figure it out, the longer it takes then the more likely it will have negative influence on the progress of the work. You have to judge whether or not what you're trying to figure out is worth the time. If you have all the time in the world to experiment and you aren't concerned with finishing anything, then you can spend time learning as much as you want. If you are concerned with finishing it, then you have to be careful not to juggle too many things that are open-ended.

Game mechanics are tricky, because they are used throughout the entire game, but you also can create more mechanics than are necessary, or you spend too much time tweaking them. I would focus on only the mechanics that are necessary to allow development of the larger systems that the game needs. If the mechanic doesn't serve to progress your work in other areas of the game, then don't implement it yet.