Since its inception, the gaming industry has quickly found
its supporters, continuing to develop at an incredible speed
through the years, along with the development of technology.
As you know, it currently has more profits worldwide than
all other entertainment industries combined!
And it is pretty clear that knowing about such trends,
probably most of those who have anything to do with the IT
sphere at least once in their life caught themselves
thinking that they should “create some toy now, launch
it or sell it and get massive profits. ”
Let’s not argue. Maybe there were cases in the world
when someone, spending a few days, got great material at the
exit, which immediately went to the players, but in most
cases, only some things not are as accessible and joyful as
it seems. Making a good game is a very long and tedious
process with hundreds of iterations of edits, changes, and
reworks.
That is why we have collected some valuable tips to make
this process easier for beginners.
Definition of goals
At the beginning of your work, you must sit down (stand up,
lie down) and think carefully about what the game is being
created for. What goals are pursued? Prove to yourself that
“I can”? Brag to friends and acquaintances that
“I can”? Throw it in some application store, so
it hangs there for several years with a dozen downloads?
Perhaps, after all, the goals are somewhat higher in
creating a product that will really “fit”
players and get tangible profits.
If, for the first option, you can not worry too much and
twist anything as you like, then for the latter, you need to
put much more effort into planning and analysis.
Analysis of own strengths
It is necessary to clearly understand that the process of
creating a game is a lot of spent person-hours. Of course,
there are always Napoleonic plans at the beginning of
development to create something incredibly cool that will
surpass all cult games combined. But this is quickly
followed by despair because it is worth remembering that the
same cult games like The Witcher, GTA, and so on are usually
developed by a massive team of more than 50 people. Even
simpler casual games, something in the genre of
three-in-a-row, are an enormous amount of time spent on
development.
That is why it is imperative to assess your capabilities and
the capabilities of your team, if any. Otherwise, the
project will be closed before it has even started.
Market analysis
If the development is more serious, aiming to release a
trending game that will bring real profit, it is essential
to do market research before starting to develop something.
Based on the analysis of one’s strengths, it is
necessary to decide on the genre in which the game will be
created and to research already existing projects in this
genre.
Walk through all the crucial tops, check which mechanics are
the most popular, and which themes are most liked by
players. It is worth playing the most popular games and
trying to analyze and understand what they want so much,
what is the reason for their success, and what are the pros
and cons.
The tops can be viewed, for example, on SensorTower.
And based on the received analysis, decide what your game
will be.
Detailed plan and MVP
After determining the main direction of the game, it is
necessary to create a detailed plan. Think clearly about
what and how it will happen. Ideally, write down all the
main tasks set before the game.
To begin with, it is worth calculating what will be included
in the MVP (Minimum Viable Product), a minimally viable
product – a minimal set of basic mechanics of the
game, without which it simply cannot work – and focus
on these tasks. Everything else, not so important, is better
left for later.
Of course, the plan may change in the process, something
will be added, or something will be dropped, but clearly
defined tasks and processes greatly facilitate the
development and more clearly show the total amount of work.
Testing
An essential part of any development is testing. Usually,
the algorithm “make – test – analyze the
results – redo” is repeated several times, and
the testing process can take several months.
You must understand and prepare yourself for the fact that
it will not work out perfectly the first time. That there
will be millions of corrections, changes, strange bugs, and
ideas on how to improve everything that will need to be
introduced – and this is an entirely normal work
process.
And most importantly, you should always understand that all
the above points do not mean that you will get a perfect
game at the exit, which will instantly occupy all the tops
and bring incredible profits.
There is always a possibility that despite all the efforts
and fixes, the game will not get the desired result and will
not perform well. This is also normal, although not very
pleasant, work process. In such a case, it is essential not
to lose heart and not to give up, and it is necessary to
take it not as a failure but as an experience.
Analyze all the mistakes made, come up with something else,
and rush into battle again with new strength.
author Yevheniia Andrukhina
