Sat. Jul 27th, 2024
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This entry is part 1 of 192 in the series Developer Blog

Where do we begin when we want to start designing and building a new game?

Well since I have some game dev experience, and lots of programming experience, I started by reflecting on where I struggle the most, especially with my chronic illness issues. I decided that what I really needed was a better way to plan out a game dev project, so it wasn’t this nebulous project that just existed in my head. I learned how to do program flowcharts and business plans for apps years ago, but it’s always good for a refresher. I picked these two games, as they seemed very appropriate given my struggles to plan and finish projects in general over the last 4 years. I could really use a few concrete wins this year.

Tutorials

Indie Game Success Roadmap Course

Finish It! – Tools & Techniques For Staying Motivated & Productive With Game Dev

What did you think about the tutorials?

Well I’ve only completed one of them so far. I took the first one Indie Game Success Roadmap Course over the course of two days. It’s quite good. It’s fast paced which helps keep me engaged, and has lots of activities that help you think and apply the ideas to your own projects.

What’s your road map look like?

Well first of all my roadmap is going to be analog. I have tried to use digital planners. I even purchased an refurbed 2nd hand ipad 6 and pen to try and get the hand written feel. What I’ve learned over the last two years is digital planning does not work for my brain. It’s got to be paper, hand written, and functional. I like stickers and washi, but I need the functional bullet journal style to be organized and make progress. I’ve also learned that I can’t do any project longer than 5 weeks. The project has to stop, and the new phase has to feel completely new. So here’s my first 5 weeks of the roadmap, the full road map is for a 3 months and then release, but week 5 is where I lock down the features list, and that’s where I will know what we are definitely building and I can write out the rest of the roadmap.

That’s my plan so far, and the plan ends in 5 weeks which is the end of June. It’s patterned of a Game 2 plan or an Intermediate Game design.

What about the second course?

Finish It! – Tools & Techniques For Staying Motivated & Productive With Game Dev

I started it today and should have it completed tomorrow, it’s a bit longer than the first one. Good information so far. Very detailed.

If you want to join us on our projects journey we will be streaming on twitch, discord, and youtube. We will be publishing blog updates, and posting to social media pages.

Enjoy! Happy Gaming.

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