transfering the "1 like = 1 insight from designing/developing" thread i did on twitter in 2017
- basic one to start with: if the player doesn't see it, it doesn't exist
this works both for and against you - you can take shortcuts in physics and AI and the like if they're invisible
but they're first to break with new element interactions - friends of the game designer: ghosts, islands, lava, things on rails
they reduce development work and add plot, like amnesia in books
- when coding alone, keep code small enough to fit in your head
when coding w/others, keep code big enough that changes don't avalanche - how to name variables?
suggestion: first what it is exchangeable with, then upwards
like: entityPlayer, xPos, xSize - designers will break your engine trying to do novel things with it, then not tell you and break the engine further by setting the speed to 999999 when speed 999 doesn't work
keep an eye on what data they're inputting - people love music in games so much
many a half-baked game has been saved by good music - you'll be tempted to make a game exactly like your favorite game PLUS one thing
make the game ABOUT that one thing instead - you can write all the extensible code you want at the prototype stage
designers will extend the game in another direction - destructive criticism is more common than constructive criticism
but the most common feedback you'll get is no feedback at all - your game's difficulty ramp is very likely too steep at the start
probably has some weird bumps too in the middle
ending might be ok as long as you don't suddenly switch mechanics, then it's probably too hard - the player always has the option to stop playing and watch the rest of the game on youtube
- the New Thing to make games more viral: built-in export videos/animated GIFs
- i don't care if your game is half an hour long add a goddamn autosave
- flash saved so much time on UI design
never forgive adobe or apple - it's okay to try a new language/library/etc in a gamejam
just don't expect to complete anything - your game physics/UI could probably use a few rounds of polish to make it "tight"
no i can't give you a definition of "tight" - Did you add?
- pause button
- mute button / volume controls if you're fancy
- fullscreen/windowed switch
- joystick support
- text logs are popular because writing a page of text is really easy compared to anything else in games
- your game intro is probably too slow
yeah it's hard to both teach the player and get them doing things at the same time
