I saw this on pixellation the other day. Someone asked how that everyone kept inspired. So I gave him a few ideas like everyone else did. Then I thought, what does it take to come up with a game anyway? Well, let's see, what do I go through? Hey, that'd make a great article right? What the heck, why not. So, how am I going to bring you my process of making a game idea from scratch? How did we think about it? What drives the player to keep going? How do we convey the environment?

Which came first Title/Gameplay?

Well, what is the first thing I normally think about? Well, it can either be one of two things. Sometimes it's the same thing though really. Take yesterday for example. I think I had just got done playing a flash game from the downloads section. It was that one button game that had two counters at the bottom and side of the screen, and a traget at a random location elsewhere. The point was to get both counters in line with the target to get a good score. Why it made me think of Yoshi's story, I'll never know.

But, you know in that game where you launch the eggs? A line of dots is stretched from yoshi out to a certain point as he prepares to launch said egg. Then, an indicator moves along the line making a targeting noise indicatiing how far the egg will be launched. So, I thought, well, that's easy, it's just a counter going up and down. Then came the idea. I thought, since it's fun with two counters, why not just elimimate one and ask the player to see how far they can go? Now, to add to the risk, let's make it a cloud jumping game. And I could even do it in Flixel if I wanted.

What is the players Purpose?

Ok, so we have what we call interaction/gameplay. So, why does the player want to jump from cloud to cloud seeing how far they can go? Well, they already have a few factors. One is to keep from dying. They're going to be cloud jumping, for heaven's sake. If they don't hit the timer right, they're plunging to the ground. But, why are they doing it in the first place. Are they trying to help prince cloud find his way home from getting lost in a storm? Or are they trying to beat user Roxxorlit3's high score for the hundredth time? I like the first option better, but a little competition doesn't hurt either.

A game can look as pretty as a davinci painting, but if the player can only want to look, and not want to interact, then we've lost the player. So, let's draw them in with a little story shall we? I like telling stories. A lot really. So, opening cinematic. Every developer has one. A little cloud is playing outside the castle too far, nice sunny day. All of a sudden a storm brews up, the cloudling trys to run back in. Too late, he's swept away by powerful gusts. He wakes up later, hanging on the edge of a thin cloud. Wonders where he is, and freaks out at the sight of the ground. He recomposes himself a second later, and after brushing himself off, looks up to the nearest cloud, and jumps. The game begins.

Now, isn't that a better way to get the player hooked? Well, at least I think it's a better way any way. If I wanted to get the player to want to rip Roxxorlit3's gut's out then I'd have made the game around that. Oooh, there's another one. But anyways, let's see about the hiscore option. How fun is it, to beat that hiscore? Well, that's where the environment comes into play. Let's add score rings to the game. In red, green, and blue, with red being the riskiest. Let's add combos too. Every score game has to have combos, they're like mini-achievements. Combo's for each time a color is hit every so often. Oh, we can also give points for dodging various obstacles or killing enemies. Not that it needs enemies, but you never know.

Where is the player again?

Oh right, they're up in the clouds. Hmm, clouds are pretty easy to draw right? Just two or three circles here or there and that's it. There, graphics are done, poof. Now lets build a ma...What? Oh all right, fine. Let's change the clouds shape a little. There are at least a few dozen cloud shapes right? Okay, so how will these effect how the player progresses? And what about the evil storm count's castle who got the little cloud prince lost in the first place? Wait, that wasn't in the story!

Okay, okay, so, we have to progressively change the environment to suit the story's needs. So, level 1 will be easy cloud forms, nothing too exciting but a deadly plunge on a bad aim. So level 2 we sparse the clouds out a bit. And level 4 will have little thunderclouds that'll knock the player out of alignment. There's also bit's of castle pieces in that level. Hey! That sounds like a good way to get some more story in! Okay, what does the little cloud say when he first sees a brick piece, hmm. Well, what would any kid think? He just jumps from a cloud, and sees a brick piece. He immediatly thinks to himself Oh my gosh! The whole castle's blown away! I hope everyone's allright! Wait, no, that can't have happened, that's silly. Let's keep going. Got the player's attention again right? How did we do that. [=

Okay, now that we've established random castle bits, we can create the count's castle in level, um, let's go with level 12. The count's castle is in 3 maps lengths. It's instantly recognizable by it's towering towers, thick walls, bottomless floor and thunderspikes everywhere. Are we getting the idea yet? Even by discribing it to you, you can even imagine it. Including that wall trap just at the foot of that stair sequence you introduced back in level 8. As the little cloud stands at the gate of castle storm, a booming voice poors out: So, you managed to survive, did we? Well, you won't survive past this castle! *Evil laugh + foreboding music*.

Final checklist

Okay, let's go over the list now. I got gameplay, check, graphics, check, music, check, sounds, check, story, check. Okay, I got everything I need for a game. Let's get started on the programming. Shouldn't take me more then a few months. Or whatever your speed is. So, there you have it, a near complete game idea fully laid out. Did you miss anything? Go back over your notes to see if you missed something. Do you want him to run into a way point village of the count on level 9? Then go ahead and go back and add that.

Did you want the game to continue on after level 12? Well, that's allright, go right ahead. Add a few more levels, or bump up the total to 20, and have level 20 be his home castle and he meets with his parents on the last jump. That'd be a cool ending no? Whatever little tidbits or polish that you think of, now is the time to add them. Want to add an invincibility powerup to a few levels, or screen shaking to the count's castle after you hit the self destruct button, or even a little voice acting, go right ahead. Do that now. Why didn't I have you do that earlier?

Easy, because if you did, you wouldn't know you'd of had 20+ levels while trying to make the jumping code. If you had that hanging over your head, you'd be overwhelmed now wouldn't ya? And don't say no, happens to me all the time. It's easy. Sometimes it can kill a project to. So can waiting for advice. That can also kill a project. So, how do you avoid that? Oh look, a squirell! Where was I? Oh yes, avoiding being overwhelmed. That's easy too, take a break, work on a smaller project. Take part in a contest, play a commercial game or two, step away from the computer for a little bit, yadda yadda etc etc. Wait a minute, what are you doing giving advice? You only have two games made? What's the big idea here? Hey don't yell at me. I'm just telling you how I make my game Idea's. Not full games. That's what I said I'd do right? Oh, right.

Enjoy!
(meh, i guess i thought i'd ramble a bit, oh well, hope this helps somebody)