SO YOU ARE a great programmer. A seasoned artist. Unparalleled creativity. you have everything to make a game, and I'm sure many of you tried (or still try) making them. But actually, there is something missing in the equation.
This is a guide on how to extract the best from your game, and show it to the potential customers. All of the contents here are personal experiences and empirical observation however, so take them with a grain of salt. Without further ado, let's get started!
1. Game Planning
PLANNING a game is a very time consuming task. After all, you have an idea but then you have to put it in motion. Chances are, you're in a group - a person makes music, another person makes art, and the programmer glues everything up to make a nice game. That's usually how things go.
This being said, it's great if everyone knows what the game is about. Your ideas should be clear for everyone - this will make their lives easier! A way to start discussing about the game is writing its
key elements. Mario games, for example, could be described as
adventurous, platformer, colorful, joyful, simple controls, jump controls... Notice that not only gameplay elements are there, but the words "colorful", "adventurous" and "joyful" figure in the list. This ensures that everyone will know the mood of the game and how it should look to the player.
Also, if you can get ahold of voice chats, do it frequently if you can. Exchanging ideas and communicating is the 1st step to everything, and will avoid a lot of hassle in the long run.
Of course, if you're doing everything yourself, it's still good to keep the
key element in your hands! Writing them down will prevent you from straying too far from the main concepts and ideas.
A good site for dev management is
Hack n' Plan. It keeps track of all elements in the game and what you did and you need to do. Being organized is not difficult if you are organized from the very start!
2. Asset Making
ONCE you define the
key elements in your game, it's time to make the assets! Try setting up a
reasonable deadline for everyone to work on - like assets for a single scene, or a single level, it's your call - and work on it. Everyone should work together and exchange ideas together as you work, regardless of the given task. Sometimes the composer can have a good idea for the visual scene, or the programmer may even suggest a type of music. It's always good to be open to suggestions from your team, and they'll feel more engaged to work with you, too.
Remember to always discuss it thoroughly! Only add the ideas if they do enhance the final aspect of the game. Repeat this process a couple times - set deadlines, work and finish them - to build a sense of responsibility and momentum.
A good site for videochats is Google Hangouts. All you need is your google account - once set, you can share your screen display and show your team your progress.
3. Getting Started
AFTER finishing a couple deadlines, it's time to start showing it to people! Check out if you have enough asset items to start a
Twitter account: you don't want to start something only to stall because of lack of things to show!
Another good site worth mentioning is
IndieDB, a site focused on independent game development. There you can talk about your team, your project and see how well you'll fare as you develop your project.
Consider opening up a devblog too, if you can. Those can be used for more insightful posts regarding development, and gamers
love development stories! Twitter only allows 140 characters, which is minuscle depending on what you want to show.
HOWEVER, have in mind that it's better to have NO showcase sites if you are unable to keep them up to date. Keeping your publicity sites up to date and with constant activity is a
must for gamedev, and if people see that your site hasn't been updated since last year, they'll think that your project has died and will move on.
If possible, designate a person to do all the
Public Relations stuff for you. Dividing the workload will streamline productivity, but make sure the PR-guy knows what the game is about so they can be relevant to the game! He is a dev member, after all.
Next up: How to set up the sites? How to post? I'll get to these when I am home and not being bombarded by paperwork lmao