If you don’t do this, you’re most likely gonna fail.
People new to game development often feel like they can simply do a game jam and make millions from it. Come up with an idea on the spot, make it, ship it, and then wait for the cha-chings to come through. Welp, I’ve got news for you if that’s what you think - you’re most likely gonna fail.
Now, if your goal is just to have fun, this post isn’t for you. Go do as you please, and enjoy! Making games can be really fun and quite rewarding. If you’re trying to make a business out of game-making, however, you really can’t just throw shit in the air with your eyes closed and hope that it lands in a good place. You have to make a plan and a solid one at that.
“If your game isn’t fun without feature creep, it’s very easy to go down the rabbit hole trying to “find the fun” and end up taking 4 years on a game that was supposed take 4 months.”
What does planning entail?
After you’ve done a short prototype (please, try and make something small - if your prototype takes longer than a weekend to make, there’s a chance that you’re making something too big!*), it’s time to start planning if you’ve landed on something fun. To be honest, a good plan starts even before that, because you have to figure out what kind of games will actually be successful to make. This doesn’t mean that you need to pick the most trendy type of game to make (currently, Vampire Survivors-styled games), but if you’re expecting to make any profit or grow your audience, you have to plan to make something that people will actually want, based on research and data.
So yeah, after the prototype, then you should plan how exactly you’re gonna build the game. Plan what the game is, and what it isn’t, and try to reasonably scope it. Feature creep is hard to avoid, but try your best to avoid it! If your game isn’t fun without feature creep, it’s very easy to go down the rabbit hole trying to “find the fun” and end up taking 4 years on a game that was supposed to take 4 months.
What about non-production-specific things?
Yep, I’m glad you asked! You can’t just plan to make a good game, you also have to plan how you’re gonna market it. If you make a dope game and just release it to crickets, how do you expect it to succeed after all? Plan your marketing strategy from the jump so that you’re not wading through stress and anxiety the closer you get to launch. Trust me, I wish I had done this from the start of Super Space Club development - I’d be much better off for it. Plan whether you’re going to handle the marketing yourself or if you’re going to get help from a PR agency. Or, maybe you’re going to try and get the attention of a publisher who will help you with marketing and then some!
There are really so many things that should go into your planning phase, so pardon me for just scratching the surface, but I figure it’s better for me to at the very least give you this lil PSA. The internet has plenty of resources for you to learn all about things you need to do throughout the development cycle, so don’t be afraid - you’re covered.
Making a plan is just one of the many things to take into consideration when starting a new game though! Watch the video below where I talk about 5 things I learned in my first full-time year of game development and see what else I’ve learned throughout the journey.
*There’s nothing inherently wrong with making big games. If it’s your first game though, the entire game dev internet and I strongly suggest you start as small as you possibly can and get used to making and releasing games.
