For those that are on the IGDA you may have noticed that I’m trying to put together an indie project team to work on a game idea I came up with . Just in case various game designers haven’t hit you over the head with it, sitting down to create a video game is a lot different then just sitting around writing up game documents. Regarding programming this, I understand all the logic for this game, unfortunately it’s creating said code that I’m running into a challenge with. That however isn’t the point of this entry, but to discuss one of the hazards of creating a game: feature creep.
Many game design related articles and books say that a game is never really “done” in the sense that everything the designer wanted is in the game. One common pitfall when creating a game is adding more systems or details through out the development process delaying the completion of the game. For designers who have millions of dollars riding on a game this could piss off your publisher, but for someone small time it’s a matter of even getting this game off the ground.
As someone who is working with both limited funds and limited knowledge, I have to be picky about what goes in and what stays out of my indie ideas. My thought process goes through two phases. A dream phase where I like to put down anything and everything I want in a game even if it is beyond my skill level or complexity of the software. I’d rather get everything out in the open when I’m still writing up the game document instead of when I’m finally coding an idea. The next phase is deconstruction when I scale back all the ideas and start cutting ideas. One of the reasons that I wait to write down my ideas is that I like to let them simmer in my head. Something that sounded good one day might be horrible upon further reflection. Most of the time the core game play of my ideas survive while story or mechanics get tossed in the trash.One strange phenomenon is me putting an idea “in storage” for a long time to only have something inspired me or give me the missing piece to start putting the idea back together.
The other issue that I’m dealing with now while learning the code is what game to make. I have two ideas , one is a pretty basic game idea and I’ve already figured out all the logic needed for it. The other which came to me yesterday in a moment of creative epiphany (Thank you Braid, more on that next week) is a more artistic game which somehow combines fairy tales with child abuse, self loathing, and suicide . I might have to throw in rape, alcoholism, and drug addiction just so I hit all the disturbing points. For this game it’s still in the dream phase right now but if I can make it I believe it would not only make an interesting game but an excellent addition to my portfolio. However, a lot of what I have in mind on a scale of one to ten of code complexity would be a 6 or 7 compared to a 4 or 5 for the other title. Last problem is that I better start interviewing for amazing 2d artists and sounds now as this is a title where everything will have to harmonize for it to work.
When promos say that a game has everything but the kitchen sink, you can assume that they’re probably lying. As I can bet that there is always something left on the cutting room floor.
Josh
