Hello!
Before we start...
First off, I'm terrible with naming things, so if you feel this name is inappropriate in anyway in relation to the actual topic, please say so. As a "developer" on ROBLOX since the age of 9, I've, obviously, had my (huge) share of failures on the platform during that time period. Through these failures, I've come to learn a bit more about game design, in general, and I'll be going over those in this thread. The tone will probably swap from formal to informal, and vice versa, a lot, because I'm weird like that.Before we get into the actual topic, I want to take a moment to make this clear - There is no definite way to make, or design, a game. Different techniques work well for different people, if there was a “sure-fire” way of making a game, all the games would, essentially, be the same, and personally, I wouldn’t find that any fun in the long-run. While there may be a key to success, there are many doors to success, though a word like “success” is vague in its own right.
If you find development more of a chore than fun, maybe it’s not for you
Why you're making your game
Getting into the actual topic, before you start making a game, you need to think about why you're making the game which links both into your target audience for the game as well as the "originality" of the game - something I'll go over later on in the topic. Some of the reasons people make games are for:- Improving skills
- Fun
- To pass the time
- Long-term money investment
- Short-term money investment
- Fame
- You want to introduce a new kind of game to the community
-
Your teacher asked you to
As you can see, there are a variety of reasons, many of which I haven’t mentioned. Your reason for making your game will affect your decisions for the two points I mentioned before. Affirming your reasons will have an impact on your choice of game design. For example, if you’re making something for fun, fame or long-term money investments, you may prefer to go for an “original” theme, whereas if you want something for short-term money investment, to improve your skills or pass the time, a more “unoriginal” theme may be more sorted - as mentioned previously, I’ll go into this in more depth later on.
Your target audience, whether aimed at the veteran/older players or the newer/younger players will affect not only your game’s building style, but also its UI style and possibly even its scripting. Younger players, in the sense of age, may prove to be attracted to large, bright and colourful text, which can be used, in the form of UIs, to attract new players into your game or more fast-paced game-play, whereas older players may prove to enjoy more retro designs or more involved game-play.
Game Originality, or the lack of it
Originality. A concept that can be scary, but rewarding if done correctly. A concept that’s relative to the person and their beliefs, opinions and experiences. A concept that’s very vague. Something original for one person may be unoriginal for others, and, considering the fact that there are over 7 billion humans in the world at this moment in time, many other people have probably had the same idea(s) as your own, so one could argue that nothings original. In this case, I’ll be viewing originality as the opposite of the most prevalent themes, which on ROBLOX, is currently, the big bad simulators!
But, there are lots of simulators on ROBLOX, so surely unoriginal games are better than original games? Yes, they are! And no, they aren’t! Confused yet? If you’re not, you should go see a doctor. Anyways, back to the topic at hand - originality is not necessarily a good thing, nor is it a bad thing. Having an unoriginal game means that players know, somewhat, what to expect when they click your game. The theme for the unoriginal game clearly works, a so called, “clear-success” - something that is likely to be able to be done, not only “well” due to the number of references available, but something that will attract players, as they are more likely to know about these kinds of games, and thus, are likely to search for them. Some points to note for unoriginal games are:
- Likely to gain players
- Likely to be easier to make than an original game
- Likely to bring in money in the short-term
- Unlikely to “last” for a long period of time
- Unlikely to attract certain groups of players
- Unlikely to stand out from the crowd
But what about original games, I hear you ask? I’m sure lots of you have woken up one day and went “EUREKA, that’s it!” throwback to childhood. With your new idea, you immediately go to your computer and start working on it, before realising “OH NO, I don’t know how to do this!”. Don’t worry - others here have probably felt the same as you! Originality is something, that when done successfully, will help bring you a, sometimes large, recurring playerbase, community recognition and long term investment. Not to mention, it’s fun to do and highly self-satisfying when completed! But, because it’s “original”, there are not as many, if any, references of works to base it off, so it’s hard to pull off, along with the fact that it may not always attract players due to the unfamiliarity towards this type of game, some people prefer to have games that are quick and easy to play, satisfying and not a lot of information or tactics to absorb. This means that your game may never obtain an actual playerbase. Due to this reason, making original games is, to say the least, quiet scary, as you’re putting in a lot of time, effort and sweat in to make your game, which doesn’t have a necessarily high chance of working out. Some points to take for original games are:
- Hard to pull off
- Not as likely to gain players
- Likely to be harder to make than an unoriginal game
- Likely to bring in money in the long-term (If it succeeds!)
- Likely to “last” for a long period of time
- Likely to stand out from the crowd
Teams
Now that you know why you’re making your game, your audience and whether you want an original game or not, you should begin to access your own abilities. What are you? Are you a builder? Or perhaps a programmer? Possibly a designer? Maybe all 3 or something else entirely! Access what you can do and what needs to be done. If your just making something like a showcase, you might only need audio, builds and a few small scripts here and there. If you’re making something like an RPG, you’ll need scripts, builds, audio, animation, UI and more! What percentage of your game can you do on your own? What percentage of your game can you do well on your own? Maybe hiring a team to help you, or finding friends who work in other fields of development to join you on your quest to make a game will help.
Having a single person do everything is less likely to produce something as good as something produce by multiple people who specialise in various different areas. Questions to ask yourself are:
- Do you need a team?
- Do you want a team?
If you want (or have) a team, be prepared to lose out on some money, because while you can’t buy friends, you can always buy a slave team. Having a team will lessen the burden on you and possibly make it more enjoyable to make a game, as well as provide a source of motivation to keep on working!
Decomposition
Decomposition! No, not decay, D-E-C-O-M-P-I-S-I-T-I-O-N! Decomposition is, to quote, “one of the four cornerstones of Computer Science”. Well, this certainly isn’t computer science, but we can still use it in game design! So what is decomposition? Another big word I felt like throwing out there to make myself seem smarter? Yes! It is! No, it’s an essential part of making games, or anything else. Decomposition is when you break down a (complex) problem into smaller (easier) parts. You might not realise it, but you do this a lot in every day life, such as when going to the toilet or brushing your teeth! Even the process of eating a meal can be decomposed into smaller parts. When making a game, you should use decomposition when faced with making scripts, building a map, making an animation, even making UI an audio can be decomposed into smaller steps. For example, making an RPG can be decomposed into things like:
- A level system
- A combat system
- A shop system
- A map
- etc etc
Where these can be further composed, where the level system can become
- Store players exp
- Give player exp
- Check if player should be leveled up → If yes, level up
- Store new exp and level
These can further be broken down into smaller parts. Even thing like making a map can be decomposed into making the terrain, segmenting off the areas, making it more realistic, adding game-related components and adding decoration-related components.
Fun fact: I actually forgot what decomposition was and had to do a quick google search on the name. 
Things to be wary off
As a developer, there are lots of things to be wary off. From lack of inspiration and build-up of stress levels which can lead to quitting, to using free models that cause viruses. Using free models in your game isn’t a good thing, nor is it a bad thing. They are there to be used, otherwise they wouldn’t be called free models. However, these may also include code that can be detrimental to your game, so using too many isn’t advised.
Personally, my biggest problem when it comes to game creation is inspiration. If you lack inspiration, it becomes difficult to keep continuing your project, however, if you have someone to motivate you as you go along, this can be a big help! For me, I recently found out that just having some random guy sitting in team create chat and watching me develop helps, for another person this might have the opposite effect and distract them, though, that’s where everyone differs.
If one part of your game start to give you a headache of become difficult, don’t hesitate to contact people on the forums, I’m sure there would be at least someone willing to listen to your problems, if not help. You can even just move on to another, “easier” part of your game for a period of time to help relieve unneeded stress.
If you ever feel like developing is more work than it is fun or rewarding, taking a step back from your device and having a day (or 7) off can do wonders! Don’t over-exert yourself over something that can be done at a later date.
Conclusion
Game design isn’t a concrete process. It takes time to get these things right, don’t be afraid make mistakes, be afraid of not learning from your mistakes! You may find that you wholeheartedly enjoy developing, or that you absolutely despise making games. Don’t fret though! No one’s forcing you to make games - you don’t HAVE to do it (Unless, you know, your teacher said so, then you do have to do it, and don’t quote me on that). I hope this helps and thanks for taking the time to read it. Any and all feedback is appreciated!
I’ve spent 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours on this, and I feel as if I’ve written a good deal, though it also seems somewhat incomplete - if you can think of any topics to add, mention in the replies or through a PM, or I might add some on my own if I think of them.
Thanks for reading!
superhudhayfa, signing out.