Okay, let me go more in depth. The second that idea sparks in your head, and you go ahead and create that empty baseplate, are there steps that you take in order to get where you want? Or is it just kind of random. Personally, I have never been able to really finish a game and when I do begin making a game, usually I end development a week in. So I’m wondering to those who have that drive and persistence to finish a game, how does the development take place? What are you thinking throughout the process? Is there a map of things you follow every game you make?
1 Like
How To Plan & Make The Game: My Ideal Plan
I have a complete structuring of how to plan and make a game in a ‘conventional’ way(if not my own convention). Check out the link above for a detailed plan.
Entire post is simplified; if you have any questions, ask away.
5 Likes
This is how I would plan my games
Side Note:
Please search for existing topics before posting your own 
2 Likes
I always start with an idea and a very basic plan. Plan out your mechanics and functionality first, then move forwards. I always start with 1 client and 1 server script. Then I move forward with a module system.
2 Likes
The way I typically approach seeing a game through from idea to first release is this:
Prototype
I start on an empty baseplate and build a test of some of the core features. For example with Project Vox, I started by figuring out how to create small voxel worlds with scripts. None of this will actually make it to the real game, it’s all throwaway code so be as terrible as you like! Make sure to abstain from anything fancy - not only is it a waste of time but prototypes should be about testing the ideas and game mechanics above all. Many of my game ideas don’t live past this step.
edit: here’s an example of a good prototype! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNbovHO01fs
Alpha
Alpha is all about building up the core of the game. I typically take a lot of time getting the structure of the game spot on in this stage - anticipating what kind of things you plan to add down the line will help with this structuring. The code I write here is very clean and readable, but not necessarily efficient. It’s designed to be more structured than the prototype, but still tweakable and workable.
Beta
Once I’ve finished all of that, I enter the Beta stage, where work goes into fixing bugs, adding a few extras and making everything run better. This is typically a good time to open your game for paid early access.
Release Candidate
As you reach the end of Beta, having added most of the extras you want and having made everything smoother and more playable, I enter the Release Candidate stage. At this stage, no new features are added - all the work goes into polishing, fixing bugs, and optimising!
Release
When everything’s sufficiently well polished, it’s time for release. Beyond this step it’s up to you to maintain everything, but you should by this point have finished executing upon your initial idea for the game. You can of course still add stuff post-release!
7 Likes
As you said you always give up making a game after a week and that is understandable. Everyone gives up making games after a few days. However there is a few ways you could resolve this:
Ideas
Once you have your idea you should wright down all of your ideas even if they are bad ideas. This will allow you to decide how the game will work later on and help you plan it.
Research
Once you have a few ideas for you game you could do some market research. If there is a few games similar you your game idea you could go and play them and think about what they are doing well on. You may think about how you would improve the game you are playing as well. This stage will allow you to find potential struggles you may have while making your game and potential flaws you may have.
Planning
This stage is the most important of all the stages. You must plan your game, if you don’t you will find your self getting lost with what to do. You should spend a while thinking about each element of the game and think about what needs to be done to make them. This stage will help you keep on track and allow your team to have consistency. You should think about your target market as features will differ depending on who you are designing for. Having a target market in mind will help you later on while testing and developing.
Developing
Once you have planned your game you can start developing your game. You may be thinking where do I start, but that is where your plan comes in handy. You should start by making a few of the features that you have listed on your plan then go from there. Remember your plan isn’t fixed now you have started developing, you can always change things in your plan if they aren’t working out. Your plan is only there to give you a rough guide to what needs to be done.
Testing
While you are making your game it is essential to test it as you go along. Testing will allow you to find bugs, new ideas and maybe issues that may occur in the future. This stage will also help you determine if your game is going to be fun for your target market because if a game isn’t fun no one will play it.
Some games have a test place for their games. The test place is a place where you design and test all the features that will be added to your game. This way you can design new features and test them without disturbing the real game. Before you do any sort of development on the real place you may want to design a few things in this place first.
Release
Once you have gone through the testing and development stages you are ready to release your game. You should update your game regularly as players want new content to play around with. If you don’t update your game regularly players will just get bored. Remember if your game is successful in your target market you are doing a good job.
To sum everything up, you must plan your game before you start any type of development. You should also have a target market in mind so that you can design for them.
7 Likes