Picking a Game Style

The first step in any project is to pick the type of game you want to make. In my case, I want to make a board game in the style of Monopoly, Chutes & Ladders, Talisman. Once that has been decided, it is time to flesh out some of the design details.

What is the Goal of game? Some examples would be (Make it to the end space first, first to get to 5,000, first to collect the 5 totem tokens). What is the style of player interaction? ( Players are affected by Board spaces only, Players are allowed to play cards to affect other player's score, etc, Players can switch trade when landing in the same space). Will the player have choice on path? Will there only be one way to move on the board, will there be shortcuts on the board, Will the player have choice of how many spaces to move, Will the player roll dice to move player). What information will be kept about each player ( Character type, Points, Cards, Life, Movement). What information will be kept about board ( Houses on property, token position, Turn, Phase, path, winning space, slide to space #, climb to space #, castle locations, road locations).

Depending on the game you are making, you will have more information to decide. The more the you can decide now and track for developement purposes will make actual building of game better, more fluid and better design. Once the design is decided on, the actual programming will begin using what ever tool you have decided to use.

Once game has been built or a mock up is made, it is time to play test the game and see if any aspect of the game needs adjusted. This is where you want to look at your target players. Then decide whether your game is fun, easy enough to use, not too complicated or too simple, does it last too long or over too quickly. The answers will vary by personal taste, so you will want to get several peoples opinions, always keeping in mind the target players.

Last of all. You have fun playing your game with friends. :)

Beginnings

This is just a little background about what I intend to do on this blog. I will go through designing and making simple and fun games. They will be made with a free program called Game Maker made by Mark Overmars. This program can be found on the internet easily. You can also register the program and get more functionality. Registration is around 20 dollars. I will try to make games that can be made with either the registered or unregistered. You don't have to be a programmer but you do need to be determined. I have found that in my time of hobbyist programming that nothing kills projects more than lack of interest or focus. I will try to post at least once a day.