Planning my first game.

So I keep starting and stopping on my first game. Either a new idea comes along or something happens. I decided what I needed to do what sit down make a plan and stick too it. So this is the plan I came up with. If you wouldn't mind reviewing it, seeing if there is something I missed or something I am being criminally naive about let me know. Thank you !
The general idea is that the sub bullet points should be accomplished atleast 1 a day and more if I can.

GOAL:

Top down Isometric tower defense shooter in which the player defends a base from enemies. The player may place turrets to aide them in their quest.


ENEMIES: Target player, turrents, and the base.
BASE: Has a health bar, and respawns player upon death. Gameover upon depletion of healthbar.
TURRETS: Target enimies within range. Destroyed upon depletion of health bar.
PLAYER: moves with WASD and faces the mouse. Left click shoots. Right click places turrets which cost resources gradually picked up from destroyed enemies. Respawn at base upon death.


Checklist:

· Set up player movement controls.

o WASD

o Face mouse

· Set up camera to follow player as they move.

o Camera should be top down and watching from a 45ish degree angle (Or whatever looks right)

· Set up base

o Player should spawn from base.

· Set up first enemy.

o Enemy should target base by default, but focus attention on the player if the player is within range.

· Set up turret

o Turrets should appear upon right click in the direction the player is facing.

o Turrets should turn to target enemies within range

o Enemies should target turrets within range.

· Set up shooting mechanic

o Player should shoot in the direction they are facing upon left click, with a comfortable amount of time between when the last shot and when the next shot should be fired.

o Turrets should fire in the direction of enemies within range. They should only fire once every so often.

o Decide if enemies should be ranged or melee based.

· Create health bars

o Player health bar, respawn upon depletion.

o Turret health, destroy upon depletion

o Enemy health, destroy upon deletion

o Base health, game over upon depletion.

· Set up Damage!

o Turrets damage enemies

o Player damages enemies

o Enemies damage everything

· Create resource management mechanic

o Player gains resources from down enemies,

o A set amount of resources allows player to create another turret

· Create Game over text screen

· Create game start screen


· Get playtest data and tweek!!!


o Should all enemie deaths provide resources or only the ones the player kills.

o Make sure the turrets are helpful but won’t play the game for the player.

· Decide if the game is worth pursuing further.

· Model first enemy

o texture

o Animate!

· Model turret

o texture

o Animate

· Animate player model

· Model base

o texture

o Gradual destruction over time

 

Beauty of being an indie or a hobbyist is that you can do what you want on your own time. To Do list is useful if you find yourself feature creeping too much or need some direction back on track.

You'll most likely end up bouncing between features/mechanics constantly adding or redoing things. It's hard to stick to a single feature because a lot of times things are intertwined.

 

I make the plan in my head and just do it, later on if I don't want something, I change it around. Until then I know every single detail I want in my head. I know exactly how I want every environment to look, the atmosphere, the coding, everything in my head. I can't write stuff down or I'll forget I ever wrote it down and loose it. So I've come to grips with just remembering everything lol.

The only thing you might catch me writing down is names for the game, but that's about it. I like to have an open imagination when making my games, not be restricted to what a piece of paper says lol.

 

You prefer your restricted by the code on screen instead?

 

Thank you for your feedback. I feel like If I don't write it down I'll get stuck on one feature and try to perfect it, changing between wanting a first and third person camera, perspective and eventually just give up. This way I keep moving forward till I'm far enough to know for sure what I want.

 

lol no, I just know exactly what I want to do and do it, guess that's one good thing about having an overactive imagination, I think oo, I wanna do that, and just do it.

But what I always do is, I make all the core mechanics, which is stuff I know I need to do that will make the game the way it is, then everything after that, is just extra stuff (E.G. - Player abilities, specials, etc).

I know I probably don't make any sense, but hey - as long as it works for me right? lol.

 

It's how I work too. I was just poking fun at your comment about restrictions. The game design gets done, and the game is restricted by its design. This is true if you design in advance with a 17,031 page GDD, or if you make design up as you go.

 

Ahhh okay hahaah.

 

Create a Trello Board for your game, managing and completing tasks becomes so much more fun

 

Hey that Trello thing seems really cool.

 

I use it for all my projects now, can't live without it. Also great for small teams to collaborate.

 

I'm just thinking about using it for todo lists, using columns for different related areas and using the easy to move nature of the notes to prioritize. .. and drag and drop? So cool

Vs notepad...

 

I use it for related areas, but I also create lists for milestones and goals.

Such as Tasks to Complete 27-31 July.
Tasks Ready for QA
Tasks Completed

I found putting tasks in a list and trying to stick to those dates really helps productivity.

 

Thanks for the tips.

 

Meltdown. This trello thing is amazing. Seriously I have been looking for something like this for ages.

 

I know quite a few people will disagree with this, and you might too, but I say stop planning and start making.

For some people, and you never known if you're one of them (unless you do, I know I am), planning is just a procrastination where you can pretend your being productive without doing any actual development. Just jump straight in and start making it.

 

hehe I'm going to start to use Trello for my next game project...

For me, it seems that I have to plan majority of my game out. Even when I'm the only one making my game. At least write a brief idea for each feature in the game.

 

I'm using it now, and it's got me 80% through the concept planning process... the visual layout is just fantastic. Now I'm working on the plan for actually developing it. It's great because it's all in one place.