Stage 1 - Polishing the plan

This could be anything from a unique mechanic, a narrative twist in your story or a distinct visual style. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel entirely. But if you’re stepping into a genre that already exists (it’s pretty unlikely you’re not) you need something to be yours.

Don’t overthink, it doesn’t need to be an FPS addition no one has ever imagined. Just break free a little.

Have you thought, really thought about how your game scales up and down.

Do you know what you can remove without breaking it? Do you know what you can expand without throwing away old work?

If it’s an RPG, make sure you’re story goes from A to B. Then if needed you can add towns C and D, sidequests and optional things. If there’s more time? Add E and F.

Do you have characters to choose from? Identify the core character now. Make the game work with one, in case you have to.

Do you have a moment in your game that will make players go “Oh whoa…”
A gameplay moment of incredible spectacle, a bold narrative choice, an unexpected art direction. 

Whether it happens on their first open, or at the finish line, players will connect with something that surprises them.

As you build your MVP, or even a prototype, as the game expands, is it fun?

Fun, entertainment and enjoyment is most likely going to be your currency. If you’re building something with real physics in mind, is it the most fun? Coyote time lets us leap off edges when we just miss the jump, it makes things more fun. 

If you have the choice to make something more fun and engaging, or more real/tedious/complicated you know which one to choose.

Whether at the micro or macro scale, players need a sense of growth. Whether they are levelling up, unlocking new areas or learning the story. Make sure it’s a rewarding and engaging journey.

More levels to solve puzzles in, locked gates, blocked bridges, double jumps, wall breaks, exploding bat foam, they’re all ways for you to make players feel like they’ve advanced.

Even in a true roguelike, you have progression within the run, and a simple metric system to show how many runs someone took vs completed solves things.

The first 10-15 minutes of gameplay are so critical. Does someone know what to do? Can they figure things out? Is it painful or incredible? Is it a 20 minute cut scene (absolutely not)? 

Introduce players to what they need to know as quickly as possible, but don’t overwhelm them with choices. Obstacle course levels are a well loved way to introduce mechanics, but be very careful about putting in hard gates. If someone breaks your sequence, are they trapped forever?

This covers everything from a strong visual style to a consistent colour palette. 

Is there something, many things about your visuals that are uniquely yours? Stylised appearance, a blue and yellow colour palette, post processing, toon shading, motion blur, ambient occlusion, tonemapping to remove bright clipping. 

Think about what will appear on screen and how it can be distinctly yours.

Is there a reason for someone to play again? It could be a score they can improve, a timer, right through to multiple story endings, procedural generation and a completely random world.

Can someone play your game twice? Thirty times? Maybe it’s a deep emotional narrative with a fixed story and there’s no way to play it twice. And that’s ok. But there’s a lot of room to replay outside that narrow window.

A simple puzzle game or find-all-the-frogs might not have a narrative to it. But there’s plenty of ways to make even a story lite game motivating for the player.

Can they care about the world, the characters, the context.

Even Powerwashing simulator has a simple story that weaves together the various tasks. It adds a little colour to a new level and creates some great comedy moments to spur you on.

You should be alternating between intense moments and downtime. Every game has an ebb and flow to it. 

Whether you’re walking to the next boss, in the build phase between waves, or switching between ordinary and “oil spread” levels in a Match 3 game, there’s scope to change the pace.

If it’s all intense action, it can be exhausting. And none of the action gets a chance to land emotionally. 

If it’s all slow and uneventful, nothing feels like it matters. Even a point and click game can have moments with sparkle and excitement following a click.

This is about whether a player can make any choices that matter. Everything from the order they approach challenges, or how they solve things, to expressing themselves through choice.

Can players choose the pace they play at? Can they make any of this their own?

Even fixed narratives like Uncharted let players pick which weapons to pick up and carry. They can head into sequences planning stealth takedowns, machine gun bursts or sniper shots from afar.

Does every action in your game, big or small, give players a sense of accomplishment? 

Dialogue from NPCs, seeing huge explosions, revealing chunks of the world, collectible coins spinning and making a delightful sound as they’re collected, to unexpected animations as a boss gets taken down in an epic animation that destroys the cliff behind them…

Sound, visuals, changes to the world, literal praise, your player should feel rewarded for the things they do. 

Are there mechanics, levels, features or items that feel unnecessary or completely out of place? Cut them.

Trim the fat and let what is there shine.

There’s an old saying I love “when you say fewer words, each one weighs more”. The same concept applies to your game. 

Adding in 12 more things doesn’t feel better when 6 of them are variations on the same thing. 

For the same reason your Match 3 game doesn’t need a random city builder segment to spend coins on.

New players should be able to pick things  up quickly. Experienced players should be able to discover depth and complexity.

Balancing accesibility is key, but giving people the chance to grow and skill up over time keeps people engaged and rewarded.

It gives players the chance to feel powerful. Even Super Mario Bros had people learning to pull off catch moves with shells, crouch jumps and more.