Game Design for the Non-Technical.

So lately I've been getting a number advice requests over email from indie developers, ranging from business structures to game design. In typical fashion I'm unable to reply to these emails in anything short of five paragraphs, so I figure: "Why not kill two birds with one blunt object haphazardly hurled in the direction of my blog?".

The following is my lightly edited reply to an email I received from a fellow non-technical type asking how to get a game made without the development know-how; something I can very much relate to!


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To start with, the thing you need to figure out is why do you want to make this game? The answer to that question is going to guide you in how you potentially end up developing your game.

If you want to make this game because you think there is marketable viability in the idea, I would first suggest you go look at your competitors on the platform you want to work on. Find out what your competitors have done, why they did some things, and why they didn't do others. See if you can find out how much time and money they spent on their development on their blogs or on developer forums.

If you still think the idea has some legs, it's time to saddle up and find your team! Work out your budget and prepare your core design and pitch documents so you've detailed everything you know - it doesn't matter what you don't know, that's why you're hiring other people - but they need to know the core concepts that are definitive in your head.

I would recommend the first member of your team you should look for is a concept artist. A hundred page design document is all well and good, but a few choice screenshot mock-ups will explain everything so much faster - if you're like me and have neither the technical or artistic capacity to show people what you want, then an artist is essential to getting your message across.

Then you'll need a progammer! (Something to keep in mind; given any limits in budget or time, any dual-classed developers are golden (programmer/composer, programmer/artist etc). For basic gameplay, you could potentially only need a single developer who covers all of your bases.)

Once you have your potential team, but before development starts preferably, make sure you have all of your publishing bits sorted with your platform, ie. if you're making an iPhone game, sign up for the App Store Developer Program, figure out how distribution onto devices works, make sure you're familiar with the languages and technology they allow (and more importantly what they don't allow!), and all of the taxation and banking shenanigans required. The App Store has made most of this pretty easy to handle, but I've not any experience with the Android program yet I'm afraid.

(Of course if you're dealing with an experienced team, they'll already have the personnel and experience to make this process a lot smoother, but that will go hand-in-hand with higher development costs.)

Lastly, make sure you're up front with everyone you deal with in what they're going to get out of the project - contractor fees, profit-sharing, usage of your game in their portfolio, etc. Sorting all of this out early saves heavy headaches later on. Get everything in writing as early as possible so creativity isn't stifled with legalese halfway through the project. Professionals will respect and appreciate the boundaries, and you will be saving your time and investment if things don't go according to plan.

If you want to make this game because you like the idea and think it would make a good game, then there's some good news and bad news. Bad news first is that every developer has ten ideas that they think are "cool" and haven't yet had the chance to make; the adage of "Everyone has ideas, it's how you execute it" has a lot of traction in the game design world! A blog post by Derek Sivers explains the concept very well. It's not game related specifically, but the concept applies 100%.

The other thing to keep in mind is that it is a lot harder to find people who will buy into your pitch if you can't back it up with some financials of how they're going to get reimbursed for their time and effort. It can be possible to find people who will buy in to your idea just as much as you do for free (and the internet can be great for this), but it can take a lot of coaxing and project management to make it happen.

The good news however, is that there are heaps of ways for non-technical people like us to make their own games. There's quite a few pre-made development engines that make putting together game ideas quickly relatively easy - some are free, others cost a little bit but can be worth the money. Quite a few established developers use these tools to prototype their own ideas before working on their code and assets with a larger team!

I can't personally vouch for all of them, but I have seen some really good projects get made quickly with Construct, and I'm about a month or so away from testing it for the first time myself to prototype a marketing idea. There's also a substantial list of art and sound assets for indie developers at the LetsMakeGames resource page, lots of great discussion and a job board at the Indie Gamers forum, plus the Almighty Google is always helpful for finding resources and people to collaborate with.

And at the end of the day, it could be more rewarding and satisfying knowing that you made your game yourself!
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-Anthony

hi ho, hi ho, it's off to a ramshackle mine looking for bloodstone while the zombies are out at night we go!