// Design Philosophy

 So, you have just downloaded a game engine, excited to start working on your dream game. You boot it up, create your first project, and met with a blank screen. You then stare at this blank screen for an hour just trying to think of what game you want to make. How do you come up with a good game idea?

 The first thing I do before even opening up a game engine is creating a new google doc.  There I will just start writing down whatever comes to my mind. One great place for inspiration is Game Jams. Game Jams are short competitions, normally lasting a few days to two weeks, with a set theme. They are rated off their creativity for the theme. The themes are normally announced the day the jam starts to prevent pre-made games being submitted. I like to use this website that gives you common game jam themes. An example of a theme that the website gave me is "You're Not Supposed To Be Here." 

Lets base our game off this theme. There are many ways to interpret this, am I a robber breaking into a house? Or, maybe this is a horror game that gives the player uneasiness. However, for this game I want to keep it simple. What if you are an alien escaping a government facility going home? Perfect.

Next is to tackle the gameplay loop. What are you doing in this game? Well you are playing as this alien and you need to collect 5 parts to your spaceship. Goverment agents are after you and you can either run from them or fight back. After you collect all 5 parts you win. Pretty simple in scope and should be pretty easy given the timeline of this project. 

 Finally, with the idea, I make a trello board. Trello allows you to make a to-do list and easily organize them visually. I definitely recommend trello to help get your ideas down and see the progress on your game

 
Example of a Trello board 

Comments

  1. AngelaApril 26, 2026 at 2:10 PM

    I've always wanted to make a game! I normally use applications like Roblox and Blender, I bet Trello Board will help out a lot.

    ReplyDelete

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