I naturally spend a lot of time thinking about my game and how it could play. I’ve got an endless list of features to prune. Cool features, stupid features, unique features, gimmicky features and completely ripped off features. Some are not even implementable; others would completely change the direction of the game. Some are both awesome, and feasible, but might not fit in with the rest.
All these ideas keep floating around my head, and I am constantly trying to figure out what to keep, what to discard, and what to expand on. I’ve got a lot of options, to the point where it can become paralyzing.
I’ve learnt that it’s important to keep things simple. I could stuff one idea after another into the game, and I all would have in the end is a jumbled mess. I want something simple, elegant and balanced.
In my quest to improve my work, I regularly turn to some of the games that inspire me. They are mostly indie games. They are usually carefully crafted, finely balanced and beautiful games. They are also almost always very simple games at their core (at least in terms of gameplay). Take Flower for example: an absolutely gorgeous and relaxing game, where your task as a player is to just collect petals from various points in a level. Of course, there are other key elements that make the game an amazing experience: the beautiful graphics, the use of sound and vibrant colors to mark your progress, and the serene Zen-like environment created. Still, at its core, the gameplay is very simple.
I find that extremely inspiring and I will be delighted if I can create a similar experience.
Work Done Last Week
A slow week. A lot of time was spent on fixing bugs that have cropped up thanks to some playtests. And I started work on a new game play feature.
Overall, it was not a productive week, and I am not happy with my performance but I will not continue to dwell on it. There is too much to get done and I must remain focused.
Work Planned This Week
I am continuing work on the new feature, and hopefully another one by the end of the work. And of course continued focus on the gameplay. And more work on the demo level.
