Game Creation Order

Hey folks! I have a question to which I haven't found an answer yet.

I have quite a few rough projects and I never am able to finish them because of a detail. Every time i start a game creation project, I always come to the point where I wonder which part of the game I should do first like the sprites, the background, the mechanics, the audio or even the prog...

As i am a single worker, how should I schedul my work so that I know when I am going to do things. I want to know a good idea of the orders the things should be done like for example;

1: audio

2: player art

3: monsters art

4: etc

Thank you so much in advance!

Well, personaly I always start with the mechanics of the game. First thing I plan and start making is the engine of my game: Player movement, enemies, power ups, obstacles, multiplayer, etc... during this fase I use mockups for the sprites of pretty much everything. When I'm done withthe mechanics then it's a nice time to get into the graphics of the game like sprites, menus, tilesets, etc...

Then I can make a 'test level' of the game and start imagining what sounds would I want when the player jumps or kills a enemy, the music I want to be played on background and everything audio relationed.

After that I can think about the plot of the game, which will probabily have an effect in the level design of the game which would be my next step.

That's pretty much the "algorithm" that I follow when developing a game, nothing too complex.

Extra credits have a pretty good video(series) with tips of where to start your game:

For me working the best:

• Concept and clear specification.
• Making clear goal what the game shoud be, something realy achievable. If you cant achieve it, next time, lower your expectations. It is okey to lower your requests - You always could expand it later AFTER you will reach your goal.
• From now follow your goal only.
• Building (Or re use if you already have) basic mechanics (Loading, scene changes, layout managment, menu), try to build them generic, so you could use it in other games as well.
• Building base game play mechanics, also generic if possible.
• Until now use only place holders, with graphics that wont take you more than a minute per sprite to make. Give your art sprites only three things: SHAPE, COLOR, SIZE
• Complete game mechanics, the game should work from start to end.
• Give somebody to try your game, be open minded for changes and suggestions. Everything is good if they say that the art is crappy, it is bad if someone says that he dont know what to do or have bugs. If they say that everithing is OK, they are not a good testers, they are too polite, the art at that point is CRAPPY
• Finish game mechanics after the suggestions.
• Only after finishing game mechanics, start with art, and only art releted bugs should be corrected, dont develop new mechanics, that stage is over, otherwise you will caught yourself in "Feature creep" and wont finish your game.
• The sound is last, both audio and music.
• Give someone to test again.
• Fix bugs
• Release version 1.00.00, and be ready to version 1.00.02
• Only now, after you already have finished game, you can think about expanding your goal.

It is very important not to skip steps and do not change order.

It is verry compelling to skip straight to beautifull art or sound, but it is very counter-productive.

First make your game work, only than add those luxuries.

Also, one of the best tutorials on that topic:

https://www.scirra.com/tutorials/862/game-design-and-development

Although it is better for those ones who create games in a team.

I start with a good main character graphic and an idea for the mechanics. Once your main character works correctly everything else is window dressing.

For example I am working on a realistic Pinball game. The ball and flipper physics are most important and I have spent over a month getting those to work right.

Here is the Demo:

https://www.scirra.com/arcade/tutorial- ... demo-13984

Now that I have that working I can move on to the graphics, sounds and put in tricks I have learned to make the game function and play better.

As I am working I will get ideas for stuff I want to include and I will go searching online for the files I want or make them myself.

Thank you everyone !