As I kick off my next project, there are a lot of questions to be answered. I know who the main character is going to be. I know – generally speaking – what the game play mechanics will be. And, I already have an ending in mind (it’s pretty sweet!).
But, in order to get this project started off on the right foot, I’m going to have to – as fully as possible – document the design. Here are some of the things I’ll be figuring out over the next few weeks:
- Mobile Only?
I’m leaning towards targeting only mobile platforms (again) for this game, just to keep things simple – at least for the first release. I’m not familiar with the Steam ecosystem, so I think it makes sense to do a separate version later on. - Portrait or Landscape
The game is going to be a semi-platformer. And, I’ve seen similar types of games that work well in both orientations. As I get into level/world building, I’m hoping that this will become an easy decision. Which brings me to: - What In the World?
I’ll be using the well-established “World X – Level Y” style of game progression. This brings about multiple questions:
– How many Worlds should there be?
– What is the environment for each World (forest, underwater, etc.)?
– What are the enemies for each of the Worlds?
– Is there a “Boss” at the end?
- Next Level
Once the World situation is figured out, I’ll have to start mapping out the Levels. I’ll also have to decide how many Levels there should be in each World and – probably more importantly – how large a single Level should be for a mobile game. If it’s too short, it’ll probably feel incomplete. If it’s too long, it may become a slog. There will likely be some trial and error here to get the right feel. - Achievements/Leaderboards
I’m pretty certain that I already have this decided – I definitely want to incorporate Achievements (I’ll have to decide how many and what they are), but Leaderboards won’t make much sense. There’s likely going to be a maximum score in this game. - Monetization
I have (at least) a couple of options here:
1. Ad-Supported – A banner ad at the bottom and interstitial ads between levels, with an In-App Purchase to remove them.
– or –
2. First World free, with an In-App Purchase to unlock the rest of the game.
I’m still not sure which way I want to go, but this decision can be made much later.
So, over the coming weeks, I’ll be nailing down the scope of this project and posting updates here as I go along. The start of a new project is always fun & exciting – we’ll see how this goes. Stay tuned and thanks for reading!
