Video Games Something Something…

Daniel Marino

Award Winning Indie Game Designer

½ of Bran Dunino Studios

I’ve made two video games, ever.

I'm totally qualified to talk about this.

ONOFF

6th place JS13K 2018
5th place JS13K 2018 Community Awards

Seven Lessons Learned

One:
Create a Consistent Experience

• Stick with a theme throughout the entire game.
• Make the game flow from beginning to end.
• Make the player feel like they’re in the game.

Two:
Experiment with Ideas

• Explore every idea that comes into your brain, whether it seems really simple or difficult.
• What are some crazy ways you can push your game in an interesting direction?
• Maybe your game mechanic(s) seem pretty simple? Just implement it and don’t worry about it.

Three:
Take Something Out of Your Game

• You’re game is too complicated, take one or two things out!
• Now that you’ve taken something out of your game, take something else out!
• You’ll be surprised how taking one small thing out of a game can completely change it.

Four:
Make Your Game Easy to Learn

• Use the game’s mechanics to educate the player.
• Try not to rely on text to teach the player how to play.
• Ideally, try to introduce one mechanic at a time.

Five:
Progressively Increase the Game’s Difficulty Over Time

• Start the game out really simple.
• Build on existing mechanics to help push the story forward.
• Give the player enough time to get used to new mechanics.

Six:
Get People to Playtest Your Game

• You’ll get fresh perspectives.
• Playtesters will find things that you’ll easily overlook.
• Get people who will spend more than 2 minutes playing it, and will give detailed and honest feedback.

Seven:
Make It Fun to Play

• This is by far the most important thing!
• No one wants to play a game that isn’t enjoyable to play!

Try Making a Game

• All you need is a good idea.
• Partner with other people that have the skills you lack.
• There are a lot of resources available on the interwebz.

Merci!