Where does the game begin?

Video games are an incredibly broad concept, including countless types of interactive entertainment: from visual novels to global strategies, from simple timekillers to ever-living games-as-services. In this article, I tried to collect all the most relevant approaches to the beginning of development, highlighted their features and tried to answer the main question: where does the game begin, after all?

The article will be especially useful for all those who are just planning to try themselves in development. I hope that after reading it, it will become clearer to you in which direction to move. And as always, it is worth mentioning that all the material is just my view on this topic. I welcome you in the comments along with your comments and clarifications, because I am guaranteed to have missed something. And of course, take a look at my Telegramwhere I regularly write about game design and games in general.

And one more thing: for the sake of simplicity, in this article I will equate the starting point of a project with its “core”, although, of course, in reality a game can undergo so many iterations that nothing may remain of the initial vision. Sometimes, not only the main focus of a project can change, but all of its components in general. And now, keeping all of this in mind, I propose to move on to the essence.

In the beginning there was gameplay

Let's start with the most obvious option: you have a cool idea for game mechanics. If you are just starting out in the gaming industry and don't quite understand the terminology, let me give you a quick primer. Game mechanics are some kind of law or rule within your game. Movement, interaction with the world, the presence of, say, inventory: all of these are game mechanics. They can be atomic (tiniest) or consist of several smaller mechanics. A group of mechanics that closely interact with each other is called a game system. For example, a combat system consisting of different strikes, combo attacks, finishing moves, dodges, and other actions. And the gameplay itself consists of the player's actions and his experience, gained through interaction with the entire complex of game systems.

From such a description it may seem that games with a focus on gameplay require a large number of mechanics to be interesting to play. But no, this is not a rule at all. For maximum clarity, we can recall some of the classics: Soko-Ban, Tetris or Snake. Each of these games has a simple set of rules and is explained in a few sentences, but at the same time, from such elementary inputs deep and multifaceted gameplay is born. The hackneyed expression “easy to learn, hard to master” fits perfectly here.

Let's talk about potential problems. It often turns out that with this approach, developers are forced to come up with narrative “plugs” to justify this or that game design decision. For example, during the development process, you understand that in order to increase dynamics, your character should periodically get the opportunity to instantly kill enemies. Then the narrative designer comes into play, who has to justify this decision in some tricky way. However, this is not always possible to do correctly. It follows that projects with gameplay at the forefront often accumulate whole packs of conventions. The main thing is not to start thinking about them during the game, so as not to break your perception of what is happening on the screen.

Another interesting feature of such games is that sometimes a working prototype has to somehow be fitted with a setting. And if this cannot be done, the game risks being abstract. Here, Into the Breach can be mentioned as an example. The developers described in detail how they rebuilt the prototype many times to achieve working and, most importantly, “fun” gameplay, and only after that they attached a setting of combat mechs, giant beetles, and time travel to the project.

“I want to make a game about…”

A completely different approach to development is to start from the setting. Maybe you've always liked dark fantasy, or you love adventures in the spirit of Indiana Jones movies.

What to do next in such a situation? Look for games in the desired setting and try to highlight the most successful solutions. Decompose, look for key details and invent the game gradually. Are you making a detective story? Perhaps you should think about quests. The established rules of the genre, formed over many years of its existence, fit well with the investigation format. However, no one is stopping you from rejecting all the rules and trying to combine something that, at first glance, is incompatible. Perhaps you will give the world a new hit cocktail.

The obvious downside of this approach is a weak understanding of the direction in which the development will ultimately move. The desire to create a conditional “game about cats” can result in either an atmospheric Stray or a funny Little Kitty, Big City.

Any licensed games go into the same piggy bank. If a team is tasked with releasing “something Marvel-related”, hardly anyone on the team will seriously suggest developing a puzzle. In the recent past, they didn't bother at all: in any unclear situation, they would churn out another action platformer. And no, it's not a rock in Shrek's swamp or the Gryffindor common room window. It's nostalgia in the eye.

“The world needs to know what it's like…”

Another way to look at development is to try to convey a certain gaming experience. This is an extremely difficult task, because your tools are limited, and the goal can be quite ambitious. Moreover, the very formulation of the desired experience must be as transparent and clear as possible, otherwise difficulties cannot be avoided.

This is the philosophy that Jesse Schell, the author of one of the most important books on game design, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, promotes. The book covers a huge number of important topics concerning various aspects of development, but the main idea around which the entire narrative is built sounds something like this: the heart of any game should be the experience it strives to provide.

The term “game experience” itself is incredibly broad. In essence, any game gives the player some kind of experience in one way or another. Usually, it is something very conditional or vague. “The experience of an adventurer in a dying world” – what does this mean in practice? If desired, Elden Ring, Hollow Knight, and many other games can be pulled under this definition. Therefore, in order not to blur the concept, we will focus on games that try to convey a very specific experience, described in one phrase.

All kinds of simulators fit perfectly into this category, of which several are released every day. The same Farming Simulator about rural life or House Flipper about home repair and improvement. There is absolutely nothing to explain here: all game systems exist only to achieve one clear goal – give the player the appropriate experience.

“I have a brilliant script!”

An option for those who have an idea for a great story that can be qualitatively revealed through gameplay. The recipe is simple: take your plot, analyze it, isolate something that vaguely resembles gameplay, crystallize it and jump into development.

Visual novels and walking simulators immediately come to mind. And indeed: these are the most accessible and understandable genres, existing precisely so as not to interfere with a decent plot carrying the entire work on its own. Along the way, you can dilute this thing with mini-games, sprinkle some variability and you're done.

However, one should not forget about the risks inherent in such projects. If your game has such a strong emphasis on the story that the other components are lost somewhere in the background, then one should immediately prepare for the fact that many potential players will play your game exclusively on YouTube. This is reality, I'm sorry.

We start from technology

This method comes in handy whenever a new technology, a new way of interaction, a new type of device appears… Basically, any fresh thing that expands the boundaries of what is possible. Remember: each subsequent generation of consoles gave birth to new genres, allowed to implement more and more previously unseen ideas. 3D graphics, the Internet, touch screens, virtual reality, and now neural networks.

At the same time, the technology does not necessarily have to be groundbreaking. Remember Playdate? It is a small console with a retro look and a built-in mechanical handle right on the body. It would seem like nothing special, but during its existence, many games have been created that competently use such a cool gimmick.

You can also go the other way. Perhaps you yourself have created a unique technological solution that successfully forms the basis of the game. For example, as a hobby, you wrote your own generator “billions of unique planets“, some tricky physics system or ant colony simulation. If you use your imagination, all this can easily be turned into a full-fledged game. You already have a USP (unique selling point), all that's left is to finish the rest.

“I want all the money in the world!”

Of course, it is impossible not to mention such an approach. Probably, many dream of creating “their own Stardew Valley”. Many want to hit the jackpot and “go through this life”. And the more a person wants something, the more diligently he looks for a workaround to his goal, cheats, if you like. Every month there are successful examples, another one-day hits, but not everyone realizes how many truly high-quality games fail every month. Pure survivorship bias, nothing less.

Well, let's look at the facts. Is it possible to study the market so deeply as to find the formula for a potential hit with a high chance of virality and the so-called “fly-in”? Definitely yes. At least, I believe in it. But you need to soberly assess your chances. If you don't sleep at night, analyze trends and it seems to you that you feel which way the wind is blowing, then go ahead. Just write an article about it later, it will be interesting to read.

Generally speaking, many teams do this: if they see someone else's success, they quickly try to do the same, with minimal changes. Both small indies and industry giants. Some even manage to bite off a piece of the pie from the founder of the trend. Unfortunately, such a strategy really has the right to exist.

There are other strategies for making money on “game-based products,” but I have no desire to get too close to that topic. Oh yeah, “Be sure to join my paid private club, where I will help you find a niche, teach you how to succeed, tell you where to get assets, teach you how to bypass Steam rules and make a guaranteed profit on your slag, collected for three kopecks“Sorry, I forgot to take my pills.

“No idea where to start…”

There are a lot of techniques for you that will help you create something new literally out of thin air. Let's run through the most interesting ones.

From the banal – you can use a randomizer. They all work on the same principle: by pressing one button you get a random genre, setting, key mechanics, etc. Take the combination you like and into battle. Various idea generation techniques work in a similar way. For example, take random (or not quite) nouns and verbs, then combine them with each other and get a million-dollar idea.

The same principle can be used to mix genres or individual mechanics. Here are some illustrative examples: take a classic team shooter, add abilities — get Overwatch, mix a roguelike and indirect control through tile placement — get Loop Hero, a shooter and a rhythm game together turn into BPM: BULLETS PER MINUTE. You can go on for a long time, the idea is clear.

If you already have at least minimal practical experience in development, then try to join a game jam. The point here is that you are limited to a certain topic that makes you think in a new way, be resourceful, and connect all the reserve assets of your “creative self”. As a rule, the topic is initially set so that it can be freely interpreted. I would even recommend immediately discarding the most obvious ideas, because they are the ones that will most often be implemented by other participants. By the way, there are so many different jams now that you can easily find the perfect one for yourself in terms of theme, duration, and other parameters. Didn’t find one? Then organize your own, that’s it.

If you have an artistic background or are more comfortable thinking in visual images, then you can start with a drawing. This could be concept art, a few characters, a map of a location, an interface, or even a “screenshot” of your, as yet non-existent, game. This way, you can intuitively understand what exactly you want to create.

In conclusion

Well, that seems to be all. We've gone through all the main ways to start developing a game. As you can see, there are quite a lot of them. Each of them has its own specifics and imposes certain obligations on the author. It is important to understand that when you are at the very beginning of your journey, it is quite difficult to immediately find the right direction. But I hope that I have managed to clarify and at least systematize this topic for you a little. If this text helps any of you take your first real step towards creating your first game, I will be very pleased. After all, no matter what, the game, after all, starts with you, your skills and your experience. I think this is the answer to the title question.

Thank you for your attention. If you were interested, then come to me at Telegram. Surely, there will be something funny there too. And as usual, I won't say goodbye.