Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 1
The Second Game Theory
Second game—what about the first game? Well, of course, you need to make your first game, but
inevitably your first game will not be all that you hoped it to be. It just happens. Don't blame
yourself. You will cut features for time, get frustrated, and sometimes not even finish. However,
this is the most important thing we want you to do: finish your game, and move onto the next. It is
the only way you will get better at making games. This is the
second game theory
.
This topic is set up in a way that we believe will help you finish a game and move onto your
second
game. It is important to us, as developers and teachers of Flash and Flex as well as
game design and programming, that developers actually finish their games. We love to play great
Flash games online. Every time you finish a game, no matter how good it is, you get little bit
better at your craft. When you get better, we get better games to play. We get more innovative
games to play. The craft of making online Flash games advances a little bit more. Your job is to
finish something, learn from it, and move onto the next project. Move onto your
second
game,
and when you've done that, move onto your third, then your fourth, then your fifth until Flash
games are in your blood, and the whole Internet is buzzing in anticipation of your next
masterpiece.
However, your
first
game should not be considered a prototype, a beta, or an alpha version. It
should be considered a finished product. If not, you may always be stuck on your
first
game,
and that can lead to
development hell
: a place where games are tortured to the brink of life but
never born.
Making games is an iterative process
We believe that making games in an
iterative
process on two levels. First, the process of making
each individual game is iterative. You code your game, refine it, code it, and refine it, over and
over until you mold something that you finally finish. Many times, when you start a game project,
you only have a general idea of where you are going. After each development iteration, the
destination gets clearer until you finally reach something that is playable.
