📈 The Game Concept Ramp-Up (Steps 11-20)

Making games is hard – but what if we chopped up the process into manageable bits?

This is a continuation of the game concept ramp-up (part 1). It's a list of tasks that you can complete when working on a new game concept, ordered from least to most difficult and/or time-consuming.

It can help you choose the "right" game concept to work on!

📈 The Game Concept Ramp-Up (Steps 1-10)

Begin with the SIMPLEST way to define your game, ramping up to finishing it! (part 1/2)

ValadriaMatt Hackett

How this list works

The first step should be the easiest. Each step generally increases in either difficulty or time to complete. After each step, you should have something tangible & useful to you in the game development process.

1. Describe your game using one sentence
2. Write a short description for your game
3. Decide on the genre(s) for your game
4. List 3-5 popular games that are similar to yours
5. Produce a color palette for your game
6. Create a 16x16 pixel favicon for your game
7. List all the action verbs players can perform
8. Create a single-page GDD (game design document)
9. Create a single screenshot to represent your game
10. Make a 3-second GIF that sells your game
11. Build a rough prototype (quick game-jam style)
12. Create a gameplay-only 17-second trailer for your game
13. Playtest your rough prototype
14. Make a 60-second trailer that sells your game
15. Create a landing page for your game
16. Finish your GDD
17. Create/commission key art for your game
18. Create a 10-20 slide pitch deck that sells your game
19. Build a fully polished, 25+ minute demo of your game
20. Create a fully playable, 2+ hour vertical slice of your game

What's cool about this list is that you can bail at any time. If at any point you realize the concept isn't strong enough to justify the remaining work to get the next task done, just shelve that concept. Move on to the next one.

Again, find those first 10 steps with explanations right here. Now let's continue the list:

11. Build a rough prototype (quick game-jam style)

My advice is to treat this exactly like a game jam.

That's how I did it! I had a 3-day weekend and decided to jam out a few of the steps listed in this guide. It was fun and taught me a lot about my concept.

You could of course pick an actual game jam and contribute to it. Game devs have shown this to be a winning approach over and over and over and over again.

My advice is to develop your prototype quick and dirty! Read those words again. I know that "quick and dirty" is a common expression but I'm dead serious here.

Quick. Dirty. Do not be tempted to re-use this code for anything else. Make it as fast and sloppy as necessary to just get the basic prototype out. If you decide to develop this game further, be prepared to start from scratch with better code.

This is probably one of the hardest steps. Free yourself. Be dirty. Good luck!

12. Create a gameplay-only 17-second trailer for your game

Trailers are the perfect way to promote your game. Typically they're around 60-90 seconds, which can be a big ask without having built most of the game.

Making a shorter trailer is much easier, but can still help promote your game.

I did this! It was for INDIE Live Expo, and you can watch it below:

Isn't it just so much easier to make a trailer than an entire video game?! (Yes.)

Which begs the question ... should trailer-led game development be more of a thing? (Probably.)

The idea is that, instead of spending weeks or months making an entire game, you quickly make a trailer in just a few days or whatever. Then, blast that out all over the web to see what people think.

Did they love it? Did it go viral? Or do you at least now have loads of positive comments? Either way making a trailer can be a far faster method of determining if the concept you're developing is gold (or not).

13. Playtest your rough prototype

Look, I'm going to level with you: indies don't playtest enough.

Statistically, this includes you. (It certainly includes me. Hah.)

Even if all you do is sit down with a friend (or video chat with them), make them play your game, shut your mouth, and take good notes – you are head and shoulders above most indies.

Yes, really.

If you go the extra mile and do a "professional" (paid) playtest?! Forget about it! You're on another level. You're learning more about the reality of playing your game from real players, you're finding/fixing more bugs, and you're making your game far better than you could on your own.

I did a playtest for Pixel Washer. It was early times, but it was time, ya know? I booked 10 participants, each recording 30 minutes of video, for a whopping total of 5 hours worth of playtester videos. They also filled out feedback surveys!

I consumed all of their feedback, bored out of my mind, sobbing uncontrollably, agonizing over my stupid decisions, banging my head against – I'm just kidding it wasn't that bad. But it's certainly painful to watch players struggle with your game (or just not enjoy it).

It's hard but it's worth doing. So just do it!

I got "fancy" with it for Pixel Washer. I used Game Tester and integrated with their API – but you do you. Figure out what works for you, recruit from the Valadria Discord if you're strapped for cash, and get the feedback you desperately need to make your game better.

14. Make a 60-second trailer that sells your game

Here's my trailer, clocking in just under 50 seconds.

Yup, I did a weird "chilled-out guy" voice (with effects) to narrate it. Why did I do that, you ask? Well, I, uh ... gotta go! Byeeeeeeee

If you need advice on making game trailers, you know I'm going to point you to Derek Lieu and our podcast all about indie game trailers.

🎬 Making great game trailers with Derek Lieu

Nobody knows more about game trailers than Derek Lieu. Let’s pick his brain and soak up game trailer wisdom!

ValadriaMatt Hackett

15. Create a landing page for your game

Eventually you must have some place for players to learn about your game. Ideally it's on a domain you own, but you'll need store page(s) either way. What will your pages look like? How do you talk about your game, how do you convince players it's worthwhile?

There are lots of different options for your landing page(s). Here's what you could do, and what I've done for Pixel Washer:

1. A landing page that you own. Here's mine (includes a press kit!).
2. Itch is great, isn't it? Here are some tools for making good Itch pages.
   1. Easy Releasy
   2. itch.io's HTML basement
   3. Better Creator Pages
3. Steam is probably the ideal place, but you might not feel ready yet. That's OK! It's a big deal – hold out until you know for sure what kind of game you're making, what it looks like, and have some attractive assets ready to post.
4. A vanity URL? Sure, do it, if it motivates you. I got pixelwasher.com.

🐷 Pixel Washer

Have a relaxing time power washing beautiful pixels.

ValadriaMatt Hackett

16. Finish your GDD (Game Design Document)

This is hard because you've really gotta nail down the whole game. How dare someone ask this of us?! I know!! We've already written up a whole entire page, and now we have to flesh it out?! Ridiculous.

I have a "full" GDD for Pixel Washer, and yes I had to make it. Someday I might share it but for now I neither can nor want to, but I will share a drawing I made for it.

This shows the basic game loop, which is that you start at your business's headquarters, your select a job to wash, you do the actual washing, you get to see your results (and get paid), and then you head back to your headquarters. Here you have the option of visiting the shop where you can buy stuff.

That's the game. Obviously there's more to it, but that's a great way to break it down. If you're struggling to make a GDD, just make it a simple document that describes the game, and maybe include a flowchart drawing the way I have.

Don't overthink it. Finish a first draft and iterate on it later.

17. Create/commission key art for your game

Are you among the almost exactly 300 people who follow me and my work closely enough to watch a long, self-indulgent video about my barely-games-adjacent side project about photographing a hand-painted diorama to promote my indie game?

Since you're here, allow me to say that I really appreciate you. Seriously, thanks!

Anyway I created key art for Pixel Washer myself, because of reasons I discuss in the video. If you're smarter and/or wealthier than me, you should probably commission key art for your game from a real artist.

This can help make your project feel "real" in that you've now spent nontrivial money (and/or time) on your project. And you've got some beautiful artwork to help promote it!

This step can be difficult to take – how do you find an artist? How much do you pay them? Why don't you just take diorama photos like that weird Matt guy? You can get the ball rolling by finding games whose artwork you admire, then finding out who made their art.

18. Create a 10-20 slide pitch deck for your game

A pitch deck is meant to explain your game and how you plan to make it. It should be attractive, fun to read, and answer most questions anyone might have about your game (especially publishers).

Ideally they have sections on genre, comps, development plan, timelines, marketing thoughts, maybe a budget, and whatever else is appropriate for your project.

I'd like to share mine someday. Maybe! (Stay tuned.) In the meantime, here are some select slides from the Pixel Washer pitch deck:

Here are some resources on pitch decks:

• The Only 10 Slides You Need in Your Pitch
• 30 Things I Hate About Your Game Pitch
• GameDiscoverCo Plus - Pitch Decks
• Glitch / Video Game Pitch Decks

Bacon and Games

An indie developer resource for getting your game published, making things with Godot, and other nonsense.

Bacon and GamesSean McKenzie

19. Build a fully polished, 25+ minute demo of your game

The Pixel Washer demo is (currently) on Itch. It's very simple but gets the idea across, I think.

🫧 Pixel Washer - DIRTY DEMO by Valadria

Have a relaxing time power washing beautiful pixels as Pigxel the pig.

itch.ioBrank0

I would not recommend expanding your quick 'n dirty prototype to make your demo. I mean you do you, I don't know how you like to make games, but you should take your demo more seriously than your prototype.

Your demo can be very short, but it should be completely playable. At this point, players who will eventually be big fans of your game should enjoy the demo. If they don't, then something is wrong.

This is kind of the "last stop" before continuing into "the swamp" of seemingly-endless development cycles towards the finish line. It might feel like you've done a ton of work to arrive at this point (and you have, good job!), but it's nothing compared to the months or years of finishing. 💀

This is the time to solve those major problems ... or abandon this particular concept.

20-99. Finish and release your game

That's it! Now you just need to finish it bahahahahaha of course that's the hardest part. If you'd like a guide on that wellllll conveniently I wrote a book about that.

🧪 Test your steps

At each step during the process, you can vet your concept. Ask friends, post your progress online, and see what kind of feedback you get. If you like what you see, keep going!

If you don't get the positive reaction you're looking for, then: take notes, think about how to improve, and get back to the drawing board. See ya there!