Planning the first game

In this section, we will flesh out exactly what our game will be. The backstory; who is our hero and what are they trying to achieve? The game mechanics; what will the player actually do? What buttons will he press and in what way is that a challenge or fun thing to do? Then, we will look at the rules. What constitutes victory, death, and progress? Finally, we will get technical and start to examine how we will actually build the game.

Backstory

Valerie has been defending the far outposts of humanity since the early '80s. Her brave exploits were originally immortalized in the 1981 arcade classic, Defender. However, after over 30 years on the front line, she is retiring and it is time to begin the journey home. Unfortunately, in a recent skirmish, her ship's engines and navigation systems were severely damaged. Therefore, now she must fly all the way home using only her boost thruster.

This means that she must fly her ship by simultaneously thrusting up and...