Testing the mechanics
After deciding how our game will be, we should creating a simple test (without worrying about the design) with only the main features of the game, to see if our idea really works well. By doing this at this stage, we avoid spending a lot of time creating the art of the game, creating the scripts, and putting everything in place because we may end up creating a game that isn't fun, and at least this way we can minimize the amount of work that needs to be redone.
Here we can use simple squares and circles to create our level and add the movement mechanics to an object to test the game.
What's next? Another good step forward is to write down the game's feature list and talk about each of the steps in detail.
Here is the feature list:
- Level design
- An animated 2D character with 2D physics
- Controls
- Collectables and storing the player's data
- A scoring system that stores high scores
- User interface
Let's talk about each of these features to make sure you understand what they are.