It’s amazing how long it can take to make your first level. It seems so simple at first. Just put a castle here, some grass there, and call it a day. But, questions arise. What art style should we go with? Will sprites be light or dark, so that we know what color grass and flooring to use? How wide do walkways need to be? Basically, figuring out your first level is like figuring out your entire game. Because of that, my first level continues to change. I thought it would be neat to take a look at where it started, and where it is now.

Now that I’m working with other people, all sorts of questions come up about my game. How many illustrations where there be? How many actors? Is the script finished? What tone should the game have? Pretty much every single thing you could think to ask about the game needs an answer. Everyone I have spoken to says to start art / sound / music / copy editing / storyboarding early in the process. Don’t wait until the last minute, they say. And while most people have my best interests in mind, it is still a ton of work to answer questions in a thoughtful way.

I’ve ventured into the unknown while working on my game — I don’t know what art costs. This is becoming an issue because I have all sorts of grand ideas for levels, characters and features. It is clear that art, or more directly my budget, will be the deciding factor on the scope of my game.

While working on the catapult for my game, I came across the first of many design problems I will face. Turns out it is much easier to critique another game’s design than it is to create your own with confidence. In my situation, I was deciding between a player controlled catapult and an automated catapult. I was so torn that I posed the question to /r/gamedesign and had to write the code for each. Let’s look at the results.

Whether it be video games, web development or mobile software, coding is coding. And launching something is hard. Every developer knows that. One of the main difficulties comes from design. Or, more specifically, polish. Anytime I can exercise my design muscles, I’ll be better prepared the next time around.