Wanneer jouw ultieme game in jouw hoofd zit en je die eerste stap op weg naar het ‘maken’ wil zetten kan het zeer overweldigend zijn om van jouw verbeelding tot implementatie te raken. Onderstaande is een stap-voor-stap plan om te voorkomen dat je zaken mist tijdens het coden van jouw game.

1. Pre Production Phase
   1. analyze brief
   2. research
   3. brainstorming
   4. determine game objectives
   5. determine game rules
   6. determine core gameplay¹
   7. visualize colour schemes
   8. visualize concept art for all sprites/models
   9. create level/map mockups
   10. create high-concept doc
2. Production Phase
   1. determine scale & proportion
   2. determine engine
   3. setup versioning repository
   4. setup directory structure
   5. code main loop
   6. code levels/maps basics
   7. code core gamemechanics²
   8. code player
   9. code physics(kinematics)
   10. code controls
   11. create primitive objects
   12. code objects attributes and behavior
   13. code collision detection
   14. create basic sound effects
   15. code blocking out
   16. apply basic sound effects
   17. apply scale/proportion
   18. create lo-res environmental 2D sprites/3D models
   • characters, objects, life forms, scenery, vegetation, walls, furniture, vehicles, lighting etc…
   19. animate lo-res environmental 2D sprites/3D models
   20. place/rig lo-res environmental 2D sprites/3D models
   21. code level/maps
   22. code game logic
   23. code gamemechanics²
   24. code enemies
   25. code ai
   26. create lo-res textures for all sprites/models
   27. apply lo-res textures on all sprites/models
   28. create lo-res visual effects
   29. apply lo-res visual effects
   30. create transitional visual effects
   31. apply transitional visual effects
   32. adding game features*
   33. code backend
   34. test core gameplay¹
   35. alpha playtest
   36. refactor according to testreport
   37. alpha game demo
   38. create hi-res polished textures for all sprites/models
   39. apply hi-res polished textures on all sprites/models
   40. create ui/hud interface art
   41. apply ui/hud interface art
   42. create hi-res polished visual effects
   43. apply hi-res polished visual effects
   44. create final polished sound effects
   45. apply final polished sound effects
   46. create cinematics (cut scenes)
   47. apply cinematics
3. Post Production Phase
   1. beta testing final
   2. redesign according to testreport
   3. beta game demo
   4. packaging design / packing code
   5. soft launch
   6. promotion
   7. hard launch
   8. maintenance

1.) Gameplay
Gameplay zijn alle acties die gedaan kunnen worden:

• door de speler
• door andere objecten als reactie op de acties van de speler
• door andere objecten als zelfstandige acties

2.) Gamemechanics
Gamemechanics is de manier om Gameplay mogelijk te maken door een op regels gebaseerd interactief systeem die in staat is om:

• acties te ontvangen
• reacties te geven

*TV Tropes(2015). Videogame Tropes. Geraadpleegd op 5 november 2015, van http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VideogameTropes

• Action Initiative
  The players’ in-game Initiative stat determines who goes in which order.
• Ability Required to Proceed
  Once you receive a particular item that lets you enter a previously inaccessible area, you will need it all over the place to simply continue on your journey.
• Absurdly High Level Cap
  In games with Character Levels, the maximum level is far higher than necessary to defeat the Final Boss.
• Absurdly Low Level Cap
  In games with Character Levels, the maximum level will be attained long before the end of the game.
• Action Commands
  The player must execute a command within a small window of time.
• Adventure-Friendly World
  How the game’s setting is designed to justify the gameplay mechanics.
• Alchemic Elementals
  Four specific monsters (variations are rare) are often used to represent an element.
• Alliance Meter
  Getting the game’s factions to like or hate you.
• Already Done for You
  Another character in the story has already accomplished one of your objectives.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different
  After getting used to one hero, you suddenly find yourself controlling a different character.
• Another Side, Another Story
  After beating the game, you get to play a parallel storyline with another character or plotline.
• Antepiece
  A small piece of level design that is not in itself very challenging but gives players a clue about how they should respond to a bigger challenge that’s just around the corner.
• Arbitrary Mission Restriction
  The player is given a mission that must be completed in an arbitrarily specific way, or a mission has optional extra conditions that can be fulfilled for a better reward than just completing the mission.
• Artificial Atmospheric Actions
  NPC actions which are programmed but turn up in inappropriate ways or circumstances.
• Awesome but Temporary
  That super-awesome new weapon isn’t going to be around for long…
• Backtracking
  Having to return to an area you’ve already been to.
• Bag of Spilling
  Wait, didn’t I have a rocket launcher at the end of the last level?
• Battle Intro
  The introduction a character has before a fighting game match.
• Battle Theme Music
  Feel those awesome riffs, man!
• Beating A Dead Player
  You just died… so why are those dudes still attacking your corpse?
• Beat Them at Their Own Game
  The most effective tactic against the enemy is the enemy’s own tactics.
• Big Damn Fire Exit
  Is the building being destroyed around you? There’ll always be a fireproof/destructionproof pathway you can escape through!
• Call a Hit Point a “Smeerp”
  A common video game convention that is given a different name in an attempt at immersion.
• Camera Lock-On
  Focusing the camera on a target.
• Camera Screw
  The camera in a 3D game can be more of a hindrance than a help.
• Capture the Flag
  Common video game mode where two teams try to capture each other’s flag. And kill lots of them while they’re at it, usually.
• Changing Gameplay Priorities
  A game’s mechanical elements grow and change over the course of the game, such that the things you prioritize in the early game are much different than the things you prioritize in the late game.
• Character Customization
  Altering the statistics of your character in relation to the game the character is in.
• Check Point
  A point to which the player can return after play has been interrupted, especially by player character death.
• Check Point Starvation
  A severe lack of Check Points.
• Class Change Level Reset
  If your character changes his class, you must level him up from zero.
• Color-Coded Armies
  Opposing sides in a strategy game can be told apart by their color.
• Color-Coded Multiplayer
  Identical PC’s can be told apart by their color.
• Com Mons
  The monster (in monster battlers) or card (in card battlers) for beginners, which quickly becomes useless.
• Combatant Cooldown System
  A combat system where how soon combatants can act again is determined both by their Speed stat and by the complexity of their respective previous actions.
• Comeback Mechanic
  A feature that provides assistance to losing players or players near elimination.
• Common Tactical Gameplay Elements
  Rules that add a tactical dimension to video game combat.
• Controllable Helplessness
  Video games that allow you to control your character (somewhat) even while helpless.
• Cooldown Manipulation
  Where you can manipulate the Cooldown of your abilities (or your foes’).
• Corridor Cubbyhole Run
  A corridor with a constant hazard you have to avoid by utilizing “safe zones”.
• Cranium Ride
  Jumping on an enemy’s head and riding them, often across hazards.
• Creature Breeding Mechanic
  Breeding in-game animals or monsters to further one’s goals.
• Critical Existence Failure
  You can survive any amount of injury with no lasting effects — unless it takes out your last Hit Point, in which case it’s instant death.
• Critical Status Buff
  A character becomes more powerful as his Hit Points approach zero.
  • Turns Red
    When an enemy (usually a Boss) becomes more powerful as his Hit Points dwindle.
• Crouch and Prone
  Crouching and/or lying on the ground has various effects for your character.
• Defenseless Transports
  Transport units are usually unarmed.
• Die, Chair! Die!
  In-game props which can be destroyed, sometimes resulting in a reward.
• Direct Continuous Levels
  It’s a linear game, but not broken up by jumps between levels.
• Do Not Drop Your Weapon
  Heroes and enemies will never drop their gun—until they die.
• Do Not Run with a Gun
  Only the player can move and shoot at the same time; everyone else has to stop if they want to attack.
• Dream Match Game
  Games whose roster include absolutely everyone from a series at the time, at the expense of canonicity.
• Drop-In-Drop-Out Multiplayer
  Other players can join and leave any time they want.
• Dual-World Gameplay
  Gameplay techniques introduced by the idea of the player travelling between two worlds.
• Easy Exp
  Non-standard way to gain XP (experience/experience points).
• Easy-Mode Mockery
  The game mocks you for playing on easy mode.
• Elites Are More Glamorous
  While frequently a military type, your Player Character’s specific position rarely happens to be “Yet Another Grunt In This Trench“. Then again, in most cases you would not want to play as one of these for long.
• Endgame Plus
  Defeating the Final Boss returns you to your most recent save point, but with new bonus content added to the gameworld somewhere.
• Endless Game
  A game that never ends; you just keep going to more and more levels.
• Enemy Detecting Radar
  Blip! Blip! Blip… VRRRRP!?
• An Entrepreneur Is You
  A game where you run a business of some sort.
• Equipment Upgrade
  Enhance your equippable items instead of replacing them!
• Everything Breaks
  It’s like as soon as you touch it, it crumbles into dust!
• Everything-Is-Smashable Area
  A confined space in a video game where every object surrounding you is smashable, usually for collecting points.
• Everything Trying to Kill You
  Everything wants you dead. Everything.
• Extra Turn
  Take one step, and then again!
• Fake Balance
  Theoretically balanced gameplay elements that in practice, are not balanced.
• Fake Difficulty
  When game designers create the illusion of a challenge through Luck-Based Mission and other means, or when a game really is hard, but for the wrong reasons.
• Fake Longevity
  Padding a game out to make it longer.
• Fame Gate
  Story progression occurs as the Player Character’s fame increases.
• First Person Snapshooter
  A gameplay element that requires you to take pictures of things.
• Fission Mailed
  When it looks like you’ve lost the game, but the plot still continues.
• Flash of Pain
  Every time an enemy gets hit, it blinks a different colour for a short time.
• Flushing Edge Interactivity
  Because being able to flush toilets that otherwise serve no function whatsoever is the cinematic interactive experience players are looking for!
• Follow the Money
  Ubiquitous, small, often shiny collectible items, usually in Platform Games.
• Fractional Winning Condition
  You have several objectives, and completing a certain number of them advances you to the next stage (though you can stay to get them all).
• Game Lobby
  When players need to get together and agree to play before an online game can start.
• Gameplay Automation
  When the game optionally runs, or offers to run, parts of itself.
• Game Plays Itself
  A videogame forcibly automates something traditionally player-controlled in that genre of game.
• Game Within a Game
  Playing a different game inside a game.
• Geo Effects
  Where the terrain can affect battles, such as stats or effectiveness of elemental abilities.
• Goodies in the Toilets
  Bathrooms will contain treasure, clues, or other useful things, if they’re included in a game at all.
• Gravity Barrier
  A huge cliff or vertical drop that acts as a “fence” keeping the player from passing it.
• Grimy Water
  Water with a tainted color that harms or kills the character upon contact.
• Healing Spring
  A body of water that heals bathers.
• Hit Points
  A number attributed to your health that indicates how close to death you are.
• Home Field Advantage
  Common in strategy games and Role Playing Games, where one side has a distinct advantage based on terrain or location.
• Homing Boulders
  Where any projectile homes into its target—even things like arrows and boulders.
• Human Cannonball
  Launching yourself out of a cannon is an useful form of transportation.
• Idiosyncratic Combo Levels
  Names for combo length or timing specific to a game.
• Informed Equipment
  Equipped weapons and armor are not visibly reflected on your character sprites or models.
• Injured Player Character Stage
  The player character in a game gets injured in a cutscene, which affects their abilities in the following gameplay.
• Injured Vulnerability
  Attacks and other effects only work on weakened targets.
• In-Universe Game Clock
  Time passes, generally on a day/night cycle.
  • NPC Scheduling
    NPCs can be seen moving about as the time passes.
• An Interior Designer Is You
  A video game that lets you decorate a room.
• Item Drop Mechanic
  Defeated enemies drop items, representing their loot.
• Last Chance Hit Point
  If Critical Existence Failure doesn’t occur immediately upon zero HP, but waits for the owner to take one more hit.
• Level Editor
  Make your own levels—ridiculously easy or fiendishly difficult? You decide!
• Level Goal
  The way to mark a definitive end to a video game level without a Boss Battle.
• Level Scaling
  As you level up, so do your enemies.
• Level Up Fill Up
  Go up a level, and your HP fills back up to the max.
• Lift of Doom
  A Floating Platform that ascends, and as it does it passes through everything but the player character.
• Locked Door
  You need a key to open the door. No, you can’t just knock it down.
• Loot Command
  A specific command you need to loot something from a defeated enemy.
• Luck Manipulation Mechanic
  Game mechanics that let you re-attempt chance based elements to get a better result.
• Luck Stat
  A vaguely described statistic used as a catch-all for various effects.
• Maximum HP Reduction
  An attack that reduces the target’s maximum hit points rather than just their current amount.
• Mini-Game
  We interrupt your regularly scheduled plot for an Unexpected Gameplay Change!
  • Betting Mini-Game
    Let’s pause our quest to play craps!
  • Fishing Minigame
    Toss a line and reel in the big one!
  • Hacking Minigame
    Hacking into computer systems is for profit and fun!
  • Hot Coffee Minigame
    No need to call Freud — these characters are in fact making out or having sex.
  • Lockpicking Minigame
    Set the pins in a lock to open in.
  • Mini-Game Credits
    The closing company credits double as their own Minigame.
  • Persuasion Minigame
    Win this minigame to convince an NPC to help you.
  • Racing Minigame
    First one to the finish line wins!
• Minmaxer’s Delight
  A single ability, feat, or Character Customization option that is very nearly a Game Breaker. OR a customization disadvantage that can easily be negated altogether.
• Mirror Match
  Where a character fights themself.
• Mooks but No Bosses
  A game is full of enemies to beat, but doesn’t have any real Boss Battle.
• Morale Mechanic
  A game mechanic simulating the combatants’ morale and fighting spirit.
• Multi-Mook Melee
  Where you have to fight a seemingly endless stream of Mooks who slowly become tougher.
• Multiplayer-Only Item
  Items that are either exclusive to the Multiplayer mode (even though they could technically appear in Singleplayer as well), or are useless in Singleplayer.
• Multiple Persuasion Modes
  The player characters can use different in-game skills to persuade NPCs to help (such as Charm, Intimidate, Bribe, etc.).
• Musical Gameplay
  Games where the background music is immediately affected by what happens on the screen.
• New Game+
  Way of starting a new game by accessing a previous finished game, allowing you to start with improved stats, new costumes or items won beforehand.
• No Bulk Discounts
  In games with shops, buying items in bunches never saves you money.
• Non-Combatant Immunity
  No enemies will try to attack you, or be capable of killing you, until you have the means to fight back.
• No Points for Neutrality
  Choosing neutral options won’t get you as much development as a good or evil option.
• Not the Intended Use
  When the player finds alternative methods to beat the game than what developers intended to allow. Sometimes requires real skill to pull off.
• Olympus Mons
  Cosmically powerful Mon that your teen or pre-teen character can capture and harness.
• One-Hit Polykill
  When a bullet goes through its target and can continue to hit more targets.
• One Stat to Rule Them All
  One of the stats you can upgrade grossly outweighs the others in terms of usefulness.
• Only Smart People May Pass
  Any barrier that requires the heroes to solve some kind of puzzle or riddle in order to pass.
• On Site Procurement
  If you want better stuff, you’ll have to find it on the job.
• Outside-the-Box Tactic
  Certain enemies are vulnerable to tactics that are bizarre or otherwise not intuitive at first glance.
• Overheating
  Your gun will overheat if you use it for too long, even if you have unlimited ammo.
• Oxygenated Underwater Bubbles
  Conveniently located air bubbles to replenish your Oxygen Meter.
• Padded Sumo Gameplay
  High defensive and low offensive stats for both the player and enemies result in long, monotonous battles.
• Palette Swap
  Two sprites (characters, monsters etc.) that are identical except for their color scheme.
• Pass Through the Rings
  The player must pass through a certain number of rings or other objects within a limited time period.
• Password Save
  Saving your progress through use of a password rather than game memory.
• Path of Most Resistance
  When you are presented with multiple paths or options, you should always take the most difficult looking one.
• Playable Menu
  Fully interactable main menu sequence.
• Player Data Sharing
  Aspects of one player’s single player campaign can be transferred to another’s.
• Player Versus Environment
  A type of video game mode in which the enemies are computer-generated AI, specifically when players can be fought as well outside this mode.
• Player Versus Player
  A type of video game mode in which the enemies are other players of the game.
• Plot Lock
  Something which you should easily be able to pass through, given your abilities, but the plot decrees you can’t.
• Point of No Return
  A place in the story where it becomes impossible to revisit earlier points.
• Pop Quiz
  A sudden general knowledge quiz regarding obscure facts about the events, characters and monsters in the game universe.
• Power Up Motif
  An auditory cue that a powerup is in play.
• Pressure Plate
  A door that’s powered by a floor plate that trips when stood upon.
• Press X to Not Die
  During a cinematic event, you are instructed to press a button to trigger events or dodge attacks etc.
• Purely Aesthetic Gender
  Character sex (where it can be chosen) makes no difference in player stats.
• PVP Balanced
  In games where players can fight each other, classes must be balanced so one type of character is not overpowered.
• A Quest Giver Is You
  When games let you send NPCs on independent side missions for your benefit.
• Regenerating Health
  You can heal injuries just by being inactive, even without first aid.
• Regenerating Mana
  Your Mana meter refills on its own.
• Regenerating Shield, Static Health
  You have two health meters, only one of which regenerates.
• Relationship Values
  A usually hidden meter that measures the depth of your relationship to other characters.
• Resting Recovery
  Put the characters into a dormant state for a certain time to rapidly recover their HP/MP/etc.
• Ring Out
  To win a match held in a bounded area by throwing, forcing, or tricking the enemy into stepping out of bounds.
• Rocket Tag Gameplay
  High offensive stats and low defensive stats for both the player and enemies result in quick, unpredictable battles.
• RPG Elements
  Where a non-RPG is given some aspects of one (menu battles, equipment, levels).
• RPGs Equal Combat
  The only way to get equipment, skills and levels is to fight things.
• Run Don’t Walk
  Modern games have characters run by default; walking is more difficult to do.
• Rules of the Game
  An area of the game with special rules or restrictions.
• Sandbox Mode
  A mode where you can play the game without restrictions.
• Save Point
  A specific spot where the player is allowed to save.
  • Justified Save Point
    Use this computer terminal to record your progress? (Yes/No)
• Scoring Points
  It’s all about the points, baby! Rack up those zeroes!
  • Pinball Scoring
    Games that award points in extremely ridiculous amounts.
• Scratch Damage
  You are never invincible – even enemies much weaker than you will still do 1 Hit Point of damage with their attacks.
• Set a Mook to Kill a Mook
  Games that offer some way to control, trick, or override enemies and make them attack other enemies.
• Shall I Repeat That?
  When, at the end of a long set of text or dialogue tree, the person with whom you are speaking asks to start the entire conversation over.
• Silliness Switch
  A game option that raises the game to significantly elevated stupidity levels.
• Sliding Scale of Cooperation vs. Competition
  How much the players cooperate or compete in the multiplayer mode.
• Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration
  How well do the themes of the story and the mechanics of the gameplay mesh together?
• Sliding Scale of Turn Realism
  How games simulate the passage of time.
• Smashing Survival
  In order to break free of an enemy’s grip or shake loose from a trap, you have to smash the buttons, frantically spin the analog stick, or a combo of both.
• Sniping Mission
  When the player is tasked with using a long-range weapon to attack far-away targets.
• Spread Shot
  Your gun shoots bullets covering wider range.
• Springs Springs Everywhere
  Video games are full of springboards and other bouncy things.
• Stance System
  The ability to switch to a new set of abilities or attack styles, designed to open up more strategies and combo opportunities.
• Story Difficulty Setting
  A difficulty setting specifically catering to players who just want to experience the story.
• Story-Driven Invulnerability
  Even if you interact with the bad guy while chasing after him, you can’t actually damage him until the Boss Battle officially begins.
• Subsystem Damage
  When individual body parts can be targeted or damaged, or when physical effects impede your character, such as limping or shaky aim.
• Surplus Damage Bonus
  When you get rewarded for damaging an opponent beyond its max HP.
• Swiss Army Hero
  Sometimes you get many heroes in one.
• Tactical Door Use
  Monster chasing you? Shut the door.
• Tank Controls
  When a game forces you to move forward and backward separately from left and right.
• Teased with Awesome
  When a video game gives you awesome gameplay elements only to take them back immediately.
  • A Taste of Power
    Where you are given a strong character or ability early on, but lose it quickly.
• Ten-Second Flashlight
  Your flashlight only lasts a few seconds.
• Time Trial
  A game mode where the game keeps track of how long you’ve been playing a level.
• Tube Travel
  In which you get somewhere by going through a tube.
• Turn-Based Combat
  When combat in the game is resolved in turns.
• Unbroken First-Person Perspective
  When a game never breaks from the first-person perspective of its player character(s).
• Unexpected Shmup Level
  Whoa, my trusty steed! Forsooth, we must pause to do a Shoot ‘em Up level!
• Unexpectedly Realistic Gameplay
  In this game, you have to do stuff that games shouldn’t be able to do!
• Veteran Unit
  An equivalent of a Character Level in Real-Time Strategy games
• Video Game Objectives
  Stock goals in video games.
• Video Game Setpiece
  An occurrence that is not part of the game’s typical gameplay/engine mechanics (e.g. monsters suddenly smashing down doors).
• Warp Zone
  A secret area of a video game that allows you to magically teleport to another level, possibly offering you a choice of levels.
• Whack A Monster
  Fight an enemy that is only vulnerable when it pops up.
• When All Else Fails, Go Right
  Application of the Genre Savvy concept that the goal is generally to the right of the starting point.