How To Finnish Your Game by: luiishu535

As you've probably been wondering why you work hard on your project without getting near completion. I've heard some tips from people who has completed their games and I'd love to share my knowledge and tips with you guys who work hard on your projects.
In this guide, I will tell you my secrets and tips on finnishing a game. The guide will be sorted by
So, let's get this startef, shall we?
(EXTRA HINTS CAN BE FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST!)

1. Planning your game:
(You must do this before starting your game! It's important that if you haven't planned your game out well, it's gonna take atleast twice as much time to complete the actual game!)
- Brainstorm. Plan out your game in your head, means story, characters, gameplay, resources and everything else.
- After you've planned it, write it down somewhere. You don't need to write down every single event. Just make sure you add the important story, characters, worl, locations, music, resources and gameplay.
- After you've done those, go back and check everything so it's clear and that your game looks solid and completeable.

Note: Planning your game is one of the most important stuffs in game making. If you don't plan it out well before starting, you're only gonna trouble in finnishing it, since you will keep add new ideas all the times that aren't necessary if your game has been planned. In other words, no planning = slower progress.

2. Preparing your game:
(This is necessary to do so that when you start working on the game's story and mapping etc, you will have every base of the game finnished, database, resources, scripts etc.
- First off, start importing your resources(graphics, music, scripts= yes) to your game, whether it is in the program or in a map.
- After that, start databasing. Finnish your items, skills, enemies, actors, animations and so on.
- When you've done that, test everything, your battle ballance, your script's working and everything else you've made so far.
- After that, check one more time if your satisfied. If you are, then you're now done with the preparations of your game's bases.

Note: Preparing your game will make the actual progress much quicker and more fun! And that is one good feature there!

3. Start working on your game:
(Now, you've come to the third phrase, working on your game. This means that you're done with everything planned, story, database, resources and it's now time to start making the story, world and mapping in the actual game.)
- Make progress as good as you can. When you've got everything planned out, this will be much more fun and enjoying then it would've been if the game were'nt planned.
- Get supported. If you feel that you've done enough progress to show off your game like screenshots or videos for example, you'll probably get good feedback that will keep you motivated on working on your game.
- Make daily/weekly goals. If you plan goals by a certain date, you will work harder and it will be worth it in the end!
- Check and playtest your game every now and then. Feel satisfied with your efforts and keep an eye for bugs and glitches.
- Continue doing this until you've done some GOOD progress on your game.

Note: Basicly, repeat this and do this until your game is close to finnished or beta finnished.
It is important that you're having a fun time working on your game!

4. Publishing your game:
(When you feel that you've made enough progress or your game is ready to be beta test, start phrase 4!)
- Publish your game. Make a topic or a page about your game where you can get feedback and constructive critisms that can help you improve your game. Please note that this doesn't mean that someone should tell how your game SHOULD be. You're the creator of your game and it's up to you to decide if you agree with the others.
- Look for beta testers! You will need beta tester to test your game before you release it. It is almost recommend that you betatest your game yourself before hiring beta testers.
- Once it's been tested, fix all errors that has been found(that is, if your game has any).
- When your game is finally tested and fixed. Make a trailer and release your game!

And you're done!

Some extra hints that might be useful:
- Work Offline. Make your internet in Offline mode and work on your game. It's easier and you won't be distracted so easy.
- Make a planner. Make like a file or write on a paper all the important events/chapters in the game. Once you've been done with a chapter, go ahead and mark that as finnished. This way, you will get more motivated to work on your game because you'll see that you're actually making progress!
- Play other peoples games. It's good to play others game to get inspired with your own project and aswell learn new hints and what not to do in your game.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this and that it gave you some tips

This is exactly how I started CyberDrive.

Don't forget to add research. Such as playing games that are the same genre as the one you're making, playing other games that used the same engine that became successful, and finding out the different types of things that the players want to see in new games.

This has helped me a lot.

I never use to plan or write up the story, i'd just build maps and base the story on them...
But thank god, i've started planning!

Might try some of your tips... Seeing, as I never set goals for my project.

Great topic Luiishu! I always thought that these were very important to do if you plan on finishing your game. I personally first think of characters, then think of certain events that I want those characters to be in. Then I usually draw out a world map, with all the areas, cites, dungeons, etc. Then on the world map, I write down the events that take place at those places. Before I begin any game, I always know exactly how it begins, what happens in the middle, and how it ends. That is what makes it more fun to work on, because you know what happens next, and it motivates you to keep working.

Very Good Luiishu Doing Something Like Theese Steps For Evermoon

Nice tips But I just tend to do alot at once I also develop things as I go along. View other games get ideas... and just one joke for the road!

Spoiler:

Yes this is true mango. You need to set yourself impossible deadlines, like myself and then force yourself to work 24 hour days to meet them.

Zachfoss: Brother, you don't have to work 24 hours a day. Just make sure that you make progress everyday, whether it is much or not much. It's important that you don't work too much so you'll get burned.

Update!
- Added some extra hints to the topic!

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I hope this will be useful for some of you atleast