Build your own game

By the end of this track you will have

1. Step 1One game idea on one page, and it will have survived six constraints that kill most first games.
2. Step 2A one-page spec with real numbers in it, specific enough that a model can build from it without asking you anything.
3. Step 3One file on your machine that you can double-click, and it will play your loop from the start to the fail state.
4. Step 4Three written observations of a stranger playing, and one change you made because of them.
5. Step 5Your game will be at a public web address that plays on a phone you do not own.

The steps

Each one ends with a check you run yourself. The box is yours to tick when it passes.

1. 1
   Step 1.Pick a game you can finish in a weekend

   25 minutesOpen to everyone

   Done means

   Read your loop sentence out loud to another person in under ten seconds, then stop talking. They repeat the verb back to you correctly, without asking for more. If you had to add a second sentence to make it land, the idea is still too big. Cut it and read it again.

   The check passed
2. 2
   Step 2.Describe the loop before you describe the art

   30 minutes

   Done means

   Hand the page to someone who has not heard you talk about this. They tell you what happens when the player does the verb, and what makes the game end, reading only the page. If they ask you a question, the answer to that question goes on the page. Then hand it over again.

   The check passed
3. 3
   Step 3.Build the ugly playable version first

   90 minutes

   Done means

   Double-click index.html, play one complete loop, and reach your fail state without touching the code and without opening the console. The end condition fires. The number on screen matches what your spec says it should be at that moment. If it looks right but the figure is wrong, it is wrong.

   The check passed
4. 4
   Step 4.Get it in front of someone who will not be kind

   45 minutes

   Done means

   You can name the second on the clock when they stopped, and quote one sentence from the debrief, and you have changed the file because of it. Then they play the changed version and get further than they did the first time.

   The check passed
5. 5
   Step 5.Ship it somewhere with a URL

   40 minutes

   Done means

   You open the live URL on a phone that is not yours, with wifi turned off, and play one complete loop to the fail state. Then you send that same link to the person from step 4 with no explanation attached, and they reply having played it. Not having looked at it. Having played it.

   The check passed