Hello,

Let’s get right into this week’s ideas!

3 Gamedev Ideas

I.

You have to give players unfair advantages to make them feel like the game is fair.

Make them still be able to jump a bit after leaving a platform, make the enemy hitboxes smaller or turn them for free when they’re hitting in the wrong direction – like Dead Cells does.

II.

Reduce the delay between the player pressing a button and something happening on screen as much as you can.

And make that something bigger and more satisfying: screenshake, explosions, sounds. Juice it up.

III.

One of the biggest risks as a beginner game developer is that you never finish your game.

It always takes way more work and time to make a game than you initially think.

That’s why you should start as small as possible – to build confidence and experience that will help you tackle bigger projects.

I thought my first commercial game would take 3 months to complete but 11 months in and it’s not done yet.

Until next week,

Thomas Gervraud,
Developer of Space Gladiators: Escaping Tartarus