Game Genres
It helps me begin to imagine a game by identifying the core mechanics I want to play with. You can look to different game genres to see what core mechanics are used for and mix and match them to make your own twist on a well loved genre - or just stick to what makes that type of game so well loved and perfect it.
Starting out, I’ll think of a couple of games for each genre and program a clone of it. This takes the "design" phase out completely and lets me focus on the lines of code itself, puzzling out how it’s done. Then I can take what I’ve learned and use that to design my own game.
How do I go about researching any of this? I play a lot.
The Platformer
This game is all about interacting with the environment. The player moves across platforms, typically jumping, climbing, running, dodging, fighting enemies and avoiding obstacles. They’re all about quick reaction and satisfying movements. They can be 2D style and side-scrolling or 3D with a first-person camera.
Write a little here about some of my personal favourites.
Infinite Runners
A subgenre of the platformer where the player is continously moving and has to avoid obstacles and reach checkpoints. Think Flappy Bird. They’re very simplistic, with easy input and are great as a mobile game.
Whilst I don’t personally play a lot of infinite/endless runners myself, they’re great to program! Being so simple you can focus on giving the mechanic of avoiding obstacles a fun twist and perfect the game feel.