My Goals in Making a Game For Less Than €100 - Game Development

Good Afternoon!

For this instalment, I'm going to talk a little bit about what my goals are in making a Christmas game.

So, I was sitting at home thinking about doing my coding vlog, got nervous, and then decided you all needed one more solid blast of text before you were ready to witness what I have in store. Don’t worry though; the vlog is definitely on the way.

Okay, let me start by saying that I have no money. Yes, I work a full time job, but every spare cent from that goes into paying off my hefty student loan. Doing my masters enabled me to discover two things; the first is that I love making games more than playing them, and the second is that I get enjoyment out of making a game even without any guarantee of return. It’s a one-sided relationship I know, but you never know…maybe all that will soon change. I believe it is very important for me to keep these two facts in my head at all times; that I make games because I love to make games, not because I love to make money.

That said, I have to say I really enjoy the gamble and risk for a very slight chance at success associated with making a game. There is always a voice in the back of my said saying what if…?! It’s that feeling of having your work appreciated by people who have never met you which helps keep the drive and passion alive when everything else seems to want you to stop. I believe that everyone seeks gratification in recognition of an accomplishment at some point in their lives, and I am no exception.

I feel like I'm running the risk of rambling now, so I’ll just put a pin in my philosophical thoughts on the nature of man, bury them deep inside, and never mention them again.

As you may have already guessed then, my first goal in making this game is to enjoy myself, and take pleasure from what I have created. Everything else comes second after that. I have outlined a more specific set of goals however for those of you interested:

• A Blog (check!), Facebook page, Twitter page.
• Artwork done by November.
• Game completed and released by 1^st December.
• My budget should not exceed €100, or about $150 (as most things I am spending money on are paid for in dollars).
• An in-game economy with some simple micro-transactions.
• Mostly non-intrusive, profitable advertisements.
• Social media integration.
• More than 5000 downloads within one month of release.

I realise some (or all) of these goals may not be achievable. For this reason, I'm taking the approach of: do what I can, and if it’s not done in time, then release it next Christmas! By the end of development, I would also like to have source code which I can re-use. For example, if I were to re-skin the game to be set in space, I can tinker with the controls, replace a game mechanic, and I have a new game. That is all dependant on how popular the idea proves to be however, and is very wishful thinking on my behalf.

I hope you all have a better idea now on what I'm trying to achieve here. My choices so far have been simple as they have all followed the following format; if I like it, do it. I like games, I like Christmas, I like dual-mechanics, I like 8-bit music and art, and I own an Android phone. So why not combine them all into one little APK of awesomeness!