How to Plan a Video Game - The Pre-Production Phase || Syntax_Error

[@_AndrewParker]

"How did you come up with this amazing game"..."Well, one day I was taking this really big shit..."

[@jasonbeau9773]

i guess I'm kind of off topic but does anybody know a good website to stream new movies online ?

[@millerzaiden1299]

@Jason Beau i use FlixZone. Just google for it :)

[@skylerharlan9773]

@Miller Zaiden Definitely, I've been using FlixZone for years myself :)

[@jasonbeau9773]

@Miller Zaiden Thank you, I signed up and it seems like a nice service =) I appreciate it!!

[@millerzaiden1299]

@Jason Beau Glad I could help =)

[@deepblue153]

I have 0 skill and 0 experience, but this made me feel pretty optimistic.

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Awww, that's okay! Please try to remember that every single game designer and game developer who's ever made a game started at the level you're at right now! You can be just as good as any one of them some day, I promise! I'm so glad I could help you feel optimistic! Thank you so much for watching and for trying game development! I hope you end up enjoying it!

[@franklinbinga2153]

How are things going for you now ?

[@qownson4410]

If you have neither then money, time, and a GOOD ATTITUDE, are the great equalizers. Hiring a team of people may be one of the best ways to solve your issues.

[@87392v]

This video is incredibly helpful and motivating! And the delivery is engaging!

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Thank you so much; both for your comment and for subscribing! I'm so glad I could help and motivate you!!! I often worry that my delivery isn't engaging, so that means a lot!

[@atikaaadj]

this video shows up exactly when I was actually thinking about this. I didn't even search this video, it just shows up in my recommendation.

[@foldrumgame2737]

Wow, as someone who is going through exactly this right now, this was an amazing video to find. Awesome work man.

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Thank you so much! I'm happy I could help! Good luck making your game!

[@svantikus8903]

I have about 6 years available of time... so yeah.

[@Broockle]

nice, how's that going? ;D

[@Bobo-uc9tv]

Broockle lmao

[@ENJERUNEbutLIVE]

This is exactly the type of video I was looking for. I am currently learning game design. And I have seen many tutorials on how to make game mechanics and stuff like "how to make your character walk or jump or how to make enemies" and game Dev logs usually don't give a lot of information on the progress itself rather it tells "I got this idea, I implemented idea and it's done" without getting into details that might be boring for the non Dev audience. I knew how to use the programs and make stuff, but I don't know how to actually work on a videogame project and how to plan the work I want to do. So this video has been a big help to me

[@SuperSonic7CE]

I'm so glad it's been such a big help and exactly what you were looking for! Thanks for letting me know! Best of luck on the game you're working on!

[@travelsizedlions]

Some decent thoughts! One thing to note: If your game will have boss battles, it's an extremely wise idea to decide and design your mechanics around your ideas for a boss. THEN once you feel confident in your boss battle designs, brainstorm your levels around a lead uo to those fights. Want a grappling hook in your game? Plan a boss around it. If the idea for your boss gets someone else excited, that's some quick and cheap verification for your mechanic and gives you strong direction for where to take your levels.

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Really good point! Thanks for commenting it! Reminds me of like every Zelda boss that's defeated with the dungeon item, especially Gohma in Wind Waker haha

[@Karl-by1lt]

plan level in minecraft xd

[@seashell3403]

I honestly had no idea to start, but this helped a lot! I have like NO experience with this stuff (and I’m 13) but I still really wanna make a video game :) this really motivated me

[@SuperSonic7CE]

I'm so glad I could help motivate you! I actually started learning game development at the age of 13 with zero experience (basically just stated making levels in LittleBigPlanet) so like if I can do it, I'm sure you can! :D

[@PleepusPlopus]

Lately, I've been thinking of making my first medium/large sized project, but I had no idea where to start. After watching this, though, my thoughts are put together a lot better. Thanks for the video!

[@SuperSonic7CE]

No problem! Thanks for the comment! I'm so glad I could help! I wish you the best when making your first medium/large sized project!

[@gabrielpoupou1479]

This is my most useful vid of 2020

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Awww, thank you! I'm so glad my video could be so useful!

[@RethinkRetro1]

Awesome video. You definitely deserve more subs. well you have at least one more :)

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Thank you so much both for saying/believing this and for subscribing! ^v^ I promise to actually make more videos as soon as I can, haha.

[@alphattus1503]

I feel as if I have a language barrier with code, don't understand it one bit but still trying to get my game idea out

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Sorry about the coding difficulty, but I'm glad you're still trying to get your game idea out despite that! What programming languages have you worked with?

[@alphattus1503]

@@SuperSonic7CE not many, dabbled a very small amount of python in school and couldn't grasp c+ at college so hoping game maker studio is better for me understanding it

[@SuperSonic7CE]

@@alphattus1503 Ah gotcha, gotcha. Personally, I don't like python and I think C++ is one of the most difficult languages out there. GML and game maker's visual scripting language was a lot easier for me to grasp so I hope it will be for you too! If you end up liking game maker's visual scripting language, I highly recommend trying unreal engine 4 or 5's blueprint visual scripting language too if you're ever feeling up to it!

[@BROXBasher]

You were mentioning how your ideas generally came to you in the bathroom, and mine came to me in the bathroom too. Lol Thanks for the heaps of information, you’re really eloquent!

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Ayyy I'm glad to finally hear from someone who also gets ideas in the bathroom hahaha. No problem! Thanks for saying I'm really eloquent!

[@BROXBasher]

@@SuperSonic7CE You're welcome! I mean, let's be honest, there are only two guaranteed times of the day where one gets the best ideas: In the bathroom, or right before bed. XD

[@SuperSonic7CE]

@@BROXBasher Exactly XD

[@realbrickbread]

2:50 Toby Fox creating the genocide path in undertale: yes

[@cybercsarcade670]

"You can complete your prototype in less then a week. Let alone two." Me taking three in a half weeks to finish

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Three in a half weeks is pretty normal! Hell, it's even normal for some prototypes to take multiple months to complete! I should have made this more clear in the video, but these time ranges are just estimates and they heavily rely on how much time is spent working on the game and how complicated the game is.

[@desertdweller9003]

Great video, looking forward to more of these!

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Thank you so much! Another episode should be out soon!

[@Southpaw_Blue]

Really great video. Thanks

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Thank you so much! No problem! I'm really glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for subscribing as well!

[@يزنحمزه-ف2ش]

I watched and benefited from all the series of episodes, and my only criticism is the sound quality it can be improved, but the writing and the storytelling are all great. But my question why do you stopped uploading? thanx :)

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Thank you so much! I'm incredibly glad that all the episodes benefited you! I agree; the sound quality can definitely be improved and I think I've improved my setup so once I can continue uploading again, it should sound a lot better! As for why I stopped uploading, basically college was constantly getting in the way and once I finished that in June of this year, all of my free time has been eaten up trying to find a programming or game designing job and move into my own apartment. My plan is to continue both livestreaming on Twitch and creating Syntax_Error episodes on KZbin as soon as I'm able to move. Thank you for your patience! I can't wait to continue uploading again thanks to people like you! :)

[@يزنحمزه-ف2ش]

@@SuperSonic7CE I'm very excited about this and good luck

[@SuperSonic7CE]

@@يزنحمزه-ف2ش Thanks! Good luck to you too in general!

[@thesansicalsam6291]

Hesoos. Your voice surprised me. That was loud.

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Sorry about that! I'm still trying to work out the audio levels to where everyone is happy. Believe it or not, some people have said I'm too low in volume (not in relation to the music).

[@Broockle]

i'm just doing a masters and I'll need to do all this pretty soon. Thank you!

[@SuperSonic7CE]

No problem! I'm glad I could help! Hopefully I can help with more videos soon since I just graduated college lol. Good luck getting your masters!!!

[@Broockle]

@@SuperSonic7CE yay thx ^^

[@chaolihai-innit]

That was fucking great.

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Thanks! Oh, and thank you so much for subscribing! Hopefully you find the next episode to be even greater!

[@W0lfbaneShikaisc00l]

The game planning in this video is all over the place - I recommend for anyone watching that they order these "suggestions" in a list and decide on task assignment FIRST for example DON'T DO "game design documents" during the last week of making your game: this goes for the video maker as well - keep your ideas structured don't just tap on important things that need doing during the first week at the end of your video like this: seriously, if I planned anything out like this my game would need redesigning before I even managed to finish.

[@SuperSonic7CE]

I get where you're coming from and that you're trying to help, but I say at the beginning of the video that these suggestions are going to need to be modified and tailored for everyone's needs and that I'm just giving a general base to start with. I'm sure I could have written this in a clearer way that more explicitly stated that these steps are not absolute, but here's what I said: "This stumped me for a while as well so I decided to try and create a list of steps developers can take, or at least refer to in order to plan their game. Normally it’s impossible for me to give a step-by-step tutorial in this show thanks to all games being so wildly different but this is one of the few exceptions. So what I’m saying is, don’t get used to these types of episodes! Before I actually start describing the steps, I should mention that this video is mostly meant for developers planning a brand new game that equally focuses on all elements that make up the game, like audio, visuals, gameplay, and story. If you’re planning a sequel or certain types of games, like walking simulators, episodic games, or games with a large focus on player choice, some of this advice or these steps may not adhere to you. I’ll make sure to talk about how to plan these types of games whenever I create an episode solely focused on them. Until then, most of the steps and advice in this video should still help you plan your game and I trust that you’ll know what steps to cut or modify to accommodate your needs. " Also, sorry, but I'm not sure why you thought I was saying to only do design documents during the last week of your game. I've searched through the entire video script and I said nothing like that as far as I can tell. The only time period I ever mentioned was that the prototype should really take you at most a week or two to create. I do think I should have explicitly mentioned how all these steps should only take you, at most, a month in most general cases. That being said, I said that a design document should be created for the intro level and all other levels; meaning that this can't be something only done during the last week of developing your game: "So in order to plan the intro level and all other levels, you’ll have to refer back to what your game’s outline says about the it’s environment, tone, difficulty, starting location, and ending location. Then create a design document based around all this information and the statistics from your debug mode." Hell, the beginning of the video and title of the video mention that this is just the beginning of development; the pre-production phase. I even end the episode by saying that this is just the pre-production phase and that once you're done with all these steps, you're only just now moving on to the production phase of development, meaning you have plenty of development left: "Finally, you’re almost ready to exit the pre-production phase. Just revise all the work you’ve done so far one last time and then you can enter the production phase of development! But don’t get too excited because there’s still plenty of planning to be done in the next stage! Luckily, this time you’ll be able to alternate between planning a segment of the game and actually creating it. Just plan all the aspects of a segment, like cutscenes, levels, and bosses. Then make all the assets you need and create the segment. Then plan the next segment, then create the next segment, and so on, and so on until you finish everything!" That all being said, thank you for your advice. I appreciate the concern and for trying to help both me and all viewers! I do agree that this video can be greatly improved, but I hope this clears some things up. If it doesn't, no problem. If you'd like, let me know and I'll totally try to explain anything I can and see what you're saying. It may not seem like it, but I do promise that I've taken this criticism to heart and I am grateful for it! Thank you again.

[@LoganGardner]

I love this! I'd like to see a more brief one as well I think. I am trying to make my first game, I know some basic coding and basic aspects of game creation and story creation. Everyone says just to build something basic for your first game, mainly to ACTUALLY FINISH BUILDING A GAME. However this seems dry to me. I want to build some kind of RPG that interests me enough to keep going through with it, yet don't want to work on something that I can't finish :/

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Thanks! Luckily the next episode (which should come out on February 4th, if all goes according to plan) is shaping up to be much shorter. Yeah, I've definitely been in your position before. The first game I ever made on my own was just a quick platformer where you fought one boss and that was it. It was awful and really short but I made it and I learned a lot from it. Of course, back then, I wanted to make a full game with countless levels and bosses and complicated mechanics. Luckily, I knew that would be too much for me so my plan became much smaller. I ended up deciding to make three levels and one boss but that was still too difficult at the time and I was only able to make one boss fight. This is why my advice is similar to practically everyone else's advice, I recommend to start off really small/simple and to make sure you're not over ambitious. I know that can be fairly boring and, of course, everyone would much rather make a more complex game but if you start off small, you can continue building upon that idea and making it more and more complicated. For example, if I was making an RPG as my first game, I would create a small boss fight. Then, if that went well, I'd make a room for the player to walk around in and encounter the boss. After that, I'd add some smaller enemies and allow them to be encountered as well. Finally, if all of that went well, I'd work on designing a small dungeon and add mechanics like treasure chests, a leveling up system, items, puzzles, etc. Assuming I was able to finish all of this, then I'd keep expanding and adding more elements to the game until I'm either satisfied and want to work on something else or decide to start over from scratch and remake everything I've created much more efficiently using the information I've learned. Oh, and by the way, try not to worry about being too ambitious and not being able to finish something. Your first few games aren't really meant to be released and they're meant to just be experiences you learn from. This is why most people don't put in that much work when it comes to planning them (although it's good practice). Sorry if this seemed a bit scatterbrained, I'm doing fifty things right now. Hopefully my advice will be of some help!

[@LoganGardner]

SuperSonic7CE no worries. Your advice was great! (The best I've ever had from a KZbin comment 😉) keep up the great work! You've earned my subscription.

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Thank you so much! Let me know if you ever need more advice, I'd be happy to help in any way I can! Oh, and thank you for the subscription, seriously, this all means a lot! Good luck with your first game!

[@LoganGardner]

SuperSonic7CE of course! And yes I understand haha. We're in the same boat Haha. As you can see I'm trying to build up my subscribers as well. Different niche though.

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Ha, yeah! Although, you're already doing much better than I was! You started in 2013 and I started in 2011. In four years of uploading to KZbin, I barely had 40 subs so you already have almost triple the amount of subs I did back then!

[@comradejames7813]

When you said taking a shower, my mind straight away went to taking a shit...

[@SquareTales]

Amazing video and the music Selection man.... inckuding the names.... wow is there a way I could send you a fixed amount of money as a thank you?

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Oh wow! Thank you so much! Yeah, you could send me a donation on my Ko-Fi! Any amount of money would help in one way or another to getting the next episode of Syntax_Error (which is already fully written) released! Thank you again! ko-fi.com/supersonic7ce

[@ryanlaseter7626]

It's definitely worth planning up front, I've done a mix of planning ahead and winging it, but I've found that I've pivoted and completely undid something I've already made. Thanks for the video :)

[@SuperSonic7CE]

For sure! Same, honestly haha. No problem! Happy to help! Thanks for the kind comment :)

[@javanaguirre4425]

Finally!!! A video that's ACTUALLY helpful!! Thank you so much!!

[@SuperSonic7CE]

No problem! So glad I could help!

[@georgebratu]

Let's assume you have prototype that you like and next you want to plan the entire game. How do you represent your ideas, how do you represent all the game features ? I assume you create a document with notes and sketches ?

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Yep, I think you're right! Creating a design document like that would definitely be what I recommend. As for what should be in it, that depends on the game, but filling one of those with any information that you think would be relevant helps a lot.

[@YouSupPop]

The background music makes me intense

[@LoganGardner]

So I took your advice. Since we've last spoken, I've begun creating my first game and it's almost done. All I have to do now is add more flair to it! When it's all done would you be interested in taking a look at it and telling me what you think for my first game?

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Of course! I may be fairly busy for a while (I'm going to still try and get the next episode out by Saturday even though I'm extremely behind) but I'll totally make time to play and criticize it! Fair warning though, I can be fairly harsh and thorough.

[@LoganGardner]

SuperSonic7CE that's fine by me! Message me your email. I'm used to harsh criticism!

[@had1t1x85]

Toilets ideas are the best

[@gryzlaw]

Great videos! Pity you no longer publish

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Thanks! Good news! I’m aiming to have the next Syntax_Error episode uploaded by February at the absolute latest! It’s fully written and I just need time to record the voice over and edit the video! Been busy with a combination of college and then working full time as a technical game designer haha

[@luh2829]

this video is great! I'm really confused why this channel is so small... I'll ceartainly help fix that problem by subscribing xD

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Thanks so much for subscribing and thinking the video is great! It's comments like these that really make me hope I can start creating videos again soon!

[@Meaningfulcausesstudio]

I'm getting ready to put a Pitch Deck together for Unity for Humanity thank you this was so helpful!

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Wow, that's awesome! Super glad I could help! I hope you win a grant! Good luck!

[@Martin-nu5nr]

I am so fucking happy I found your video

[@Kino615]

Nice video!

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Thanks!

[@mystikyu4613]

What if I got a few years???

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Then I recommend planning a game that should take at most around 1 year to complete and release! That way, you have plenty of extra time! Btw, thanks for subscribing and good luck with Bolts and Magic!

[@brokentoes6721]

WEll done on this list! I will be referrign back to it tons over the next LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOng while! Cheers.

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Thank you both for this comment and for subscribing! I hope the game you make over the next long while turns out great! Cheers!

[@riseofsoftware528]

this is a nice video

[@SuperSonic7CE]

This is a nice comment, thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the video!

[@fishfishy7682]

i didnt find this video, it found me. ty man, you gave me some hope.

[@SuperSonic7CE]

awww np! i'm so happy that i could give you some hope! you've got this! i believe in you!!!

[@fishfishy7682]

i was looking up "the plan video game" to listen to the sound track, and i found your channel. ive been hooked on the idea of making a video game for a while, but i was overwhelmed in regards to where and how to start. this video definitely helped me understand the pre-design process, in a simple and motivating manner. i feel its only fair to appreciate this chance encounter with your channel, and start pursuing more knowledge on the topic. even though i still have not finished the whole series, and you have explained plenty enough, im looking forward to future series on the same or different video game topics. Wishing you all the best

[@SuperSonic7CE]

@@fishfishy7682 i'm super glad you found the video and are inspired to start pursuing more game development knowledge! that's awesome! tysm for looking forward to future episodes! the next episode is already being created and will hopefully be out by the end of the year! wishing you all the best as well

[@GustavoSilva-ny8jc]

4:26 It would be better if you actually showed something like it

[@SuperSonic7CE]

For sure! If I remember correctly, 7 years ago, I tried to find footage of the Portal prototype to put in the video but couldn't find it. Nowadays, even if I couldn't find it, I'd just end up quickly coding a prototype to show in the video if I couldn't find footage haha. In the episode I'm working on now, I make sure all verbal examples have at least some visual component unless they've been shown already in that video.

[@GustavoSilva-ny8jc]

@@SuperSonic7CE I think it wouldnt need to be of that exact game, thats Functional Fixedness, any before and after would do

[@misteridiot123]

i just want to make a fighting game that doesn't need story.

[@SuperSonic7CE]

I agree that not all fighting games need a story! I think it's awesome that you want to make one! I'm sure that one day, you will! I believe in you! If you'd like, please tell me about the game when it's finished or public! I'd seriously love to hear about it and see it/play it, if I can!!!

[@HaiImKush]

It still requires planning out

[@Kyleschannelz]

Good info, but damn dude, your voice puts me to sleep, so monotone.

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Yeah, I've had a couple people say that to me already in my friend circle. I'll try to make sure I work on that for next time. I'm glad you were still able to enjoy the information though! Hopefully it helped.

[@Kyleschannelz]

No the information was top notch, no complaints there. Just mentioning the voice aspect due to the length of the video. If you want to get people to watch the whole thing, gotta add some fire to your voice or what not to keep it engaging. Again, really good info.

[@SuperSonic7CE]

Right, I totally get where you're coming from! Others said I was much less monotone in the last episode. This episode, I got kind of burnt out while recording due to it's length and the fact that I was rusty from not recording an episode in 3 months. Hopefully the next episode will be far less monotone and more dynamic since I highly doubt I'll be doing such a long one and I won't have anywhere near as long as a recording gap.

[@KAIDAX]

Seems daunting to be honest. Maybe it's just me

[@SuperSonic7CE]

I'm sorry! I know it can definitely be a daunting task! I don't think you're alone at all in thinking that! Hell, I've thought the same thing! That being said, I'm sure you can do it! Maybe try to not view the task as a whole and try to just think of each step one at a time, if you haven't already! While planning, please try not to worry about the future steps, but please also acknowledge how many you've completed so far so you don't feel like you're not making any progress! I know this all may seem untrue since I don't know you personally, but I know for a fact that you can do it! Anyone can! It may not seem like it, but don't worry! Even if you have to backtrack and redo all the work you've done multiple times, it's okay! You can still get through the pre-production phase and complete your game! You haven't messed up! No matter how tough it is and no matter how much work it is, you will be able to get through this and you will be able to plan any games you make, I promise!

[@KAIDAX]

@@SuperSonic7CE I have mainly focused on the story for my game. I don't know how to explain the gameplay.

[@SuperSonic7CE]

@@KAIDAX Ah, cool! Do you mean you don't know how to explain the gameplay in the story? If so, please feel free to tell me both and I'll try my best to help you blend them together and explain the gameplay in the story!

[@KAIDAX]

@@SuperSonic7CE basically the main character is tasked with finding fragments guarded by bosses. In order to defeat the main antagonist. As you explore the world there are characters you'll meet. (it's a open world sci fi fantasy rpg)

[@SuperSonic7CE]

@@KAIDAX Hmmm, cool! How about this? Maybe you could drop the idea of finding fragments and have it instead be that the main character has to hunt down and defeat/kill the bosses, who are working with the main antagonist. Considering how it's an open world game, maybe have it be known to most characters in the world that the main antagonist and the bosses they're working with are terrorizing the world. As you defeat them, the world becomes a safer place and more people trust and open up to you! You could have to talk to characters and gather information about the bosses to try and track them down in the world! If you still want the main character to collect something every time they defeat/kill a boss, maybe have them collect a clue or something that points them in the direction of either the next boss, or the main antagonist! How's all this sound? No worries if you dislike these ideas! I don't mind if you do at all!

[@jorge28624]

are you based on California or New York? no one cares on those details like "gender identity" o "sexual orientation" 🙄

[@SuperSonic7CE]

I've worked for 5 game companies in total; none of them being in New York, one of them being in California, and the others being in Texas, Washington, Illinois, and North Carolina. Every single one has cared about gender identity and sexual orientation, especially when it comes to both character design and HR. Trust me, it's something even you keep in mind whether you realize it or not, even if you're exclusively designing and working with straight, cisgender characters. There's nothing wrong with keeping those things in mind, but ignoring the possibility that they could matter limits your ability to design.

[@Rishraff]

Your intro is too akward