Step 1 : Design the storyline + Game mechanics

   the first step in creating computer game, usually, is drafting the storyline. In the game industry this is usually one of the first steps undertaken and should not be ignored, unless your intention is to merely create a quick game without any profound story for your personal education and fulfillment. The degree to which you develop the story may depend on the type of game, and its distinguishing factors. Certain games, Minecraft being a popular example, rely on (at the time) unique and interesting game mechanics to propel them into fame. Others, such as Silent Hill, focus on the opposite, keeping the game mechanics fairly standard and instead concentrating on the story. The balance you wish to strike would be your own choice, although I should note that having one does not require the lack of the other. A game with unique gameplay mechanics could very well contain a profound and memorable story. Maximising both of these factors simultaneously may hint at a talent for game design.

   When writing your story, you may wish to keep it somewhat realistic and engaging. Contrary to popular belief, a good game often is not merely limited by the artist's imagination, and may rely on a convoluted set of systematic concepts that combine to form a single complex experience. One thing to warn against is the absence of logic in puzzles. While it may be tempting to write a puzzle (and I am using the term broadly here) where the solution is not so obvious, you should make sure that this ambiguity is not a result of simply giving the player insufficient information to make a choice. Ideally, the perfect player should be able to complete the game without a single failure, not having to rely on pure guesswork or to try to understand the eccentricities of your mind (unless the game is trial-and-error based, as in the game Limbo). Meanwhile when I said to try to keep things realistic, I meant to keep them realistic in the context of the game world. If your world is designed to have Gigeresque biomechanoids roaming an abandoned space station, or perhaps flying rabbits, your story may still be fully acceptable as long as the world they inhabit reflects and explains their presence. A true travesty would be to have things that would be unrealistic for the game world you have established (such as, flying rabbits in a biomechanoid-infested space station). Your imagination may be powerful, but genius often involves directing it towards a consistent vision.

   You should ensure that if you do choose to design a game that naturally relies on a story, you should keep the story... Well, somewhat interesting and preferably omnipresent. Were you to create a game that is simply a series of levels and zombies, then you may encounter some difficulty in captivating your audience. Try to find more information about developing the kind of story that would suit your game, and of course make your own reflections and choices. One great source of information regarding game storylines is the one written by Frictional Games, and is entitled 'In the Games of Madness', although it is aimed more at horror games. Also you may want to look for video game cliches and what makes games boring or great, as this would help you with creating a believable story. One fruitful and exciting way to explore how to make a theme great I found to be to take elements in that theme (provided it is well-established), and write about them, attempting to explain them and the reasons behind them. Write about what you found works in games, and what you found didn't work, and explore why these things worked or failed. You may be surprised as to what you would discover, and with luck the topics you cover will naturally lead to explain other topics once combined. As you progress, you should become more confident in how to create a story that truly works, and the pitfalls to avoid.

   I wish to note the definition of the word 'story' in game development. Most importantly, it is not simply a plot of events. It is everything there is to the world of the game. It explains why there might be a gun lying around in a casket, why there are monsters roaming the streets or simply why there is this smiley face trying to save the world. No item in the game should be placed without the story in mind. Place an overturned chair and a broken bottle after a party, but never an F-16 stuck through the window. While this may seem obvious, you should bring the concept further. Items do not simply happen to be lying around. Somebody threw them there, in a rage, perhaps, or simply because they were too drunk to do otherwise. All of this is part of the Story, and it would not matter how small and insignificant it seems. A great game may contain many hidden sub-stories for the players who care to explore, and this can turn the experience from "just another game" to a truly unforgettable experience.

   One way I use to think up ideas is to remember my dreams and nightmares. They usually provide unique stories, and if slightly altered, could be sufficient for complete games. Listening to music certainly helps in designing the atmosphere. Another method is to simply create a level based on a general theme and then develop various ideas to conform to that level. Although this method might seem ineffective, it is a possible solution, used by some professional game developers in the past. I personally prefer to reach a balance between the two. In the 'real world', as some call it, the architecture of an area does not conform to a storyline, but the opposite is true. Although it would be acceptable to change an area to fit the story, I have discovered that this should not be overdone. The appearance of fine-tuning for the player can be catastrophic. You should not create an area simply to provide for the storyline, but must also take into account the various props which would have been present without the story, such as toilets, car parks, torture chambers etc. and make sure that they present the appearance of being constructed for efficiency and not the gameplay itself. For example, vents should not only be present to reach the current objective, but to ventilate the air. Other vents should exist, even if their only purpose is to provide air conditioning (nevermind that games often don't have actual air).

   A vital component of games only briefly touched previously is the game mechanics. This would include how the player would interact with the world, whether the game is an fps or a tps (first person shooter or third person shooter), point-and-click vs GUI (graphical user interface) interaction, and so on. In some cases this might come as greater inspiration than the proposed story itself, though care should be taken as not to simply slap on a story onto the game. Equally, one should not slap some puny game mechanics onto a story to provide the excuse to call it a game. It would be advisable to develop these two concept parallel to each other, as it might be necessary to modify one in order to benefit the other. All games should be unique, or you might as well copy and paste another game. While complete uniqueness may be an unrealistic goal, the least one should strive for is a feature that distinguishes it from all the other games out there. Otherwise your game may turn into yet another clone, to be scorned and then forgotten.

   I also wish to note that all of these concepts should be considered dynamic, and the development process never be limited to what is drafted on paper. If an idea comes up which appears better and would not conflict with the already created assets, then it should be investigated. Even if it does conflict with the assets, if the idea is good enough, the waste may be forgiven. In the end you decide what is the best course to take (or, well, whoever is in charge!).

   Another good thing to do would be to familiarise yourself with the limitations of game technology before you embark on planning all the millions of cities you want to be accessible by the player. Some things are yet beyond the capabilities of modern machines, and many things (such as dynamic model modification) can be slow as a consequence of modern PC architectures. On the other hand, some things may be possible, but not supported by existing high-level game engines, which would require you to implement them on your own.

   It is often advised to develop a game prototype as soon as possible, which would help determine the worth of the game before much time had been spent on developing it. Prototyping involves simply putting in place the general gist of the game without focusing on the details with the main goal of producing a playable game quickly for testing purposes without much emphasis on quality. For example, animation may be overlooked, and the levels may be whiteboxed (as in, merely composed of rough shapes to serve as placeholders for upcoming assets). Games with heavy atmospheric emphasis may find this less useful, however.