Idea
After a long week of international travel followed by PAX, I didn’t really have a chance to think about a game this week before Sunday again. I was exhausted both mentally and physically by then, but I was determined to still make a game. After discussing some game ideas, I started thinking about the old Police Trainer arcade game that I’d always play after catching a movie as a teenager, and the various mini-games that it contained.
There were two mini-games in particular that I was good at – a game about shooting the numbers 1-16 in order and one about matching patterns. I decided to try my hand at a little game that essentially combined those two games.
What went right
The design process was quick and simple. I had a vision for my game and executed it exactly like I had wanted to. I think it turned out pretty fun and had a nice interesting self-competitive feel to it.
What went wrong
Not too much, honestly. Again, I had way too little time to properly explore this idea, but I still feel like I was able to try it out well enough.
What I learned
I had a lot of positive feedback on this game. The big problem, however, is that I don’t understand why. I’ve played it a few times since making it, and while I find it fun, I haven’t been able to figure out what makes it better than some of my previous games. I’ve been trying to focus more on understanding the little intricacies of game design and what truly makes a game ‘good’ – and this week has shown me that I still have a lot to learn about this.