Interesting replies. It seems that everyone has their own unique way of doing things that best suits them.
I'm asking because I'm in the design process of a game I started a year ago. I started coding last Christmas break, and everything went slowly, but surely, until it completely fell apart some time later. Because I wasn't set on exactly what I wanted the game to do, my program didn't allow for new additions very easily. I never really got past the tile editor... once I tried to incorporate the tile editor into the actual engine, nothing worked properly.
This time around, I'm trying to think of every single aspect of the game I want to create. I also identify any hurdles I might encounter along the way, so I know where I might get stuck or frustrated. I've spent the past week writing down ideas on paper every day, without writing a line of code. Since I'm going for a very open-ended game engine, it will require me to code in a modular way, so as to allow more of a "sandbox" game design. I've also been playing several games I've drawn inspiration from to see exactly everything involved in making my game.
I'm asking because I'm in the design process of a game I started a year ago. I started coding last Christmas break, and everything went slowly, but surely, until it completely fell apart some time later. Because I wasn't set on exactly what I wanted the game to do, my program didn't allow for new additions very easily. I never really got past the tile editor... once I tried to incorporate the tile editor into the actual engine, nothing worked properly.
This time around, I'm trying to think of every single aspect of the game I want to create. I also identify any hurdles I might encounter along the way, so I know where I might get stuck or frustrated. I've spent the past week writing down ideas on paper every day, without writing a line of code. Since I'm going for a very open-ended game engine, it will require me to code in a modular way, so as to allow more of a "sandbox" game design. I've also been playing several games I've drawn inspiration from to see exactly everything involved in making my game.