Make a Tiny Game That Actually Feels Good
Maps to: Game Developer · Gameplay Designer · Game Designer · Indie Game Developer · Level Designer
You're going to build one tiny game around a single move the player makes, like a bare square that jumps over gaps, and then do the actual job of a game designer: tweak it until it feels good. The skill is feel: noticing why one jump is satisfying and another is mush, then changing how fast things fall, the timing, a little shake of the screen, a sound, until 'meh' becomes 'one more try.' That's the heart of game design, the judgment about what's fun. You'll have a tiny game that makes people go 'one more try.'
You're done when: A game you can actually play, built around one move and deliberately tweaked until it feels right, where you can name what you changed (how fast things fall, the jump, the timing, the sound) and why it feels better, online at a link someone can play, and you watched at least one real person play it. The feel is the work: not 'it runs,' but 'I made it feel good on purpose.'
How this shows up on a resume or college app
I designed and tuned a small game built around a single move, changing how fast things fall, the timing and the sound until it was satisfying to play, and published it for others to play. I learned that the hard part of game design isn't making it work, it's making it fun, and that 'fun' is a judgment you build by testing, not a formula you follow.
When you finish, BuildMe drafts your Common App activity description from what you actually built.
Not sure yet? Play 5 minutes as a game developer first and see how the work feels.
The plan
- 1
Step 1
Pick ONE move and get it happening on screen
Don't design a whole game. Pick one tiny thing the player does (jump, dodge, collect, click) and get the plainest possible version of it moving on screen. A square that jumps is a perfect start. The goal of this hour is the magic moment: a thing you made, answering you.
- 2
Step 1-2
Turn it into try, fail, try again
Right now you have a toy. Make it a game: add a goal, a way to lose, and a way to start over. That circle, try then fail then try again, is what makes a game a game. Keep it brutally simple.
- 3
Step 2-3
Make it FEEL good
This is the real work, and it has no right answer. Play your own game a bunch. Notice what feels off: too floaty? too slow? nothing happens when you land? Then tweak it: how fast things fall, how high you jump, the speed, the timing, a tiny shake of the screen, a sound when you win. Change one thing, play, repeat. You're not following instructions here, you're building taste.
- 4
Step 3-4
Put it online, and watch someone play
Put your game online so anyone can play it from a link, then do the thing that teaches you the most: hand it to one person and watch them play WITHOUT explaining anything. Where they get confused, and where they smile, tells you more than any list of questions could. Tweak one last thing based on what you saw.