Diving Into Video Game Development

I've been talking about my struggles with board game design. I really like the appeal of the board game design space. Its dependence on physical objects constrains the space in a meaningful way. I would think this might make it easier to design something interesting, as the scope is typically limited by what individual people can or are willing to deal with in order to play a physical game. There may be some truth to that idea; however, it certainly hasn't helped me. I am always impressed at game designers who are able to abstract really concrete ideas, like flying a spaceship or cooking food, into the movement of cards or small components around a table.

A week and a half into my sabbatical, I decided to change my focus from board games to video games. Using the terminology my nephew used, it's possible my "dopamine receptors are blown out." I wasn't quickly getting any joy out of spending hours trying to design a board game.

Tripping Down Memory Lane

I’ve dabbled in video game development over the years:

• 2007: A match-3 game where you align gems and they shatter. I built this using XNA Game Studio 2.0.
• 2010: A sci-fi spaceship captain management game on iOS. I only built a small framework where a dialogue script would display conversations and character portraits. I tried to build this with friends, but collaboration is hard.
• 2017: A Game Boy-inspired RPG using GameMaker Studio 2. This was my most successful effort. I built a small town to walk around in, menus, a shop, and a battle system. Nothing was unique or extraordinary, but it worked. My biggest problem was that I needed more robust data structures, which GMS2 did not support.
• 2018: An attempt to recreate my RPG idea in Unity. I gave the game a name: Story of the Stars. I did not even remember I used Unity until I found the repository.
• 2020: Another attempt to recreate the RPG, this time in Godot 3. I did not rebuild the entire game, but I got some features working.

I clearly have a thing for trying to make a GameBoy inspired RPG. And this game really caught my eye recently.

It's #WishlistWednesday! I would love it if you could check out my creepy crawly #CozyGame on Steam! 🔥🐛 🐝 Fill your bug compendium ⚔️Train and battle your creepy crawlies 👀 Fishing, gathering and puzzles 🎉 Nifty RPG mechanics store.steampowered.com/app/3095130/... #gamedev #indiedev

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— Pixel Nomad | Wishlist Bugboy on Steam! 🐝 (@ratpackdigital.com) April 23, 2025 at 4:02 AM

The Joy of Creating

I'm sure this is true for a lot of people, but I enjoy building and making things when there's a goal I'm genuinely interested in. This could be software or a board game, but it might also be editing a video or taking a great photo. As I've gotten back into game development, I've remembered how full it is of small victories. Each week, day, or even hour can bring something that feels really rewarding — especially when what I build is something I actually enjoy.

So, what should I work on? I was about to start rebuilding my RPG idea for the fourth time, but I decided to pick something smaller in scope instead. I've played several "incremental" games recently that I found enjoyable, such as Lyca and Max Manos. These games are small in scope, take only a few hours to play, and hit the dopamine receptors just right. I figure I might actually be able to finish a game like this before burning out on game development.

Lyca on Steam

A small, relaxing, incremental game about restoring a barren wasteland into a lush meadow. Help the magical wolf Lyca run through the land, gather resources, and unlock a vast upgrade tree.

STEAM

Max Manos on Steam

Max Manos is an incremental destruction game where you play as a powerful hand, known as Max Manos, eliminating shapes. Chain explosive reactions, collect shards, and upgrade your abilities to destroy shapes even faster.

STEAM

I actually worked my way into a game concept starting from the art assets. Kenney, at https://kenney.nl/, offers completely free-to-use, attribution-free assets that I highly recommend. I already purchased his All-in-1 bundle to support his efforts. Two of his asset packs stood out to me: a set of UI icons and cursors, and a basic collection of grass and trees. I love chopping trees in games — so why not make a tree-chopping game myself?

Unlike some of my board game ideas that remained nameless, I at least have a good placeholder name: Cursor Incremental. In this game, you swap your cursor for different tools that allow you to interact with the world. If you look at the menu on this website, you can check out its current state right now. There's isn't much there to play, but I can assure you it took me a lot of learning and effort to get this far.

At least for the immediate future I will be sharing my experiences on video game development rather than board games, as that's where my time is being spent.