Building a House

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 A screenshot from the Xcode scene editor, showing the game's map.
I've been trying to think of a metaphor for the development process, and a good one just occurred to me the other day; building a game is like building a house.

It starts with an architect (game designer) who sketches out a plan. These blueprints (design documents) get sent along to the various contractors like plumbers, electricians, roofers, etc. (coders, graphic designers, sound designers, etc.) who all work under supervision of the project manager (lead developer). I'm not an expert on either of these things, so I'm probably getting some roles wrong, but I think the basic premise is sound.

I hope the final game is a lot sturdier "house" than the creaky ones that appear inside of it.
As a one-man development team, I'm wearing all the hats, and it can be a bit daunting at times (to say the least.) Best thing I've learned to do is break the game down into manageable tasks, which I write on little post-it notes. Each day, I grab a sticky and work on that task until it's done. Then I move the note to the finished column. It's very satisfying to see the notes slowly migrate across the wall, but it can also be maddeningly slow. For my next game, I'm definitely going to assemble a team.

A sampling of my copious post-it notes. My office is wallpapered in them.

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