One Game A Week
2018
Current Games
Original One Game a Week Games
Rocketshapes
Sick Day
Puzzle Island
4-Dimensional Design Studio
Super Benjamin 64
Canvas
A Link Between Screens
What is this project?
Back in 2014, not long after starting my game development career, I read an article by Rami Ismail, talking about making one game a week . He explained that the best way to gain experience as a developer was to finish projects -- and the best way to do this, he argued, was to make a large number of very small games. It would take you through the whole process of coming up with an idea, fleshing it out, determining how to find the fun in the game and deal with bugs and a host of other things.
Completing a bunch of small projects would also provide the most important lesson in all of game development -- it would teach you how to finish a project, and what that entails.
So, in April of 2014, my friend and I started making one game a week -- and it was one of the most fun, creative, engaging, enjoyable times of my life. I loved the creative rush of coming up with a new concept each week. I rarely had time to get sick of my current project, because I knew that I'd be starting a new one the very next week. I worked on six or seven different projects over the course of a few months (sometimes I'd get too invested in a project and let it go for an extra few days...) and I love those games, even if they were all somewhat limited in scope.
Making one game a week gave me a chance to work on a variety of different projects, to find out what inspired me, what kinds of games I was good at making, and it gave me a chance to work through a bunch of different concepts to assess their viability.
Eventually, my friend had to stop the one game a week project due to work commitments, and I put it on hold to try and complete a larger commercial project. That took a lot longer than expected, but I always hoped to return to the one game a week format after finishing a commercial game.
In May of 2018, I finally released Omnicube -- my first real, professional game -- and when I thought about what I wanted to do next, my mind kept returning to one game a week.
Now that I have the time to work on these lovely little prototypes once again, I'm excited to create games out of the many ideas I've had buzzing around my head over the last few years. I'm also excited to share the process -- one thing I've learned to love while making Omnicube is the feeling of sharing my development process and getting feedback, opinons, and constructive criticism. I want to try and explain the work that goes into each of the games I make over the next several weeks.
Tools of the Trade
Most of my game development experience is with the Unity game engine. For anyone getting started making games, I highly recommend it. There's a great amount of documentation and forums which can help you get started.
I also sometimes work with GameMaker Studio. Usually I will reserve this for 2D projects, particularly turn-based RPG, action-RPG or platformer games.
I typically use GIMP for any 2D pixel art needs, and Inkscape for 2D vector art. I usually use Blender for 3D modelling.
For music and sound effects, I usually try to find public domain or assets under the creative commons license to use in my games. I've tried my hand a little bit at creating music and sound effects, but it's not really in my wheelhouse. I get a lot of my musical resources from opengameart.org. I also sometimes create my own sound effects using jfxr.com.
Follow Along or Join the Fun!
If you're interested in following along with the One Game a Week project, you can sign up on the Trykon Studios mailing list, where I will announce new games as they are released.
You can follow our official Trykon Studios page on Facebook.
You can also follow me on Twitter -- I'm @creamerkylec.
Finally, if you'd like to try your hand at making one game a week, or just comment on the games I'm making, please get in touch! It's always a delight to share this experience with others :)
Happy developing!