Making Your First Game: Minimum Viable Product - Scope Small, Start Right - Extra Credits
Why Game Development Stack Exchange recommends it
Game Development Stack Exchange answerers and askers link it as the standard explanation of MVP when advising people on what to build first and how to test whether a game idea works.
Recommended by 1 people across 2 different months, 2016 to 2023.
What it is
A short Extra Credits episode on the minimum viable product (MVP) for a first game, explaining how to work out the smallest set of features that makes a game fun. It is part of the channel's advice series on starting small and scoping realistically.
What people said
Recommends Philipp · 2018-09 · Game Development Stack Exchange · on “How to know if one game idea is more worth pursuing than another?”
Your first test should be to pitch individual ideas to a few random people from your offline or online social circle or to a few interested online communities. See how they react to it. This can provide a first sanity check which doesn't cost you a lot of time and effort. However, it is difficult to really judge how a game feels just from a description of the game. So if the reaction is not completely negative, then your next step should be to build a rough, throw-away prototype. Do not waste any effort on any bells and whistles like graphics, user experience or on the extensibility of your software architecture. Only get that core mechanic you have envisioned to a playable state so you can
Recommends Philipp · 2023-06 · Game Development Stack Exchange · on “Don't know what to work on next”
My first priority in every game project I participate in is to create a minimum viable product [this video] (MVP). An MVP is the simplest, quickest and dirtiest possible implementation of your game which can be playtested and deliver you useful data. The MVP for a platformer would be a simple test level with the player being able to jump and run. If you want to create a platformer in this day and age which actually sells, then you also need some unique gimmick. If you do have such an unique gimmick in mind as a core part of your game idea, then it should also be part of the MVP to prove that the concept works. If you don't, then don't worry. You will certainly come up with something over the cour
Cites Philipp · 2016-09 · Game Development Stack Exchange · on “What should be created first in a video game?”
The first step is to create a minimum viable product [this video] . A MVP is the absolute minimum which can be considered a playable game. It doesn't need any graphics yet except for some placeholders. It should just accept basic input and implement the most core game mechanics. Then iterate from there. The reason is that you need a test-bed for testing out if your game idea actually works. You could waste months developing assets and AI for a game idea which turns out to not be fun at all when actually played and you would be forced to trash it all. Also, it's next to impossible to design assets and AI "blind" without being able to put them in the game and experience for yourself how they look a
Cites RAM804 · 2019-02 · Game Development Stack Exchange · on “Minimum Viable Product for RTS game?”
I'm in pre-production on a strategy game and am trying to determine if the core gameplay will be fun. A good technique to determine this is to strip the game down to its minimum viable product [this video] (MVP) and see if that is fun. If the MVP isn't fun, then no amount of extra content or features will make it fun. I'm having difficulty determining the MVP for a strategy game as I'm a little too far into the weeds to see which of the many design features are core mechanics and which are unnecessary. Purely as an example, lets just say StarCraft2 is the strategy game I want to make. What would be the MVP for SC2 to prove out that its core gameplay is fun?
Cites gaazkam · 2019-08 · Game Development Stack Exchange · on “Can polishing the GUI be ever considered a part of making the MVP?”
I've read and watched about the MVP: Minimum Viable Product for RTS game? [LINK] What should be created first in a video game? [LINK] And of course the video everything on the subject links to [this video] I'm trying to apply this concept to the menu-based combat game I'm trying to make as a hobby project. This is a little bit tricky because when I started the project I did not know about MVP. As a result, I first cut my original idea significantly down to what I considered the minimum release-worthy version of my game; so that I could, in the future, release my game and then iterate on this first release. This, obviously, was far more than what would be considered MVP. Out of necessity (the game