The following is taken from the mini-lecture from the November 8th, 2011 meeting.

At this point in time, after following the three tutorials we have (Shooter and RPG 1 and 2), you should have a grasp of the basics. Some of this knowledge can even be applied to other object-oriented languages like C++ and ActionScript.

Whether you feel like you could or not, you have the knowledge to make a number of simple games. The key is knowing how to adapt what you’ve learned into other types of games. Movement is a basic concept that can be used in so many genres. Tile-based systems can be used in RPGs and platformers, and it is essential to know how to play music, display text, switch between parts of a game (e.g. menu screen, field, battle, and so on).

For the gaps you find, there is no better resource than the internet to fill you in on stuff you don’t know how to do. Another resource you can use are the XNA/C# help files, which detail every operation and function available to you. Some problems can simply be solved by applying what you’ve already done in different ways.

When you want to start a project, the first thing you should do is lay out the essential features, and separate them from the optional ones. With a complete game, you can always add more later, but screen shake effects are decidedly behind making sure the battles actually work in terms of priority. Get those essentials in first. Make sure you outline the entire game (specifics usually don’t have to be decided until later, but you should have a general idea of what you’re doing). Also make sure that everybody is on the same page. We suggest Google Docs or a similar service for sharing online documentation.

The time recommended by the Game Creation Club for a project is no more than a month. This is simply a guideline, but keep in mind that it is harder to keep people interested the longer the project is, and too often I’ve seen otherwise good work rendered useless because nobody had the will to go on with the project anymore. This is especially important in groups. If you’re by yourself, it’s a reasonably safe assumption that you really like your idea, and you could probably go longer. However, still keep to the ‘basics first’ rule.