How Developing a Game is Like Writing a Novel

I haven’t been writing any fiction since late November. As I mention ad nauseam to anyone I meet in real life and on the internet, I’ve been in the process of creating a fantasy card game. It’s been a great experience so far, and I’m making a ton of progress. I’ve been playtesting with a few reliable people and gathering great feedback on the look and mechanics of the game that I’m incorporating into the next revision.

And how about that? Gathering feedback and working on revisions?

That sure sounds an awful lot like writing. And if I look at the process I’ve gone through so far from the beginning to where I’m currently at on the game, it really feels a lot like writing.

Let’s look at these steps here.

1. Brainstorm for ideas.
2. Pick a few to work with.
3. Put together the game mechanics. (Similar to coming up with a plot.)
4. Come up with the individual cards and stats. (Similar to creating characters.)
5. See how the cards interact with each other. (Creating conflict and tension.)
6. Put together the prototype game. (Similar to writing a first draft.)
7. Testing the prototype deck to gather feedback. (Critique group.)
8. Revisions and more testing.
9. Test the final version.
10. Submit to game publishers or publish independently. (Queries and self-publishing, oh my!)

I’m at step 7-8 of this process, and I definitely have to credit my experience as a writer for the fact that I went from idea to prototype deck in less than 30 days.

The testing and revising process is so similar to writing fiction too. And picking playtesters is just like picking a critique group. You want people who are familiar with the genre you’re trying to sell and have a background playing similar games. You don’t want people that will go too easy on you, but you also don’t want people that will only give you negative feedback.

And just like gathering feedback when writing, you have to remain objective with what you hear. Not all recommended changes are good for your specific project. They may only be one person’s opinion, so it’s never a good idea to implement everything you hear immediately.

In my current WIP game, for example, one of the playtesters gave me a piece of advice so perfect that if solved the biggest problem I had with the cosmetic design of the game. I took that one immediately since it was what I needed. He also had a few ideas that affected the actual game play, and after testing out those ideas a bit, I decided they just didn’t work.

So again, when you’re getting feedback on any of your creative endeavors, look at each critique individually, and choose what’s best for what you’re building.

That’s it for now. Once I realized just how much this is like writing a novel, I knew I had to share.

And I hope you want to share as well. Are you any non-writing projects you’ve done that you were able to use your experiences in writing or publishing to help get the job done? If so, leave ’em in the comments section!