What's happening on UAT's campus- A blog published by UAT Students.

One of the main things you need to do when creating a game is to write down the main features you want the game to have.  What are the core mechanics that make the game what it is?  Get those features down on paper and after that point adding anything to that list should be a major hassle.  Feature creep is a very real and very deadly thing in video games particularly in student games.  I am absolutely not saying it doesn't happen in professional games but most of them by that point have learned to avoid the practice already most likely through experience. So you might ask what is Feature Creep?  This is when you have a product you want to initially create and as you create it you keep getting ideas for new features and then decide to implement those as well.  Over time this affects the overall quality of both the singular features of the product, and the product as a whole.  Also called feature bloat or scope creep it's not just limited to games but often happens in just general software development. At a certain point the whole system is too big and clunky to ever be used effectively even if everything is working how it should.  Given that you do eventually finish what you're working on more features doesn't mean happy users.  It's a delicate balancing act between having "enough features" or having to many/few features. Even more likely though that the scope will grow so huge that you simply will never be able to complete the thing.  No matter how passionate you are about creating your game, it will literally become impossible to finish if you keep adding stuff onto it.  So the best thing to do?  Write down what you absolutely have to have in the game right at the start and then stick to it.  Adding anything to that list should be a painstaking decision and should have a rigorous process to even approve it at all.  Or the better option is just don't do it.  Fear not though because those ideas don't have to go to waste.  Anything you are convinced is a really good idea can go on a wishlist for later.  The wishlist will be a list of things you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT WORK ON UNTIL THE REST IS DONE.  There's no wiggle room there, just don't do it.  After everything else is done then you can discuss adding other features if you would like.  But keeping feature creep under control will be the difference between having: 1. No game at all. 2.  A really bad/overly complicated game. 3.  Something people can enjoy.