The auction

I decided to "start over" with just a small piece of the system so that I could practice getting through all phases a little more quickly. I took just the auction piece and wrote some user scenarios and then began to design and develop it. It was much easier thinking about the project on this smaller scope. It's not totally done, but I have enough pieces of it working that I can buy and sell things on it.

 
 

I think now I will start over again with the larger project now having some experience making it all the way through and experiencing the value of having a more thorough design.

 
 

Creating a game requires a lot of creativity, but what keeps hanging me up is that I am thinking that I will apply that creativity in the development phase instead of the design phase. Something I have to realize is that almost all of the creativity should be applied in the design and planning phases while the development is really more just construction.

 
 

This has been tough for me because I like to be creative as I build. Growing up I loved playing with blocks and Lego's because I would create what ever it was as I built it. I might have had a general idea of where I was headed but definitely no specifics. For example I might have had the idea to build a car or a space ship our of Lego's. So I would grab some wheels and longer Lego's and attach them. Then I would look for an engine of some sort and some doors. It was easy to trade pieces out as I went and to see the functionality of my project as I went. But I would have no idea about color or size of wheels or really even how big the car would be in the end. Sometimes I would find cool Lego's I could add to give the car wings or arms and I would add them for fun.

 
 

This "Create as you Build" mentality has not been working for me with this project. I would like to test out all the different "cool parts" as I built them and then decide if I wanted to keep them, adjust them, or remove them. What I am learning is that the create part of the project is in the planning, which doesn't seem to be as fun for me. But I am going to proceed that way and not write any code (except maybe to test ideas) until the game can be played thoroughly on paper.