How to create a mini-game?
Someone asked on Game Development:
I am wondering how to creat a mini-game like “Diner Dash” or like “Big Fish Games”. I want my game to be 2d, but it looks like 3d: see this image. http://www.topxgames.com/bigfish/diner-dash-flo-through-time/screen1.jpg Also, if you know some good game-engine to create games like those then thanks a lot in advance.
I posted the following answer, which was chosen as the accepted answer and received 7 upvotes:
I’m assuming that you are confusing the term “mini-game” with “casual game.” I’m going to attempt to answer you with the assumption that you are talking about creating a casual game, which is still a very broad question, but I’ll try to give it a stab from a high-level; however, if you really do have a full game and are just looking to add mini-games to it, I don’t know what I can offer to guide you there.
Some key concepts for casual games, are (all my opinion):
- Quick to play, that is to say your game should have gameplay that is very simple to pick up and just play. You shouldn’t have a “tutorial mode” or any of that, it should be so simple anyone can figure it out.
- By extension of quick to play, most popular casual games have gameplay that is on the shorter end of the spectrum, 30-90 seconds is common.
- Progress after a gameplay period should be saved.
I can only speak for myself, but XNA has a very low cost of entry, the learning curve is small if you already are familiar with C++ and/or Java. It also lets you deploy your game to Xbox, Windows Phone, and PC.
As @Spooks said, 2D games that appear to be 3D are frequently called 2.5D or pseudo-3D. And is typically done with 2D sprites that appear to be 3D.
Originally posted on Game Development — 7 upvotes (accepted answer). Licensed under CC BY-SA.
