I am having trouble coming up with my game ideas. I had a few ideas but I dropped them. I want to create a simple game that I can sell for 99 cents and that people will love. I just don’t know what to make. Here are the ideas that I have had so far.
Flappy bird clone
Monkey vine swinging game
Beat the ragdoll type game
If anyone could start me off with a small idea and I can build off of it that would be amazing.
Thanks!
What’s wrong with those ideas?
Take inspiration from anywhere and everywhere. You’re only limited by your imagination (and free time!)
I found one of the best ways to get inspired is to just start writing little test bits of code to practice with and see what kind of mechanisms I can make for any kind of game. Eg: Flappy Bird has certain elements to it which need to be framework so they can be reused easily. Code those up and see what you get out of it. While you’re coding it you’ll get inspired to write a thousand other things.
Then your problem is choosing which one to run with. And THEN you end up with tonnes of games started and not finished. The real problem is sticking with just one. The answer to that is sticking with the one you like most and think is most possible, until it’s done.
ok i guess i will give the monkey game a try
Post progress on a thread so you can share the highs and lows 
… I just don’t know what to make … I want to create a simple game that I can sell for 99 cents .…
If you are a new programmer and or game developer, this is the wrong focus.
You need to be saying, “I don’t know how to make XYZ and I want to learn that, with no thought about making money.”
Make games because you love games and learning. If you can’t get excited about making games without making money at it, you should probably reconsider your plans. Making games is hard work.
I know this sounds kind of like a rant … and it is. I get a little irked when I see newbies start on game dev and their first thought is, “How can I make a million dollars?”
When I started programming ( age ~11), I made games to explore programming and because I was curious. I wasn’t thinking about money. I was thinking, “How did ABC game do that and can I do it?” I shared my games for free with friends (on cassette tapes).
If you are a newbie I welcome you to the community with open arms and willingness to help, if you are interested in learning and expanding your knowledge/experience.
-Ed
Oh, dang… I got all ranty and didn’t give you a suggestion.
If you really want to start simple and focus on things that will help you learn game dev and Corona specifically, focus on single screen games first.
Later you can move onto games that require more knowledge:
Flappy Bird clone - This is more advanced than it seems. It involves everything you will learn in the games above, plus:
Basic fixed view horizontally scrolling camera with or without parallax effects.
Endless Level Generation and destruction
Intelligent difficulty management and escalation
… more
Monkey vine swinging game - Not really sure what you mean here, but it sounds like some complicated physics and vector work.
Last note… I used the term ‘newbie’ above, and I know that can seem derogatory. I don’t mean it that way. I simply lacked a better term.
“New Guy or Gal Looking To Learn The Awesomeness That Is Game Development” was too long.
Check your Private Messages. I sent you some info on possible templates.
i guess whack a mole sounds good
and the monkey game is where you swing from vine to vine to get high scores
I will do the whack a mole game to start off with. I need a mole sprite though to make it.
I am more than happy to help you with technical issues after you’ve tried and gotten stuck, but finding art is on you.
Not to worry though, you can just hunt around and find an image or images on the web:
You can also search for templates in other engines/sdks and borrow the art:
( There is a sample project link on the page found at the link above. )
Since you’re just doing this for practice and not to distribute or sell, then you are OK borrowing any art you want.
One more word of advice.
If, in the process of working on a game, you get stuck on a specific element/feature. Go make a simple test bench to figure out that feature.
For example, Let’s say you want to figure out how to draw an animated mole sprite. Don’t do it first in your game. Go make a standalone project (test bench) and learn to do it there.
Then, using what you learned, re-write (not copy and paste) the code into your game.
By doing this you will learn much faster and avoid some issue in your game messing you up while you figure out something new.
“sharing games on cassette” lol I guess we are of a similar age! And when hyper-load came along games loaded in 5 minutes rather than 10!
Just to add my 2 cents in… There is no market for 99 cent games that are made in a couple of days! There are millions of them on the app stores for free.
I totally agree that you should makes games because you love them and not to make serious money as you have more chance of being hit by lightning. Make simple games to understand the basics. Then extend those to have more complicated features, then extend it some more and some more and some more. Then create your first commercial game and release it.
Now the important work begins… Marketing, promotion, social media, debugging, releasing patches, responding to customer criticism and improving your game.
Good luck!
Wow! Have you been looking at my computer?? I have so many unfinished projects it’s ridiculous.
When I started with Corona I hadn’t done any programming since the old days on my 48k Spectrum back in the 80s. I had an idea for a game type that (to the best of my knowledge) still hasn’t been done by anyone. I started writing it but very quickly realised that I was in way way over my head so I stepped back and just started messing. Downloading game templates and ripping them apart to see how they work. I still don’t know a lot (I’m a slow learner) but I’m getting there. My idea is still at the back of my mind and one day it WILL get done.
I don’t know about anyone else but I get an insane amount of satisfaction just working out how to do something by myself and consequently I have a stupid amount of cool code clips that one day will get used in a project. Coding is ace. Try to keep it fun.
Let me chime in here to a pile of great advice!
First, Assets: Don’t worry about that. Make your moles with circles. Maybe the player only taps red circles but not blue and yellow. You can do a lot with just graphic primitives like rectangles and circles. Whack-a-mole doesn’t have to be moles either. It could be whack-a-bug, whack-an-alien.
Secondly, “Whack-a-mole” is an important design pattern to learn. Mobile devices are touch based and getting players to see something on the screen and tap it is the basis for many games. You will find that even some of the best games are based on simple mechanics of simple games like “Whack-a-mole”.
Feel free to experiment. Expect to have failures. Plenty of programming is learning to make mistakes, recognize them, learn the solution and push forward.
Rob
This. So much this. This right here. Totally this.
The game or app is the output of lots of test benches.
You’re not alone.
Thank you guys for the tips. I will be working on a whack a mole game soon and then I will start something else.
I know it is 1 AM but I think without assets the game will not attract a lot of attention. I’m not saying that it will either way but I don’t think people would download a game on the app store and Google play that looks like an Atari 2600 game.
There are plenty of assets available free of charge on the net. Here’s just 2 sites…