The document outlines eight essential rules for making a great video game, emphasizing the importance of easy testing, frequent deployment, a structured project layout, player feedback, immediate bug fixing, a focus on gameplay, learning from others, and a commitment to quality. Key strategies include setting up debugging tools early, creating a bullet-proof project structure, and prioritizing player experience from the start. The advice is backed by industry examples and emphasizes the complexity of game development.

1. Eight Rules For Making Your First Great Game
Nick Prühs

2. About Me
“Best Bachelor“ Computer Science
Kiel University, 2009
Master Games
Hamburg University of Applied
Sciences, 2011
Lead Programmer
Daedalic Entertainment, 2011-2012
Co-Founder
slash games, 2013-2016
Technical Director
Daedalic Entertainment, 2016
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3. Diversity of Games
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4. Diversity of Games
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5. Diversity of Games
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6. Diversity of Games
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7. Diversity of Games
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8. Diversity of Games
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9. Game Development
“Games are insanely complex.”
- Warren Spector

10. Rule 1
Make testing as easy as possible!

11. Make testing easy!
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At the beginning of Campus Buddies, Christian had the idea of creating
a debug web page containing links for several debug functions
 creating and logging in a test user
 adding points for the current user
 unlocking achievements
 and many, many more

12. Make testing easy!
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13. Make testing easy!
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This was arguably the best idea we had throughout the project.

14. Make testing easy!
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• Debugging can be a pain in the ass
 especially when network communication is involved
• Our debug page saved us lots of blood, sweat and tears
• The earlier you set up your debugging tools, the more you’ll benefit
from them

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16. Rule 2
Deploy often!

17. Deploy often!
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Creating a new version can involve a step or two:
 Accessing source control
o Syncing working copy
o Creating tags
 Writing version numbers
 Performing the actual build
 Packaging the build result
 Publishing the game on a build page
 Running unit tests
 Sending email notifications

18. Deploy often!
You wouldn’t wanna do all that by hand.
Every time.
Do you?
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19. Deploy often!
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20. Rule 3
Use a bullet-proof, feature-based
project structure!

21. Bad Example
• Assets
 EMHQ
o Data
– Icons
– Images
– Sprites
– Textures
o Resources
– Icons
o UI
– Common
» Sprites
 EMHQ_gfx_export
o Textures
 GUI
o Assets
– Images
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22. Bad Example
• Assets
 EMHQ
o Data
– Icons
– Images
– Sprites
– Textures
o Resources
– Icons
o UI
– Common
» Sprites
 EMHQ_gfx_export
o Textures
 GUI
o Assets
– Images
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Bonus Objective:
- Find the icon for the Main
Menu button.

23. Bad Example
• Assets
 EMHQ
o Data
– Icons
– Images
– Sprites
– Textures
o Resources
– Icons
o UI
– Common
» Sprites
– Base
» HUD
• Sprites
 EMHQ_gfx_export
o Textures
 GUI
o Assets
– Images
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Bonus Objective:
- Find the icon for the Main
Menu button.

24. Feature Folders
• Project Root
 FingerGestures
 FreudBot
 HOTween
 NGUI
 NData
 Unity Test Tools
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25. Feature Folders
• Project Root
 FingerGestures
 FreudBot
o Animations
o Atlases
o Fonts
o Localization
o Prefabs
o Scenes
o Sounds
o Sprites
o Scripts
 HOTween
 NGUI
 NData
 Unity Test Tools
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26. Feature Folders
• Project Root
 FreudBot
o Scripts
– Ads
– Analytics
– Comics
– Core
– Debug
– Dialogue
– IAP
– Mobile
– Progression
– Sound
– UI
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27. Feature Folders
• Project Root
 FreudBot
o Scripts
– Ads
» Components
» Events
» Systems
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28. Feature Folders
This way, features and plugins can easily be updated
or removed without having to scan the full project
tree.
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29. Rule 4
Listen to your players!

30. Analytics
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31. Analytics
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32. Analytics
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This is okay. (Endboss)

33. Analytics
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This is not. (Intermediate level)

34. Rule 5
Fix bugs immediately!

35. 35 / 79
Why you should always start debugging immediately

36. Why you should always start debugging immediately
• Code entropy says your code will get worse, all the time, unless you
actively invest in preventing that
• Broken windows theory says the worse your code is, the worse it will
become
• Tracking down bugs is harder in a larger code base
• Tracking down bugs is harder in a buggy code base
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37. Code Quality Tools
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38. Code Quality Tools
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39. Code Quality Tools
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/// <summary>
/// Attaches the passed component to the entity with the specified id.
/// Note that this manager does not check whether the specified id is valid.
/// </summary>
/// <exception cref="ArgumentNullException">
/// Passed component is null.
/// </exception>
/// <exception cref="InvalidOperationException">
/// There is already a component of the same type attached.
/// </exception>
public void AddComponent(int entityId, IEntityComponent component)
{
if (component == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("component");
}
if (this.components.ContainsKey(entityId))
{
throw new InvalidOperationException(
"There is already a component of type " + component.GetType() + " attached to entity with id "
+ entityId + ".");
}
this.components.Add(entityId, component);
this.OnComponentAdded(entityId, component);
}

40. Divide-and-conquer
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41. Divide-and-conquer
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42. Divide-and-conquer
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43. Divide-and-conquer
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44. Divide-and-conquer
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45. Divide-and-conquer
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46. Logging
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47. On-Screen
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48. Pair Programming
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Source: University of Utah, UIT

49. And if nothings helps …
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50. And if nothings helps …
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Try again tomorrow!

51. Some are really nasty …
• Remote systems
• Race conditions
• Mobile development, embedded systems, drivers
• “Release Mode only” bugs
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52. Quoting My Tutor
“If the bug is not where you expect it to be,
you better start looking for it where you’re not expecting it to be.”
- Hagen Peters
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53. You need a repro. Period.
How can you be sure you’ve fixed it?
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54. Rule 6
Gameplay first!

55. Gameplay First
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Erich Schaefer. Postmortem: Blizzard's Diablo II.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131533/postmortem_blizzards
_diablo_ii.php
“First, we make the game playable as soon as possible
in the development process. Our initial priority was to
get a guy moving around on the screen and hacking
monsters. This is what players would be doing most of
the time, and it had to be fun.”

56. Rule 7
Learn from others!

57. Because you wouldn't use a screwdriver on a nail...
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StarCraft II Galaxy Editor

58. 58 / 60
StarCraft II Galaxy Editor
Because you wouldn't use a screwdriver on a nail...

59. 59 / 60
StarCraft II Galaxy Editor
Because you wouldn't use a screwdriver on a nail...

60. 60 / 60
StarCraft II MakeCombat
Because you wouldn't use a screwdriver on a nail...

61. 61 / 60
Erich Schaefer. Postmortem: Blizzard's Diablo II.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131533/postmortem_blizzards
_diablo_ii.php
“In many cases we created tools to speed up content
creation, but then abandoned them. Too often, we
decided to keep using inferior tools because we
thought we were almost done with the game, and
didn't want to take the time to improve them.
Unfortunately, in most of these cases, we were not
really almost done with the game.“
Because you wouldn't use a screwdriver on a nail...

62. Genre Standards
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StarCraft II Screenshot

63. Genre Standards
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StarCraft II Screenshot

64. Genre Standards
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StarCraft II Screenshot

65. Genre Standards
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StarCraft II Screenshot

66. Genre Standards
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StarCraft II Screenshot

67. Genre Standards
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StarCraft II Screenshot

68. Genre Standards
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StarCraft II Screenshot

69. Genre Standards
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StarCraft II Screenshot

70. Genre Standards
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Unreal Tournament 3 Splash Screen

71. Genre Standards
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Unreal Tournament 3 Login Screen

72. Genre Standards
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Hostile Worlds Screen Transitions

73. Genre Standards
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Steam Server Browser

74. Genre Standards
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WarCraft III Lobby

75. Genre Standards
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WarCraft III Loading Screen

76. Genre Standards
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WarCraft III Score Screen

77. Genre Standards
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StarCraft II Options Screen

78. Open Game Sources
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Doom 3 GPL Release on GitHub

79. Open Game Sources
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Blizzard on GitHub

80. Open Game Sources
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Blizzard QT on GitHub

81. Open Game Sources
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Blizzard Premake on GitHub

82. Project Structure
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Windows 10 - System32 Folder

83. Project Structure
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> 3000 Libraries

85. Project Structure
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Hearthstone Asset Bundles

86. Project Structure
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Hearthstone Data Files

87. Project Structure
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StarCraft II “Mods”

88. Project Structure
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StarCraft Game Folder Size

89. Project Structure
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StarCraft MPQ Files

90. Data Structure
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPQ
MPQ (Mo'PaQ, short for Mike O'Brien Pack, named after its creator[citation
needed]), is an archiving file format used in several of Blizzard
Entertainment's games.
MPQs used in Blizzard's games generally contain a game's data files,
including graphics, sounds, and level data. The format's capabilities
include compression, encryption, file segmentation, extensible file
metadata, cryptographic signature and the ability to store multiple
versions of the same file for internationalization and platform-specific
differences. MPQ archives can use a variety of compression algorithms
which may also be combined.

91. Data Structure
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Hearthstone Localization Files (GAMEPLAY.txt)
TAG TEXT COMMENT
GAMEPLAY_COIN_TOSS_LOSTYou get an extra card
GAMEPLAY_COIN_TOSS_WON You go first
GAMEPLAY_FATIGUE_TITLE Fatigue
GAMEPLAY_FATIGUE_TEXT Out of cards! Take {0} damage.
GAMEPLAY_FATIGUE_HISTORY_TEXT Trying to draw from an empty deck
deals increasing damage to your hero.
GAMEPLAY_END_TURN END TURN
GAMEPLAY_ENEMY_TURN ENEMY TURN
GAMEPLAY_YOUR_TURN Your Turn
GAMEPLAY_ERROR_PLAY_REJECTED Too late! Your turn is over.
GAMEPLAY_MOBILE_BATTLECRY_CANCELED Battlecry canceled.
GAMEPLAY_MANA_COUNTER {0}/{1} 0=unused mana 1=current total mana

92. Data Structure
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Hearthstone Data Files (BOARD.xml)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Dbf>
<Column name="ID" type="Int" />
<Column name="NOTE_DESC" type="String" />
<Column name="PREFAB" type="AssetPath" />
<Record>
<Field column="ID">1</Field>
<Field column="PREFAB">Assets/Game/Boards/STW/STW</Field>
<Field column="NOTE_DESC">Stormwind</Field>
</Record>
<Record>
<Field column="ID">2</Field>
<Field column="PREFAB">Assets/Game/Boards/ORG/ORG</Field>
<Field column="NOTE_DESC">Orgrimmar</Field>
</Record>

93. Log Files
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Hearthstone Log File
Platform assembly:
D:GamesHearthstoneHearthstone_DataManagedICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.dll (this
message is harmless)
Loading D:GamesHearthstoneHearthstone_DataManagedICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.dll
into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: D:GamesHearthstoneHearthstone_DataManagedPlayMaker.dll
(this message is harmless)
Loading D:GamesHearthstoneHearthstone_DataManagedPlayMaker.dll into Unity
Child Domain

94. Log Files
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League of Legends Log File
Function: Spell::Effect::SpellFXRenderer::Update
Expression: false
001567.413| 0.0000kb| 0.0000kb added| ERROR| Assertion
failed!
File: E:/jenkins/workspace/game-code-Releases-4-18-public-
win32/code/Game/LoL/Spell/Effect/Client/SpellFXRenderer.cpp
Line: 854

95. Art Guides
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96. Development Blogs
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Post-Mortem of WarCraft

97. Developer Conferences
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Post-Mortem of Ochestrator

98. Rule 8
Commit to quality!

99. Commit To Quality
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Erich Schaefer. Postmortem: Blizzard's Diablo II.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131533/postmortem_blizzards
_diablo_ii.php
“The task of testing a game of Diablo II's scope, with its
huge degree of randomness and its nearly infinite
character skill and equipment paths, required a
Herculean effort. […] Would a party of five Paladins,
each using a different defensive aura, be untouchable?
After more than 100 hours of play, is a fire-based
Sorceress unable to continue in Hell Mode?”

100. Thank you for listening!
https://github.com/npruehs
@npruehs
nick.pruehs@daedalic.com