How to Create a Game App 

Using no-code tools, game creation becomes accessible to everyone, irrespective of their coding background. Regardless of the scope of your concept, the following nine steps will guide you in bringing your game idea to life.

It’s time to turn your long-held game app idea into reality. With the available technology, you can bring it to life without worrying about your programming expertise. However, developing a game app involves various considerations. 

Will it be a single-player or multiplayer experience? Should you opt for 2D or 3D graphics? Which game engine suits your needs best? How will you craft the game levels?

Successful developers follow a proven development lifecycle to create a game app regardless of the scale of your game. This life cycle involves a pre-development phase emphasizing design, an iterative development phase, and finally, post-development activities to ensure your game effectively reaches its target audience.

Here are the steps to create your game app

1. Create the fundamental gameplay mechanism for your game.

Every great game begins with a great idea. In the gaming world, this main idea is called the “core mechanic.” It’s the basic element that shapes how players play the game. For example, in Tetris, players move and turn falling blocks to fill rows at the bottom of the puzzle.

The primary idea sets the game apart, making it a fun and unique player experience. A great core mechanic will catch players’ attention and make your game stand out.

After that, you need to decide what type of game you want to create and the platforms on which it will be available. The choice of graphics plays a significant role in these decisions. For platformer games and side scrollers, 2D graphics are commonly used. 

On the other hand, if you want a more realistic experience, like in first-person shooters, you might opt for 3D graphics, which can make the project more complex.

In any case, the graphics you choose will influence your game design and technology decisions. You must also consider whether your game will run on mobile devices, PCs, tablets, or video game consoles.

2. Conduct research and verify the idea with potential users.

Once you have your main idea and game mechanics in mind, the next step is to validate your idea. There are a few ways to do this:

• Research existing games in the market that are similar to your concept.
• Play games in the same genre to understand what’s already out there.
• Explore games with similar mechanics to learn what you like and don’t like about them.
• Study your competition to understand the potential market size for your game.

Another approach is to seek early feedback from gamer friends and interested people. Share a brief summary of your concept and see how interested they are. 

Ask them what aspects make them want to play or what they find appealing about the idea.

These methods will provide valuable feedback that can help you refine your ideas. 

3. Make a document that outlines the design of the game.

Although it might be tempting to avoid this stage, there needs to be a replacement for documenting your game design. Putting it into writing makes you carefully consider all the essential aspects of creating the game just as you imagine.

This document also keeps track of the research and testing you conducted that guided you in this direction, which will be valuable when refining the game later on. In your design document, summarize your project concisely and include important game details. Remember to describe your target audience as well.

4. Choose the platform for your development.

Game development platforms come with a wide range of capabilities for creating a game. Examples of these built-in functions include animations and collision detection between objects in the game. The features you want in your game will influence your choice of platform.

Some prefer using no-code tools like Bubble to create simple web apps like Wordle or online-level makers. However, Bubble is best for web apps, and if you need higher performance and 3D graphics for your game, consider using a game engine like Unity or Unreal Engine.

Another option is building the game using a C++ or C# programming language. This approach offers the most flexibility, but many games use existing patterns and building blocks on established platforms.

5. Start by creating an MVP or a prototype version.

This step marks the beginning of the development phase, employing an agile approach to create your game. The primary objective of the first iteration is to construct the smallest viable working version of the game. 

This basic version lets you and others start playing and interacting with the essential elements early on. By gathering feedback from the prototype and subsequent iterations, you can refine the game gradually, leading to the final product.

Bubble simplifies the process of building a working prototype with its powerful, no-code editor. It offers numerous capabilities that facilitate your work, such as connecting your app to a database, visually designing responsive user interfaces, and defining event-based workflows. You can explore how to create a trivia app using Bubble effortlessly.

6. Conduct thorough testing before releasing the product.

Make sure to test your game thoroughly for both quality and usability. Your users will appreciate it. It’s also important to ensure that the game is enjoyable to play. You don’t need to be a software developer to conduct user testing for no-code apps. For instance, Preflight’s no-code testing platform simplifies automated testing for Bubble apps. Testing is crucial to keep gamers coming back for more.

7. Launch your game app.

After completing the development stage is the post-development phase, where you launch your game and improve your idea. You’ve already built and tested it; now it’s time to release it to the world and gamers. 

Depending on your target platform, you’ll follow the necessary steps to deploy your game and publish it on your chosen platform, such as mobile app stores, Steam, or itch.io.

8. Begin promoting on platforms that are related to your target audience.

Promoting your game is essential to reaching your intended audience. Start by making a trailer and sharing it on the platforms where your target audience is present. 

Having a playable demo before the official release is beneficial. Before promoting the game on social media and app stores, ensure that the app is optimized.

You’ll need to research keywords and perform conversion rate optimization (CRO) and A/B testing to do this effectively. Keep track of the data you gather to make necessary improvements if required. This leads us to the next step in the process.

9. Ask users for their feedback and continuously make improvements based on it.

Collect feedback from gamers using a popular method known as playtesting. You can also conduct polls on social media and create questionnaires, feedback forms, and surveys within the app. 

Remember to respond to the feedback from players. This will generate interest in the game, especially when players see that their suggestions are being used to make improvements.

Keep changing and improving the game – you’ll be happy you did. By following these simple steps on how to create a game, you can unleash your imagination and start building the game app you’ve been dreaming of.

Conclusion

Bubble is at the forefront of the no-code movement. They provide an easy-to-use web editor and cloud hosting platform that lets people create their own custom web applications and workflows. Whether it’s a basic prototype, a complex marketplace, or a SaaS product, Bubble can handle it all.

There are millions of users using Bubble to build and launch businesses. Many of them have gone on to join prestigious accelerator programs like Y Combinator and have even raised an impressive $365 million in venture funding. 

But Bubble is more than just a product; it’s a community of builders and entrepreneurs who believe that everyone should be able to create technology without having to write code.

Visit Bubblehelpers to learn more about creating your game app with no code. They also offer low-code app support anytime you need it.