← LEARNING PATHS

One-Screen Game

Guided Tool Path · ~20 MIN · FREE · LOCAL ONLY

Scope, loop and completion: how to design something small enough that you actually finish it.

Specify a tiny complete game that fits on a single screen.

  • core loop
  • single-screen scope
  • feedback
  • failure and restart
  • finishing

Lessons

  1. A game is a loop

    Control, goal, obstacle, feedback. If you can state those four in one sentence each, you have a game; if you cannot, you have a mood.

  2. One screen is a real constraint

    No scrolling, no levels, no menus. Everything the player needs is visible at once, which makes both design and finishing dramatically easier.

  3. Finishing means failing well

    A run must be able to end and restart instantly. Fast restarts are what make a small game replayable instead of annoying.

Design card

Fill in every line. If a line is hard to write, the design is not small enough yet.

See what changed

The preview is generated from your choices above.

One-Screen Game — brief

What does the player control?
— not decided yet —
What is the goal?
— not decided yet —
What makes it hard?
— not decided yet —
How does the player know it worked?
— not decided yet —
How does a run end?
— not decided yet —
How does the player start again?
— not decided yet —

Generated plan · nothing is rendered, built or submitted here

Generated brief: 0 of 6 lines written (0% complete).

WHAT CHANGED · 0 of 6 lines are written, so the card below is 0% of a brief you could hand to yourself next week. Still open: What does the player control?, What is the goal?, What makes it hard?, How does the player know it worked?, How does a run end?, How does the player start again?. A blank line here is a decision you will otherwise make while tired.

0/1 REQUIREMENTS MET

  • Design card complete

COMPLETION RULE · Every line of the design card is answered.

Your plan

Everything above stays on this device. Take a copy with you.

One-Screen Game — SceneStart

What does the player control?: —
What is the goal?: —
What makes it hard?: —
How does the player know it worked?: —
How does a run end?: —
How does the player start again?: —

Completion: 0/1 — Every line of the design card is answered.

SceneStart is not affiliated with any demoparty and cannot certify compliance. The party's published rules always take precedence.

Where to do the real work

  • PICO-8 ↗Paid fantasy console, ideal for one-screen games.
  • Godot ↗Free and open source, scales far beyond one screen.
  • TIC-80 ↗Free fantasy console with a built-in editor suite.

SCOPE · No game engine runs here. This path produces a specification you can implement in the tool of your choice.

FREE FOREVER · A future paid tier could add playtest scripts and scope reviews. The design card stays free.