Game Elements

 I learned that the first thing you should do when making a new game is to start prototyping as fast as possible, you can do this physically or digitally. A fast way of prototyping is to use paper cutouts to replicate your game environment, this way you can chop and change all the different elements of the game to see what works and what doesn't. Its also likely that you will make some discoveries about your game that you wouldn't have made in the concept phase of your game. 

Critical analysis isn't for finding faults in your game, its more supposed to be a thorough, unbiased study of your game. There are a number of questions to ask yourself when carrying out a critical analysis. Firstly, what challenges does the player face and what can they do to overcome these challenges? How do players effect each other? Is the game fair according to the players? Is it replayable? and what is the core audience of the game? Once you have asked all these questions and figured out the core of the game you have completed your critical analysis. Knowing the answers to these questions will benefit you in your process and it's a lot easier to understand and improve your game if you have hands on experience playing it.