Hi Zinth
I’m also doing it all with very little budget. Thus, its of great importance to be honest with yourself and scope the project down to something achievable single-handedly. Sure, we want cool features, but, lets get the basics working first. I use three words to keep me focused: Procedural, Modular, Customizable. Modular Code and Content is reusable in other features/entities/game products. Customizable Content provides a means to populate the game world with many variations assembled from a smaller assets, in smaller quantities. I can also support Player Customization/Creation as a game feature. Procedural generation utilizes computational power to algorithmically generate content, conserving time and money required with manual generation.
A great place to start is with a Design Document. This is more so for you to keep track of what and why your doing things and visualize how these things interact. I personally use Open office Impress/MS Powerpoint to Jot down all the features and then break them down to the basics to find and organize commonalities. For me its easier to visualize the game design, when I write/draw it out on paper. Its a living document that I add and remove ideas during research & development.
I like games with customization, and this was a primary feature i desired in my game. I didn’t want only customizable characters, I wanted everything customizable! I researched on techniques the game devs use, lead me to the modular pawns. So I started to layout a system for modular entities. I realized to swap out and orientate entity parts in-game, an editing system will be needed. I commenced to write out the features for one. I took a gander at existing editors, to work out movement, selection,etc. After some planning on paper, I started writing a Slot Manager to handle Save/Load of Game Entity Files Locally /Remotely and this is my current focus.
With these application operating as standalone, there is potential for me to publish and sale in the UE4 marketplace. My first priority is to develop a fun game, the second priority is to generate revenue.