GAMING ADVICE WITH PROFESSOR KNOW-IT-ALL: B-BUT I CAN’T COMPETE WITH THAT

Yes you can!

  • Addit
  • 10/05/2015 09:59 AM
  • 19614 views


Good day, ladies and gentlederps. The name is Professor Know-It-All. And I’m here today to teach you all about the secret art of game making and general game design. You can just call me “The Professor” for short, considering that’s what most people call me around here. For the next ten minutes, or however long it takes you to read all of this, I will be sharing my wisdom of many years of game making experience with you all. Although my speculative advice may come free and is considered well-informed by most, please take into the account that even I, the great and mighty professor can sometimes be faulty. So make sure that you have a clear head that is full of common sense and a willingness to go beyond the boundaries of knowledge as we take a look at today’s informal lesson.


Hey everyone, and welcome back to class. Before I decide to lecture you again with another important / non-important lesson in life and game making – *claps hands* let’s do some quick role playing, shall we? And I’m not talking about those RPG’s, and stuff. Lords knows we already have enough of those on here anyway with all you youngins.

- I even brought my own music along this time to brighten the mood in here and create what you people in the biz call “atmosphere.”





Please don’t judge my musical tastes… *clicks*



“This here is Billy. He’s a frequent user and potential future stalker of RPG Maker.net and has been ever since he laid his grubby little hands on the pirated version of RPG Maker 2003 that he got from an anonymous friend. Even though he’s a frequent member of the site, little do people realize that Billy here is actually only twelve years old and is not really allowed to be a member of the site - but who cares! He’s a f*ckin’ rebel - AND THAT HOW HE ROLLS!!!”

“During the past couple of months, Billy here has been hard at work…well, most of time when he’s not spending most of his evenings on Twitter and playing on his Xbox One working on his latest “masterpiece” that I’m sure will break the very foundations of space in time… This game’s got everything, he claims, other than the freakin’ kitchen sink. Peoples should be scared…”

“But one day, on a surprise visit to the site, Billy then learns the 'hard truth'…”




“Wow…RMN sure has a lot of great games to choose from lately…”


“…But none of them shall ever match 'my' masterpiece.”


“I mean, why bother even trying, you guys. F*cking noobs…”




*clicks* “I’m going to go check out the forums. See if that particular topic that I like is still open…”




“Actually – screw that. Let’s go check out the ‘supposive’ competition.”


“This oughta be good.” *clicks*





*end music*





“And thus Billy soon quit that very same day and gave up on all his game making dreams…forever…as he knew that he couldn’t compete against such wonderus works such as those, especially with his pitiful, fifth grade art skills and mainly RTP assets. Truly he was a broken man that day and went on to become a lowly sales associate for Target…”


“F*cking graphic whores…”


So what exactly happened here that caused our test subject to just give up and walk away like that so nonchalantly? I mean, just a mere minute ago this man was on top of world and had all the confidence to shatter a brick wall. What happened!?

Well, like most beginners and alike to anything that they cherish so, the thought of seeing something so unbelievably spectacular in comparison to their very own work can definitely cause some people to be thrown off their game a little and might even cause them to just quit altogether. It’s a tough pill to swallow from some knowing that they can’t compete with some of the more talented users and they just feel that their game is just a waste of space on shelf next to theirs. Is it immaturity or just foolish pride? Sometimes a little of both...

- But what if I told you that you still have a chance to upset some of these amazing games and even maybe surpassing them with the current skillset that you have. What would you say to that?



O-Okay…at least here me out:

Perhaps the greatest aspect of game creation and game design, especially today, is that in the long run of things (most of the time) that graphics and overall presentation style really doesn’t make a particular game stand out that much anymore as it used to be. Sure it helps to have some fantastic visuals on your side and all, but they’re not really as beneficial and vital as they once were.

Case in point, just look at some of the most popular and most downloaded games here on RMN are: Hero’s Realm, for example, relies mainly on edits and rips while providing a classic RPG experience akin to the older Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games of yore. At the time, Kentona wasn’t exactly a Vincent van Gogh here when it came to creating his own art assets from scratch, as he was mainly more of that friendly sort of bum that you would see downtown graffiting on the walls in a playful attempt to make it look slightly more interesting. Of course, now his artistic talents are much better now than what they used to be, but his earlier work still is seen today as his best.

What about Final Fantasy Blackmoon Prophecy? You’d think that a Final Fantasy fangame using also mainly rips and edits would do absolutely terrible on here considering how many Final Fantasy fangames that there are, but it’s one of the most popular and most viewed games here on the site. UPRC has definitely improved a bit over time with his artistic skills, but he still mainly uses edits and rips today for the latest work and he’s still doing great.

Pom Gets Wi-Fi is also a pretty good example, too. While the creator used their own custom assets to make and design the game and do all the visuals for it, unlike the last two examples, the game isn’t exactly a masterpiece in good graphical design – but it still got the job done and ended up doing very, very, very well overall. Yeah, you could blame its success on a particular popular Youtuber that made it a household name, but even then this game still uses a few borrowed materials here or there, like its music, to make it.

There’s also games like Love & War Act I, A Blurred Line, Ara Fell, the Legionwood series and many others that have relied on rips and edits in the past and they’re still as popular and they are today. These guys didn’t have the greatest of art talent skills either and they still ended up putting out a fantastic product.

You also have to remember just how difficult it is for some of these major art designers to create their own custom works and how much of a painstaking task it is to get it all of that done along with everything else. While some of them may have some additional help on the side in that regard, it’s definitely quite an uphill battle for some and a lot of these types of projects don’t really go anywhere or they get put on indefinite hiatus or flat out cancelled in the long run just because of how difficult it is. These types of projects tend to have a lot more busy work involved with them and you can definitely seriously see why almost 95% of them never materialize unless it’s a short project that’s under going to be under an hour or so to beat. So just because you see something pretty posted in the Screenshot Topic doesn’t mean that it’s particular going to cause much of a threat. (But it sure looks nice, though, don’t you think?)

And finally, if graphics and artwork aren’t your biggest strengths in the whole world to show everyone who’s boss, you could always show off some of your more superior skills instead. Are you a great story writer with an interesting narrative with some fantastic character design and you wanna highlight that as your main focus? Well, why not post a couple of screenshots of some of the cutscenes on your gamepage and go into more detail about that. Are you a great coder and wanna show off something that will blow the minds off everyone else? Well, why not show some footage of your amazing coding prowess skills and market your game around that. It doesn’t have to be all about how it looks as it more about how it plays.

In the end, yes, you’re going to run into many people here who have a much more interesting and better looking game than you do – and that’s okay, because the pressure’s on them to deliver the goods and the workload that they have to end up doing is much higher than yours is. You wanna be that snake in the grass who just slitters along quietly before eventually finding that mouse in the shrubs. Besides, you shouldn’t let someone else dedicate the type of game that you want to make or take the enjoyment out of it just because of how it looks. Besides, that’s not kosher.

So I say continue to stay the course and make your game the way that you want it to be and don’t be intimated by these art talented jabroni’s. Besides, who knows what could happen upon release. Maybe it will be “them” that will end up working for you and you might be the one that hogs all the glory instead of them.

Boy, wouldn’t that be sweet…



Class dismissed.

Posts

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This is why I never play anyone else's games.
Hey, you played mine, didn’t you? I must have done something right.

(For the time…)
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
This may just be me, but I find a good motto to staying sane is to not compare my work to others. Instead, I compare my current work to my old work and ask "Am I improving?"

This doesn't mean not to be critical of your own work. What it means is to not hold yourself to the standards of people who are much more skilled and/or talented than you are. Aim to one day reach their greatness, but don't let their greatness keep you from your own path towards improving.
That’s a good motto, actually. I mean, I just recently played something that I made way back then a few years ago and I thought that it was complete garbage compared to the type of stuff that I’m making as of right now. Yeah, it’s not as good as some of the other games that are on here visually or from a gameplay perspective, but it’s the best work that I’ve ever done since I started game making all those years ago and I’m pretty proud of it and I’m sure that there will be a couple of people here that will be just as impressed by it as I would to someone else’s work.

Besides, I can’t let this “unity person” upstage me, can I? :D
I'll just say, 'Do what you love, and screw the haters.' XD More importantly, don't let anyone else shape your game's vision but yourself. Make a game for you, for moi! A game that you'll enjoy playing.

It's what I do. ^^
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
@Addit:

What's even worse: If you look at those amazing screenshots by talented people and think to yourself, "Alright. I can beat that."

Then, after months of hard work, you're STILL not anywhere close to even matching those amazing screens, and you realize you spent more time trying to one-up the competition or copying their map style without learning anything yourself. Then, you get discouraged, quit gam mak, return to Target, and despise yourself for wasting time working on a fruitless endeavor. Sometimes it's hard to define that thin line between inspiration and jealousy.

Great article, Addit! This whole series has been a delight to read.
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
Good article, Addit. Really though, another thing to remember is that many of the Screenshot Thread games might never make it to completed status. The reason a game might look very pretty is because they spend so much time doing and redoing their graphics that they will never finish. Of course, I don't mean to say that games with great graphics don't get finished - there are plenty out there - but even the ones that may look marvellously pretty in a single frame, might play terribly when you actually sit down and try to walk through it. The maps might be the only good part of the thing. Whereas you got games with bad graphics, good gameplay, blah blah blah I feel like I'm reiterating what has been said before.

Anyway, this article was a greatly entertaining read and it's making me intimidated to write articles... Maybe I should just give up and work at Targe-

Oh.
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
Magnificent article. I need to listen to magnificent dance now.
I'm all 'I could do better, if i wanted to' person. So, competition and potential success of the others inspires me.
Just one detail. I can't imagine a twelve years old nerd checking on twitter all day. There better services for him up web's sleeve. Like tinder...
If you quit a hobby only because there are people who are better at it than you, you won't have anything left to do in your free time, lol. Make a game because you have fun working on it. If other people who try it happen to like it, then that's a nice bonus. That's how I see it.

But really cool article. Loved the music and Billy's story. :D
This is actually good advice. It could be hard sometimes not to get discouraged though.
This article definitely hits home for me, and I'm sure many others as well. I wish I had that artistic ability, but not everyone is blessed with that gift. Well written, great advice, very encouraging!
If only all artists could get "you can still be great even with amazing things made out there" ingrained in their minds... because I'm growing tired and tired of hearing "I will never be as good as you". I'm not even that great! (O︵O✿)
author=Milennin
If you quit a hobby only because there are people who are better at it than you, you won't have anything left to do in your free time, lol.

- You could always take up drinking!

(Good ol’ delicious drinking…)

author=robb0226
I wish I had that artistic ability, but not everyone is blessed with that gift.

That’s why you PLOT OUT to destroy them instead with your amazing writing abilities and awesome as fun looking gameplay.

That will teach those graphic whores! :D
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
author=Addit
author=Milennin
If you quit a hobby only because there are people who are better at it than you, you won't have anything left to do in your free time, lol.
- You could always take up drinking!

(Good ol’ delicious drinking…)

And so twelve years old Billy became a notorious drunk.
author=Cap_H
And so twelve years old Billy became a notorious drunk.

"…Thanks in no large part to Professor Know-It-All, who supplied young Billy here with all the comforts that one needs - including a free ride home!" :D

(…Hey, at least he’s somewhat thinking of the children.)
author=Milennin
If you quit a hobby only because there are people who are better at it than you, you won't have anything left to do in your free time, lol. Make a game because you have fun working on it. If other people who try it happen to like it, then that's a nice bonus. That's how I see it.

But really cool article. Loved the music and Billy's story. :D


I missed this so forgive me. This is true. Like I said it is hard not to get discouraged sometimes. However if you just give up on a hobby, thinking you'll never get better, then you waste all your good skills. Giving up, thinking you'll never get better, or if you think you're better than every one else, will do no good. You'll only hurt yourself in the end.
SunflowerGames
The most beautiful user on RMN!
13323

What? And here I thought Maker Score determined how worth while your games were.


I have actually been in the position of being over whelmed by some of the BIG BOYS in town. But I came to a realization. If there was no people to make all the crappy games, then how would you know how great the great games were. I make games for fun in the long run. I don't need them to be better than Star Stealing Prince, I just to need to get some crazy You Tuber to feature my game! (In my dreams)


Corfaisus
"It's frustrating because - as much as Corf is otherwise an irredeemable person - his 2k/3 mapping is on point." ~ psy_wombats
7874


I started drawing YEARS ago back in 1991. i've been drawing for 24 years! i wasn't perfect from the start! none of us are! NEVER GIVE UP AND BELIEVE IN YOUR POWER!

STAY EXPIRED!




Eh-hm! ....inspired
Art by GillPanda ©2015

author=robb0226
I wish I had that artistic ability, but not everyone is blessed with that gift.

This is a tired excuse. Literally no one is "blessed" with artistic ability. It's a finely-honed skill.
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