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WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ACCEPTING DEFEAT AND ACCEPTING YOUR LIMITS?
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Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
Red_Nova
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CloseI think I might be legitimately retarded when it comes to mapping towns.
I've spent the past week reading tutorials, watching videos, looking at screenshots, and playing games in an attempt to study town maps. Yet every time I open up the editor or even a paint program to draw out the concept for a town of my own, my mental state quickly devolves into one of a caveman, complete with the drooling and the grunts and groans that used to pass as communication. I stare at the screen in that state for about thirty minutes before closing down the editor and looking at more tutorials.
I realize what my main issue is: I'm 98% function oriented and 2% fashion oriented. If players aren't able to interact with something in the map at all, I tend to just leave it out. You can see how this is a problem when trying to design towns or other areas that have relatively few player interactions. When I sat down to plan out the city, I figured out the entrances, exits, and shops with absolutely no trouble. However, when I tried to plan out residences, paths, and other such aesthetic buildings and features, I slip into what can only be described as a standing coma.
Asking for help with specific maps is out of the question because it would be less, "helping," and more, "doing the work for me," which I can't accept as a solution. I want to learn how this is done, but I also have the rest of the game that still needs to be made, and I can't afford to waste anymore time on something that isn't even meant to be a selling point of the game. Eventually, I decided that I'm just not going to be good at mapping towns, period, and came up with a workaround. My solution was forgoing the traditional town maps in favor of a visual novel-esque choice system where players decide where they want to go. Once I learn how to map better towns, I have every intention of returning and doing it properly.
Which leads me to the point of this topic: Have you ever come across a situation like mine? Have you every come to the realization that no matter how hard you work at something, it's not going to be as good as you want it to be? What do you do in those situations? Do you deliberately try to avoid working on those areas? Or do you just accept that those areas of your games are going to be weak and do them anyway?
I've spent the past week reading tutorials, watching videos, looking at screenshots, and playing games in an attempt to study town maps. Yet every time I open up the editor or even a paint program to draw out the concept for a town of my own, my mental state quickly devolves into one of a caveman, complete with the drooling and the grunts and groans that used to pass as communication. I stare at the screen in that state for about thirty minutes before closing down the editor and looking at more tutorials.
I realize what my main issue is: I'm 98% function oriented and 2% fashion oriented. If players aren't able to interact with something in the map at all, I tend to just leave it out. You can see how this is a problem when trying to design towns or other areas that have relatively few player interactions. When I sat down to plan out the city, I figured out the entrances, exits, and shops with absolutely no trouble. However, when I tried to plan out residences, paths, and other such aesthetic buildings and features, I slip into what can only be described as a standing coma.
Asking for help with specific maps is out of the question because it would be less, "helping," and more, "doing the work for me," which I can't accept as a solution. I want to learn how this is done, but I also have the rest of the game that still needs to be made, and I can't afford to waste anymore time on something that isn't even meant to be a selling point of the game. Eventually, I decided that I'm just not going to be good at mapping towns, period, and came up with a workaround. My solution was forgoing the traditional town maps in favor of a visual novel-esque choice system where players decide where they want to go. Once I learn how to map better towns, I have every intention of returning and doing it properly.
Which leads me to the point of this topic: Have you ever come across a situation like mine? Have you every come to the realization that no matter how hard you work at something, it's not going to be as good as you want it to be? What do you do in those situations? Do you deliberately try to avoid working on those areas? Or do you just accept that those areas of your games are going to be weak and do them anyway?
SOmetimes you just gotta work around your own limitations. In your example, there are ways to include towns without having to map out towns.
- Make a mini-map area like a world map for the town with certain areas open only.
- Make a list of houses/places you can visit in the town and only map those. (Think FFTactics.)
- Eschew towns altogether and have small camping grounds/shops scattered throughout the wilderness.
- Show only the gates of a town then fade out, have the group purchase the items by themselves without player input (so if you have x gold, have the characters get upgrades to certain weapons/armour and restock your items and life/mp) then have it fade in as the next day.
I have trouble with battles. I try my best to make them even though I'd probably be best getting someone else to make them for me but stuff it, I'm bad at giving up, so I'm afraid people will have to just suffer through my bad battles and give me advice on how to make them better. ^.^;
Sometimes it takes just making something over and over and over and over again before you get the hang of it or at least make it decent enough to work. Sometimes you have to shrug and say "Good enough. It's passable, it'll do." and move on.
Knowing when you should hang on and when you should find another way is hard but something you have to learn over time.
- Make a mini-map area like a world map for the town with certain areas open only.
- Make a list of houses/places you can visit in the town and only map those. (Think FFTactics.)
- Eschew towns altogether and have small camping grounds/shops scattered throughout the wilderness.
- Show only the gates of a town then fade out, have the group purchase the items by themselves without player input (so if you have x gold, have the characters get upgrades to certain weapons/armour and restock your items and life/mp) then have it fade in as the next day.
I have trouble with battles. I try my best to make them even though I'd probably be best getting someone else to make them for me but stuff it, I'm bad at giving up, so I'm afraid people will have to just suffer through my bad battles and give me advice on how to make them better. ^.^;
Sometimes it takes just making something over and over and over and over again before you get the hang of it or at least make it decent enough to work. Sometimes you have to shrug and say "Good enough. It's passable, it'll do." and move on.
Knowing when you should hang on and when you should find another way is hard but something you have to learn over time.
I've taken to doing the intellectual work and realizing that I have a certain skill level, but the sky's the limit in terms of what level I could eventually reach. Now, it's also important to recognize where your interests lie. As of right now, I'm not terribly interested in animation, so I'm not actively pursuing it. Im not interested in 3D modelling, so I'm not really pursuing it. I am interesting in lore writing, pixel art and digital art, so that's what I spend my free time doing and practising.
When I'm doing those things, I recognize where my skill level lies, but I challenge myself to do better. I look at where I was in the same fields a few years ago, and I see how far I've come, and realize that if I keep it up I'll go just as far in the five years to come.
When I'm doing those things, I recognize where my skill level lies, but I challenge myself to do better. I look at where I was in the same fields a few years ago, and I see how far I've come, and realize that if I keep it up I'll go just as far in the five years to come.
Not being satisfied with town maps (and dungeon maps, and forest maps, and cave maps, and anything else ending with "map") is the reason Tundra still isn't out despite me having started it in 2001.
Corfaisus
"It's frustrating because - as much as Corf is otherwise an irredeemable person - his 2k/3 mapping is on point." ~ psy_wombats
7874
When it comes to mapping, it's hardly ever my fault if things never work out but how the tiles come together. One time I remember trying to make open tunnel-like sections of the (now) Canine Citadel to push the layout as far as I could, but it just ended up looking terrible and I had to scrap the idea of a vivid exterior.
In terms of gameplay, I have a problem coming up with ideas more than trying to push outside the limits of the default menu/battle systems.
So yeah, I can make stuff beautiful and articulate no problem, but I'm shit at doing the mechanical stuff.
In terms of gameplay, I have a problem coming up with ideas more than trying to push outside the limits of the default menu/battle systems.
So yeah, I can make stuff beautiful and articulate no problem, but I'm shit at doing the mechanical stuff.
I can't do scripting, and my attempts to learn have yielded very little. I have no qualms in asking for help in that area, though, and I'm extremely thankful for all the help I get on this forum. ^_^
Likewise, my art of human characters leave a lot to be desired, so I've taken to getting help with that or using premade resources. I also really suck at making puzzles.
In the end, the best you can do is A) your solution with the towns, which is find a new way to do it that you can do and that still preserves the core function you're going after, B) plan the game so your weakspots don't show, which I guess in this situation would be making a game without towns (you could still have merchants and such wandering around the entrances to dungeons or whatnot) or C) ask for help and/or commission those who can do those things to help you.
I don't think there's any shame in any of the options. We all have strengths and weaknesses. ^_^
Likewise, my art of human characters leave a lot to be desired, so I've taken to getting help with that or using premade resources. I also really suck at making puzzles.
In the end, the best you can do is A) your solution with the towns, which is find a new way to do it that you can do and that still preserves the core function you're going after, B) plan the game so your weakspots don't show, which I guess in this situation would be making a game without towns (you could still have merchants and such wandering around the entrances to dungeons or whatnot) or C) ask for help and/or commission those who can do those things to help you.
I don't think there's any shame in any of the options. We all have strengths and weaknesses. ^_^
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
Not to get too deep into my specific issue, but...
Could you elaborate a bit more on this point? Are you talking about something akin to Chrono Trigger? All the other suggestions sound great, though!
This is exactly what I'm trying to figure out. What's passable for a dev can be unacceptable for a player. I mean, look at this map:
Don't mind the Erics. They're just notes to myself.
It's is the one I talked about in the first post. This steaming pile of map is the result of one week's worth of work. Calling it bad would be kinder than it deserves. To me, though, it's functional, and therefore passable by definition. Every time I try to add something else, like trees, residents, etc. I just mentally shut down.
No player is forgiving enough to call this map passable, and yet here we are. One week later, and this is the best I can do.
That's a great mentality, right there. Knowing that you can only improve your skills and having the dedication to do so will separate you from the quitters. That being said, in a perfect world we'd all have the time to learn every aspect of game creation and develop our skills to a professional level. Unfortunately, there are only 24 hours in the day, and if something is seriously hampering progress, a decision needs to be made on how to work around it.
In the past, I've often asked others for help. I remember when I was designing the final dungeon in one of my projects and I was in a serious creative lull. Unity was nice enough to design three maps in the same style as the dungeon I was making. That was enough to jumpstart my brain and I got the entire rest of the dungeon mapped that day! It's amazing how much a few sample maps can help.
EDIT: Oh hi, other people are here now. *reads*
author=Liberty
- Make a mini-map area like a world map for the town with certain areas open only.
Could you elaborate a bit more on this point? Are you talking about something akin to Chrono Trigger? All the other suggestions sound great, though!
author=Liberty
Sometimes you have to shrug and say "Good enough. It's passable, it'll do." and move on.
This is exactly what I'm trying to figure out. What's passable for a dev can be unacceptable for a player. I mean, look at this map:
Don't mind the Erics. They're just notes to myself.
It's is the one I talked about in the first post. This steaming pile of map is the result of one week's worth of work. Calling it bad would be kinder than it deserves. To me, though, it's functional, and therefore passable by definition. Every time I try to add something else, like trees, residents, etc. I just mentally shut down.
No player is forgiving enough to call this map passable, and yet here we are. One week later, and this is the best I can do.
author=Pizza
I've taken to doing the intellectual work and realizing that I have a certain skill level, but the sky's the limit in terms of what level I could eventually reach. Now, it's also important to recognize where your interests lie.
That's a great mentality, right there. Knowing that you can only improve your skills and having the dedication to do so will separate you from the quitters. That being said, in a perfect world we'd all have the time to learn every aspect of game creation and develop our skills to a professional level. Unfortunately, there are only 24 hours in the day, and if something is seriously hampering progress, a decision needs to be made on how to work around it.
In the past, I've often asked others for help. I remember when I was designing the final dungeon in one of my projects and I was in a serious creative lull. Unity was nice enough to design three maps in the same style as the dungeon I was making. That was enough to jumpstart my brain and I got the entire rest of the dungeon mapped that day! It's amazing how much a few sample maps can help.
EDIT: Oh hi, other people are here now. *reads*
...have you watched my tutorial on town crafting yet? Because that might help you.
Another thing is to actually take a map you like and recreate it. Or take the sample maps and improve on them. It's actually a really good way to learn the basics. Like artists who start by copying others' lines and pieces of work then build up their skills - because that can help. It might be that you're more a kinetic learner than not, meaning you learn by doing instead of watching/reading. That might be the issue.
Also, yes, I meant like Chrono Trigger, where the houses are on the world map (or, maybe a submap that has only the town itself mapped out, a la the later Laxius Power games.
Like so, but contained in walls (there was a city version but the host had died so... :/ )
Another thing is to actually take a map you like and recreate it. Or take the sample maps and improve on them. It's actually a really good way to learn the basics. Like artists who start by copying others' lines and pieces of work then build up their skills - because that can help. It might be that you're more a kinetic learner than not, meaning you learn by doing instead of watching/reading. That might be the issue.
Also, yes, I meant like Chrono Trigger, where the houses are on the world map (or, maybe a submap that has only the town itself mapped out, a la the later Laxius Power games.
Like so, but contained in walls (there was a city version but the host had died so... :/ )
Aegix_Drakan
6037
author=Red_Nova
I mean, look at this map:
Don't mind the Erics. They're just notes to myself.
It's is the one I talked about in the first post. This steaming pile of map is the result of one week's worth of work. Calling it bad would be kinder than it deserves.
*glances at map*
I see part of your problem.
If you have trouble "filling" a map, make it smaller. I'm not that great at towns and mapping in general either (it takes me forever to make maps, especially dungeon maps with the on-field-encounters), so I compensate in my towns by trying to make them small.
Smaller but more lively is always better than big and empty. :)
To me, though, it's functional, and therefore passable by definition. Every time I try to add something else, like trees, residents, etc. I just mentally shut down.
THAT...I can't really help you with. I just start adding stuff wherever I feel kinda works, then I add and add and add until I go "alright, that looks lively enough." *shrug*
Well, good luck and I hope you keep improving. :)
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
author=unity
I can't do scripting, and my attempts to learn have yielded very little. I have no qualms in asking for help in that area, though, and I'm extremely thankful for all the help I get on this forum. ^_^
Likewise, my art of human characters leave a lot to be desired, so I've taken to getting help with that or using premade resources. I also really suck at making puzzles.
See, this is interesting, as while I agree that the pre-M-3-1 art for LA wasn't exactly the best, I actually didn't think it was enough to detract from the game. This is another case of that disconnect between what a dev finds acceptable and what a player finds acceptable. I guess that everyone's idea of acceptable will just vary, and it's up to individuals to decide what is acceptable and not.
author=unity
In the end, the best you can do is A) your solution with the towns, which is find a new way to do it that you can do and that still preserves the core function you're going after, B) plan the game so your weakspots don't show, which I guess in this situation would be making a game without towns (you could still have merchants and such wandering around the entrances to dungeons or whatnot) or C) ask for help and/or commission those who can do those things to help you.
I don't think there's any shame in any of the options. We all have strengths and weaknesses. ^_^
All viable options. The only reason I don't ask for help more often is pure bull-headed stubbornness. I really need to work on that...
author=Liberty
...have you watched my tutorial on town crafting yet? Because that might help you.
I have, actually. Multiple times. Hell, I'm watching it again right now. It definitely has a lot of helpful info. You should have seen my maps a year ago. Actually, you shouldn't; your eyes would pop out of their sockets. Transitioning from watching it done to doing it myself is what really kills me, though. It's sorta like watching a speedpaint. Technically, you know the step-by-step process on what to do because you're watching the person do it, but you're not quite at the level to do that quality of work yourself.
author=Liberty
Another thing is to actually take a map you like and recreate it. Or take the sample maps and improve on them. It's actually a really good way to learn the basics. Like artists who start by copying others' lines and pieces of work then build up their skills - because that can help. It might be that you're more a kinetic learner than not, meaning you learn by doing instead of watching/reading. That might be the issue.
I have tried improving on the sample maps, but not recreated maps I like. You're right in that I learn best by doing and not by watching or reading, so that could be just what I need. I'll give that a shot.
author=Aegix_Drakan
*glances at map*
I see part of your problem.
If you have trouble "filling" a map, make it smaller. I'm not that great at towns and mapping in general either (it takes me forever to make maps, especially dungeon maps with the on-field-encounters), so I compensate in my towns by trying to make them small.
Smaller but more lively is always better than big and empty. :)
Smaller is definitely an idea, and I've been progressively shrinking it. I'm afraid to go too far, though, as this particular town is supposed to be a major town in the game's setting.
Well, good luck and I hope you keep improving. :)
Thanks for the wishes! I'll perhaps try for another week before throwing in the towel.
Okay, now I'm done.
If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.
~Bruce Lee
~Bruce Lee
Alichains
637
It may help to try splitting the town into multiple small sections, each with its own little gimmick. Actually, deciding on a gimmick might help a lot. Instead of just a town, how about making it a flower town, with flower patches everywhere. IIRC I think one of the towns in Hero's Realm was like that.
Housekeeping
3571
Like Kentona and Pizza are saying, you can always get better at anything barring some physical malady. The counterpoint to that, though, is that learning things takes time, and you only get so much time. Learning every part of game development takes a lot of time, and then applying all those skills onto a single project takes a lot of time, too. Know your strengths and build a game around them if your priority is to get a good product out there in the near future. If your goal is to improve as a developer in every way, get back to mapping, you slacker.
Accepting your limits means understanding yourself. Knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are versus being arrogant.
Accepting defeat is basically being put in your place by someone else. It also may involve giving up.
Here's an example, let's use a fantasy one.
Suppose I am aspiring to be sorceror. I want to cast fire spells and fight monsters. Unfortunately, magic works based on intent, and I'm too kind-hearted so my best fire spells wind up the size of a carrot. That said, my healing and shrine maiden (Syphiel from Slayers) Defeat would be seeing myself as a failure, accepting limits would be making the best of what I can do and being an awesome cleric.
In my own life, I've failed a bunch of times in job stuff. I'm kinda terrible socially (both shy and overly honest), so I can't really do sales. I can sort of do customer service, because I like helping people, but I also know that I have a thin skin for complaints and easily become depressed. Working with people on a client basis, however, for odd jobs, well I seem to be alot better at that than in the conventional workplace.
I'm kinda transgender. I worry all the time if I'll ever really be accepted as female. I haven't the money to do any massive changes yet. My limitations I know is that my face is hairy (I can fix that, maybe), and that my voice is still lower than I'd like. You can work on your limitations, however. Admitting defeat is saying "Welp, I'll never be a real woman, I should just admit it." Yeahhh, only I'll seen pictures of myself. They're not horrible.
Oh you're talking about programming. Well, you shouldn't admit defeat on a game unless you bit off more than you can chew.
Accepting defeat is basically being put in your place by someone else. It also may involve giving up.
Here's an example, let's use a fantasy one.
Suppose I am aspiring to be sorceror. I want to cast fire spells and fight monsters. Unfortunately, magic works based on intent, and I'm too kind-hearted so my best fire spells wind up the size of a carrot. That said, my healing and shrine maiden (Syphiel from Slayers) Defeat would be seeing myself as a failure, accepting limits would be making the best of what I can do and being an awesome cleric.
In my own life, I've failed a bunch of times in job stuff. I'm kinda terrible socially (both shy and overly honest), so I can't really do sales. I can sort of do customer service, because I like helping people, but I also know that I have a thin skin for complaints and easily become depressed. Working with people on a client basis, however, for odd jobs, well I seem to be alot better at that than in the conventional workplace.
I'm kinda transgender. I worry all the time if I'll ever really be accepted as female. I haven't the money to do any massive changes yet. My limitations I know is that my face is hairy (I can fix that, maybe), and that my voice is still lower than I'd like. You can work on your limitations, however. Admitting defeat is saying "Welp, I'll never be a real woman, I should just admit it." Yeahhh, only I'll seen pictures of myself. They're not horrible.
Oh you're talking about programming. Well, you shouldn't admit defeat on a game unless you bit off more than you can chew.
I personally don't set any limitations on myself, I just keep raising the bar. I mean, if I look at my sprite work from a year ago and now, there is a major improvement. But I do struggle with my art at times and even some gameplay systems, but I try to do my best regardless.
As for level design, it is something that simply can't be learnt by reading tutorials. The only way anyone can learn is to practise constantly and be earnest in it, no matter how bad it seem in the beginning. A little pointer from me: I start my maps small and listen to soothing music like Enya or some other New Age artist like Enigma. It also helps to visualise or even to look at maps from the SNES/Genny era, SD3 and CT being personal favourites of mine, for inspiration.
I try to be a 'jack-of-all-stats' ( except for coding/music ) when it comes to game development, but for now, I'll just hone my spriting skills, artwork and writing.
As for level design, it is something that simply can't be learnt by reading tutorials. The only way anyone can learn is to practise constantly and be earnest in it, no matter how bad it seem in the beginning. A little pointer from me: I start my maps small and listen to soothing music like Enya or some other New Age artist like Enigma. It also helps to visualise or even to look at maps from the SNES/Genny era, SD3 and CT being personal favourites of mine, for inspiration.
I try to be a 'jack-of-all-stats' ( except for coding/music ) when it comes to game development, but for now, I'll just hone my spriting skills, artwork and writing.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
author=kentona
If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.
~Bruce Lee
Dammit, Bruce, stop being so inspirational all the time!
author=bulmabriefs144
Suppose I am aspiring to be sorceror. I want to cast fire spells and fight monsters. Unfortunately, magic works based on intent, and I'm too kind-hearted so my best fire spells wind up the size of a carrot. That said, my healing and shrine maiden (Syphiel from Slayers) Defeat would be seeing myself as a failure, accepting limits would be making the best of what I can do and being an awesome cleric.
I like this example. This is a good example.
author=Housekeeping
If your goal is to improve as a developer in every way, get back to mapping, you slacker.
S-sorry! I'll get right on it! Thanks, everyone!
Regarding limitations?
I feel that there is a fine balance. On one hand, you should push past them as much you can. On one hand, there is a point at which tedium must be accepted and cut off.
I ran into this with some of my games.
My first serious RPG was far too ambitious, sporting an immortal character whose every action was going to influence every event over three generations. However, after only completing two towns, I found myself with so many variables and events I could barely keep track of everything.
However, feedback from my contacts (the game was never publically released and is now long lost) about my fantastic enemy AI and general level design motivated me to keep working with RPG Maker.
I ran into limits again with Captain Novolin RPG, my first 'real' game, a humorous crossover RPG involving original content crossed with the infamous SNES game setting. My goals were more realistic but I ran into a quirk of the engine that made my design problematic: namely, I wished for an interface to be displayed while on the map screen, showing the HP of all characters and the player's collection of food items. I discovered that RPG Maker did not allow me to set picture names as being 'load picture + variable number', meaning every single state had to be done manually.
This resulted in 100+ branches conditional branches for a single life bar. Something very possible to code, just insanely tedious.
After months of struggling, I took a break from the game and instead worked on another game. This one instead had an auto-resurrection mechanic, where the main protagonist is immortal but dying substract 'karma points', with game over occuring only if the player character dies while at 0 karma. It also had a helper system with NPCs being swapped in and out of battle as they are killed.
The development went smoothly and inspired me to go back to Captain Novolin RPG and finish it.
So what do all of those stories relate to the topic?
It is a mix of persisting and yet, knowing when to quit, if only temporarily. Ultimately, limits are there to be broken. They are there to be challenged. If something does not work on way, try it another.
For example, for towns, you could try splitting it up into multiple screens, Zelda-style. Or you could have the town be a drawn image in the background over a transparent map layout. Or you could build it out of pictures.
And do not be afraid to tone down mechanics and create something that work. This isn't admitting defeat ; on the long-term, it can create inspiration for more complex mechanics and allow one to finally reach one's goals (for example, I couldn't get my first game's mechanics completed without first getting inspiration from my second game. And this, in turn, gave me insight on how to improve the karma mechanic to a level closer to how I envisioned it at first).
Game development, even as a hobby, can be hard. Tedious at times. But ultimately, there is nothing like the satisfaction of creating something you can be proud of and then seeing players enjoy it (or not).
I feel that there is a fine balance. On one hand, you should push past them as much you can. On one hand, there is a point at which tedium must be accepted and cut off.
I ran into this with some of my games.
My first serious RPG was far too ambitious, sporting an immortal character whose every action was going to influence every event over three generations. However, after only completing two towns, I found myself with so many variables and events I could barely keep track of everything.
However, feedback from my contacts (the game was never publically released and is now long lost) about my fantastic enemy AI and general level design motivated me to keep working with RPG Maker.
I ran into limits again with Captain Novolin RPG, my first 'real' game, a humorous crossover RPG involving original content crossed with the infamous SNES game setting. My goals were more realistic but I ran into a quirk of the engine that made my design problematic: namely, I wished for an interface to be displayed while on the map screen, showing the HP of all characters and the player's collection of food items. I discovered that RPG Maker did not allow me to set picture names as being 'load picture + variable number', meaning every single state had to be done manually.
This resulted in 100+ branches conditional branches for a single life bar. Something very possible to code, just insanely tedious.
After months of struggling, I took a break from the game and instead worked on another game. This one instead had an auto-resurrection mechanic, where the main protagonist is immortal but dying substract 'karma points', with game over occuring only if the player character dies while at 0 karma. It also had a helper system with NPCs being swapped in and out of battle as they are killed.
The development went smoothly and inspired me to go back to Captain Novolin RPG and finish it.
So what do all of those stories relate to the topic?
It is a mix of persisting and yet, knowing when to quit, if only temporarily. Ultimately, limits are there to be broken. They are there to be challenged. If something does not work on way, try it another.
For example, for towns, you could try splitting it up into multiple screens, Zelda-style. Or you could have the town be a drawn image in the background over a transparent map layout. Or you could build it out of pictures.
And do not be afraid to tone down mechanics and create something that work. This isn't admitting defeat ; on the long-term, it can create inspiration for more complex mechanics and allow one to finally reach one's goals (for example, I couldn't get my first game's mechanics completed without first getting inspiration from my second game. And this, in turn, gave me insight on how to improve the karma mechanic to a level closer to how I envisioned it at first).
Game development, even as a hobby, can be hard. Tedious at times. But ultimately, there is nothing like the satisfaction of creating something you can be proud of and then seeing players enjoy it (or not).
Tyranos
1115
author=Red_Nova
Which leads me to the point of this topic: Have you ever come across a situation like mine? Have you every come to the realization that no matter how hard you work at something, it's not going to be as good as you want it to be? What do you do in those situations? Do you deliberately try to avoid working on those areas? Or do you just accept that those areas of your games are going to be weak and do them anyway?
Yes I came across that very problem with small weapons. I'm great with bows, swords, and anything else that is fairly hefty. But I am terrible with a knife or pistol. It's an odd thing to sit there and keep trying as hard as you can and simply not get anywhere but I usually find it to be the fault of discomfort. It's the discomfort of doing something that holds you back sometimes. Try just plugging away at it until it becomes more and more natural to you and you feel less uncomfortable doing it. It kind of helped me learn to use smaller weapons a little better. Of course in my case it was physical comfort but who knows maybe you suffer from a mental discomfort of mapping?
If all else fails call Axe Cop.
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