WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE AND LEAST FAVORITE PARTS OF GAM MAK?

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So, as a general statement, I once heard the key to not getting bored or burnt out when devving is to vary what you're doing when you start to lose motivation, and I think it's good advice. Like, if you're sick of making maps, work on importing/creating/tweaking resources for a while. If you're tired of painstaking pixel art, switch gears and write dialogue for or program a cutscene. Whatever.

That said, I think there are definitely parts of indie game development that are more 'fun' and other parts that are more 'work', and that it's subjective from dev to dev.

Me, for instance, I find that mapping is really a chore (I have been around long enough that I CAN make really good maps if I really want to but I rarely find it worth the effort), and I get really jazzed when I'm balancing and tweaking gameplay usually in the database. This is why I love the sample maps in Ace (and MV which has even more, but I'm not ready to move on to MV yet). I almost always edit them heavily, but they give you something to work with so you're not just looking at a blank screen.

How about you?
(Oh, my other least favorite part, even more so than mapping, is trying to promote/market/hype your game. Doing it makes me feel filthy, not doing it means likely no one will play your game. But that's only game design related, not actually game design, which is why I don't like it. Anyway, whole other topic.)
Depends on the mood, usually I find mapping is quite chore when I want to test my game, and I had to map it before it's test-able. The product of the map usually just random, un-adjusted, and the like. If however, I find myself want to map, it will be better.

My fave part are balancing, setting skills, and play with the attack animation. My games are revolves around it, so it usually the first one that I did in my game.
Gretgor
Having gotten my first 4/5, I must now work hard to obtain... my second 4/5.
3420
My favorite parts are:
- Constructing the game world, with its history, geography and society.
- Coming up with mechanics, puzzles, level design.
- Implementing stuff.
- Playtesting my own game (which unfortunately gives me very limited data).

My least favorite parts are:
- Making sure I didn't leave any game breaking bugs.
- Continuously bothering people to playtest my game to make sure things are intuitive and enjoyable enough. I wish this step was not necessary, but the more I advance in my project, the more it seems to be.
- Making graphics and music, hence why I tend to use royalty-free assets when I can.

Guilty pleasure:
- Taking game making tools such as RPG Maker and making them do things they weren't intended to do (say, an ABS in RM2K3, or stuff like that).
I like making systems where you can pet animals
Managing a site dedicated to people showcasing their works.
And we all salute you for it, Mr. Anderson.

(Ah, I think you meant that was both your favorite and least favorite part. I get it.)
I hate scripting cutscenes. I tend to be happy with the results but getting there feels so arduous.

Just now I was doing an event and I decided to replace the event with the player. Which isn't really a big deal but my brain just shuts down and is like "I don't feel like doing this right now".

I am doing a scene with the player, an NPC, and a dragon and want to have all three moving. This is such a hassle in RPG Maker. You can make the player and one event move but when you introduce any other event you either need global switches, parallel processes, or some other form of gossip and trickery.

*sigh* I want my second game to be entirely in first person. :|
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I hate, hate, hate, hate mapping. It is the bane of my gammak existence. Well, maybe not the bane of my gammak existance, but, I don't always have a clear vision of what a place is supposed to look like 90% of the time. ;_;

As for favorite part, I suppose it's become making custom scripts to compliment (or make) whatever gameplay mechanics I want to exist in the game. My latest project has, like, 4 or 5 of my scripts in there (I actually don't know, I never counted), plus a collection of smaller hacks.

author=zeello
*sigh* I want my second game to be entirely in first person. :|

Allow me to introduce you to Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures Breach: Awakening.
Favorite parts
-Coming up with stories
-Coming up with plot twists
-Balancing everything in the database
-Playtesting
Favorite:
-Designing new stuff
-Writing plot
Least Favorite:
-I hate trying to balance battles (I make a game challenging for me, people who want to undergrind don't like it hard)
-I hate dealing with nitpicky people who don't understand why I designed stuff the way I did (I once created gradient text, because the bulk of my text that could be read in light screens couldn't be read in dark screens, and vice versa. After testing for like four days straight, I get to put up with people who are like "just do solid text like everyone else" ummmm yeah I just told you why that wasn't working?)

Come to think of it, these are really both the same problem, putting effort in something and then having either a conformist or impossible fanbase give "helpful" advice.
Favorite
The rare moment when someones finds your game, wants to play, enjoys it, and let's you know.

Least
Having 100 game ideas but forcing yourself to focus on just one so you actually complete something.
My least favorite parts are making character sets. Those have always been a weak area for me, especially if I need to make a bunch of NPCs.

My favorite parts though are putting maps together. It feels like putting together a puzzle, designing the looks of the map and placing events down to make a nice concrete whole.
Favorite: Level design/mapping, I absolutely love creating new areas. It's almost like being an architect or interior designer. (except I completely lack those skills in real life) I also love writing, eventing (when I'm fully in the zone) and just implementing playable stuff in general.

Least Favorite: Balancing can go fuck itself. Databasing is a close second, but at least with that I can be a bit more creative. But balancing? All a numbers game. And I'm balls at math, so, go figure.
I hate, hate, hate, hate mapping. It is the bane of my gammak existence. Well, maybe not the bane of my gammak existance, but, I don't always have a clear vision of what a place is supposed to look like 90% of the time. ;_;

lol man am I glad I'm not the only one that feels this way.

I hate scripting cutscenes. I tend to be happy with the results but getting there feels so arduous.

Just now I was doing an event and I decided to replace the event with the player. Which isn't really a big deal but my brain just shuts down and is like "I don't feel like doing this right now".

I am doing a scene with the player, an NPC, and a dragon and want to have all three moving. This is such a hassle in RPG Maker. You can make the player and one event move but when you introduce any other event you either need global switches, parallel processes, or some other form of gossip and trickery.

God, this got SO MUCH EASIER when I went from 2k3 to VX (had a brief flirtation with XP, decided I really didn't like it) and they introduced the "wait until finished" checkbox for the move event command. That little checkbox is a fucking godsend. Before that it was a nightmare of guess and check over and over again as you figure out what's the exact right number of frames for this guy to get there at this speed and those guys to get over there and how long is this gonna take and let me test it again and just fucking shoot me.

My least favorite parts are making character sets. Those have always been a weak area for me, especially if I need to make a bunch of NPCs.

I made my very first character set recently!! Not totally from scratch since I used the VX RTP template as a base, but I think it's basically fair to say that I made it more than Frankensprited it (as I've done in the past) even if there was an element of Frankenspriting to it.
author=StormCrow
God, this got SO MUCH EASIER when I went from 2k3 to VX (had a brief flirtation with XP, decided I really didn't like it) and they introduced the "wait until finished" checkbox for the move event command. That little checkbox is a fucking godsend. Before that it was a nightmare of guess and check over and over again as you figure out what's the exact right number of frames for this guy to get there at this speed and those guys to get over there and how long is this gonna take and let me test it again and just fucking shoot me.

rm2k3 has always had a separate command for this.
jeez, maybe i'm thinking of from 2k to 2k3 then?? I don't know. I definitely remember working in some version of the engine where I had to painstakingly determine how many frames it would take each character to complete their movement route by trial and error.

it has been sooooo long since i worked on anything in 2kX.
Favorites: Plot and character writing, making random easter egg interactions most players will never see.

Pretty enjoyable: Implementing interesting strategic behaviors for boss enemies, that feeling when I have exactly what I need to make a map look the way I want without cutting corners or fucking around with new resource downloads.

Pretty frustrating: Sprite editing, tilesheet editing, making new combat animations.

Bane of my existence: Looking for new battler sprites or the right piece of music for a quiet conversation scene. If every scene in my game could just be a final boss fight, I'd be set for music for good.
author=Desertopa
or the right piece of music for a quiet conversation scene. If every scene in my game could just be a final boss fight, I'd be set for music for good.


I have a love-hate relationship with choosing music. When you get just the right track for an area or scene, it's an awesome feeling but all of the listening and thinking and evaluating feels like a huge time sink, and sometimes actually is.

I used to really agonize over battle music in particular, since the player will have to hear it so many times during the game.
Corfaisus
"It's frustrating because - as much as Corf is otherwise an irredeemable person - his 2k/3 mapping is on point." ~ psy_wombats
7874
My favorite part is letting ideas slowly seep into my mind from the ether and deciding what's worth putting into my story. My least favorite part is making that story a reality because I'm not good at staying awake.
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