INSPIRATION AND WORK ETHIC

author=trance2 link=topic=3708.msg75374#msg75374 date=1242505841
I'm a sequential perfectionist, meaning if it's not perfect and done in order, I can't go on because it'd be out of order.

I have this problem ALL THE TIME. I plan ahead, and there's nothing wrong with doing things out of order, but for me it's first things first or no dice.

Silly, yes, but it does quickly grind things to a halt when you just can't find the will to do "what's next."

I don't think the problem is lack of inspiration, so much as the fact that making RPGs is, basically, work. Planning things on paper is fun and fast, but actually cracking open the editor to do the mapping/implementing is when it gets tedious. That's also the stage when you encounter the bugs and limitations of the system that put caps on your great ideas. My least favourite part of game-making is doing pixel art, so that's where my stuff tends to get log-jammed, but the only real solution is to just chip away at it and try to do a little bit every day.

Also, play other people's games! Whether they're good or crud, you'll probably see many things to rip off inspire you. And a nice side effect is you might feel jealous/threatened by other people's success, which makes you get back to working. :P

Or that. :(

author=Gibmaker link=topic=3708.msg75921#msg75921 date=1242841807
Also, play other people's games! Whether they're good or crud, you'll probably see many things to rip off inspire you. And a nice side effect is you might feel jealous/threatened by other people's success, which makes you get back to working. :P

This. I make my games based on whenever I get any untamed bursts of creativity, and playing other games usually brings these on, as I become impatient to share my own similar creation or say to myself "I can beat this", or else just get inspiration to work seeing other people's great games which they took time to make.

A prime example was with The Beyond. A lot of people (at least 20) were really bothering me with PMs beggining for a One Night sequel and I didn't feel motivated enough to get around to it until I played Longing Ribbon and became determined to try to replicate it's atmosphere in one of my own games.

I generally force myself to work on my games though, even when I'm not motivated, and this is what gets my games released in the end, but the bits I made when I was really motivated are always the best parts of the game.

bahleted

You do not have the credentials to speak to me that way, Relyt.

How's that for pouty and arrogant? I've been down since 2000. I am an egotistical motherfucker and more and more I am just going to embrace that. I have long since noticed it pisses people off, and in fact the very predictability of this response is beginning to amuse me. I'm guilty of the same thing as myself- when someone else is being immodest, I get all pissy too. Hypocracy? Fuck yeah.

(P.S. artists/creative people are innately moody creatures; this stereotype is very true in my case. When the same creative person has to work a job that makes him want to kill himself every day? Fugheddaboutit. What I am trying to get at is, yes, I am both pouty and arrogant, and pointing it out is a pretty facile and basic response. It would even be valid to say I am "on the rag" (lol male period what could be more hillarious) but that doesn't mean everything I say in my currently pouty state is meaningless.)

author=Fallen-Griever link=topic=3708.msg79692#msg79692 date=1244725520
So long as people are interested in whatever I am developing at the time, I am happy to carry on. I don't need loads of people, just a minimum threshold of interest. Lots of interest from one person is just as good as little from many...

At least at first!

Yeah basically at some point I just decided fuck everyone because nowadays no one even comes close to appreciating my games enough for me to work on them and I don't have the time/energy/thickness of skin to spend on promoting/hyping them.

No one has interest in your games? Are you serious..?

MAKE MORE ETG!

I didn't say no interest, I said not enough interest. I didn't say no one was interested, I said not enough people were interested. What is enough? I don't even know at this point.

I wasn't saying that my games aren't popular. They have in fact been rather hugely popular and I have won Misaos and been recognized and included on committees and all that good shit.

My point was that these accolades compared to the effort and sweat and stress and emotional investment in making a game, let alone promoting it, are distressingly meager.

@ Relyt:

If people aren't giving your games attention, or if they're getting poor reviews, then make them better!

Is there a level of recognition that WOULD make it worth it? Yes. There are maybe five RPG Maker games ever made that got the recogntiion I feel my games deserve. But can I attain this level of recognition by making my games "better"? (I should actually be worried about just finishing something at this point.)

Let me put it this way...if you have not learned yet that the QUALITY of a game cannot be correlated with a game's popularity at a statistically significant level (P < .05), you are either new to this hobby, or so retarded that you should be put down like a mad dog.

You know what I could do to make my games more popular? Spend more time/energy hawking them on RMN or on other sites. But when I have a job, a girlfriend, a family, writing to do, (non-video) game design to do, an ongoing tabletop campaign, and oh yeah...the actual GAMES to make, it is very hard to maintain the time and energy for hype.

I guess ultimately I have summarized my main bitch right there in statistician speak. For those of you who don't know what (P < .05) means, let me put it this way.

I am mostly upset because game quality cannot be positively correlated with game popularity to a point where making your games better will reliably make more people play them.

hahahahaha I think that would make a fantastic april fools prank (Final Fantasy: Iron Gaia, Final Fantasy: Backstage, like with title screens and everything), I wonder if I will be able to remember it next year.

author=Max McGee link=topic=3708.msg79753#msg79753 date=1244748833
I am mostly upset because game quality cannot be positively correlated with game popularity to a point where making your games better will reliably make more people play them.

The man speaks TROOF. This has been an issue in RM communities, yea, even unto the Don Miguel days where we all made our games with sticks and fire and hunted wooly mammoths for sustenence.

author=The Real Brickroad link=topic=3708.msg80069#msg80069 date=1244830387

author=Max McGee link=topic=3708.msg79753#msg79753 date=1244748833
I am mostly upset because game quality cannot be positively correlated with game popularity to a point where making your games better will reliably make more people play them.

The man speaks TROOF. This has been an issue in RM communities, yea, even unto the Don Miguel days where we all made our games with sticks and fire and hunted wooly mammoths for sustenence.

Not just true for RM communities and games, of course. I read an article/paper on the phenomenon a while back that was interesting enough that I can still find it. (If Science scares you I suppose you can try a less dense commentary on the article.)