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LOWERING YOUR STANDARDS AND FINISHING YOUR GAME
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kentona
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Oy.
For Visions & Voices, what would have been nice/didn't make the cut:
* Illustrations for some parts of the game, character art.
* A story that wasn't mildly incoherent. More story, cutscenes. Better pacing and direction.
* An actual incentive to explore beyond MOAR ITEMS, perhaps enhanced by asterisk 2.
* An evolving Village that actually changed day by day.
* A serious revision of the battle system that we did not realize was lame until after it was released. Even our fixes in the update only make it merely playable.
* More locations and NPCs that were tied to the village, less random elemental portal crap.
* More freaking testing before we released it.
For Visions & Voices, what would have been nice/didn't make the cut:
* Illustrations for some parts of the game, character art.
* A story that wasn't mildly incoherent. More story, cutscenes. Better pacing and direction.
* An actual incentive to explore beyond MOAR ITEMS, perhaps enhanced by asterisk 2.
* An evolving Village that actually changed day by day.
* A serious revision of the battle system that we did not realize was lame until after it was released. Even our fixes in the update only make it merely playable.
* More locations and NPCs that were tied to the village, less random elemental portal crap.
* More freaking testing before we released it.
Dark Gaia
3474
Anyone who played Legionwood would notice the world map contains at least three vast nations that were never explored. That's what I sacrificed to get the game over and done with. Otherwise it would have gone on and on and never gotten finished.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
With a homebrewed hobby game, I don't actually see any reason not to go back later and add the things you didn't get to add before. They say an artist can keep improving the same painting his entire life. I've done this quite a few times with my games.
Probably because then they never get finished. And new shiny games need to be worked on.
Sometimes its just best to leave past projects in the past.
Sometimes its just best to leave past projects in the past.
post=206278
Probably because then they never get finished. And new shiny games need to be worked on.
Sometimes its just best to leave past projects in the past.
Amen!
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
post=206278
Probably because then they never get finished. And new shiny games need to be worked on.
Sometimes its just best to leave past projects in the past.
Pfft
PFFT, I say. I am making scoffing noises at you.
pfft pfft pfft pfffffffffft
Would you throw your son or daughter in the dumpster just because you realized you can raise a better one if you try again? My games are my babies. I'm not going to abandon my baby when I can improve it instead. And besides, everyone loves expansion packs.
Dark Gaia
3474
Actually, I had the mindset of just doing the bare minimum to at least get the game "finished" to take the pressure off and then eventually going back and adding in what I took out, perhaps in the form of expansions or patches or something. I still might do so, problem is since I sufficiently changed the main storyline to omit the places, it would be hard to shoehorn them into the game in context.
Shinan
4314
Well eventually you'll have to cut that child loose on the world and let it live a little. First in some open beta testing when it goes to school but you'll have to cut loose eventually so it can get out and earn some money to support you when you're older (provided you're trying to make a commercial project).
post=206280I vow not to be a helicopter parent.post=206278Pfft
Probably because then they never get finished. And new shiny games need to be worked on.
Sometimes its just best to leave past projects in the past.
PFFT, I say. I am making scoffing noises at you.
pfft pfft pfft pfffffffffft
Would you throw your son or daughter in the dumpster just because you realized you can raise a better one if you try again? My games are my babies. I'm not going to abandon my baby when I can improve it instead. And besides, everyone loves expansion packs.
catmitts
4862
Sharks die when they stop moving forward and so do gamemakers!! Keep moving like shark!! Make games like shark!! BECOME SHARK glug glug glug
That's a really good article and I especially like the Venn Diagram (GAMES I WANT TO HAVE MADE or GAMES I WANT TO EXIST is probably the main reason I make things I guess?? the universe has inexplicably failed to produce a mary worth fangame with realistic crate physics, guass its up to me....). I'm probably the worst person to give advice here though because you can pretty much pinpoint the spot in most of my games where I suddenly realised I could finish the fucking thing in one night and get it out of my system forever. I guess the best example is The Astonishing Captain Skull where I had a whole ending thing thought out involving huge deserted ghost towns (aaaa aaaa living in a ghost town) made of plasticine and goo etc. Unfortunately I was stuck for cash, plasticine, paint, and patience, so I ended up just piling up my bedsheets into a little cave and sticking in cardboard cutout buildings and tinting the whole thing pink. Oy!! Most of my stuff is pretty crude and quickly put together anyway so when I put even less effort in it's generally very noticeable and there's definitely games that I thought had more potential than what they actually ended up as (veggie tales, billy the kid, captain skull etc) but this is something I'm working on I guess.
That's a really good article and I especially like the Venn Diagram (GAMES I WANT TO HAVE MADE or GAMES I WANT TO EXIST is probably the main reason I make things I guess?? the universe has inexplicably failed to produce a mary worth fangame with realistic crate physics, guass its up to me....). I'm probably the worst person to give advice here though because you can pretty much pinpoint the spot in most of my games where I suddenly realised I could finish the fucking thing in one night and get it out of my system forever. I guess the best example is The Astonishing Captain Skull where I had a whole ending thing thought out involving huge deserted ghost towns (aaaa aaaa living in a ghost town) made of plasticine and goo etc. Unfortunately I was stuck for cash, plasticine, paint, and patience, so I ended up just piling up my bedsheets into a little cave and sticking in cardboard cutout buildings and tinting the whole thing pink. Oy!! Most of my stuff is pretty crude and quickly put together anyway so when I put even less effort in it's generally very noticeable and there's definitely games that I thought had more potential than what they actually ended up as (veggie tales, billy the kid, captain skull etc) but this is something I'm working on I guess.
I have really short timetables for most of my projects. I have environments and artwork done right after I get the basic concept and story down. Then, I put in events, check balances, and determine how much loot I want laying around.
I get in a lot of work in a short period of time when it comes to maps and events, but databasing and artwork takes forever.
After I finish a good portion of it, then comes the music... easily the hardest part. I know that I can't keep interest long enough to make a unique track for every situation, so I reuse some tracks I made a long time ago, or else I got to VGMusic (if I REALLY don't have enough time).
I try to keep the graphics and music as custom as possible, but it just can't be done sometimes. If I worked with at least one other person, I'd be done a lot faster.
I get in a lot of work in a short period of time when it comes to maps and events, but databasing and artwork takes forever.
After I finish a good portion of it, then comes the music... easily the hardest part. I know that I can't keep interest long enough to make a unique track for every situation, so I reuse some tracks I made a long time ago, or else I got to VGMusic (if I REALLY don't have enough time).
I try to keep the graphics and music as custom as possible, but it just can't be done sometimes. If I worked with at least one other person, I'd be done a lot faster.
Usually I end up dropping side-quests or stuff.
The last game (Narwhal of Doom) I had intended for the final cutscene to be photos of me actually looking at my laptop/killing myself... I had it all planned out, but by the time I got to it, I was half-asleep and the deadline was right in front of me... so I just grabbed my tablet and tossed together the final movie.
The last game (Narwhal of Doom) I had intended for the final cutscene to be photos of me actually looking at my laptop/killing myself... I had it all planned out, but by the time I got to it, I was half-asleep and the deadline was right in front of me... so I just grabbed my tablet and tossed together the final movie.
Darkseed: Revival was initially going to have full character portraits for cutscenes, a boss for every floor rather than one at the end, and a much more detailed insight into the original story. I eventually settled on emotion facesets rather than the portraits because two weeks was just not enough time to do four complete sets of portraits. I also wanted to have animated battles and a much more full-on battle system, but that didn't work out either. :C
But I've sworn to try and not do that sort of cutting down from now on, since DS:R is a fucking shitty game because of my laziness and time constraints. I'm slowly working on a much better version and if I had the time and the effort in the first place maybe I would have to make DS:R into DS:RR* haha ;3;
*Darkseed: Revival Redux
But I've sworn to try and not do that sort of cutting down from now on, since DS:R is a fucking shitty game because of my laziness and time constraints. I'm slowly working on a much better version and if I had the time and the effort in the first place maybe I would have to make DS:R into DS:RR* haha ;3;
*Darkseed: Revival Redux
TheNecromancer
3160
Having never finished a game don't mean shit. A person can still express their opinion.
If anything I've been raising my standards as I get closer to finishing my game. And now that I know much more about the program and its functions, and about organization I don't have to scrap anything I planned because I just work at it until I find a way to add that feature. Just about anything is possible to program if you do it right.
If anything I've been raising my standards as I get closer to finishing my game. And now that I know much more about the program and its functions, and about organization I don't have to scrap anything I planned because I just work at it until I find a way to add that feature. Just about anything is possible to program if you do it right.
Shinan
4314
post=208840
I'd never sacrifice storyline. Maybe graphics, maybe music, but not story.
Sometimes it's good to sacrifice story. "Do we really need that ice cave plot. Does it really add anything other than a few comedic moments and that little bit of character development we could put into the fire cavern instead?"
Editing is one of the bigger things in storywriting. Maybe it's not actually sacrifice since it improves the story but you are cutting things out. For example if you sacrifice graphics "alright I can't really do the ice cavern graphics on this schedule" you'll also sacrifice story "alright the plot points in the ice cavern won't happen... An neither will the cold puns I carefully crafted..."
