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Development Diary 1 - The concept

  • calunio
  • 02/11/2013 12:30 PM
  • 925 views
Depression is my entry for RMN's RPG Maker VX ACE Lite's Cook Off. The point is to make a game within a short period of time, and restricted by this engine's (huge!) limitations. It's been a while since I had put any serious time in making games, so I decided to join.

All my games are, in a way, autobiographical... in a very metaphoric way, don't get me wrong! I decided this one should be too, because even if it doesn't out to be a great game, there would be something in for me in the experience of making it.

I decided to make a game about depression because, well, I'm not really depressed (I think), but I've been very uninspired and demotivated lately. I don't have much will or strength to do or pursue anything... like a chronic and aggravated state of laziness. I wanted to make a game about that.

Depression in a traditional RPG, at least from the onset. You're a hero supposed to save the world. It's not traditional in its construction, though. Given the limited time, I thought of using RTP graphics and stuff, but I just felt too bad about it (that's how much I hate RTP). So I went with custom, and as always, this custom is supposed to be a mixture of style (something that can give the game a unique flavor) and laziness (something not much difficult to make). Graphics are all custom, black and white, maps are mostly panoramas (almost no tiles), battle system is the engine's default, and the music.... oh well. I'll be called names after people hear it, but I'm having so much fun making it.

I started the game Saturday, Feb 9th. Today is Feb 11th, so my third day begins. We're having Carnaval holidays in Brazil until Wednesday, so that's when I want to finish the game, even though the event gives us more time (life doesn't).

What's really interesting about making this game is that, even though it comes from a time when I haven't found motivation to do anything, I'm very highly motivated to work on it. I've been spending like... 10h/day working on it, and I don't spend more because I need to sleep, and give my eyes a rest. Time flies by, and that's been a good thing.

What's also interesting is that the time I spend in front of the computer, my mind often goes blank for inspiration, and I'm frequently questioning my design choices. But as soon as I lay down in bed to sleep, I get this involuntary brainstorm and a bunch of useful ideas... almost can't sleep wanting to work on them. Have you ever guys experienced something like that?

Right now I'd say I'm about 60% done. Time to work.

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Pages: 1
author=calunio
What's also interesting is that the time I spend in front of the computer, my mind often goes blank for inspiration, and I'm frequently questioning my design choices. But as soon as I lay down in bed to sleep, I get this involuntary brainstorm and a bunch of useful ideas... almost can't sleep wanting to work on them. Have you ever guys experienced something like that?


More than once. My head just overruns with ideas once I lay down to sleep.
Pages: 1