LOCKEZ'S PROFILE

Are gray nodes just empty rooms then? ...why are there empty rooms, if so?

Look at those amazing graphics

I'm amused that you actually bothered to create a mockup instead of just describing your idea. It still covers up the center of the screen though, exactly where either the main character or one of the enemies is almost always going to be. I agree that the character's name is totally unnecessary though, and approve of the condensed text. I think I might instead redo the command window entirely to not have a background, so it looks more natural on the side like that.

Displaying buffs based on priority is not going to work because they are pretty much all important. I might be able to get away with consolidating the icons... so if you have two speed-lowering debuffs, it shows one icon with two arrows in it. But still, there are eight stats that can be buffed/debuffed, plus plenty of other effects like stun and clearcasting and poison and regen. So that doesn't solve the problem, it just delays it until later in the game when actors and enemies both have more status skills. Meh.

I understand, I'm just wondering why/how those other people make games at all. I understand why they don't make long games. I just don't understand why they *do* make short games. Even a very short game is still a big time investment.

FYI, I was using 500 hours as my example of a short game, as that's about how long I think it would take to make a 2-4 hour long game. Maybe I am still overestimating people?

author=Versalia

author=LockeZ
There's really not much reason for an amateur game to be any shorter than a commercial game.

Is this why Vindication has 80 hours of gameplay?

I think Vindication is about 20 hours - well, that varies from person to person, but it's more or less the same length as the World of Balance in FF6. I'm sure the fact that my own game is that length is a big part of why I think it's a normal/acceptable length! I guess that's how personal bias works. Ha ha.

I actually wish it were longer, but I have to admit that at one point during my game creation, after losing months of work to a corrupted hard drive, I gave up and just tacked on an ending. So I guess that falls under "the designer cut major content out of because they were tired of making it," though I'm ashamed to admit it. Years later I got back into RPG Maker and recreated a lot of that lost content a second time (better, faster, stronger!), but the game still isn't as long as I originally planned. After getting back into it those years later, I only stopped a second time because I decided that 2K3 was no longer good enough, and that my other games were more worthwhile ways to spend my time. (I've been creating and adding to the same MUD for 8 years, and I'm now making an RMXP remakquel of Vindication.)

@eplilepswitch: If making a good game for the world to enjoy isn't a big enough benefit on its own, why do people make amateur games at all? If that's not a good enough reason to spend 2500 hours of work, why is it a good enough reason to spend 500 hours of work? It seems to me that if it's enough of a reason to spend a long time on the project, then it's enough of a reason to spend a longer time on the project.