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What it takes to make a game by yourself

dillonshook.com

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Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#61

Post by rascul »

crtasm wrote: post #36
yakubin wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a broader theme. Watching TV is considered more childish than reading a book, even though TV content requires a lot more kinds of creative work in order to exist. The reason is that usually when the medium is richer, it demands less of its audience. Instead of imagining a scene, you're given its picture ready-made. Instead of actively following the lines of a story, you passively assimilate what appears before…

There are games that are entirely text-based. I play less than I used to but always try to check out the yearly winners on https://ifcomp.org/ Also see https://ifdb.org/

> There are games that are entirely text-based.

There are a lot of MUD games. I've been playing WoTMUD on and off for a little over two decades now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD

https://wotmud.info/

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#62

Post by ssss11 »

pengaru wrote: post #22

Perseverance and conditioning yourself to be comfortable with (or even excited/inspired by) long periods of unfinished-ness are core competencies in practically every demanding project I've embarked upon - not just software, literally anything that can't be started and finished over a weekend. A WIP is often largely indistinguishable from a complete and utter broken disaster. When the project necessarily takes a long…

You go to hell and back thinking you have a broken disaster and come out beautifully the other side.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#64

Post by cma »

yakubin wrote: post #21
danielvaughn wrote: post #2

The irony of video games is that they’re often associated (at least in America) with childishness. And yet, by any conceivable standard, they’re by far the most complex creative endeavor. Creating a video game requires knowledge of the following: programming, graphics, 3D or 2D art tools, artistic ability, UI and UX design, game design, music production, cinematography, storytelling, copywriting, etc etc. It’s just a…

That's a broader theme. Watching TV is considered more childish than reading a book, even though TV content requires a lot more kinds of creative work in order to exist. The reason is that usually when the medium is richer, it demands less of its audience. Instead of imagining a scene, you're given its picture ready-made. Instead of actively following the lines of a story, you passively assimilate what appears before…

In sandbox games with lots of building you are often painting the picture moreso than someone reading a book.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#65

Post by ivars »

TylerGlaiel wrote: post #43
pengaru wrote: post #22

Perseverance and conditioning yourself to be comfortable with (or even excited/inspired by) long periods of unfinished-ness are core competencies in practically every demanding project I've embarked upon - not just software, literally anything that can't be started and finished over a weekend. A WIP is often largely indistinguishable from a complete and utter broken disaster. When the project necessarily takes a long…

I've been making video games for a long time and while it's true they can feel unfinished for a long time, they shouldn't ever feel completely broken/disasterous/failed. One of the key things when making a video game is to make sure that it is fun and playable as early as possible into development, and when someone is grinding away working on something that isn't fun that's a pretty huge red flag to me.

"No prototypes. Just make the game. Polish as you go. Don't depend on polish happening later. Always maintain constantly shippable code." - John Romero

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#66

Post by darepublic »

scoofy wrote: post #42
pengaru wrote: post #22

Perseverance and conditioning yourself to be comfortable with (or even excited/inspired by) long periods of unfinished-ness are core competencies in practically every demanding project I've embarked upon - not just software, literally anything that can't be started and finished over a weekend. A WIP is often largely indistinguishable from a complete and utter broken disaster. When the project necessarily takes a long…

I've been working on my site: https://golfcourse.wiki for some time, and this is exactly how I feel all the time. Thank you for the encouragement. I know this is a good idea. I know it will help people. I know I can either monetize it long term or even have it function as a non-profit. I also know it will take many years to slowly build to the functionality and content quality that I'm aiming for. Holding onto that l…

Personally the map with little icons always turns me off of sites. Maybe just a random course with quality photos where the map is, and some way to navigate to the next one? Maybe you don't fully aggregate the courses but you can scrape behind the scenes, automatically compile a bunch of content, and then edit it down. So you've proofread vetted all the content but doesn't have to be done manually.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#68

Post by jtokoph »

scoofy wrote: post #42
pengaru wrote: post #22

Perseverance and conditioning yourself to be comfortable with (or even excited/inspired by) long periods of unfinished-ness are core competencies in practically every demanding project I've embarked upon - not just software, literally anything that can't be started and finished over a weekend. A WIP is often largely indistinguishable from a complete and utter broken disaster. When the project necessarily takes a long…

I've been working on my site: https://golfcourse.wiki for some time, and this is exactly how I feel all the time. Thank you for the encouragement. I know this is a good idea. I know it will help people. I know I can either monetize it long term or even have it function as a non-profit. I also know it will take many years to slowly build to the functionality and content quality that I'm aiming for. Holding onto that l…

Just wanted to say that I have only ever played golf once and have no real interest in it, but I still clicked on your site and went down a rabbit hole. This was fascinating: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jun-11-me-peren...

Thanks :)

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#69

Post by qu4z-2 »

umvi wrote: post #40
rhincodon wrote: post #29

Which makes what Stardew Valley developer, ConcernedApe, accomplished so much more impressive. https://www.gq.com/story/stardew-valley-eric-barone-profile

Toby Fox (Undertale) and Dōkutsu Monogatari (Cave Story) are a few other notable solo devs

Doukutsu Monogatari is just Japanese for Cave Story. The dev is called Daisuke Amaya (Wikipedia informs me).
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