I'm amazed at how many people there are working on projects for any number of the makers available out there, but it's so sad to see that so few are ever completed or even have demos/intros released. It's said that most independent game designers quit any number of projects 75% through completion. Why? When you're so close do designers become discouraged? Namely because we don't take into consideration the time it will take to work out all the bugs and problems in systems that frankly take the fun out of the project. You have to realize and accept that in making a game, you will enjoy the first half of the creative process: Storyboarding, Creating Characters, Building Maps and creating the basis of your own systems, but with that you have to accept that the second half of creating a game is tedious and frustrating because; it's perfecting your creation and bringing it to a level where you're comfortable having others play and test it.My advice:
1) Throughout your creative journey, as your building your game get people's interest. Have a support basis of people eager to see your work and continually update them on it. Show screenshots, get feedback, bring in others to get involved in little things. That way, when the way gets tough, you have a group of people pushing you forward to continue your project and make it through the rough, boring time it will take to get it really ready for them.
2) Understand that you're not just making this game for yourself and release a demo. No matter what state the game is in. Compile it and have others play it. That way you have no excuse to say, "Well I never released a demo, so I was never very far along and it's alright to quit now." Your game is going to be played. Period. Trust others. You don't need to respect their opinions, but if you can bring yourself to allow a game to get released in demo form, then you can accept a full release that isn't perfect. The best way to get your game fixed instead of you hoarding it on your computer and testing it a million times is to have several others doing that and you get feedback. You will never get it done if you don't give yourself leeway for error.
3) Have fun. Find new ways always to keep interested. I put hidden Easter eggs in my games whenever I get frustrated. They're never perfect, but it gives me time to take a step back and go, "Oh, this is why I'm doing this again." If you let yourself get frustrated and feel defeated then you will be. So, relax and let loose. You're not the world's greatest designer yet and you're not making any money on this. The whole reason you're using the RPG Makers is because you love doing what it is your doing, so try not to lose sight of that.
As you can see I'm playing around with the blog a little. I'm testing out this new background and am liking it so far, but please offer your opinions. I've also added a weekly poll to the blog.
Now this isn't really a tutorial, although I have added one for you guys, so check it out. I have a little panorama I use for epic scenes. I find it's much easier than having the Hero walk through a map, to just have them in spot walking while the storyline unfolds and a panorama scrolls by. This one I've used for Epic scenes in, "The Chronicles of Treen" where the Heros were leading their army to battle, so it had a nice effect as a scrolling Panorama with a massive army walking on spot on it.
Rm Link of the post: VG Music
This is very sound advice. I know for myself 75% of my projects never saw the light, but of the 25% that did they were quite popular in their "specialist" categories, in their own rights too. I used to do paranormal games as tutorials for the topic. Being too much of a perfectionist will mean that your game/demo will never be released, but tweaking and debugging afterwards is just as important as the game-building itself.
ReplyDeleteI actually like the background - always been drawn to blues and purples - and the rounded corners too. Doing good so far! =D