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Oops didn't post for a whole year MY BAD
3 years ago
I guess I didn't really get past that fear of oversharing last year, eh?
2022 was a lot of things for me, a focus on pushing ahead in other areas of life but also trying to steer the creative ship in a more hopefully fruitful direction. It's something I still haven't completely set in motion, just a plan I keep building on. After years and years of organizing my characters and universe, putting together a game plan and formulating exactly what I wanted to make, I came to a realization I needed to start even simpler and there may be a decent compromise in there.
So, I've had to re-think where I'm putting my creative energies when it comes to my projects. The big stuff is pushed even further back, a goal I'd like to strive for later on down the line, but what I have in mind now will hopefully be more achievable in a shorter time. I just want to start putting things out there, and while I know I'll always keep being 'me' and trying to overdo it, I think I'm finally down to a point where I might actually be able to make good on the promise of making something playable, tangible, maybe even good~
I feel like a lot of my indecisiveness has led to better and better outcomes, being able to recontextualize ideas and come at them from a fresh perspective later, but I'm also pretty scattershot, unable to really hone one particular area down to a fine point. It's probably part of why I have nothing to show - it's all sketchy, concepts and ideas not fully fleshed out, and all over the place. This year I hope to work on that, and get focused again.
It often feels like I've wasted my time and energy, making all sorts of designs that I change up massively, even had an entire finished 'species guide' for my crow-like race that I scrapped before it saw the light of day because I wasn't super happy with it and their whole design has changed enough to invalidate that work. I've put weeks into models and animation I probably won't even be able to salvage because my needs have shifted. I have two characters in particular who I've never shown off once, but I've radically redesigned top to bottom like 3 times each. But it all serves the purpose of learning, improving, honing and fleshing out designs.
I really should find more to share, though! xwx It's all a process, and everything's expected to change, but there's still something worth sharing even if it isn't stuff that's made for posting.
2022 was a lot of things for me, a focus on pushing ahead in other areas of life but also trying to steer the creative ship in a more hopefully fruitful direction. It's something I still haven't completely set in motion, just a plan I keep building on. After years and years of organizing my characters and universe, putting together a game plan and formulating exactly what I wanted to make, I came to a realization I needed to start even simpler and there may be a decent compromise in there.
So, I've had to re-think where I'm putting my creative energies when it comes to my projects. The big stuff is pushed even further back, a goal I'd like to strive for later on down the line, but what I have in mind now will hopefully be more achievable in a shorter time. I just want to start putting things out there, and while I know I'll always keep being 'me' and trying to overdo it, I think I'm finally down to a point where I might actually be able to make good on the promise of making something playable, tangible, maybe even good~
I feel like a lot of my indecisiveness has led to better and better outcomes, being able to recontextualize ideas and come at them from a fresh perspective later, but I'm also pretty scattershot, unable to really hone one particular area down to a fine point. It's probably part of why I have nothing to show - it's all sketchy, concepts and ideas not fully fleshed out, and all over the place. This year I hope to work on that, and get focused again.
It often feels like I've wasted my time and energy, making all sorts of designs that I change up massively, even had an entire finished 'species guide' for my crow-like race that I scrapped before it saw the light of day because I wasn't super happy with it and their whole design has changed enough to invalidate that work. I've put weeks into models and animation I probably won't even be able to salvage because my needs have shifted. I have two characters in particular who I've never shown off once, but I've radically redesigned top to bottom like 3 times each. But it all serves the purpose of learning, improving, honing and fleshing out designs.
I really should find more to share, though! xwx It's all a process, and everything's expected to change, but there's still something worth sharing even if it isn't stuff that's made for posting.
I believe feedback may help try to guide some ideas but its up to you in the end. I'm confident you got this :)
One of the main problems I usually faced was: Trying to already build levels without a proper working foundation, fixing up code and models alongside my game, throwing stuff in because I thought it was 'cool' and then realizing I could throw it all in the trash afterwards, so now: with a single model and trying out different things I was able to more quickly recontextualize things and make more progress. But don't get me wrong: Game design in general is still going to be tough even with a clear plan of where things should be going and especially if you're a 'one-man-team'.
Someone has to do the art, someone has to create textures, someone has to write music, someone has to make 3d models and rig / texture them and etc. People ofter underestimate how much really goes into gamedesign until you start working on your own game. Not to mention setting up your (Steam) store page, marketing, financing and all that 'fun' stuff. There's just so much going on (and things that can go wrong) that it seems like a daunting task even when you've made a lot of progress.
A thing that did help for me a lot to get out of a rut was letting friends play (more like: fool around in) my one-level prototype and giving me important feedback on things inside the game, even the most simple things that you often don't think about can make a night and day difference such as the simple 'height' of a camera or even adding a slight delay on the y-axis to make the 'jumping' feel better to name just one example. Which is why it's good to listen to people's feedback (something which, as a person with Autism- I have to admit, I had a lot of trouble with) but eventually I made changes, looked back and agreed that: yes, the changes do feel 'better' now.
So really, I wish you the best of luck with your game project and if anything, I'd definitely be interested to see the stuff you've been working on or even the progress you've made on your game. Even if it isn't 'final' or will never be used, it's always interesting to see the process. One of the many reasons why I love to look into Beta versions of games and get a sort of 'behind-the-scenes' look but also seeing that nearly every developer (no matter AAA or indie) makes changes along the way.
Like the old saying goes: "Projects are never finished, only released"