40 replies to this topic

[RionRequiel]

When comparing your project to the ones placed here do you often lose confidence in your game making abilities or Scripting Capabilities?

I often lose Confidence, Recently I posted my Lotus Magi Saga game only to look at other games placed on the site and then i got discouraged seeing how amazing everyone's games were compared to mine.

When you lose confidence how do you get it back?

[Reynard Frost]

I don't lose confidence because I also look at both non-RM games and RM games and realize there are people better than me, and worse than me. This is how life is. Turn that intimidation into inspiration. Try to push yourself to be that good, or just see what you can do. You don't need to be the best, being able to actually FINISH a project speaks volumes. Some projects may look good, but until they're finished, they're just an idea. I'd rather play a complete average game than toy around with a demo or read a forum post on an awesome game that I never get to play fully.

Perspective.

[Ichi]

You just have to keep at it, remember a game can look amazing but there is always more to it, story, gameplay writing, editing, ect. Focus on your strengths and continue to work on improving your weaknesses.

[Touchfuzzy]

Just remember, if you release a finished game, you've done more than 99% of RMers.

[Dagny]

just the opposite. i see other people's projects and feel like a champ.

[arcana23]

It's so true that perspective and goals achieved make the difference. Set your own goals to make that may be closer to what you see out there, but don't set any too high or else you will be truly disappointed. I keep listening to the great compositions of music all around me and wonder how I can step-by-step get closer to writing music like that. It's all about selfdiscipline and working your path while following the stars.

[RionRequiel]

I think perhaps I am just being Pessimistic, thanks for the encouragement, All of you are really nice, Sorry for getting discouraged over something silly like that.

[Reynard Frost]

just the opposite. i see other people's projects and feel like a champ.

I feel the exact same way. LOL!

[RionRequiel]

Guess I am just bothered by things like scripts, I am determined to make my own scripts and not use ones made by others, However nothing is working well, I can't even figure out how to make a Battle HUD

[Lunarea]

Another thing to keep in mind is that some of the projects you're seeing may have been in development for a while and had gone through many changes. If someone's spent several weeks or months on their project, their game and thread will seem a lot more polished than the project of a person just starting out.

Give yourself time to develop your project and keep learning. As you get more experience with the RPG Maker and as you start understanding different game development theories, your project will look a lot better.

[arcana23]

How much do you study scripting/Ruby? DO you study scripts written by others and see what they do to make your own scripts? DO you think making your own scripts is more valuable to you than to use others. A friend of mine says why reinvent the wheel, just take what others have written and add/adjust and so forth.

Edited by arcana23, 16 March 2012 - 12:21 AM.

[Knightmare]

I don't really lose confidence. As Nard said there is going to be someone better and someone worse than you at something. And no matter what you do there will be someone who likes it and someone who doesn't. We're all people with different likes and dislikes so do what you can and keep going eventually you'll keep improving and that's really all that should matter to you.

[Reynard Frost]

Guess I am just bothered by things like scripts, I am determined to make my own scripts and not use ones made by others, However nothing is working well, I can't even figure out how to make a Battle HUD

Yanfly has a great set of scripts that can be edited to suit your tastes. Editing a script will help you learn more about scripting in general, plus Yanfly's scripts are free to use for commercial as well as non-commercial projects. You just need to mention he made them in the credits.

Think of using others scripts as using their engine. A lot of pro games are made with the Unreal engine. Not everyone builds a game's engine from the ground up (and it's not recommended.) So don't feel bad.

Edited by Reynard Frost, 16 March 2012 - 12:21 AM.

[RionRequiel]

I hope so, I had to take down my game post because I only had one character and 3 screen shots, I am hoping to build my team up as well, But sadly it's just me and my Graphic Designer, LOMA Studios is a small little game company >.<

[Reynard Frost]

Rion, check out my Game Development Advice article in the Game Dev forum and follow those steps before you worry about slapping something together. Games require a lot of planning and you will appreciate saving yourself the headache of building as you go. Especially if you're trying to form a dev team.

Plan your game before you start building. Construction workers don't build a house without a blueprint. Be the architect before you slap on the hard hat.

Edited by Reynard Frost, 16 March 2012 - 12:23 AM.

[RionRequiel]

Ok, Will do Reynard.

[yieldingmydestiny]

just the opposite. i see other people's projects and feel like a champ.

[Celianna]

Realize that most projects that put yours to shame have been under development for quite a while ... and by that, I don't mean just a few weeks, or even a couple of months, I mean years. RM projects almost never get completed, and the longer a person works on it, the better they become at it, and eventually they will redo earlier portions of their game, and it'll end up looking a lot more polished.

So you might think yours looks like crap right now, but if you keep working on it, it will get there, eventually. The most important thing though, is to actually finish it, which not a lot of people can do. And if you do happen to finish it, you get boasting privileges.

[WizzyT]

If I see a project I consider better than mine I take it as an oppurtunity to improve myself.

Looking for major differences is my starting point

Are their games more heavily customised ie. Graphics, scripting etc...
Do I find their story compelling and continually wanting to make me play more?, What is grasping the player?

Simple things that can make all the difference aswell, minor details here and there that can just add to the gaming experience always make me want to find ways to improve on them.

[Shaz]

Yep, I look at the images and try to learn something from them ... ALL of them. The ones that are way better than me teach me new tricks to improve mine. And the ones that are not as good as mine, I try to identify what's wrong with them, but especially I look at feedback that others give on how that person can improve.

Granted, some of the feedback is entirely someone's opinion and preference coming through, so you don't have to try and follow it all. But it's good to see people going into explanations of WHY something would improve a map.

Even those who have amazing mapping skills are always trying to make their next map better than their last