3 replies to this topic

[Usagi]

Has anyone else found themselves with doubts, wondering if the past year of game development has been a complete waste of time? Or, do you find you keep that same level of motivation until the final release of your game thinking your idea is fun and innovative? I wanted to bring the discussion on the issue of game design doubts and motivations to the community.

The main reason that I create a game is that when it is finished, someone might want to play it and enjoy the content. Therefore, this motivates me to spend hours a day working on it. I especially receive extra motivation when people comment positively on your project thread, showing their interested and wanting to play.

However, depending on your level and duration of progress, those comments are going to become less and less everyday which causes myself to doubt the success of my project.

I'm wondering what else makes you doubt the success of your project or even become motivated to succeed and what are strategies to reduce the chances or the amount of times one becomes doubtful of their projects or even how to keep oneself motivated until the final game release?

[Zeramae]

I always tell myself that as long as one person is touched or gets something out of what I make then it was all worth it. I usually say I include myself in that equation, but I have yet to actually become satisfied with that. I want someone whom I can talk to the game about, even if only for a short duration of my day.

I value how fun a game is based on how I'd look at it from a story/sound/gameplay point of view; those are the holy trinity of what keeps me interested. As long as I can get enjoyment out of the game I know someone else with similar tastes should as well.

Keep in mind that there's no way to tell if people will be interested in your game unless you've actually finished it and are passionate about bringing it to the gaming populace. You say you spend hours because of the motivation, so I'll assume you're passionate about it. IMO that's all it really entails. Take a step back at some point and play your game just to see if it's something you as a player and not a tester would enjoy.

So yeah...to sum things up, finish your games people! Someone out there will LOVE it!

[Ronove]

You should never base your project on how big your audience is especially while the game is in development. Not every project in the world is going to have a million and one fans who fawn over everything you post or sprite. If all you are doing a project for is to get in good with a community or to get popular, I think you're doing the project for the wrong reasons.

That's not to say when you know you're doing good but everyone ignores you, that is damaging and really demotivating. However, if that demotivates you so much that you want to stop working on your project, maybe that's just as well. You aren't doing the project as a project you WANT to do, but rather to get attention. I think projects shine through people when they do the projects because they want to, not out of need of attention from their peers.

For the topic at hand, I always feel like I'm wasting my time working on RPG Maker projects (except when I'm helping friends out with mapping or art--but that's because I'm doing it for SOMEONE, not myself). That's not because I don't get attention (I'm still flattered by any attention SSP gets, honestly). My doubts and the feeling of wasting times comes from something else entirely. I'm getting old for this scene (I know, 23 isn't old, but I've been in this scene since I was 13) and I really want to start doing something I enjoy that also gets me a paycheck of some kind. When I was in high school and in college, that never mattered because I had free time to do whatever I want. So RPG Making I went because I found that fun. Now, I still find it fun (it's addicting I swear it), but given that I want to do something with my life rather than go to a dead-end job and come home and work on a project that gets me nowhere, I do get depressed. Which is why I have plans (too many plans) to do more than just RPG Making and make something legit out of it to see if that's where my life should go. Of course, if it doesn't pan out, I'd probably move on from RPG Making and focus on one of my other creative talents.

In short: don't make a game to get popular. You'll feel and look fake. Do a project that you want to do because you have that burning game in you that wants to get out and share itself with the world.

[Usagi]

Great advice and points, Zeramae and Ronove. I've never looked at it that way.