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[SIZE=20pt]12 Tips to Stay Motivated[/SIZE]
An RPG Maker Guide by GoodSelf
Sooner or later, it’s going to happen – that feeling that your game is overwhelming you; there’s so much to do, bugs to fix, features to implement, and you are just one person. How are you expected to make a game by yourself? How are you supposed to stay motivated to work on your project, when there is just too much for one person to handle? Well, I’ve written this article to help you stay positive, and to stay motivated!
1) You are one person, not a team of hundreds.
Many games made using RPG Maker are created by 1 person. Yup, one person mapping, eventing, writing, playtesting, debugging, and more often than not, still learning. Making a game by yourself isn’t impossible, but it’s not easy either. Working on a game by yourself gives you complete creative freedom, but everything is your responsibility. So how is this supposed to motivate you? Well, let’s say you have a really cool boss battle idea – you can do that. Or maybe you want create a dynamic skill tree, or a haunted forest – you can do that too. Since you’re the only one making the game, you can make your game how you like, and to me, thinking up a really cool boss or feature motivates me to continue working on my game, and gives me a sense of accomplishment and ownership when I complete it on my own.
2) Love your game.
If you are not absolutely in love with your game, then why are you making it? Of course you won’t be motivated to make a Zombie RPG if you hate Zombies – on the flip side, if you’re a big fan of The Last Airbender, you will love making a game set in that universe. For example, I have a story with great twists, likeable characters, and a villain you can sympathize with. Sometimes I find myself thinking about these characters, how they would react in a certain situation, or what they would think of the politics of their world. Loving your game is extremely important to staying motivated, and keeping with your project.
3) First game? Start small.
Many RPG users want to create the next epic RPG, but the reality is, that’s probably not going to happen - and if you do make a sprawling epic by yourself, it will definetly takes years of hard work and financial dedication. If you’re just starting out, find something you love, and make a quick game about it! This will help you learn the program, as well as give you a small project to stay motivated on. If you’re about 40+ hours into development on a huge game, it’s going to become this looming presence that you’re afraid you’ll never complete – avoid this by starting small, and learning the program.
Perhaps make a prologue to your game, or a small prison break, a robber that got away, or talking a man down off of a ledge.
4) Set Monthly Goals
Something that really helps me is to set monthly goals; having an absolute deadline is good and bad, as it may push you to work more on your game, but you'll be scrambling to get things done by your deadline. With monthly goals, your game progress will go much smoother, and you wont be stressing out about how long its taking you. Keep in mind, a project could take years to complete, so saying you'll get "the complete second town" or "all of the Fire skills in the database" done by the end of the month is much more realistic. Take your time with it - trust me, it will help you stay motivated in the long run.
5) Early Project Feedback
Trust me, you want to post here. Not only is forum great for sharing your game with potential players, but also lets you get honest, unbiased opinions on your game. I’ve found that these comments are extremely motivational, even the bad ones. Let’s say this is your first game, and you’re a terrible mapper. Well, someone may point that out in the topic, and you can handle it one of two ways: You can get offended and brush off their comment, or you can take their advice and begin working on mapping your game again. The latter is always the correct choice – sometimes having someone tell you that you’re not good enough is all the motivation you need to become great! I remember my first attempt at a game (it was horrible, terrible mapping, spelling errors, a story that was spoon-fed to the player) – But I loved it, and I didn’t change a thing. Suffice to say, I abandoned that project a long time ago. Why? I had no motivation to keep going, no positive reinforcement. Had I made some changes, shared my thoughts with the community, and followed the other rules in the post, then maybe it would have been a game that had gotten completed. Listen to the community, because after all, they are the ones playing and enjoying your game.
6) Hire on help for your game
This may sound weird at first, but for me personally, it has been the biggest motivation to keep working on my project. I’m currently paying an artist to create exclusive battlers for my game, and whenever a new sketch/final draft comes in, I get super excited! What will their stats be like, their abilities, where will the player encounter them? I just can’t wait to import them into my project! It also helps that I’m paying my own money for these; I’ve made a personal investment to the project, which keeps me motivated to keep going.
If you’re short on cash, have no fear! Many of the users have free resources for you to use, and some may even do some minor work for you for free!
7) Play Other RPG Maker Games
It doesn't matter it's an Early Project Feedback game, or a Completed game, seeing how other users handled their story, world, characters and mechanics could just give you the inspiration you need to keep going. One project that inspired me to get into RPG Maker was a game called Master of the Wind. I thought to myself "I can do that", and now here I am making my own game! Also, just because your not the only person making an Undertale or Zelda fangame, doesn't mean you should just quit your project because "someone else's is better".
This happened to me recently when I saw a project on the forums called Toby's Island - I was impressed (and kinda jealous), but that's what pushed me even more. "I want my game to shine" I thought, "just like this one". As Echo607 says, "No one can make your game your way."
8) “Jumping around” your project
Not everyone likes databasing; I know that it's a huge buzz kill for me. For some, it may be the mapping that annoys you.
So how do you combat the "long and tedious" parts of game making?
What I like to do is jump around my project so that It doesn’t feel stale each time I load up. For example, tonight, I might finish mapping on the caves I have in my game. After that, the next logical step would be to make your events, encounters, etc. But like I said, I jump around to keep it fresh. I don’t want to look at the same cave for 7 hours straight – this is the kind of game-making that causes you to lose motivation. Instead, I’ll probably head over to the troops tab and design some enemies for my forest level, then go back and finish up a cut scene for the castle I made earlier.
Some people won’t find this helpful, and would prefer to stick to one thing, finish it, and then move onto another thing. This personally burns me out, and makes me want to do something else instead of working on that same cave again.
9) Do something else.
Seriously, get up, and go outside. Maybe play some baseball, go for a jog, catch a movie with a cutie, or even work on some homework.
Spending time away from your game is just as important as putting time into it - if you end up working on it everyday, you'll get drained so much easier than if you work on it in small chunks, doing other activities instead. Trust me, this works like a charm, and is one tip that should not be ignored.
10) Keep a notebook
I swear by pen and paper, and keeping a small notebook in your pocket at all times to jot your ideas in will vastly increase your motivation to work on your project.
You could be about to get on a ride at Universal Studios, when a brilliant idea pops into your head. You write it down, eager to get back home, load up your project, and put your new idea to the test. Sometimes you can forget these ideas, and writing them down will greatly increase your willingness to work on your game.
I also find notebooks great for play testing and writing down bugs you find as you go through your game, crossing them out as you fix them.
11) Don’t get discouraged.
Just because you’ve only got 1 reply on your Early Project Feedback thread that has been up for a month, doesn’t mean that your game sucks and you should quit. If anything, it means you need to try harder to impress your audience, and challenge yourself to make the best game you can, within reason of course. I can’t tell you how many times a user has made a game, felt unappreciated and quit their project because “no one cared”. There are probably tons of people who have played your demo, but just haven’t left any feedback. As long as you keep updating your project, and keep putting your heart into it, people will notice, and people will like it!
12) Love your game.
No, this is not a typo. Love your game appears twice in this list because it is the most crucial aspect of game making. If you’re not in love with your game, no one else will be either.
To close things off, I would like to wish you all the best of luck making your games (I know I’m going to need some luck too to finish mine!), and I hope this article has re-ignited that spark you had when you first set out to make your game. I would love to hear all of your thoughts, and examples of what motivates you to keep making games!
Thanks again folks, and I’ll see you soon!
-Michael
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