What was your first game?

[BlackRoseMii]

I'm struggling with my first (real) game right now. Not with the program or anything, but rather with the thought of it not becoming something worth playing. I know it's a stupid thought, since the first game will never be perfect, but little things like these bother me a lot.

So I thought, if I read about others first games, it might put my mind at ease. (And also because I think it's interesting)

What was your first game and how did it turn out?

 

[bgillisp]

My first game was coded with some RPG making program in DOS back in 1991 - 1992 (so not RPG Maker. Someone had a shareware program that let you make RPG's that I used. The registered version added new features, but I couldn't afford it). All I remember about it was two things:

1: I basically just put in the game whatever I wanted. I had no plan, no story, nothing. If it sounded cool, it made the game.

2: I had just played a game that had an alternate world, so I thought I would one up it by having *2* alternate worlds.

What can I say, I was 12 at the time. So yes, it was total garbage, though I think I sold one copy for $5 to someone at school who was the same age and who liked it.

 

[Iavra]

Don't know if i would call it a real game, but i did a Sokoban parser: http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/40043-creating-maps-from-text-files-incl-demo-sokoban/


So i'm kinda in the same boat as you. I more or less decided, that i don't want to do "big" games, but rather small ones that concentrate on gameplay and simple graphics over story. Apart from a few scripts i haven't really done anything, though. But i'm fine with doing scripts. It's more or less what i'm doing at work and i like my work, so...

 

[BlackRoseMii]

@lavra: I'm doing the exact opposite right now. I'm focusing too much on the story and totally forget about gameplay. I'm trying to get some into it, but it looks like a poorly patched up plush toy. -.-°

 

[magnaangemon01]

Pokemon Red for the original Gameboy. I was able to beat it with no walkthrough or any help.

 

[BlackRoseMii]

That wasn't exactly what I meant. I meant the games you first developed yourself.

 

[Ossra]

The first few games I started -- but never finished -- were heavily influenced by Yume Nikki. In fact, the reason I started down the path of game creation at all was because Yume Nikki used RPG Maker. I started out in VX before switching immediately to VX Ace at release. I tend to hoard digital copies of everything, so I have every single project I have ever created. Even projects used for testing code.


'Somnolence' was the second project I started, and was my first real attempt at a game :

​

I started to go 'weird' near the end of my time with 'Somnolence' :

And that rubbed off on 'Yume Quikki', which was my next game. I started to experiment heavily with visual tricks :

​

Then, 'Dyssomnia' -- the first project of VX Ace -- came shortly thereafter and is actually a complete game, albeit very short. I won third place in a game contest on another message board (RMRK).

 

[magnaangemon01]

RPG Maker 3 for the PS2. I designed quite a few games for it.

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

Princess of Peril... u_u

 

[EternalShadow]

Don't be afraid to release your first game. You can use a lot of feedback from it to develop your second.

Zendir 1 btw.

 

[Milennin]

Mine started as a test map to learn the program (RM2K3), then later grew into a full game (2-4 hours of gameplay) with a bunch of random quests and mini-games. I wouldn't say it's a great game, but it's pretty unique in it's own way, I guess. I did learn a lot from making it.

 

[Jef299]

Instructor Driller. It was my first game I made with VX ace. There was a lot of buzz and a few dedicated fans. Let's plays were released in segments according to the development of the game so for a short, small game it got quite a few Let's Plays. The best LP is Instructor Driller A COMPLETED LOOK, it's the game when it is finished.

Basically, the game is about a Drill Instructor with incredibly high blood pressure and a speaking disability, This caused for soldiers to get smart with him or just be plain idiotic and raise his blood pressure. If your blood pressure gets too high you explode. This game was considered hilarious. It was featured in a youtube video about all the CRAZY funny games on the internet. ( Lost the link and I wish I can remember the name of the vid, sorry.) Don't worry though, my game was only mentioned for like 2 seconds but still.

Don't be afraid. Release your first game, you don't know what corner of the internet you might end up on.

 

[Kes]

My first game ever was Undefeated - it's in my signature.  I look at it now, and I still think it's good, but I see lots of things I wish I'd done differently, especially some of the mapping.  The balancing was done for me by Indinera of Aldorlea.  That's always a difficult aspect, and the game has a choice of 4 difficulty levels.  Based on my experience, unless you have someone else who can do the balancing, don't have difficulty levels for your first game.  It was a nightmare.  I couldn't have done it by myself.

 

[Kyuukon]

Pokemon Red for the original Gameboy. I was able to beat it with no walkthrough or any help.

That wasn't exactly what I meant. I meant the games you first developed yourself.

Plot twist: He/She developed Pokemon Red lol.

My first game and love is Miraculo Island (signature). Initially I was struggling with the execution part of it (eventing, mapping...). After spending a lot of time in that area I found out that dialog/story is way more complicated. The rest is just time consuming. Hopefully I can release the full game next year and start development of a bigger commercial one ^^

 

[Gothic Lolita]

My first "game" I've ever made was "Snowdrops Journey".
The only thing that really exist from it anymore is the YouTube video on my channel:

And the rating video here:

It was made in only one week and without any planning before.
The game got completly deleted by a virus and if that wouldn't be bad enough, the Uploader I uploaded it closed the site. :'(

At the moment I try to rebuild it and not sure about the name. But a lot of improvement should be in the first demo (\s/)

 

[Seacliff]

My first game was on RPG Maker XP on one of my parents older computers, where it is now trashed and lost for all eternity... which is how it should be.

The first game I ever released a Demo for is Flip Dimensions (link in description), which I am currently working on. But now it's many years later and I actually have some confidence in my skills now. So I don't think it's a bad game so far to say the least.

 

[Demon God Démigra]

I made some sprite edits in making a MUGEN styled fighter... But my friends wanted to join in to make a more story-oriented game so they could lend their passion - Voice Acting, so I tried to tie in my fighter with some Story Mode, but that was proving too difficult (With no fighter + adventure mode engine to easily entwine those two genres...) This lead to me buying ACE and starting my first real, although short-played project - Blur. That is what I am developing at current to familiarize myself with the ACE engine. It's a game inspired by the likes of Mad Father, Ib, Yume Nikki, The Witch's House, you get the general idea. Hahhaha

I'm learning some Ruby and drawing skills along the way. I wish to become a competent leader (Jack of all trades, master of none.) for my team.

Edit - And I do plan to release my team's first creation, good or bad. It's a learning experience after all.

 

[Stormowl]

Zenmark in Rpg Maker Vx... It was pretty bad, It was about a guy that had 4 months to live. For some reason he was poisoned by an alien... Don't know what I was thinking...

 

[Jacki]

The first game I ever made, as in fully completed, was a couple years ago when I first picked up VX Ace. I had plans for a big game that was (and is) way beyond my scope though, so I never got far and lost motivation.

To make a very long story short though (I practically had a small novel typed here a moment ago), I reached a level of critical boredom and sleep deprivation that led me to sink several hours away into a smaller scope game that I figured I could finish. A couple of months later, and I had a short, 3 to 4 hour game about a bunch of scientists who shipwrecked along a snowy coast. I had bad dialogue, out of place gameplay mechanics, and bizarre shifts in tone.

I let my friends get ahold of it, and yes, they laughed. A lot. Even at the parts that were jokes, thankfully.

Now, maybe telling you about how my first game ended up as a complete joke isn't going to help put your mind at ease. But as far as I'm concerned the experience of finishing a project was more than worth the effort no matter how 'bad' it may have turned out. Now I'm using a lot of what I've learned from it, my friends' feedback, and other RPGM games to remake it into something 'not as bad'.

 

[Miss Nile]

If we're talking about completed games, Fantasy on Mother's Day was my first (link found in signature.) I was 14 back then and I am kind of proud of it, considering my age at the time. Though a lot of it could have been a lot better (dialogue and flow, for number one,) I still like its mapping and story. It's a pretty short game, only 30 minutes, with only one battle, and not so interesting gameplay, but I still like it nevertheless.

If we're talking about uncompleted games, I remember trying to make a game called Together Forever. It was the very first game I ever thought of making, I was a complete newbie back then, and my skills were nothing and like most developers in the beginning, I was trying to make the biggest most epic game ever. It never came to light of course but I learned a lot from it. Really a lot.