Your "OCD" in game making.

[TheoAllen]

Sometimes, a small thing is bothering you.
Sometimes, you feel like you have to do something in a certain way.
There is almost no design reason for that. Or probably you made an "excuse" for that to exist or a reason for you to do something.

For example, you think not having a ranged weapon user is weird. Or, you feel like all actors must have the same number of skills (even if they probably need/don't need more/less) and talent tree (this is me). Or you need to balance the gender ratio of the party members (this is also me).

Share your funny story and probably how you cope with these, or if you manage to use these little "OCD" at your advantage

 

[lianderson]

My OCD is putting 2s at the end of all enemy parameters. Everything must be 42, 52, 102, 415913043413412, and I have no regrets! Power to the OCDs!

 

[ericv00]

Nothing. Nothing at all. Everything in my projects is totally normal and not overthought or obsessive in any way. YOU ALL ARE THE WEIRD ONES FOR THINKING SO! ... ... ...

Perpendicular lines never cross.

 

[lianderson]

That is a very positive way of thinking! Good job human! Praise be.

 

[Frostorm]

I need certain terms that fall under the same group to be similar in length. For example, the term "Bludgeoning" really bugs me when put alongside "Slashing" & "Piercing". Just look how it sticks out like a sore thumb!

• Bludgeoning
• Slashing
• Piercing

Whereas the following looks much better to me:

• Crushing
• Slashing
• Piercing

...or even better would be...

• Blunt
• Slash
• Pierce

 

[ericv00]

I need certain terms that fall under the same group to be similar in length. For example, the term "Bludgeoning" really bugs me when put alongside "Slashing" & "Piercing". Just look how it sticks out like a sore thumb!

• Bludgeoning
• Slashing
• Piercing

Whereas the following looks much better to me:

• Crushing
• Slashing
• Piercing

...or even better would be...

• Blunt
• Slash
• Pierce

Bludgeon
Poke
Separate adjacent material via finely honed wedge

Seems fine to me... so long as no perpendicular lines cross.

 

[Cythera]

I have a few...quirks when working on my projects

• I'm incapable of making less-than-cute playable/main characters. NPCs? Don't care; I'll take whatever crazy mess the random generator spits out at me. Main characters, playable characters, main antagonists? I can't do it. I just can't!
• Ridiculous equipment names. Probably because of all the time I spent playing Diablo games - the best thing I ever found was the 'Smashing Steppes Smasher of Incineration'. Borderlands games also hit me with some stupid names, and now I find myself using equipment based on its name in games, so it just feels...wrong to have simple names?
• Puns. Everywhere. Obvious, hidden, personal, obscure, I can't help it. They just worm their way into my writing and my text

I don't even try to stop these things anymore haha. I'd be fighting against myself, and I'd lose. Plus, those things are just fun to do anyway!

 

[CraneSoft]

I'll have to say realism/common sense and real world logic has triggered my OCD more than I'd like to admit while making a modern urban fantasy RPG when I can't just explain things with "because magic". I always end up trying to find reasons to justify atrocious player behavior as acceptable in modern day society without jeopardizing gameplay. What do you mean I can't just blow up random thugs with magic and lethal weaponry? It's certainly not gonna piss off law enforcement and gets you arrested on murder charges!

Then I watched Yakuza 7 videos whenever I feel I made things abit too unrealistic - turns out orbital lasers, guns shooting spree in broad daylight in front of the media are perfectly acceptable in modern day Japan and nobody's gonna bat an eye as long as it only happened in gameplay. Realism are really for the weak.

 

[Kay_Erthisia]

I need certain terms that fall under the same group to be similar in length.

Oh my gosh, absolutely this. So much this. All the time.
Mine extends to choices the player can make in dialogue as well.
Can't have:
"No"
"Oh, absolutely I'd love to!"

No way.

 

[AphoticAmaranth]

Ridiculous equipment names.

I too am guilty of this. Equipment names gotta be almost always alliterative.

 

[TheGentlemanLoser]

Mainly I tend to use certain magic numbers over and over (ESPECIALLY the ones I'm gonna put in bold): 12, 13, 17, 19, 21 (blackjack!), 27, 187 (on an undercover cop!), 255/256 (a perennial favor among devs and hackers for sure), and the time/date 7/14 slash 7:14. Like if any conceivable value that would plausibly work for ANYTHING is anywhere near one of these numbers, I will absolutely use one of those numbers even if it isn't QUITE the exact right number for the application. This is very literally OCD, but it's extremely minor and doesn't really hurt anything.

256 is also the number I count backwards from when I'm trying to fall asleep.

For a more substantive example: my intense artistic need (almost but not quite a compulsion) to use certain bands' music that I do not have licensed (and cannot afford to license) was a major driving factor in keeping my projects non-commercial over the past two...decades.

 

[watermark]

I just can't stand to have extra files in my project. Some of them technically don't take up much space at all, but I just can't stand to have useless junk. This is sometimes counterproductive as I may waste time just trying to find a useless file and it may only save like 1k of space.

I used to start with the default RM project, but then it took WAY TOO LONG to go and find all the unused files and deleting them. I don't trust the auto-delete extra files feature in RM. I'm always afraid they'll accidentally delete a needed file...especially if you work with plug-ins.

So now I start with a nearly completely blank project, with almost all files deleted beforehand. And then I add the ones I need one by one.

 

[Finnuval]

So now I start with a nearly completely blank project, with almost all files deleted beforehand. And then I add the ones I need one by one.

Guilty of that one myself xD

 

[TheoAllen]

I don't start with a blank project, but I do the same when I'm about to release my game. Manually delete everything, compress everything, optimize the size. I would try to make my game as small as possible because somehow I feel guilty if I uploaded a 500MB game that only has 30 mins gameplay, for example.

 

[Cythera]

I would try to make my game as small as possible because somehow I feel guilty if I uploaded a 500MB game that only has 30 mins gameplay, for example.

... >.>
<.< ...
Erm, me too...yeah, definitely, I would never ever have, say, a full gig file...heh?

Mine extends to choices the player can make in dialogue as well.
Can't have:
"No"
"Oh, absolutely I'd love to!"

Oh I totally forgot about this! I will add words to a choice to make them somewhat close in length! "No" here would become something like "I'd rather not do that" just so the options are similar length!

 

[Soul_Narrative_Games]

I would say whenever I am playing through my game and spot a bug my brain immediately wants to go into the editor and fix it. When I am test-playing the whole project I have to make a conscious effort to not do that so I could get an accurate playtime.

 

[SigmaSuccour]

Do not show, what they have already seen.
Do not say, what they have already heard.

When I realize what I'm implementing in my game, will be associated as 'similar' to a specific game.
I immediately get rid of it. Or change it.

(It is okay if it is being said to explain something. But when it can be said to suggest I copied off of it, or got inspired from it. I have OCD level of reaction to it.)

 

[Soul_Narrative_Games]

Do not show, what they have already seen.
Do not say, what they have already heard.

When I realize what I'm implementing in my game, will be associated as 'similar' to a specific game.
I immediately get rid of it. Or change it.

(It is okay if it is being said to explain something. But when it can be said to suggest I copied off of it, or got inspired from it. I have OCD level of reaction to it.)

Those are important to help streamline the overall experience. When a character needs a recap of the current events I just do the fade to black and poof they know what happened.

I am like that when I spot a bug when testing. When I spot it I close the game window immediately and go fix the bug.

 

[Redeye]

Ohh yeah. Every character absolutely needs to have the exact same number of skills in their repertoire.
All 4 of my Skill Trees need exactly 10 perks each, and you always need to invest the exact same number of skill points in order to max out a tree.

I must always have an even number of party members. In fact, I must always have an even number of everything. Weapons, Weapon Types, Skills for each character, Enemy types per area, etc.

My main character's hidden power is the ability to create portals. But now, how do I translate a plot point into a combat element???

Oh, I just came up with a really cool idea for a "desert wanderer" character who combines swordsmanship with sand magic, but I already have an Earth user who wields a bow and conjures vines and poison spores. Oh well, guess I have 2 Earth users now. Wait, that means I have to do the same with the other elements. Oh well, guess I just doubled the size of my party.

Every dungeon needs a boss, no exceptions. Every boss needs some sort of mechanic or gimmick that makes it different from the rest.

There are only a handful of times where I've bitten the bullet and made a decision against my personal comfort.

 

[HexMozart88]

I just redo stuff. Over and over and over. And one of the first things I do in every game is pick a different battle system because the text log annoys me SO MUCH.