I haven't finished a game since I was 14. Time to fix that.

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Tesselode
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I haven't finished a game since I was 14. Time to fix that.

Post by Tesselode »

I picked up Love because Game Maker was starting to become a little bit limiting, and it's a great engine, but the more manual approach posed a problem for me. I generally get motivation to program things for about a week at a time, and then I don't come back for a while. I'm always more interested in programming the broader systems that the game uses rather than specific details, and whenever I came back to a game, I would start over because I "lost my place" in the code and would rather start over and do the fun parts again than just break down and make the game. As I continued to leave more and more projects unfinished, I got more and more discouraged from making games.

The game developer in me never quite left, though, and now I'm going to fix this. I'm going to finish some games!™

My strategy is to start making some pathetically small games, but increasing the size and scope of each subsequent project until I can actually finish proper games.

Round 1: Pong
It's pong. It was easy.

Round 2: Simple Shooter
This one had a simple class system, although the organization wasn't great. Still, slightly bigger!

Round 3: Testing Libraries
In this one I tried to use some libraries. HUMP is just as good as I remember, and collision libraries are good if you build your code around them instead of trying to shove them jankily into your own code. I've been burned by some libraries that aren't that great (although that was probably user error, actually), but there's really no reason not to use libraries, it seems.



My current project is an Asteroids-y game. This is the first proper game that could actually be fun, and I'll give it menus and stuff. My week of motivation has passed by for now, but when I come back, I'm at least not going to start it over.

Also, I'm torn between using Love and Unity. I feel like Unity makes some things unnecessarily hard for 2D games, but at the same time it has so many nice things built in, like the component system and the new audio mixer. I can't decide what to do. :(

Anyway, this post is pretty much to keep myself accountable, and maybe someone else cares? idk probably not oh well

GUYS ENCOURAGE ME
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Robin
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Re: I haven't finished a game since I was 14. Time to fix th

Post by Robin »

Welcome back, and rock on!
Help us help you: attach a .love.
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undef
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Re: I haven't finished a game since I was 14. Time to fix th

Post by undef »

Nice!
I never finished a game ;)

Tesselode wrote:Also, I'm torn between using Love and Unity. I feel like Unity makes some things unnecessarily hard for 2D games, but at the same time it has so many nice things built in, like the component system and the new audio mixer. I can't decide what to do. :(

I think for 2D games, Löve is far easier to use.
Besides it's completely free (as in free software), and it doesn't spy on the developers and players like Unity does.

I suggest making some games in Löve for a while, before you move on to a bigger engine.


Anyway, happy coding! :)
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Tesselode
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Re: I haven't finished a game since I was 14. Time to fix th

Post by Tesselode »

Robin wrote:Welcome back, and rock on!
If you actually remember me, that's seriously impressive!
undef wrote:Nice!
I never finished a game ;)

Tesselode wrote:Also, I'm torn between using Love and Unity. I feel like Unity makes some things unnecessarily hard for 2D games, but at the same time it has so many nice things built in, like the component system and the new audio mixer. I can't decide what to do. :(

I think for 2D games, Löve is far easier to use.
Besides it's completely free (as in free software), and it doesn't spy on the developers and players like Unity does.

I suggest making some games in Löve for a while, before you move on to a bigger engine.


Anyway, happy coding! :)
Unity isn't exactly spying on anyone; that's an overdramatization. But yeah, the thing about Love is you have to write (or choose) your own systems, which means they come out exactly how you want, but you also have to put in all of that work. I'll probably play around with both and never be able to choose. :P
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josefnpat
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Re: I haven't finished a game since I was 14. Time to fix th

Post by josefnpat »

Welcome back! Nice to see you as well :3

IMO, the best way about making bigger and badder games is to:

* Make tech demos
* Make libraries
* Practice slapping libraries together.

Then after a while you can really start making games really quickly.

Start with a simple scope, and make sure it's fun. Then polish the hell out of it, and release it. The 1GAM[1] is really awesome, and it has really taught me a lot.

[1] http://www.onegameamonth.com/
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T-Bone
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Re: I haven't finished a game since I was 14. Time to fix th

Post by T-Bone »

Keep it up! You should know that you're far from the only one with issues like that. If I can give any kind of advice, it would probably be to collaborate with others. If you and other people share the idea that a game concept is awesome enough to keep working on even when it's boring, your chances of actually finishing it increases. At least that's how I finished Hat Cat :neko:
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SouL
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Re: I haven't finished a game since I was 14. Time to fix th

Post by SouL »

undef wrote: Besides it's completely free (as in free software), and it doesn't spy on the developers and players like Unity does.
Thanks for sharing that!
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Tesselode
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Re: I haven't finished a game since I was 14. Time to fix th

Post by Tesselode »

josefnpat wrote:Welcome back! Nice to see you as well :3

IMO, the best way about making bigger and badder games is to:

* Make tech demos
* Make libraries
* Practice slapping libraries together.

Then after a while you can really start making games really quickly.

Start with a simple scope, and make sure it's fun. Then polish the hell out of it, and release it. The 1GAM[1] is really awesome, and it has really taught me a lot.

[1] http://www.onegameamonth.com/
1GAM looks awesome! I would have to actually commit to it, though. I don't know if I can do that! O_o

...commitment is scary...
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CaptainMaelstrom
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Re: I haven't finished a game since I was 14. Time to fix th

Post by CaptainMaelstrom »

I think it would be good for you to do something like 1GAM. Even if you fail, you get to look at your month and ask yourself why you failed. Too little dev time? Did you get distracted? Did you spend too much time tweaking small details?

Also, I disagree with josefnpat to a degree. Making tech demos and libraries will not make you a better game dev so much as it will make you better at making tech demos and libraries. You'll get better at making games by making more and more games and being critical, honest, and observant about your processes and results.

That said, I agree that you should slowly commit to bigger and bigger projects. Like you have already displayed doing (pong first, simple shooter next, etc. etc.). Anyways, good luck!
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