OnLashoc
Member
Hello all,
Just looking for some feedback as I work on my current game project.
Some background, I've written / created a couple novels (one being a semi-graphic novel), developed and managed multiple gaming websites (one with having over 500k unqiue ip visitors and a return following in the hundreds), and have generally been into digital art with a strong art background.
Last year I decided to make my own game, it WAS very ambitious, but was coming along pretty well as I learned GML and how games in general were made. It was quite the learning experience and one I hope to revisit and finish some day. However, a portion of the project relied on others with their own time schedules, families, etc to which ultimately the project came to a halt. I fault no one but myself, but they are factors of reality for something people are not immediately making money to support said families on.
Several months after the project kinda halted, I upgraded my computer and unfortunately lost a months time of work (closes backup saved was about 3 or so weeks behind where the actual code was, again totally my fault and a learning experience going forward). Again, I will eventually circle back to that game as my understanding and GML ability grows, but for now it must remain where it's at firmly on the back shelf. You can see some of the work here:
So moving forward, I've started a new project which is less ambitious (just cutting out multiplayer alone is a huge weight lifted among many other factors) but I'm just curious if I'm still being a bit ambitious? Am I stuck being, wanting, desiring more than my skills provide? I am still learning, but I am finding solutions to problems that seemed insurmountable just one year ago much quicker, & easier. I am finding that I am doing more things right the first time than I had in the past of spending hours of trial end error for one issue.
How do you know when to quit with the feature creep, and plod ahead with what seems solid so far? Do you put your development out to the public to critique while still early in the development? Do you invite different ideas early, or do you just keep going till you think "Yea looks good to me". I've hit quite a few of these below with this current project and I'm moving towards the refine / redevelop art mode. Again any suggestions or tips are appreciated!
Onnie
Just looking for some feedback as I work on my current game project.
Some background, I've written / created a couple novels (one being a semi-graphic novel), developed and managed multiple gaming websites (one with having over 500k unqiue ip visitors and a return following in the hundreds), and have generally been into digital art with a strong art background.
Last year I decided to make my own game, it WAS very ambitious, but was coming along pretty well as I learned GML and how games in general were made. It was quite the learning experience and one I hope to revisit and finish some day. However, a portion of the project relied on others with their own time schedules, families, etc to which ultimately the project came to a halt. I fault no one but myself, but they are factors of reality for something people are not immediately making money to support said families on.
Several months after the project kinda halted, I upgraded my computer and unfortunately lost a months time of work (closes backup saved was about 3 or so weeks behind where the actual code was, again totally my fault and a learning experience going forward). Again, I will eventually circle back to that game as my understanding and GML ability grows, but for now it must remain where it's at firmly on the back shelf. You can see some of the work here:
So moving forward, I've started a new project which is less ambitious (just cutting out multiplayer alone is a huge weight lifted among many other factors) but I'm just curious if I'm still being a bit ambitious? Am I stuck being, wanting, desiring more than my skills provide? I am still learning, but I am finding solutions to problems that seemed insurmountable just one year ago much quicker, & easier. I am finding that I am doing more things right the first time than I had in the past of spending hours of trial end error for one issue.
How do you know when to quit with the feature creep, and plod ahead with what seems solid so far? Do you put your development out to the public to critique while still early in the development? Do you invite different ideas early, or do you just keep going till you think "Yea looks good to me". I've hit quite a few of these below with this current project and I'm moving towards the refine / redevelop art mode. Again any suggestions or tips are appreciated!
Oscar Smith-Jones1 year ago
i got a good tips for games design people, wherever your making board games or video games, there is this famous guy who made the mtg card game and he lists some very powerfull game mechanics for games, and theres these three well known game mechanics used in video games.
I have listed all the best game mechanics here, you generally like a game beacuse of one of these: i hope you find this interesting.
easy then suddenly hard- if a game is very easy, but then flicks to extream difficulty it creates addiction; games like flappy bird or keptchap games seem to have grips with this genre.
random- random events naturally suprise players, its the equivelent to a climax in a book and can make a game loose it repetitive gameplay- first person shooters do this well.
many options at once- making the player feel he has great control makes him feel more powerfull. Games like minecraft has several different options that are avalible at once(while in no mans sky, you can only dig or re-fuel).
development- development in gameplay changes the game as it progresess, keeping the players interest.This can be incremental(like leveling up) or it the opposite( things getting worse for all the players) for the purpose of changing the gameplay as it progresess.
overpower- making the player capable of causing great havoc or destroying large objects, probably the reason why bosses are popular. ragdoll games use this, and games were there are big power-ups available(like mario cart).
context- having a good backstory makes the players feel apart of a different world, which might look fun to be in. avoid awkward titles, like 'kill the slug' no one wants to kill the slug or directly trigger horrible things.The medic game (whatever you call it) dosent use 'save the human' as a title.
now im gonna put the three extra games design tips i found, which apply to board games as much as video games too(as do the things above):
hierarchy- the feeling of being higher status, obviously quite enjoyable for a human.One way to do this is to have different rankings like in mine craftiron, silver,gold,diamond) this means a player can be better than a normal player.The obvious way to implement hierarchy is to have the ability to win in the game.
context influence- the ability to change the plot of a story makes the player feel important.This is why skyrim might have many different options in speech to a npc, even though it literally makes no effect. Because sky rim always tries to express context influence. social reasons- the ability to really grind another player or work together with other player is fun.The extremes of social mechanics are fun- trolling or group work. MOBAS use this mechanic and it is also why gambling can have its appeal. Not everything is in all games, just think about these mechanics as useful colors in a color pallet,you definitely do not need to use all colours.
i got a good tips for games design people, wherever your making board games or video games, there is this famous guy who made the mtg card game and he lists some very powerfull game mechanics for games, and theres these three well known game mechanics used in video games.
I have listed all the best game mechanics here, you generally like a game beacuse of one of these: i hope you find this interesting.
easy then suddenly hard- if a game is very easy, but then flicks to extream difficulty it creates addiction; games like flappy bird or keptchap games seem to have grips with this genre.
random- random events naturally suprise players, its the equivelent to a climax in a book and can make a game loose it repetitive gameplay- first person shooters do this well.
many options at once- making the player feel he has great control makes him feel more powerfull. Games like minecraft has several different options that are avalible at once(while in no mans sky, you can only dig or re-fuel).
development- development in gameplay changes the game as it progresess, keeping the players interest.This can be incremental(like leveling up) or it the opposite( things getting worse for all the players) for the purpose of changing the gameplay as it progresess.
overpower- making the player capable of causing great havoc or destroying large objects, probably the reason why bosses are popular. ragdoll games use this, and games were there are big power-ups available(like mario cart).
context- having a good backstory makes the players feel apart of a different world, which might look fun to be in. avoid awkward titles, like 'kill the slug' no one wants to kill the slug or directly trigger horrible things.The medic game (whatever you call it) dosent use 'save the human' as a title.
now im gonna put the three extra games design tips i found, which apply to board games as much as video games too(as do the things above):
hierarchy- the feeling of being higher status, obviously quite enjoyable for a human.One way to do this is to have different rankings like in mine craftiron, silver,gold,diamond) this means a player can be better than a normal player.The obvious way to implement hierarchy is to have the ability to win in the game.
context influence- the ability to change the plot of a story makes the player feel important.This is why skyrim might have many different options in speech to a npc, even though it literally makes no effect. Because sky rim always tries to express context influence. social reasons- the ability to really grind another player or work together with other player is fun.The extremes of social mechanics are fun- trolling or group work. MOBAS use this mechanic and it is also why gambling can have its appeal. Not everything is in all games, just think about these mechanics as useful colors in a color pallet,you definitely do not need to use all colours.
Onnie