Indie Describe the most positive things and/or feelings that came to you while trying to develop a game.

[PaleFolklore]

The title says it all, but it's always nice to hear good things, especially about other people's endeavors. Developing a game is no easy feat, but I'm sure many of you have plenty of positive experiences to share on this topic.

How have things worked out so far? While this thread is open to any kind of commentary, I'd love to hear about some of the more uplifting moments you've had during the development process.

 

[RanmyakuIchi's iconRanmyakuIchi]

I've never made a finished game, just donked around with modding or game engines as a hobby. I have to say just the general feeling of figuring stuff out when messing with or learning a new thing, seeing the dumb little mod I made working as intended in game and thinking "Yay, it's working!"

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I remember how excited we were when we finally got to compile and release the beta/teaser for our little Monkey Island fangame, after months of learning how to make it and what worked best for our vision. It was SO exciting... And it's truly heartbreaking that it was the final release on that project before it dissolved.

 

[LiberoVulpes]

Some people don't understand how ephemeral it is when it says 0 compiling errors.

While being in a team making games, i realized that what i actually like, was writing quests and witty dialog for NPCs, which drove me to find the type of games i actually like to code, text-adventures.

A lot of the coding i did in school, came in handy during college, being the only one who knew C was an ego boost alright.

 

[Megazao]

I haven't had that much experience in game development, but I have two things that keep me going. One is, when working on a team, brainstorming ideas and contexts for things that end up in the story. While I was the writer for a game I worked on with some friends, I loved discussing ideas, getting feedback and exchanging possible references. You need to be very in sync with your team, but when it happens things flow much more.
The second is when I publish a game I worked on by myself. I have done it a couple times for college (we have to develop a short game/demo every semester) and I've always done it solo. I regret it most of the time because it's very difficult doing everything, but when I'm able to publish the game on itch and start getting feedback from friends, it brings me joy.

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

I feel nothing but resentment from all the time I spent trying to become a game dev. There was nothing else I wanted to do with my life at the time and I got good enough grades at math to think it was possible. Then I was hit with the reality of 3D transformations, matrices and quaternions and my brain imploded upon itself. So many years chasing that down the drain. But that's life, I guess. Not everyone is a success at everything they try.

 

[KirboDeku]

When you succeed in making your stuff work. Pure manifestation of thoughts into reality. Really gets me going, too bad it's so rare.

 

[99nereids]

my game dev journey has been interesting to say the least lol. I've worked on a few projects in rpg maker over the years that i took seriously and worked years on, lost both to a broken pc & external harddrive so my advice to people currently developing something: back up your projects!!!

Currently working on a project in GBstudio and it's been rewarding! i'm glad for my rpgmaker experience as GBstudio functions pretty similarly. It's made me enjoy doing pixel art, i used to think it was tedious as hell but after picking up Aseprite i have a lot more fun making graphics.

kudos to all the game devs in this thread, wish you all good luck with your projects !

 

[ciro64]

Participating on game jams was a positive rush of adrenaline.

I feel nothing but resentment from all the time I spent trying to become a game dev. There was nothing else I wanted to do with my life at the time and I got good enough grades at math to think it was possible. Then I was hit with the reality of 3D transformations, matrices and quaternions and my brain imploded upon itself. So many years chasing that down the drain. But that's life, I guess. Not everyone is a success at everything they try.

I partially relate to that sentiment.

I don't have a problem with transformations and matrices as I specialized in enginedev... but with that last word I said you probably know where this is going.

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

Participating on game jams was a positive rush of adrenaline.


I partially relate to that sentiment.

I don't have a problem with transformations and matrices as I specialized in enginedev... but with that last word I said you probably know where this is going.

I didn't have a problem with transformations or matrices as a mathematical concept, just applying them into a program and all the bullshit that comes with graphics cards/shader languages/tracking down rare bugs/applying everything in practice and having it work flawlessly.

I hate that I fell for the grift of my parents/society that you can be anything you set your mind to by just trying harder. I wasted 10 years of my life I could've spent becoming a better artist and have an established career in something I enjoy more.

Maybe I shouldn't be so bitter but it really sucks to chase something and fail in this society that chucks people like refuse if they suck.

Gotta keep it real for all the kiddies who think game dev is sunshine and lollipops. Nope, it sucks really bad a lot of the time. Unless you are a genius/have an incredible amount of patience and perseverance.