I've been thinking about something lately, and wanted to ask you about it!
So, on March, I made Robo Otto in 31 days, then, on April, I made Enkindle in 3 days. In June, I started working on Su-BARA-shi. I intend to make another game for December.
That would be 4 games in one year... as one person.
This had me wonder... do I make too many games? What I mean is... while Robo Otto is really neat, and the fact Enkindle even got made amazes me... I've never been able to make a big game! A game I spent a long time putting a lot of effort into!
I don't want to feel like I'm quantity over quality.
I really like making games for game jams... I never thought I would, especially this much! But, if I change strategies, I could just slow down development of my game to partake in a game jam here and there.
Of course, my main concern is my issue with finishing big, ambitious projects... I tend to get distracted by shiny new ideas that seem so much nicer than working on the same thing I've been doing for months... :(
I think about how a lot of developers have "their game", I would put it. A game they spent years making, and maybe it's even their only game! It's something very special because of how much time and effort they put into it.
Sure, I think Robo Otto is nice. I'm flattered by how many people think it's cool! But what could I conceivably make if I spent, say... 2 years making a visual novel? Or 4 years on an RPG? Sounds scary, but I feel like I could make something pretty darn neat!
A lot of people share my feeling that Robo Otto could have benefited from just being... More! Longer! Better constructed! Alas, the dreaded "time crunch" would not allow it.
I don't think I'll stop doing game jams any time soon. But I want to know if I should focus on making games I really put my time and effort into.
That means asking what you think! Because, if I'm gonna make an important decision, it'd be good to not make the one that will make you very upset with me!
If you have any ideas about this situation, I would be happy to hear it, since this seems to be a pretty important thing I'm asking.
Thanks for reading,
Bye-Bye~! <3
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pretty much everything Jango Mango said, it really depends what you want to do in the future, quality over quantity is nice, but if you like the approach of making quick games for stuff like gamejams, its fine! for me personally
i do fall in the same rut of working on a project too long that i eventually get more interesting ideas to work, so none of my projects actually get published. if it was up to me, i would do what i want while seeking others advice aswell, you wouldnt want to suffer making something that youre not happy about haha
still, if what gets you going is small bite-sized games, but you want to try making a bigger, more developed project, then go for it! my input may not be that good, but i hope it gives you some insight on what to do!
Hi! Any input is appreciated! It's really quite awful how easy it is for me to get distracted by a new idea. It gets very easy when passion for the project is dwindling...
I do think making little games while working on a big game would be a nice thing to do. It's not something I've tried yet. Even if it goes terribly, I can go back to what I'm used to!
Thanks for your help!
Mostly just depends on your goals and preferences. Are you making games for fun, experience or just want to create something meaningful.
A lot of devs like puppetcombo would make smaller games while working on a larger game with a team.
I personally think making somewhat of a large project and spending more time in development is fine as it means the game would be polished. While working on the larger project, you could pause development and work on smaller game jam projects as well.
Just don't leave the project hanging for too long!
Returning back to the larger project would be a bit difficult (I have to write in notepad what I was previously doing).
You should read this Post, it's a quite lengthy but the dev goes on to describe the difficulties they faced while working on a large project for the first time.
Your current games are pretty amazing (Full of creative passion). So even if you don't go for larger projects, it's completely fine.
Thank you for taking your time on reading this mess of a post
I wish you all the best !!!
Hi! That post you linked was quite touching to me. I want to play the game to support what they worked so hard for!
Regarding what you wrote, I suppose I could spend more time thinking about what I want to accomplish, which does lend itself towards making a big project.
I see a lot of appeal in making a big game, and being able to take a break from it by working on little games for game jams!
I still have my concerns about not being able to get it done... but I haven't even tried, yet!
And, thank you for the kind words about my games! It makes me unbelievably happy, hahah!
Have a nice day! Bye-Byeeee!!
What you can do as well is make a big project but release it in increments like updates and chapters etc. This way you can pace yourself, get feedback from players and improve on your game. Doing large projects on your own are possible but difficult.
One downside of using increments is that some people may not want to wait for updates and may lose interest.
That is true! I see a lot of people that do that.
It'd be nice to have something that's actually playable over however long it takes to make the game.
I was thinking about having a demo. So, there'd be devlogs, and eventually a playable demo so people can experience the idea! It's just a thought.
I feel like a devlog for the same game would get a bit boring after the 20th one, hahah...
Not really as this is where your mini game jam projects would come in.
You could take a break, the people following you and your projects can experience something new and afterwards you could return to development with even more ideas/experience.
A lot of people on both itch and gamejolt post so many devlogs of their games. ( my first game that I still update has over 20 devlogs). Posting more devlogs just shows how much you care for the game.
Demo actually seems like a nice idea!!
Ah, right! I wouldn't just be working on the same game for years! How did I not think about that!
I thought having too many devlogs would've been annoying... I suppose I might not have to worry too much if that's the case!
:D