Hi,
The way I would describe my problem is that I am struggling with the concept of simplicity and what it really means to start small. How small is too small? and How big is too big? On top of that, I have about 3 days in the week that I can actually work on my projects which makes them take longer.
To elaborate more on what I mean by struggling with simplicity... I tend to think of a "small" idea in a 3D world. Something I would consider to be a "Basic and simple concept." However, as planning and later development start to unfold I realize that there are a lot of in-between things that need to be completed in order to make this "simple" and "small" idea come to life. For example, my latest project started out as a project to teach me how to make a visually appealing game, and then once I got to a point in that phase I decided I wanted to make it into a "fun" game that is about "NPC's coming to a garden, making an order of food or a flower and I (the player) have to grow plants and vegetables to fulfill their orders". Something similar to "Overcooked." Because in my mind that seems like a "simple" concept.
I could go into detail about the unexpected challenges that I'm facing with it now, but to keep this short, I'm 5 months into the project (not including the time I stopped to work on another project) and I have roughly planned out 4 more months of development before I feel like it can be considered out of the "prototype" phase. Or in other words when all of the basic mechanics and visuals are in place and I just need to continue to expand it with more variety and potentially a few new features. And although I'm trying my best to incorporate fun and feedback into the design and development phase I don't know If it will be "fun" because it will be my first time making something with the goal of being "fun" and "first times" are not always expected to pan out, which I am fine with except for the fact that I anticipate that this project will take me 9 months before anyone is even actually playing it.
I generally refrain from attempting 2D games because I personally don't play a lot of them and I enjoy the visual appeal and immersion of a 3D game. But I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea if I were able to think of an idea that could become a "fun" game. So I guess the overall curiosity of why I made this post is to get your opinion on what a small game blueprint would look like that incorporates "fun" and won't take months to develop. When you start to expand on that idea, when do you tell yourself "no that's too big." And what would be considered "enough" to now start inviting people to play your game? Because in my case I don't expect people to want to walk around a small garden, look at a few trees and encourage their friends to do the same.
Honestly, I feel this only touches the surface of the challenge I'm trying to overcome but maybe we can talk about it in the thread or I can make another post once I figure out how to write about those other parts of the challenge. But nonetheless, I'm curious to read your feedback.
Thank you.