Okay, so after toiling with so many game ideas, some that get further than others, I think I have a good grip on software engineering and design. Thought he problem is, how does one do PROJECT engineering, from a one man show aspect, I mean you have art, sound, music, install files, User Interfaces, somteimes a database, web pages even sometimes, distributing game, running a beta etc.. Is there any good handles on doing all this ones self? I ask because the games I have started and not finished as a one man show outweigh the ones I have started and finished (like 3 games started not finished for every one finished, sometimes, sorta) So anyone have any good rules of thumb? Primiarly I am asking is how can one determine art assets and whats a good way to document those? Again i have the software side covered, just not sure bout the art or stuff like beta tests when I eventually want to sell the game how does one control beta releases for testing? So any input comments?

Personally I find schedules etc. quite repulsive. I just cant stand the idea of scheduling my free time. It''s probably the reason why I can''t seem to finish my projects.

Schedules are not neccesary, after all it''s hard to plan beforehand that a certain task must be completed in 4 hours, or 2 days.
What you should do it write design and interface documents. It helps you when you forget something, keeps your head free of having to remember every little detail, and helps when you want to share or have someone else contribute. Plus a design with design goals made before you implement every detail forces you to work cleanly. Often some things can be made to work quickly, eg. by using global variables, duplicating code or functions that are supposed to do one thing but modify global variables or class variables that are unrelated to the function itself. This might work but will turn around and bite you later on.

As I tend to start a lot of self-oriented projects that don''t make it out of the design phase due to an industry solution presents itself or a major life change occurs, I find myself recycling a lot of good design and concept ideas into current projects. Which brings me to my rule of thumb - no matter how great the idea, how much you trust your memory, write the idea down in some kind of notebook so that you can find the idea later. You may not use it on this project, but when you sit down to rummage through old ideas, you might use it then.

Other things to consider:

- keep yourself motivated
- grow thick skin - you may ask your friends to test the game for you, but they might not like it
- keep yourself motivated
- know when to walk away from a project - not every idea will make a good game, and even if you walk away, you will still have gained experience from your efforts
- don''t be afraid to ask for help - most people love to test games
- keep yourself motivated
- even though you may make a game you think rocks, don''t expect everybody else to agree
- document, document, document - life happens, and the more you document, the more likely you will be able to pick up when life does happen
- keep yourself motivated
- place holder art is good enough to get the functionality of your game down
- you do not need to be leanardo(sp?) to create concept art but you do need to be able to convey what you couldn''t draw to the artist
- document those whom helped down to what they contributed, how much they worked - if the game goes platinum it makes it easier to reward and settle disputes over who did what
- keep yourself motivated
- if you do get to the point where you want to beta your game, or think you need some play testing, make the testers sign a NDA that actually states penalties in monetary terms for disclosure
- interface design cannot be copyrighted so dupe one that seems to be the most widely accepted but still adapt the interface to the style of your game
- interface art work can be copyrighted so make your own
- make a POC with two fully working levels so you know that your game will be fun to play
- keep yourself motivated

Plan. Anyway I find quite difficult for one man to do EVERYTHING right or with great quality/complexity in a reasonable time.

You wanna do a while game yourself? And you want it to be a good game? Sorry but this just isn''t going to happen unless your game is on the level of simplicity of tetris.

Can''t agree with that. Why can''t it be a good game? It can be a GREAT game. On an amateur level. Believe me I''ve played quite a lot addictive shareware (amateur, small, you name it), and even more incredibly bad professional games. It might be not as big or shiny as a professional game, but it CAN be a great game. And if you make it, and finish it, you should be very proud of yourself!

Yeah, its possible. Look at Spiderweb software; Jeff Vogel is the KING of shareware rpgs, his games rock. He''s not a one man show anymore, but he was.

you really need more the one person to create a quality product. I strongly recommand to anyone trying to create a game by themselves that they find someone else to do the testing, simply because its been proven time and time again that the software developers makes the worest tester of their own software.



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Writer, Programer, Cook, I''m a Jack of all Trades
Current Design project
Chaos Factor Design Document

While I agree with someone else to do testing, the technical side is still a one man show (Software Engineering, Art, Sound etc..) testing is totally seperate and should.

I also think doing things as a one man show is possible, even things that have a relativly high quality. I mean check out Parp! as seen on the boards posted here (in annoucements perhaps?) it was basically a one man show and its quite a good game, and I even really like the look and graphics in general.

I just need a plan mostly on how does the art planning fit into the game, currently I just have a small docuemnt that states what kind of art is needed where and about how many frames of animation (2-4 as this game will be a PPC game) and what the animation is of (walking, getting hit etc..)

I am not sure if its enough but I think it is, I also wrote it in such a way that if I do find an artist I can give them this document and they can start doing art (I have a loose requirements for them too since I like artists to have creative freedom, the only requirements are like pixel width and height requirements.

So I think its possible, it has to be, its done before, I am just trying to figure out the "best odds" way of doing it.

-Shane