Hi all,

I think this might be the first time I've posted here despite being a member of gamedev.net for six years!

When I first visited this site I found a thread/how-to/something-or-other about how to start writing games. The author suggested starting off by doing Tetris, and not just getting it working but polishing it right off to the point of being a properly completed product. Well after several false starts over the years I have finally have a fully playable game - Bomb Blocks - a tetris clone with bombs written in Java. I still need to complete the website, documentation, installer, and add a few little touches. But I feel really good having made it this far, especially after all the failures.

Now as I'm going over the code I'm looking at it thinking 'god there is some ugly stuff in there!'. The project suffered from virtually no initial design; it grew organically and has probably suffered for it to some extent. I've ended up redesigning classes, refactoring a heap of code, throwing bits out and writing new bits, but throughout the process - as well as reading books, websites, etc, I feel I've learnt some fundamental things about the process of designing and writing a game, and that the next game will be better planned and written. Hopefully one day I can create something that might earn a few dollars too. It seems there is just so much to learn and I'm really eager to keep on learning.

So over to you. If you have ever completed and released a game what was your experience of doing your first? What successes and failures did you have? What did you learn? What would you have done (maybe subsequently did) better? What did you get out of it? Did you get discouraged to do more or vitalised to build something better?

Cheers,
Brionnach

I notice this thread was moved, not sure why because it is a beginners topic and I think it belongs there. So no takers on this one?

My first completed game could also use lots of refactoring. I wouldn't worry much about it as that's how we learn. Even after I released my first commercial game years later, I could still pinpoint a lot of places in the code that could be improved. Only after about 3-4 commercial games later, I could finally look at the source code and feel content about it.

I don't think anything could replace that feel of completing your own project. Recently, I just completed a mobile app (for my own personal use and is not a game). Even though a lot features can still be improved and added, having completed it brings joy and peace to my life. During the development of the project, I ignored some aspects of life (social, health), which I am now able to catch up. I think it's a necessary ingredient to fully focus on what we want to accomplish (such as our own personal projects), and make some sacrifices in our life in order to achieve that.

@Brionnach

Whilst your thread is asking about games that have been released. You might find some benefit to you from

http://www.gamedev.net/topic/625656-your-first-game-idea-what-happened-to-it/
http://www.gamedev.net/topic/626406-what-was-your-first-ever-game-made/

@Alnite - Thanks for sharing. So the mis-steps, screw-ups, etc are just part of the journey; we learn from them, bask in the feeling of having finally released the game, then move on the next?

@Stormynature - Cheers, I'll check those out.

I'll post back with an answer next week. I just uploaded my first for-sale game to the Android market today, and am waiting for it to get listed.

I'll post back with an answer next week. I just uploaded my first for-sale game to the Android market today, and am waiting for it to get listed.

I await your reply with interest!

@Alnite - Thanks for sharing. So the mis-steps, screw-ups, etc are just part of the journey; we learn from them, bask in the feeling of having finally released the game, then move on the next?

Of course. Having pieces of inefficient code at the end of a project is almost inevitable. Make notes of it, and fix it in the next project or release.

Of course. Having pieces of inefficient code at the end of a project is almost inevitable. Make notes of it, and fix it in the next project or release.

Then years down the road have nightmares about all the things you really meant to fix but never did