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So... I think I quit game development :(

Started by November 13, 2013 05:15 PM
28 comments, last by Pufixas 10 years, 9 months ago

I find most the games released nowadays quite bland (I tested this by playing some games from 'the golden age' and non-AAA titles and I still found them very fun). This actually motivated me more

This is totally me! I see all the game devs who play all kind of games, and they enjoy it. But I can't find a good game that I can enjoy. Most of the AAA games suck, except Half-life, metal gear solid and few other games. But somehow it was different back in the days. I enjoyed all kinds of games. And now, I can't find a good games at all.

So few days passed after I decided that I "quit" and now I feel like getting back to game dev again. I hate when I have identity crysis. It always happens few times in a year. It's so frustrating!

I feel so empty when I don't have a project to work on. I tried open-source and... yeah not many open-source projects which I find interesting, and most of them are still games, so I think I will try making games for PC.

I think what I disliked about game dev (I made games for android) is that I had to use Java, which I dislike, and it don't really feel like programming. It's felt more like scripting, because of all that abstraction from hardware. I think I will try making games for PC in C/C++/OpenGL instead. And also one thing that really bugged me - NO PHYSICAL BUTTONS! I just HATE when I have to use virtual joystick or something like that. Maybe my problem wasn't games in general, maybe I just didn't like mobile game programming that much. I had ideas for games, but no way to make it playable on the phone.

Thank you guys, you kind of changed my mind. I'm glad I posted this.

I feel fresh!... Again. I hope I won't change my mind again...

“There are thousands and thousands of people out there leading lives of quiet, screaming desperation, where they work long, hard hours at jobs they hate to enable them to buy things they don't need to impress people they don't like.”? Nigel Marsh
I saw my brother playing a few indie games on the ps4. And it was refreshing. They had glitches (funny) that reminded me of old school games. Perhaps we missed some of the Easter eggs.

However they are cool and fun.

One of them is called "Octodad".
The other is called "Contrast"

They call me the Tutorial Doctor.

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I think what I disliked about game dev (I made games for android) is that I had to use Java, which I dislike, and it don't really feel like programming. It's felt more like scripting, because of all that abstraction from hardware. I think I will try making games for PC in C/C++/OpenGL instead. And also one thing that really bugged me - NO PHYSICAL BUTTONS! I just HATE when I have to use virtual joystick or something like that. Maybe my problem wasn't games in general, maybe I just didn't like mobile game programming that much. I had ideas for games, but no way to make it playable on the phone.

Sounds like you just need a reboot. If you already do Android, you could dev for Ouya. They have buttons.

I'm working on getting my current project to work on Ouya. See here:

http://flatank.blogspot.com/2013/06/super-metroid.html

I think what I disliked about game dev (I made games for android) is that I had to use Java, which I dislike, and it don't really feel like programming. It's felt more like scripting, because of all that abstraction from hardware. I think I will try making games for PC in C/C++/OpenGL instead. And also one thing that really bugged me - NO PHYSICAL BUTTONS! I just HATE when I have to use virtual joystick or something like that. Maybe my problem wasn't games in general, maybe I just didn't like mobile game programming that much. I had ideas for games, but no way to make it playable on the phone.

Sounds like you just need a reboot. If you already do Android, you could dev for Ouya. They have buttons.

I'm working on getting my current project to work on Ouya. See here:

http://flatank.blogspot.com/2013/06/super-metroid.html

Actually one of the main reasons that I started android game dev was ouya, I remember when last summer they announced it in kickstarter, I was really impressed and thought I will be making games for it. But I didn't get it for few reasons. 1) I don't have a TV nor monitor which supports HDMI, 2) People said that their ouyas weren't arriving, and had all kinds of problems with software and hardware. 3) Now I can't buy it for 100$ because I'm not from US, I need to pay almost 2 times more (100 pounds). And for that price, I could rather get used PS3 or something else.

Damn it, I have so many things to do. I still don't even have a game idea, absolutely NOTHING in my mind. And if I do have an idea, there is no way I could make it by myself. I haven't even decided what platform I want to target. I don't know what I want. I'm so frustrated right now, I can't do anything.

I suck at drawing, I suck at design, I suck making stories, and I suck at making sound assets. The only thing I'm moderately good at is programming, and I'm not even that good compared to others. No one wants to work with me, but if someone does, then it's a f***ing 15 year old who started learning java because he wanted to mod minecraft and has absolutely no knowledge about game programming, or someone who just came out of university as a 3D designer and wants to create next MMORPG with me.

It's like I'm cursed or something. Even if I would find someone to work with, it would be hard a f**k to communicate through internet, as my English accent is so horrible I can't even understand what I'M trying to say.

I also realized that I don't love games that much as some of you people do, and I find it sad...

“There are thousands and thousands of people out there leading lives of quiet, screaming desperation, where they work long, hard hours at jobs they hate to enable them to buy things they don't need to impress people they don't like.”? Nigel Marsh


Damn it, I have so many things to do.

You are planning though yes? If you are keeping your tasks regardless of small and big (even bug fixes) and projects saved in your brain you will never be able to sleep, every task on your mind EVEN if an estimate should be put on a plan, spreadsheet or something, you don't even need to have an ETA for it or that you even need to ever implement it, it just means you wont be thinking about it for hours before you go to bed.


I suck at drawing, I suck at design, I suck making stories, and I suck at making sound assets

Do some exercise, start working out, you will feel much better about yourself and remember skills are there to be built, people don't become pros overnight and your project isn't going to be flawless within seconds, no project is.


The only thing I'm moderately good at is programming, and I'm not even that good compared to others

Have a look at some popular open source projects, I always had this idea that projects popular were flawless and I was a noob until I had a project out, after looking at some open source projects, seeing even my style, structure, approaches and methods used (even in C++), I accepted that I may actually be good at this :) The problem I think you have is you cant compare your work to anything, but as long as you can follow it and it works that's the main thing, you can clean it up and improve it when you are finished


No one wants to work with me

Are you able to commit a lot of time to your project? If so then working alone may not be bad. Sure it helps to be in a group but it doesn't mean you will fail by working alone and honestly it may not be such a bad idea, it allows you to personally explore all areas, which is a good thing from a learning point I guess.


I also realized that I don't love games that much as some of you people do, and I find it sad...

Welcome to my world, I feel like the odd one out on these forums at times because I have no desire to make a game something sadly that will likely change soon; I love my projects and they heavily involve graphics but sadly aren't a game. You could always leave the illumination world of local and go global, there is a lot more to graphics than games and sure someone might say "why invest time in offline rendering, there are polished software that will always be better", but then the same thing applies to games "why make a XYZ type of game, there are polished games that will always be better". It doesn't even have to be a commercial project either, you just need to be having fun and IF it fails you will still have the skills, there isn't really any way to fail in programming projects so even an MMO is a good idea, as long as you are learning new skills / improving old ones, no programming project is a bad one, doesn't matter if you are creating a WoW killer or a Autodesk killer; just don't fixate on 'how rich you will be' or you will be demoralised the first time your plan extends.

Oh and one more thing, if all fails you can still create a portfolio showing your skills, people shouldn't have a fear of failure when programming


I suck at drawing, I suck at design, I suck making stories, and I suck at making sound assets. The only thing I'm moderately good at is programming, and I'm not even that good compared to others.

Damn it, I have so many things to do. I still don't even have a game idea, absolutely NOTHING in my mind.

I think all of this fits me too, but I work around it.

Drawing - I 'borrow' pictures off the internet, import them in gimp, and trace over them with a new layer. Make a few changes, delete the old layer and its mine.

Design - I make 3d things in Blender to make my sprites It's easy to change a cube into a ship

Stories - I read about it. The conflicts that are in stories etc. Stuff like this:http://aerogrammestudio.com/2013/03/07/pixars-22-rules-of-storytelling/

Audio - I 'borrow' sound off the internet, change the pitch, speed, add filters to it in Audacity

Ideas - I posted requests for ideas in several forums like so: http://forums.crackberry.com/blackberry-10-apps-f274/i-freaking-need-app-i-want-one-bb10-757325/

And found stuff like this: http://androidforums.com/application-requests/ (you can see my vbonsai game came from someone's idea in this subforum)

http://androidforums.com/4921074-post1.html

I use things like this to generate ideas: http://videogamena.me/

Also, steal someones idea and change it to the way you would have done it. Even Angry Birds is a stolen idea.

BlackBerry was paying $100 per app during their port-a-thons. I managed to crank out 30 of them. Some are crap, some are decent, and some are very cool. I only had 36 hours for each port-a-thon(there were 4) so I had to come up with a lot of ideas and reuse a lot of code.

What is your motive for making games?

Mine is to have more coding in my life and make some money so I can have more code in my life so I can make more money...

If I have enough money to write more code, then I'll make some money.

I want to get money for writing code! And have money so I write code!

And I don't want a job. I want to work for myself... writing code.

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when i am overworked i feel i lost a tremendous time of my days to something that not pays off and i could study litereture in al thi time - but when I do resting i am feeling again for some time that programming is great... I found the 2 tatements are true :1 i am wasting a greats amounts of more 'poetic' or philosophical life on it 2 programming IS interesting and game programming area are most interesting subarea in it

tv nonsense and shit << game programming << literature, philosophy

You are planning though yes? If you are keeping your tasks regardless of small and big (even bug fixes) and projects saved in your brain you will never be able to sleep, every task on your mind EVEN if an estimate should be put on a plan, spreadsheet or something, you don't even need to have an ETA for it or that you even need to ever implement it, it just means you wont be thinking about it for hours before you go to bed.

Guilty... I do absolutely no planning, everything is in my head, I do not write anything down. Thank you for advice, from now on I will have a power point presentation with all my plans for the game.

You guys really have some great advices, I always feel better after reading your posts! Thank you

“There are thousands and thousands of people out there leading lives of quiet, screaming desperation, where they work long, hard hours at jobs they hate to enable them to buy things they don't need to impress people they don't like.”? Nigel Marsh

To me, posting "So... I think I quit game development :(" on gamedev.net is an obvious troll. Just saying.

Game development is a pretty board thing. If you don't feel like you are in the right place, I say keep exploring. Take on lots of little projects and find what you enjoy doing. You'll find your niche and flourish in it.

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