You never finish your game
You will not finish your game. No, seriously, just give up, you lose time.
Or do the following: Imagine the reward received from its completion - it can be money, or just moments of joy from what you say to your friends “I, yes, I have a game on Steam”.
Unfortunately, most "indie game developers" are dreamers, not performers. Here is how the structure of files on their computer usually looks like:
')
I think you understand everything.
If you are like me, this set of files is painfully familiar to you. It was like this until recently (well, a couple of years ago) I decided not to grab a deadly grip on the original idea and not develop it. Of course, the idea may be terrible, but the alternative is even worse: never finish anything. In my case, the shit idea turned into something that I almost like. This is a game of Pinstripe, and already the third year of its development. ( From the translator : more about Pinstripe at the end of the article ) Next year, she will be released on Steam, and I'm just in awe of this. During these years, the motivation faded away, but I forced myself to continue, and learned a lot along the way.
I want to share with you some of the principles that helped me to continue working on the project year after year, and I hope that they will help to present it to the world.
Tell everyone what you can do.
To do this - how to jump with a parachute is very exciting and scary. Why? Sharing ideas with people close to you is very nice, but at the same time scary. If you do not succeed, everyone will remember it, and will not fail to remind you of it. Therefore, immediately tell your mother about your game and how you will earn a million dollars on it. Tell your girlfriend / boyfriend what are you going to do the second Minecraft. Let everyone in your life know about the project *. Then, if you decide to surrender, you will be afraid of the consequences of what everyone knows, how you surrendered. Everyone needs responsibility, especially for what seems impossible (for example, releasing a game).
* Be careful not to set exact deadlines. Discussing ideas with loved ones is a double-edged sword. Friends will love the idea, they pat your shoulder with approval, but they certainly will not forget to remind you when you miss your deadline. So tell us about your idea, but answer the questions about deadlines "Everything will be ready when it is ready." For their part, this will not necessarily be an inappropriate matter - they can really take care that you do everything on time. But when creating indie games, getting into deadlines does not happen very often. In addition, there is a big difference in whether you abandoned the project or it just took a lot of time.
Consider the ebb and flow of your enthusiasm
So, your project is excellent, you told about it to relatives, friends and boss. And suddenly, after a couple of weeks, you, secretly from everyone, understand that the idea is just rubbish. Congratulations, what you are experiencing is the norm. So prepare for this. At the moment when you have a great idea, you need to immediately realize that you may not like it in a couple of weeks. And this is normal: most likely, your idea will take a different form than the original one, and new ideas related to the original one will help the project remain interesting.
Stop making excuses.
Today you are too tired at work to play in the evening. Let me ask you: does it somehow make you unique? Perhaps all successful game developers are just doing what they rest and enjoy life, wiping black caviar from the lips with hundred dollar bills? This is what most of them do: they work, they work really hard, while losers most likely come up with excuses. This is not always true - some developers are lucky, others fail after many years of work. But here is the true truth: a successful indie developer accepts his fatigue and understands its connection with passion . The feeling with which you close the lid of the laptop after the sprint of a two-hour evening job brings much more pleasure than watching Netflix and drinking beer.
Beware: this attitude can make you a workaholic. You will destroy your game and relationships with loved ones. Stay committed to the project, but remember: this is just a game. Just a game . Always put work in second place, after relationships with friends and family.
Do not be ashamed
Think about the things you tried to do when you were younger and that you are embarrassed now. I do not mean wallpaper painted in childhood with felt-tip pens. I'm talking about the story you were trying to write, how you thought you could play in a student theater play, or about trying to learn how to draw. When most of us try something new, it is clumsy, we are embarrassed and as soon as possible we hide from ourselves and from others. After that, we just throw away these classes. Such is the nature of man, but it is also destructive. Imagine if every failure in the world would lead to shame and extinction of ideas. We would not see a single implementation, because everyone and everyone makes mistakes until they succeed. So do not look back on the past with shame. Be proud of your efforts to achieve success. This is simple math: a lot of failures will most likely lead to victory . It may be small, but more is accumulated with every small success. Just keep trying and not be ashamed.
But above all finish your game.
Complete it.
Today.
PS from the translator: I have already translated one article by Thomas Brush , it mentioned including his game Pinstripe. The current article was actually written a year and a half ago. This is not an advertisement for the game: yesterday, February 16, Pinstripe came out on Kickstarter and collected more than the minimum required amount ($ 33,000 instead of $ 28,000) for the day, so everything with their creator will be good, I think.
PPS in the comments “recommend” to move the article to Megamind, but there is not even a “Games” hub there. Where is her place? Habr, Giktaymes, basket?
Or do the following: Imagine the reward received from its completion - it can be money, or just moments of joy from what you say to your friends “I, yes, I have a game on Steam”.
Unfortunately, most "indie game developers" are dreamers, not performers. Here is how the structure of files on their computer usually looks like:
')
I think you understand everything.
If you are like me, this set of files is painfully familiar to you. It was like this until recently (well, a couple of years ago) I decided not to grab a deadly grip on the original idea and not develop it. Of course, the idea may be terrible, but the alternative is even worse: never finish anything. In my case, the shit idea turned into something that I almost like. This is a game of Pinstripe, and already the third year of its development. ( From the translator : more about Pinstripe at the end of the article ) Next year, she will be released on Steam, and I'm just in awe of this. During these years, the motivation faded away, but I forced myself to continue, and learned a lot along the way.
I want to share with you some of the principles that helped me to continue working on the project year after year, and I hope that they will help to present it to the world.
Tell everyone what you can do.
To do this - how to jump with a parachute is very exciting and scary. Why? Sharing ideas with people close to you is very nice, but at the same time scary. If you do not succeed, everyone will remember it, and will not fail to remind you of it. Therefore, immediately tell your mother about your game and how you will earn a million dollars on it. Tell your girlfriend / boyfriend what are you going to do the second Minecraft. Let everyone in your life know about the project *. Then, if you decide to surrender, you will be afraid of the consequences of what everyone knows, how you surrendered. Everyone needs responsibility, especially for what seems impossible (for example, releasing a game).
* Be careful not to set exact deadlines. Discussing ideas with loved ones is a double-edged sword. Friends will love the idea, they pat your shoulder with approval, but they certainly will not forget to remind you when you miss your deadline. So tell us about your idea, but answer the questions about deadlines "Everything will be ready when it is ready." For their part, this will not necessarily be an inappropriate matter - they can really take care that you do everything on time. But when creating indie games, getting into deadlines does not happen very often. In addition, there is a big difference in whether you abandoned the project or it just took a lot of time.
Consider the ebb and flow of your enthusiasm
So, your project is excellent, you told about it to relatives, friends and boss. And suddenly, after a couple of weeks, you, secretly from everyone, understand that the idea is just rubbish. Congratulations, what you are experiencing is the norm. So prepare for this. At the moment when you have a great idea, you need to immediately realize that you may not like it in a couple of weeks. And this is normal: most likely, your idea will take a different form than the original one, and new ideas related to the original one will help the project remain interesting.
Stop making excuses.
Today you are too tired at work to play in the evening. Let me ask you: does it somehow make you unique? Perhaps all successful game developers are just doing what they rest and enjoy life, wiping black caviar from the lips with hundred dollar bills? This is what most of them do: they work, they work really hard, while losers most likely come up with excuses. This is not always true - some developers are lucky, others fail after many years of work. But here is the true truth: a successful indie developer accepts his fatigue and understands its connection with passion . The feeling with which you close the lid of the laptop after the sprint of a two-hour evening job brings much more pleasure than watching Netflix and drinking beer.
Beware: this attitude can make you a workaholic. You will destroy your game and relationships with loved ones. Stay committed to the project, but remember: this is just a game. Just a game . Always put work in second place, after relationships with friends and family.
Do not be ashamed
Think about the things you tried to do when you were younger and that you are embarrassed now. I do not mean wallpaper painted in childhood with felt-tip pens. I'm talking about the story you were trying to write, how you thought you could play in a student theater play, or about trying to learn how to draw. When most of us try something new, it is clumsy, we are embarrassed and as soon as possible we hide from ourselves and from others. After that, we just throw away these classes. Such is the nature of man, but it is also destructive. Imagine if every failure in the world would lead to shame and extinction of ideas. We would not see a single implementation, because everyone and everyone makes mistakes until they succeed. So do not look back on the past with shame. Be proud of your efforts to achieve success. This is simple math: a lot of failures will most likely lead to victory . It may be small, but more is accumulated with every small success. Just keep trying and not be ashamed.
But above all finish your game.
Complete it.
Today.
PS from the translator: I have already translated one article by Thomas Brush , it mentioned including his game Pinstripe. The current article was actually written a year and a half ago. This is not an advertisement for the game: yesterday, February 16, Pinstripe came out on Kickstarter and collected more than the minimum required amount ($ 33,000 instead of $ 28,000) for the day, so everything with their creator will be good, I think.
PPS in the comments “recommend” to move the article to Megamind, but there is not even a “Games” hub there. Where is her place? Habr, Giktaymes, basket?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/277429/
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