What helps you make a good game? What keeps you going on when you feel like stopping? What inspires you to create better games? What is it that you just need to keep clicking?
A girlfriend? Having Circy's pic on your desktop wallpaper? Muz's articles? Having special "I CAN DO IT" papers posted all over your room? Random insults from Click Community members like HiredGun and Phizzy? Or simply some good games you found and decide to make fan games of?
Personally, I'd blame my productivity on headphones. I worked on games averaging 6 hours/day when I had them and I'm working on them a lot more often now that I got new, cooler ones.
And maybe that Invasion of the Muz II background helps. Maybe I'll release a trailer on that game next month... if I ever get to find MIDIs suitable for it.
Oh, and yeah, peer pressure.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
I find rivalry to be a great help. I try and get my brother to work on a game that's similar in style to the one I'm making (or he does the same to me) and having the other to "beat" gets us to make better games. Unfortunately my brother's about a thousand times better at pixel art than I am, but still.
Also, for the only major game I've ever completed (AAG, not released yet), I kept a progress sheet where I recorded just how much I'd done and how much there was left. Usually now all I keep is a "development log" where I note down things that I've done each day and what needs to be done the next, but it's the same idea.
Assault Andy Administrator
I make other people create vaporware
Registered 29/07/2002
Points 5686
26th May, 2004 at 04:01:32 -
I find holidays the best time to start a project, because you can work for days on end - just like a real nerd! And what motivates me? Probabley movies and drawing sketches of games on the shower screen.
Headphones + Winamp's MilkDrop visualization thingy is about as good as a light nap.
Can't hear the best outta Metallica or Crownd with normal stereo speakers, y'know. Naps spoil my concentration streak. And with the games I'm working (aside from IOTM 2), I need a lot of concentration, and a lotta rest for my mind after every event group & manual I write.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
Lack of sleep. If I don't sleep, then I'm not as creative, and can just work off of my notes. If I do sleep, then I come up with a new and better idea 30% into a project and nothing ever gets finished. Besides, sleep is a waste of time.
n/a
Assault Andy Administrator
I make other people create vaporware
Registered 29/07/2002
Points 5686
26th May, 2004 at 08:14:32 -
Damien - Not only are you persuasive but you also smell like fermenting cheese sticks.
I like to design my games before I actually make them. This helps a lot, especially with RPGs. If I grow tired of kliking, I play Final Fantasy X and scour almost half the sphere grid. I usually get my inspiration from my own random ideas and thoughts.
Have to go with Radix. I get more done at 2am than 2pm, and if I ever get frustrated (me? frustrated? ) or have a problem then I can go to sleep, think of ideas and solve it in the morning
What helps you make a good game?
I think of the feeling i get when playing my favourite games and try to make games that the player will enjoy as much.
What keeps you going on when you feel like stopping?
Nothing does. When i feel like stopping, i do.
What inspires you to create better games?
Either playing some games or listening to some music, But inspiration can come from anywhere really.
What is it that you just need to keep clicking?
Ive always wanted to make games since i was about 5. I didnt have a pc back then and klik and play didnt exist (this was about 1989). I used to draw level designs on paper and make loads of ideas up that stayed in my head. Unfortunatly i threw all of those ideas away but luckily i can still remember some and i can always invent more crazy characters.
I just like making games!
What helps you make a good game?
- Competition, a lot of those new fangled HTML editors are easier to use than mine
What keeps you going on when you feel like stopping?
- Winamp, and 5.1 Speakers. That and then making side projects to take my mind of the bigger ones.
What inspires you to create better games?
- Myself, my aim is to create every game/app i make 10x better than the one prior too it. (Youll see )
What is it that you just need to keep clicking?
- Because where i live is crap & theres nothing to do, that and cos i wanna make the best goddamn click app ever
I don't know how many *good* games I've created and, of those that I did, I don't know how many of them have survived the years.
Stubborn determination keeps me going when I should have stopped. I'm the kinda guy who will beat his head against the wall for hours if I think I'll get through eventually. My body usually suffers when I do this.
I guess, in retrospect, creating finished games is not as important to me as making engines and trying new codes. I get a major rush from tweaking KnP until I can do something new with it. I'm inspired by the potential of KnP, and the extra challenge of using an 'outdated' tool really gets me going. I'd probably be more likely to make KnP tutorials than actual games. Not that anyone would actually be interested in reading them ()
Klicking gives me satisfaction and a healthy sense of control, no matter what else is going on in my life. It's therapeutic.
"All of my life, I had wanted to be a comic book artist. It had been my one dream, my one goal."
-The Disgruntled Artist, Second Story
available at www.geocities.com/magnetmanga
I did the same thing aroud that age,Andyuk , back in 1992. I drew theese platform games that you had to control your finger through all the obsticles, mostly mario inspired (the good old snes times, back then some of the games we make now would make us a fortune). Anyway what keeps me going...? Must be my dream to see my idea I get before making a game onto controllable charaters, and see them interact and such. Also clickting is like a strategy game, you have to find the best sullution to get the best ressults and theres a hundreds of ways to do it, and you get better at it every time you try.
Hmm... I should try that lack of sleep thing. I guess there are times when new ideas suck .
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
What helps you make a good game?
- I believe for me it is the competition and wanting to makea game that will someday become a click classic or something...maybe even make it on this front page Alos playing games makes me want to make a better game or one that could be just as good (as if)
What keeps you going on when you feel like stopping?
- Hip hop rock and R&B all the way baby... never put my nice ass ear phones on thou...maybe I shall try that I haven't ever finished a game yet... very sad! Competitions also keep me going until I finish the game.
What is it that you just need to keep clicking?
- Food I need and not alot of sleep... (I hate sleeping) I click till about 3 in da morn and then have a hard ass time trying to wake up to go to school. I only start to click my games at around 11 or 11:30 at night. I pump up my radio on VIBE98.5 or whip out my CDs, sneak down get a pop... and if Im lucky maybe a chocolate bar...and then Im ready! Although by the time I finished eting and drinking Im ready for bed!!! HAhahahaaa... So I sleep and wake up feeling like **** cause it is one more day closer to the competition deadline....
Oh well!
I don't know why I click. It is boring here...who klnows...maybe..ya I don't know.
P.S. GO FLAMES GO!!!!!!
"I have dreamed a dream... But now that dream is gone from me."
Wait a min... I always code when I'm sleepy; no wonder I never get anything done. I spent 2 hours yesterday trying to figure out how to do get a good formula for weapon speed, without having it possibly get less than 0, yet keep most of the numbers in integers, since MMF doesn't support decimals .
Muggus:
I didn't know they could drink. Not the MMF ones at least. The KNP ones get drunk all the time .
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
1.5. I mean, it can count decimals, but it just doesn't store them as decimals. Well, not the Data Store 2 object at least. I use it about as often as I use active objects.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
I just discovered a new secret: cutting the fingers out of a cheap right-hand glove so your hand doesn't get cold on the mouse, but you can still type.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
Datastore may not be able to hold decimals, but MMF 1.5 has decimal support built in everywhere. Set an active's alterable value to 2.4. It will be 2.4.
I actually never finish my best games, due to bad time.
read these to understand.
What helps me make a good game:
Inspiration. I have played so many video games
and come up with so many ideas, I get inspired,
then come up with 50 cool features.
What keeps me going when I feel like stopping:
Boring surroundings. When I have played Video Games
straight for the last 7 hours I can't find anything
to do! So, I sit down and just work, and since I have
nothing else to do, I just continue.
What inspires me:
Other games, and attempts to please my freinds and
family. They want something, so I want to make it.
And Music, I have been inspired by music SO many times.
What do I need to keep klikking:
Er... what?
Personally, I am most creative+productive at 2am or
in the rain when it's black outside. I love the rain.
And, boredom. Wake up at 11am and play video games
all day long. By 1am, you will start to migrate to
the computer for some game creation.
Also, it helps to have noone else there.
These reasons are why I'm not productive in the school
year.
4 more days of school for me! Then I'm FREE!
Edited by the Author.
-Above post is ancient and probably irrelevant-
An old account of mine, recently cleared out. It's a blast to the past, the age was marked as 14 when I found it. If you know where to look, you can track me. Au revoir.
What inspires me?
My own insanity, classic games, cool clicking games...There are so many places where one could get inspiration for a game.
As for making it good?
Making a good game takes planning. I draw the levels out on graph paper (or any paper), and if I don't have any paper, I'll plan out levels on the skin of innocent doggies. I think that drawing what the baddies and the main character look like also helps. I also need an unlimited supply of Sugary snacks to keep me energized.
I like to pressure myself to finish a game. But if I have a melt down, I blame it on the rabbit. Oooh that rabbit.
When I get bored, I draw, write or play video games until my eyes start to burn.
I wouldn't say my games are 'great,' but I think I am getting better.
Fine Garbage since 2003.
CURRENT PROJECT:
-Paying off a massive amount of debt in college loans.
-Working in television.
I find getting back to the basics, ie working on a game for the KNP comp, makes me consider how I worked on games in my 'prime'...well most productive maybe not my best work ...which was using KNP itself 9 years ago.
Anyway, so a few words from Muggus are as follows that kept me through those times...
- Know where your heading. Set yourself some kind of goal or a criteria of what your game must have. Say you want to have 10 weapons, 20 levels and you want an awesome Ai...there's your checklist, but that's not it...it's enough to write a bloody list, but to complete them I find it's important to take a systematic approach of sorts.
For the example I mentioned up above it's best off to try tackle the big problems first...the Ai...take things one step at a time.
As far as coding goes for more complicated things like custom movement engines and Ai you start with the most basic engine and TEST IMPROVE AND TEST AGAIN!!! Until you have it work how you want it to. You should be your harshest critic! You have to able to play your game and be proud of what you have made...otherwise why would someone else like it if you don't.
So yeah...know where your going. Make all of the complicated, time consuming stuff...graphics, engines etc... first then get on with it. And have some kinda idea of where your game is going. Sure, you could make an entire game on improvisation, but there are limits...especially if you have some kind of storyline.
Anyway...that's mainly just common sense, but yeah, I found it helps to Klik with a bit of common sense.
MUGGUS
Come and annoy me more at
www.muggus69.tk STOUT ANGER!!!
Fallen Angel Industries?
www.faind.com
Go there. Now.
They made such great games as:
Machines of Destruction
Streambolt
Super Ken Senshi
-Above post is ancient and probably irrelevant-
An old account of mine, recently cleared out. It's a blast to the past, the age was marked as 14 when I found it. If you know where to look, you can track me. Au revoir.