Do you ever feel like your game is not good enough?

[Cafechan]

Someone whose work I respect had a saying that I tend to use in these moments: "Just another stone in the fortress of regret."

This made me laugh out loud. So true.



I once heard that a creative type's brain is always a little ahead of their hands. You have a more developed idea of what's good, of what you want to make, but your hands just can't quite replicate it as well as you envision it. Every now and then, you'll get lucky and match your brain vision on something, but when it comes to a project as huge as a game, it's almost impossible to meet the mark at every stage. But it's a learning experience!

My main vice is getting psyched out by the learning experience and stopping because I feel like I have to wait until I'm "good enough" to be working on the project. Don't be like me!!!!! Just keep creating!!!! After putting projects off for 22 years, I've finally realized, I'll never be quite "good enough" for myself in my own mind, so I might as well at least be finishing the things I start!

[Lumella]

This is probably one of my worries, which caused my current project to become slow. I always had to fulfill that part of self-imposed standard I had before I could execute something, which led to many backlogs to my game.

I'm slowly overcoming it by thinking logically that deadlines should be met, and I should work more than contemplate. After I've done everything that I can, I'll make a run-through with the entire content and see if there's something I can improve more using the extra time I've allotted for it. If something's definitely off with the project, I'll allot a small time frame to go over it, and improve it. Otherwise, I'll release the the project, and get over with it.

It may not be the best work, but I did my best in the given time-frame that I've allotted it for. What matters to me more is that I'll beat my past self using my present self's work. Personal enhancement is a better motivation for me nowadays.

[Kam]

I once heard that a creative type's brain is always a little ahead of their hands. You have a more developed idea of what's good, of what you want to make, but your hands just can't quite replicate it as well as you envision it.

And it's frustrating.
I'd love to be able to print a copy of what I see in my head, because drawing it now just goes wrong.
(..aside from the fact that drawing on the tablet is hard for me because I have to look up at a monitor to see what I'm.. drawing)

[Midnighticequeen]

Nothing I create; not the books I write, the art I do, or the games I make, are as good as I want them to be. But then, that's exactly what drives me to do better on the next project, then the next, and the next...

Exactly. As a creator you can always see the flaws, what you did wrong, will everyone get it, does this makes sense, does this look write, is this the best I can do? Often my fears make me not make anything, which makes me lose automatically. I'm starting to come around to just making a friggin' game first and perfecting it later. If perfection even exists that is.

The only thing I can truly do is make it the best I possibly can at that time and be fine with that. And if I decide to come back for any reason to fix something, then that's fine as well. Only after I completed the project that is.

[KittyKatStar]

Pretty much. I always feel my writing isn't good enough, its emotional scenes aren't as impacting, I angst over word choices and how every single sentence could've been redone better to flow more. I see flaws *while* I work on the project, and get sad I don't know how to fix them as well as I'd like with my current ability. Nothing's more annoying than seeing what's wrong, but at best I can put a bandaid on it. I also can't write humour, so I always feel like scenes lack a spice to them. OTZ

However I'm slowly learning it's okay that you can't please everyone, and I'd never release any projects if I kept lingering on them. All I can do is my best, learn from it, and apply the experience to the next project and hope there's signs of improvement.

[TrickWithAKnife]

I felt my storyline wasn't good enough, so I talked with an author and he helped me out massively.

I felt my writing wasn't good enough, so I set about making a writing circle for feedback and advice.

Both of these things are constantly being refined, so I don't really need to feel bad. Just as long as there is more progress than revision.

I started my project because I really wanted something like this, no-one else had done it yet, and I'm not sure they ever will. For this reason alone, all the insecurities in the world wouldn't be enough to stop it.

That being said, I do sometimes doubt whether my decision to not use internal monologue was a bad one, especially after I play someone else's VN.

[trinax08]

For me... I always feel like that my visual novel projects are not good enough because of art awesomeness. Every time I draw a sprite for conversation purposes, I would scarp that and re-draw from a scratch. ):

But my main dilemma especially "the creator's curse" is the time constraint. Of course, next one would be the sound issues. I felt that adding the sounds are must, but I am complied to omit that because...I have no storyboards to begin with. Hahaha. Then well, time constraint is more like "Real Life syndrome" if you have heard of it before.

Speaking of the creator's brain, I tend to overthink of every possibility of "what ifs." E.g. Is this plot A good? No no no it would lead to a disastrous result! How's about this plot B?" or something like that. It is also what held me back from completing projects. ):


PS: I just joined today because I felt that I'm not alone and stuck with incomplete projects! Glad to see different kind of comments here. (:

[Kam]

Speaking of the creator's brain, I tend to overthink of every possibility of "what ifs." E.g. Is this plot A good? No no no it would lead to a disastrous result! How's about this plot B?" or something like that. It is also what held me back from completing projects. ):

Lately I'm mainly jumping branches with "writing this would be more exciting/interesting than that!", having me end up with a lot of material that I just can't fit anywhere.
One of such just ended up being an entire alternative route, which made me more excited to write than the main one (Because I somehow ended up liking a throw-away character too much..)
What's worse is that ideas for a sequel are already in my head.
My fingers cannot keep up!

[Tyrantauranox]

All the time. Fight it off by getting some feedback. I tend to feel much more confident after I've had people test and provide their opinions. (plus a round of edits and fixes, of course)

[lolipopu]

All. The. Time. This hold me back from completing so many stories and ideas I have esp when someone tell to me I'm not original or my story is cliche... . _ .

[kser6354]

I always feel that I am not competent enough for the game

[Ran08]

Yes. Almost always, especially when I'm playing an old game or haven't done any progress on a game for so long. )

Like that time I was testing SoL, I wanted to change almost everything about it because it just didn't seem good enough anymore. But I guess this notion is kinda helpful, because like the others have said, it makes me want to strive harder to achieve what I want to achieve.

[sasquatchii]

I feel like that a lot! I think as long as you're learning from each experience, all you can do is your best.

[Chocopyro]

I like to think that the only form of perfection this universe is built to sustain is harmony. So while I always feel the need to make things better, going back and editing constantly, true perfection in a field of writing isn't something that can ever be met. You can get pretty darn close, but not spot on. So what's important is to make sure that you're field of work is in perfect alignment and balance with all of the other features that the team as a whole was working on as opposed to ever feeling 100% satisfied with what I have made. Otherwise the game would never be released. >.<

[VNQuality]

Stop complaining and start to work. You'll never understand how much good your work, if you don't know with what to compare it. And what would compare - you need to have knowledge.