Freeware Thoughts

[Blue Lemma]

I was thinking about this whole game-making thing and why it does or doesn't work. Like in my case, for instance. I thought, "I'm a mediocre artist, and my writing is snail-slow.... So what's the deal with me making games that primarily rely on art and writing?" (Wow, that's kind of depressing ) Then I thought that the main reason I could get anything done is that I work on it, no matter how small the steps. That, and I really want to see the finished product. I guess it's not skill that's the deciding factor in fangames, but it's the desire and persistence! I can remember lots of people who were going to help make games, but ended up fading away. I don't blame them much, since it's hard to get into someone else's vision as passionately as the person who has the vision. But it's still frustrating as @#$!

So to all the people who have finished a fan project, no matter the size or quality, I'd like to give a big e-pat on the back With each baby step, we become more skilled and on our way to making that perfect game - the perfect vision that we dream of. It's no small feat.

What are your thoughts on all this? How do you keep yourself going when the creation drive starts to dry up? I think it'd help people reading this if everyone shared

[mikey]

The frustrating thing is that so many projects are moving along so slow. Nicely mentioned by Blue in his post and his game-making tips, enough said. The thing is really (and that has also been mentioned), the people just talk much more than they actually work. I agree to the terrible completion quote thing - that the cause might be, that people want to have all game elements top notch (or as close as possible with the given tools and people). So maybe that's why things get delayed. Sometimes it's better to admit defeat (e.g. Black Pencil no music) and work with what you have. Maybe use that beginner artist for a project, because this is also something you do for others. Just like that cookie your girlfriend burned a little. It's not the chocolate-chip goodness from your store, but still, it's got that something special because she made if for you. It's a phrase, sure, but one of those, that is very much true.


I don't think for instance, that even when you already made a small game, that the next one should be bigger. Why? If it works, it works. That's the point. For me, a smaller project is great relaxation and you can make excuses for going on trips to shoot pictures. So I will never make a game that is longer than 30 minutes. It doesn't make me depressed, because I can't make a great breakthrough. I try to think up stories, that fit that 30-minute span, so after playing you can say well... any longer would be useless. Not visual novels, but visual shortstories. Why not?

[BlackSpider]

First let me say you're not a mediocre artist BlueLemma. Your chracters may not have the exact proportions that real people have (I'm thinking about Miko here ) but it's good that way. You have your own style and people love it. There's no reason to get depressed. Tol1 was great and there are many people waiting for Tol2.

Unfortunately when it comes to freeware productions they take an awful amount of time. First there's lots of people that want to help and later you realize you're going to do the project alone. Last year, before starting to create my own VN I was discussing the whole thing by e-mail with a few guys that wanted to help. After much discussion and many wasted hours spent on writing e-mails I ended up being alone (there was a time I even considered to use a 3D engine because one guy said he could make 3D rendered characters and backgrounds). Then I started to write the story and practising drawing anime. At some point in November I even considered releasing the first part, but when I saw a few professional anime games I figured out that I really need to improve. Besides I had no music, and a game _needs_ music.

Now, what's keeping me going when "the creation drive starts to dry up"? It's the stuff I've already done. The key here is to make as much as possible in the early stages of the project. Then when you have enough there's this feeling that you've already done so much that it would be a complete waste to give up now. I havn't even released part 1 of my VN yet, but I'm pretty confident it'll be out this summer.

[Sai]

Well I'm not a good example. Shall I say what NOT to do? Ahaha.... *ahem*

Well seriously though mikey probably summed me up with this line:

the cause might be, that people want to have all game elements top notch

Hehe
Well I can't say this for a visual novel project as I haven't started one yet. But I can say this for my manga. It's been in my head for years now. And I have put one scene down in paper form once. But I always want it to look *great* so I keep reworking. Sometimes it really frustrated me but at other times I'm not too fussed, I guess I would like people to see it but it's more something I enjoy working on and imagining for my own purposes.

That's what keeps me going. I love to think up new ideas for scenes. When I'm bored, walking, sitting, doing nothing. I just start thinking of a scene, then I match that scene up with other events and it all starts to flow... My own little movie to create and watch, from anywhere, without any plugging in or controller to press. I enjoy that, and that's the important thing for continuing something, enjoyment.

So I guess I'll just say, no matter what, enjoy yourself, the rest will come.

But don't do what I do! Hah. I think I have too many ideas and too much of a high standard I'm trying to work towards.
*puts sticker on self saying "Evidence A"*
"Here is Evidence A, as you can see this is NOT what you should do" XD

Umm and as for music.... I think software like http://www.ejay.com seems like a very good quality alternative to composing from scratch if you're not musically inclined, but I still need to try it out more... I was very impressed with the Dance 6 demo though.

[Erik]

I know the feeling. I have this great idea for an even greater game, swimming in my head for over 2 months now. I don't think I'll start it. It's a MAJOR breakage of Lemma Game Making Rule #1: Don't Bite Off More than You can Chew. I mean, technically I could do it, but I'm way too lazy. It's just not me to spend so much time on a game (evidence B, I presume)

Also. Lemma. Your art rules. I might send you a page from my scetchbook - were it not that I'm too embarassed by the crap to show it to anyone - and make you instantly feel good about everything you draw for the next 6 months. Hope you get the point ^_^

[BlackSpider]

Umm and as for music.... I think software like http://www.ejay.com seems like a very good quality alternative to composing from scratch if you're not musically inclined, but I still need to try it out more... I was very impressed with the Dance 6 demo though.

I remember we were talking about ejay on Megatokyo a month ago. So far I was able to create 13 tracks with eJay SE, but I'm not really satisfied with that stuff. I mean for fight scenes it's ok (I used fast/rave style), for night club scenes it was ok too (fast/disco), but it's almost impossible to create something slow with eJay. I tryed to create 3 easy listening tracks and I ended up with some scary depressing stuff. It's only good for night scenes where the player's supposed to be scared. I think I'll have to try newer eJay versions.

[Sai]

I remember we were talking about ejay on Megatokyo a month ago. So far I was able to create 13 tracks with eJay SE, but I'm not really satisfied with that stuff. I mean for fight scenes it's ok (I used fast/rave style), for night club scenes it was ok too (fast/disco), but it's almost impossible to create something slow with eJay. I tryed to create 3 easy listening tracks and I ended up with some scary depressing stuff. It's only good for night scenes where the player's supposed to be scared. I think I'll have to try newer eJay versions.

Hmm. It should be possible I think with whichever one you're using, but I could be wrong *not like I know anything about music...* =\. Maybe you could import some samples that would fit better to what you want, so maybe more paced out and slow or low sounding samples would get that kind of mood. Aswell as actually pacing things out and doing a gradual build up of samples (not too many samples I guess). If you check the ejay.co.uk forums there is a thread that gives a long list of places that offer free samples ( here -> link). But that's probably just scraping the barrel of what you might find with Google I suppose.

Hmm I remember a thread in those same forums about making chillout style tracks...*searches* I finally found it here (I had to register to find it heh >_< Oh well I've been meaning to anyway). Here it is: link

[BlackSpider]

Many thanks for those links Sai . I've been browsing official eJay sites before and I thought I needed to register in order to see the forum. Then I couldn't decide whether I should register on the French forum or on the English forum and finally I did not register at all . Anyway I'm still waiting for my unlimited ADSL connection, because without it searching and downloading samples doesn't really make sense.