Writing, Art, Or Coding...What Do You Find the Hardest?

[Obscura]

I just wanted to hear different perspectives for sure! But I'm glad to see I'm not alone in thinking writing is tough.

I've actually been writing for a while, too. :-/

With art and coding, for some reason it seems it does get easier as I learn techniques and as I practice, but I personally know very few amateur or professional writers who say writing gets easier. You're still sweating it out, sometimes struck by inspiration, but mostly not.

IMHO of course. I'm so very jealous of all you people who write with ease.

[Graph]

This really depends on the game you're making. Few of us are going to answer "coding" because for the most part Visual Novels are easier to program than other kinds of games, and there are people here who know enough about Ren'py to quickly point you in the right direction for specific issues, generally. (of course this'll get harder when you try to add gameplay elements from other game genres, such as a RPG hybrid)

Out of the things I bother to do myself, writing's the hardest. Even though my most recent game release is 5000 words it's gone through several revisions because there's a considerable "world" I've created and I have to check it over many times to make sure the story makes sense and I'm not breaking continuity.

Art, however, is the most time-consuming in what I do. (Duh!)

Music... I tried fiddling with some composing programs now and then, but never seriously made a song. I saw how long it would take me to learn how to make music, so I never tread that path at all.

[redeyesblackpanda]

Well... I write. I find coding to be hard, but largely because I haven't had much experience with it. I find art to be incredibly difficult, but then again, I don't do it, and haven't really spent much time studying and practicing I have musical training, but composition is fairly difficult since I take so long to write in the notes. Not being the most educated in music theory also makes it hard. Because of this, writing is what I have the easiest time with. I was an avid reader at a young age and did my fair share of short stories. That being said, I wouldn't say writing is easy either. It takes a lot of editing for me to feel satisfied with my work.

[TrickWithAKnife]

My only involvement with art is photography and editing for backgrounds, but I'd say that is most difficult. Next is writing, just because I'm never really happy with the result.
Although I have a few questions in the forum, I don't think coding is so bad. I've managed to add a lot of features and functions, it's just time consuming. If its getting early in the morning I tend to forget what I've done though... Also, my coding is messy and maybe not so efficient, but if it works, I'm happy.

[Endorphin]

Hmmm... art is fine, even though I'm slow and not that good - I like it, so I don't consider it "hard" but "challenging".
(GUIs are cool too. Animating things is interesting too, but 1plus3 is kinda not the game or that.)
Writing is rather... oh well... I don't even know. o____o
It's fun and I like the fact that my english gets better through this, but I'm probably not great at this. xD
I'm also unskilled at coding, but this thing's really fun. =w=
I'm still trying to get used to Ren'Py as it's different from the other engines I've coded in, but I like it. :>
(Keeps my mind busy. x3)

So my real problem is making music.
I don't have a natural gift for this and as I'm specialised on art etc., I don't want to spend time training this skill.
So I kinda ignore this part of VN-making. =/
Might as well search myself an musician once I have more progress, or visit the homepage of my favorite ones.
(I was once thinking about singing the BGM - but let's just forget this idea. :'D)

- R.

[AnthonyHJ]

With art and coding, for some reason it seems it does get easier as I learn techniques and as I practice, but I personally know very few amateur or professional writers who say writing gets easier.

That's because writers move the goalposts. The more you learn, the more you practice, the more you see your own flaws.

With coding and art, practice allows you to get better and avoid the mistakes you have identified. For a writer, practice is what lets you identify your mistakes. You get better, yes, but part of that is getting better at criticising your own work.

You're still sweating it out, sometimes struck by inspiration, but mostly not.

That is, in my not-very-humble opinion, the difference between a professional and an amateur; an amateur decides the muse is not with them and wanders off, while the professional knows they have a deadline and writes without the help of a muse.

I won't pretend that I don't have good days and bad, but the difference is not 2,000 words or none. The difference is between 2,000 words written comfortably in a morning and 2,000 words dragged kicking and screaming onto the page over a 12-hour period.

[Endorphin]

With coding and art, practice allows you to get better and avoid the mistakes you have identified. For a writer, practice is what lets you identify your mistakes. You get better, yes, but part of that is getting better at criticising your own work.

Well, it's the same with art and, well, everything else.
If you draw better, you also notice more mistakes and you want to get even better.
Your standard, uninspired, dragged drawing style might is a lot better then the one of a beginner just because of practise, but you're still unhappy. Want the poses to be more dynamic, the faces to be more characteristic, the expressions to be even more emotional etc.
As a beginner coder, I'm totally happy if the thing I'm working on just works. I'm friends with some programmer and I know that this won't get easier if you take it easier.
He's always working on it - want's the code to be faster, to be easier to use, to be easier to extend, to be shorter, to work hand-in-hand with the rest, ...

Basically, nothing get's easier if you want to get better.
You'll always set your goals higher, you'll have to work harder, to challenge yourself on daily basis - you might never truly be satisfied but this is because you constantly get better.
(And this is enough to satisfy you on another level - knowing that you're not standing still but always going forward is just great. <3)

That is, in my not-very-humble opinion, the difference between a professional and an amateur; an amateur decides the muse is not with them and wanders off, while the professional knows they have a deadline and writes without the help of a muse.

I won't pretend that I don't have good days and bad, but the difference is not 2,000 words or none. The difference is between 2,000 words written comfortably in a morning and 2,000 words dragged kicking and screaming onto the page over a 12-hour period.

Totally it. Wish some people would remember this.

- R.

[nyaatrap]

I rather surprised no one lists up something marketing related. maybe I just read English mistakingly ._.
I know many talented people who gave up their game just because they don't know how to deal with customers (or users if it's a free game).

[sciencewarrior]

Interesting, isn't it? In any other game development community, marketing gets a lot more talk. Even in writing communities, I see advice about what titles would sell better.

I don't do art. Period. I code, and write (albeit slowly, and always second guessing myself), but I don't use GIMP for more than cropping the occasional sprite. I'd love to be a competent artist, but I don't have the 10,000 hours needed for it. I wonder if creators who don't think about marketing are in a similar situation, having no idea where to start, or simply unwilling to deal with this side of game making.

And from what I hear, the Japanese doujin market is downright brutal, so you have my respect.

[nyaatrap]

And from what I hear, the Japanese doujin market is downright brutal, so you have my respect.

Yes. There are millions of good games in Japan, so just releasing them got no response. If you advertise them , you probably got flaming Oh ┐(´д｀)┌
I have to keep a deep carefulness about it. It's one of the reason why I'm here while I'm developing my game.

[DaFool]

Yes. There are millions of good games in Japan, so just releasing them got no response. If you advertise them , you probably got flaming Oh ┐(´д｀)┌
I have to keep a deep carefulness about it. It's one of the reason why I'm here while I'm developing my game.

Ah and I thought 4ch was brutal.

In EVN scene, if your game looks pretty, that's usually enough. But there are several teams with really polished games now, so I'm looking for topics/themes that nobody is making yet.

[Argeus_the_Paladin]

Coding. Coding all the way.

I have written literally hundreds of thousands of words during my lifetime. I have got two completed (crappy) novels in my name. At my peak I have written something along the lines of 10000 words a day. I'd like to think I've improved at least somewhat since the day I set out, so quality is not too much of a concern. For the most part, I'm proud of my ideas.

But coding is another matter altogether. I'm learning far more slowly than I thought I should be able to.

[MizuuHime]

Actually, I never make any game before, so I don't really know, lol.

But I think, the one which will make me go crazy is the coding. I am not good at writing. I am a bit used to drawing, so it won't be a problem too, but I never do coding before, so it will takes a while until I get used, if I really making my own games someday. Ah, and search for the perfect music or sound effect can be a lil tiring too ^^;

[llplldll]

For me, writing and art are the hardest. They are both so subjective,when you take on either job, its much harder to see if something works or not. But out of the two, I struggle with writing the most. I always make tons of typo errors and never spot them on my own, which I guess is the importance of getting feedback.

As for coding, I don't see it as subjective (game design is but just coding, not so much), sure it requires creativity to make something fun but really coding either works or it doesn't, its not opinion based.

[Auro-Cyanide]

Coding :/ It breaks my brain.