Keep somthing short

[ChillTaco]

Whenever I start something I dont actually start with the intention of 'long as turd'... but after posting information on it the reply's are so hopful, soo kind, that I dont want to make the things disappointing. So I go above and beyond to improve it... But Im a single person, even if I got the skills to make the games fantastic I burn out... really bad. And I got horrible luck with game development to top it off.

I actually gave up and decided 'Well f**k it, Ill just draw for other people and Ill do it for free!'

....... turns out my skills are unwanted. Im not the best pixel artist, but I can make some damn near professional lvl shit if I try, lvls range from nes to arcade king of fighters and blaze blue. And the one team that did accept me had little use for me as well... they were a cool bunch of bro's, look forward to what they bring out... its... ahhh cutsey so my brutal dirty art was out of place.

How do you guys do it? You know, keep it short.

I actually did finish a game... but it was a nerdy Epilogue persona 3 fangame where if you play as a girl you get to punch theo in the d**k for that stupid one night stand and flip off the moon. Cause f**k that moon. It ate Ryoji.

As a boy its about the same but instead you mess with Liz and 'guide' her face to the backside your hand.

Both boy and girl flip off the moon. cause f**k that moon. (the salt is real)

Game was so dumb, I didn't even bother posting it.

[fleet]

"How do you guys do it? You know, keep it short."

I make an outline and stick to it.

[dueceladouce]

The easiest way I think would be to make it bare bones and basic (for lack of a better term.) Not that I'm suggesting you strip your project raw, but set a stricter limit on what events or details are necessary. Try to keep only the big ticket items while keeping the plot cohesive. One thing I've heard of is writing the end right after if not before writing the beginning, and then connecting the dots since you know specifically where to stop.

[OokamiKasumi]

...How do you guys do it? You know, keep it short?

One of the tricks I use to keep a game small --and actually within my own creative limits-- is by coming up with One Thing I want to say or prove with the game, such as:

"No Good Deed goes Unpunished"
"Being Paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to Get You."
"Real Love is Compassionate, but not always Kind."
"Psychopaths are some of the most Romantic people you'll ever meet -- especially right before they Gut you. Just ask Red Riding Hood."

Another way is by coming up with an entire SHORT story, or use a Fairy Tale, then add a liberal dose of Murphy's Law at each possible crossroad to really mess it up.

Game was so dumb, I didn't even bother posting it.

Some of the 'dumb' games are also the funniest, and the ones we recommend most often to friends so they can laugh just as much as we did.

Case in point: Ewe of the Falklands

[Harliqueen]

The easiest way I think would be to make it bare bones and basic (for lack of a better term.) Not that I'm suggesting you strip your project raw, but set a stricter limit on what events or details are necessary. Try to keep only the big ticket items while keeping the plot cohesive.

I agree with this. Keeping things to the bare minimum and don't stray from it, as much as it may be tempting to just add that one thing or another.

Why not try giving NaNoReNo a go? I found the time limit of a month really forced me to keep a check on myself, and not go to overboard with things

[Steamgirl]

This topic is soooooo relevant to me. I seem to start off with something that I think will be around 10k words, and then it just turns into a full-length novel. Telling short stories is hard!!

Amongst other things what worked for me is to read some flash fiction (which is usually 1500 words or less) and read articles about writing flash fiction. I realised that I only ever read full-length novels so didn't even know what a short story read like! It's got totally different pacing!

Secondly, I realised that my outlines had "too much plot". If you want to keep it short, the inciting incident should be the first scene, and have just one obstacle for the protagonist to overcome. Ask yourself... how many words do I tend to write for 1 scene? How many scenes have I got? I estimate with 1k per scene (though it's more like 700), so if I have an outline that has 10 scenes it will be about the right length for a 10k story. Often as I'm writing the outline, or halfway through writing the story, I realise I need 1 or 2 more scenes. But that's ok because I overestimated initially. For example, the story I'm currently working on started off with 12 scenes but became 13 scenes and 9000 words after first draft and first edit. I still need to add a couple of choices to it so it's likely to grow a bit more - but I'm definitely succeeding at keeping it under 10k so far!

And lastly, I think OokamiKasumi's suggestion is really great! I don't tend to do this enough as a writer, but I know this can work really well for other writers. It allows you to leave the reader with a feeling of having some kind of impact, having read something meaningful or insightful. This especially applies to flash fiction. There's lots of flash fiction to read online - I highly recommend any short story writer checks it out! If you set yourself the task of writing a flash fiction story it can't possibly turn into a 100k novel, right? Right?