Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

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gekiganwing
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Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

#1 Post by gekiganwing »

In the last few years, I have started to create a few games, stories, and VNs... and almost always give up within a day or two. I sometimes create two or three scenes, but it doesn't take long before I no longer feel like continuing. The following negative thoughts have kept me from creating media:

1. "This is just a cheap knockoff of a popular series."
2. "It will take a lot more research to make this believable."
3. "I can't write characters whose lives and circumstances are different from mine."
4. "Wouldn't I rather be doing something else?"

It's time to confront those negative thoughts. So let me know if you have specific or general advice. And if you've found a good way to set aside time for creating your story/game/VN every day or two, say so.

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Re: Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

#2 Post by Mirage »

1. "This is just a cheap knockoff of a popular series."
- The idea doesn't matter, it's the execution that makes a difference. A lot of stuff I made started off with generic ideas that evolved into something else.
2. "It will take a lot more research to make this believable."
- Research is important. It also helps to give you unexpected ideas. Don't slack on this one!
3. "I can't write characters whose lives and circumstances are different from mine."
- Well, I usually act them out. (Like role-playing) I would Imagine myself that I am that person, what will I think, what will I do, etc.
4. "Wouldn't I rather be doing something else?"
- It depends on your priorities. If making VN is important for you, then doing something else is not as important, isn't it? lol

As for how I managed to discipline myself to make VN everyday, this is what I do...

- Make it into a habit. I often wake up in morning saying the same thing "I must make more games". lol
- Set a goal to yourself. You can start small like--- I have to finish 1000 words a day, or draw a CG a day, etc. It doesn't matter if you reach the goal. What matter is you try to follow it, eventually it will end up into a habit ^ like above.
- Start off with small projects. When you managed to finish your first VN, you will most likely end up making the second, third, and so on. Get yourself comfortable with game making, polish your skill to maximum, before jumping to larger project.
- Look for inspiration, something that motivates you. Lemmasoft is my personal favorite place to motivate. I like it when I see people working hard to make games, and it inspires me to keep going because I don't like to be left behind not doing anything. Whenever I see someone finished their VN, I always tell myself "I need to finish mine, too!"

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Re: Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

#3 Post by DaFool »

You need to get that 3-5 min game out. My first 5-minute release gave me a lot of insight towards release engineering and more efficient production techniques. Unlike others, I don't gauge my progress by wordcount -- in fact, I plan the scope, create all the assets, then do the writing/directing directly in Ren'Py in one fell swoop. (The only exception was when I adapted a play script I used to enter another contest).

Remember Makoto Shinkai also started by releasing black n white shorts, then eroge openings, then 30 minutes (Voices of a Distant Star), then movies.

I've already seen people spend 2-3 hours on games I made or contributed to, so my current goal is 4-6 hours content of first play-through (that's approaching the sellable territory as well).

Some people start big and ambitious and use smaller projects as a breather -- that's fine too, but as is always the case, once you start developing something for more than 2 years the whole project evolves so much that what you have at the end feels 100x more progressive than the first builds, and you always have the itch to go back and fix things.

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Re: Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

#4 Post by LVUER »

1. "This is just a cheap knockoff of a popular series."
Lots of other products also like that... and some of them really sells. It doesn't matter if it's not original, execution is what matters.

2. "It will take a lot more research to make this believable."
Then just research what you can (though I must say do research what you must to). Use imagination for the rest. And even if it's still not that believeable, release it anyway.

3. "I can't write characters whose lives and circumstances are different from mine."
Use your creativity and imagination. That's what other people/author do too. Noriaki Kubo (Bleach) is not a shinigami nor I bet he didn't live like one of his own characters. Masakazu Katsura is a man yet he created Video Girl Ai... and also Zetman (and I bet he's nothing like those weird characters in that manga).

4. "Wouldn't I rather be doing something else?"
Well, if that's what you really think, then by all means, do that something else. Perhaps creating VN is just not a thing for you. A person who really enjoy VN doesn't always mean a person that enjoy/want/good at creating VN too.

Anyway, for your first VN, try to make a short one. Even a 5 or 10 minutes length VN is good enough. Don't be too ambitious or think too many things or details. Just concentrate to finish that VN ASAP (some time, deadline could make you muster the motivation you needed to finish that thing).

The oncoming NaNoRenO 2011 (which should be held every March each year) is a good chance to do that, since you have to finish it in one month (could be less but no more than one month).
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Re: Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

#5 Post by Greeny »

1. "This is just a cheap knockoff of a popular series."
If it is, maybe you shouldn't be making it in the first place. If you're asking yourself this question now,
then you'll keep asking it. Even when you release your game, you won't be satisfied. To counter this,
maybe you should spend more time thinking about your idea. Instead of "stealing an idea" from a popular
series, "draw inspiration" from it and spend time adding your own original flavour, making it your own idea.
This isn't to convince others it's not a kockoff - it's to convince yourself.
Remember, it's one of the reasons you keep quitting. Eliminate this problem before you even start.

But it is important to get a first project finished and out there first.
Don't worry too much about your first project, just make it happen, even if it's a cheap knockoff.
2. "It will take a lot more research to make this believable."
Maybe you do, maybe you don't. Perhaps you are underestimating the amount of research.
But wherever you're unsure, look it up, do some simple research, and you may be automatically
drawn in to do a lot of more research on the subject. You know, wikipedia and tvtropes have
that kind of effect. But don't be afraid to leave things unresearched.
3. "I can't write characters whose lives and circumstances are different from mine."
Admittedly, it isn't easy to get into the mind of someone else. Even when we roleplay, it takes a certain
level of skill not to allow bits of your own personality to seep in.
You have to options here. Either you practice to achieve that level of skill - basically, practice acting.
Luckily, unlike actors, you only need to do this verbally. Try practicing by taking a character that's radically
different from you, and putting him/her in various situations, then see how they react. Every choice they make,
ask yourself, "why did this character choose that?"
If you don't know the answer, it might not be something they'd do, but rather what you'd do.
Another option is to actually ask other people for help. They don't even have to know; you can off-handedly ask
someone who'se similar to your character a hypothetical question.
4. "Wouldn't I rather be doing something else?"
If the answer to this question is yes, then make sure that that something else is done before you even start.
Hell, recently I just play videogames all day and stay up late working on my project when I've had enough of that.
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Re: Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

#6 Post by Renaldo Moon »

In reference to it being a knockoff of a popular series:

Where you get the idea from isn't what's important. It's where you take it that matters.

I draw inspiration from other stories all the time, because I look at the premise and think "Oh! I can work with that and take it somewhere different!"

Writing a story about a mechanical man doesn't mean you're copying off the Terminator series, because the series doesn't hold rights to that premise- they hold rights to the story they made using that premise. If your story follows the plotline of another story too similarly, you might want to rework it so that people gain a new experience from your story instead.

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Re: Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

#7 Post by gekiganwing »

Thanks for the feedback... This was an embarrassing question, and I hesitated quite a while before asking it. But I'll save the thread for future review.

It's all too easy to think up ideas for detailed, complex stories. Most of the games I tried to create a few years ago didn't get done because I no longer felt interested, and/or I felt overwhelmed. So I gotta think about how to create a short story with only a few characters, and a few settings...
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Re: Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

#8 Post by SusanTheCat »

Here is some advice that I really liked:

Creativity is the an old fashioned water pump.
First you have to prime the pump to get it started.
Then, when you first start pumping out water, it is rusty and dirty.
The trick is to keep pumping until the water runs clear.

Ways you keep pumping has already been mentioned: small projects and making it a habit.

Susan
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Re: Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

#9 Post by OokamiKasumi »

1. "This is just a cheap knockoff of a popular series."
It's not what you Have, it's what you DO with it.
-- Just because the game is a simple dating simulation or a short 500 word kinetic fairy tale doesn't mean it's a cheap knock off. Every writer and artist sees the world differently from every other artist and writer, so the intent, focus, and emotion behind one story will ALWAYS be different from the next -- even if it's the SAME story. Have a little more faith in your own vision.

2. "It will take a lot more research to make this believable."
Then DO the research. Google.com, Wikipedia, and TV Tropes are your friend! (TV Tropes especially!)

3. "I can't write characters whose lives and circumstances are different from mine."
Sure you can! Pick a favorite anime/manga/TV character and write about Their lives. As long as you change their names and descriptions and put them in a different world, who's gonna know?

4. "Wouldn't I rather be doing something else?"
No, you wouldn't. You want us to love and adore you for becoming a real live Game-Maker.
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Re: Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

#10 Post by SaberXJ »

Wow dude.... you are JUST like me.... I have had 7 VN ideas in the last 4 months alone and gave up on all but 1.... the one that I'm working on now... it turns out that I started that one 6 and a half months ago and I didn't pick it up until now... My game probably WILL be a cheep knock off of the original series Galaxy Angel.... but I realized that I'm not writing this VN for everyone else.... I'm making it for ME... and if a THOUSAND other people think it's crap and I don't then they don't matter...... so stay strong and keep on pushing through.... if you feel like giving up on a project just put it to the side and come back to it when you have new vigor! also I suggest you don't rush it... take your time make sure you plan out each scene carefully... because if not you might find later on your story could be MUCH better... oh and if you need help coming up with ideas for any part of your story or new characters you could ALWAYS ask me.... well hope this helps... the rest is entirely up to you..... GOOD LUCK!! =)

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Re: Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

#11 Post by DaFool »

SusanTheCat wrote:Here is some advice that I really liked:

Creativity is the an old fashioned water pump.
First you have to prime the pump to get it started.
Then, when you first start pumping out water, it is rusty and dirty.
The trick is to keep pumping until the water runs clear.

Ways you keep pumping has already been mentioned: small projects and making it a habit.

Susan
+1 Most inspiration quote I've read.

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Re: Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

#12 Post by lordcloudx »

I'd like to add that writing good short stories is not necessarily easier, lighter or in any way inferior to writing a longer story.
How do you make your games? I see. Thank you for the prompt replies, but it is my considered opinion that you're doing it wrong inefficiently because I am a perfushenal professional. Do it my way this way and we can all ascend VN Nirvana together while allowing me to stroke my ego you will improve much faster. Also, please don't forget to thank me for this constructive critique or I will cry and bore you to death respond appropriately with a tl;dr rant discourse of epic adequately lengthy proportions. - Sarcasm Veiled in Euphemism: Secrets of Forum Civility by lordcloudx (Coming soon to an online ebook near you.)

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Re: Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

#13 Post by OokamiKasumi »

lordcloudx wrote:I'd like to add that writing good short stories is not necessarily easier, lighter or in any way inferior to writing a longer story.
Oh hell no a Short is not easier than a longer story, or even a novel!
-- In a VN especially, a long story may only have a handful of background graphics, only 2 choices, and 2 possible endings.

A short can have over 200 individual graphics, 20 choices and 10 different endings. This is in addition to paring the original story down to the absolute minimum of characters, locations, and events.

Seriously, it's not what you have, it's what you Do with it.
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Re: Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

#14 Post by Mirage »

^
I wouldn't call something with 200 graphics, 20 choices and 10 different endings short.

I think when people said short, it's not the length, but a project that is manageable in a short amount of time. You can call it experimental games to get yourself warm up.

But I agree, short game isn't necessarily easy to make. On the other hand, if we gotta start from somewhere. Longer game tend to take too much time, and it's a lot easier to lose motivation before completing. And nothing is more discouraging than having incomplete projects lying around.

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Re: Creating games/stories/VNs without giving up

#15 Post by gekiganwing »

Thanks for your continued feedback.

Gotta make writing a habit. From what I've read about Nanowrimo, I know that a certain about of discipline and structure is crucial. First, figure out a good time of day to write. Second, decide how many days per week to write. Third, figure out how much time per session is useful and appropriate. And then set a deadline. Without a structure like this, it might be too easy to go for days without writing anything...
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