Blendogames blog post about answering "How do I get into games"
http://blendogames.com/news/?p=601
Go, read it. Then disagree violently for our amusement!
Seriously, it has some really good points, allow me to present a curated selection:
"Someone smarter than me once described game development as jumping out of an airplane with nothing but a needle and a silkworm."
"By “present,” I mean you stare at the player as they play your game. They play. You watch. They’ll ask you questions, and you reply with a stare. Silently. Gravely. With your steely butternut eyes."
"Then you make a new build and find new friends to rest your steely butternut eyes on."
"But the game’s not done with you. The tower is gluttonous and hungers for more, making the tower more shaky, more warty, more farty."
Go, read it. Then disagree violently for our amusement!
Seriously, it has some really good points, allow me to present a curated selection:
"Someone smarter than me once described game development as jumping out of an airplane with nothing but a needle and a silkworm."
"By “present,” I mean you stare at the player as they play your game. They play. You watch. They’ll ask you questions, and you reply with a stare. Silently. Gravely. With your steely butternut eyes."
"Then you make a new build and find new friends to rest your steely butternut eyes on."
"But the game’s not done with you. The tower is gluttonous and hungers for more, making the tower more shaky, more warty, more farty."
Thanked by 1Elyaradine
Comments
Wisdom!
Drink it IIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNN!
"That’s a span of about fifteen years between me first starting game development, to making something I liked. Fifteen years of making really awful stuff."
WOW! Now that's some motivation right there...only about 14 more years to go for me :P
I want to emphasize what he says about playtesting. Don't give tips or explanations. You have to see if the game explains itself well enough, something my prototypes fail at miserably most of the time. Also, don't sit a single person down in front of your game. People will automatically starting thinking out loud when they have someone with them while playing and the conversation can give you A LOT of great feedback.
BUT half the time I just feel that it's my lack of skill that has left the proto there lame... Not that they're not good (enough).
Grrrr.
Letting stuff go doesn't have to mean abandoning it forever, maybe you're simply putting it aside while it waits for the next awesome idea to come along that will help make it better. I know I've come back to ideas that I thought were dead and seen new sides to them because I've learned new things in the meantime.
Also, While not strictly on topic I'd like to commend the writing style. Verbosity should be a crime.