Most people have some grand Ideas in their minds about the games they’d like to make…and then everyone is quick to completely shoot those ideas down and recommend they make something non-profitable like a Tetris clone instead. They tell them that they can “build up” and eventually create their dream.
I hear all sides of it…
-Don’t make a 3d game! You’re indie. (ignoring the fact that all modern game engines handle the complex 3rd dimensional math for you)
-Stick to 2d…it’s much easier for indies (ignoring the fact that pixel art is much more difficult to create and maintain than models)
-Use Unity because reasons! (So now you’re telling me to make a 3D game?..what?..)
-“I’ve released a ton of things already as an indie…they’re all weekend asset projects…eventually I’ll make a game”
I don’t get it…what should an Indie actually do? In my opinion, there’s NO reason that you shouldn’t build your dream project, but I think you need to think long and hard about what is necessary for your project and chop out all the rest. Maybe you’ll add extras at a later time or maybe you’ll move on to a new project.
I think the biggest thing to consider for a project is not 2d or 3d…but what kind of “Art” demands there are. Art will always bottleneck you without a team. Make your dream project, but streamline out the “Art” demanding things like story, open-world, etc…
The reason to be indie is… You can do whatever you want to.
For many times ppl will try to tell you in loud words about how you are wrong on something with your dreams/projects. But, who cares?
If you dont want to take the risks of doing whatever you want, ask your family for help you till you grade in something stable and go live a boring life selling your soul for money…
I mean, most likely nobody finishes a big game even in a team of 5, 10s… Imagine alone.
But all you have to know is if that is what you really want from life. Then nothing else matters, just do your thing. Period.
Yeah the reality is you may as well just do whatever for fun because you won’t ever finish it if its a big project.
To me its more about making a game than anyone playing it. In fact, I’ve never liked playing indie because I like games which can’t be achieved by 2-3 people in less than 3-4 years. Ok, maybe one or two exceptions but its very rare, maybe Si Reads New Star Soccer was good for a 1 man band but he is a genius of design.
Dont think. Don’t consider stuff, dont worry about 2d or 3d or other stuff like that. Just open unity, and make whatever it is you want to make. It could be completely random, it could be something you just make up as you go. Just don’t make it as hard as everyone else makes it sound like. Time is really important I think and if we spend to much time planning out every little thing, argue what style to use, what kind of game it will be 3d or 2d etc than that would be a lot of time wasted.
My personal technique is really just doodling a bunch of random stuff on paper then model it as a 3d model or you know just 3d model it rnadomly without any doodle I draw and put it in my game. Down the road I decide what purpose it will have in my game or no purpose at all. To be honest I usually just make my games up as I go. For example my game “Forest Soup” a short one month project I made for last years halloween was just a bunch of random stuff I made up. First thing that came to my mind I threw in the game. Eventually I came up with a little storyline for the entire game and it worked out. Didn’t debate with my self it was good or bad. Some of you might not like this approach I take but honestly I get projects done this way and have more fun with it.
I know in modern games a lot of planning goes into the games design, story, etc but werent earlier games pretty much just randomly made up as they were being developed. For example like the first mario games on nes (I don’t know if there was any planning I could be wrong) but it feels like games like that and other old school titles were just randomly made up. Even today in modern games, some game creators make stuff up randomly as they go. Didn’t kojima say at one point that he makes up stuff for the Metal gear solid series randomly as he developed it? I could be wrong on that to. But my point is, don’t spend to much debating with yourself on what to do and what not to do. Just do it.
You only have to worry about two things: That your dream project isn’t too big, and it’s not too personal or out of whack that your target audience is too limited.
Ideally your taste for games isn’t too different from other normal human beings. So following your instincts doesn’t have to be a bad idea, but it can also prove to be your formula for success.
Do try to find a place where what you like is also what others appeal. And the scale of your project is reasonable for your team size and skills.
Besides that what you do is out of random people’s jurisdiction. You’re the only one fit for the task, free and entitled to do what you think it’s best.
I have learned so much over years working with Indie teams. I once worked on a very large game. We had a large team, we had a publisher, we had investors, we had a great idea, a fantastic design, and a huge community of fans, but 10 years later, the game failed. It failed before it was ever finished because while it started large, it became monstrous. The fans influenced the design team, more was added to the game, the complexity increased, until the game became overwhelming to everyone involved. Well, except us writers. We just kept writing, filling volumes with stories and lore. Years later, I inherited the game assets and went browsing through the files. I was shocked by the unnecessary bloat. Oh, have I learned a lot.
Make a feature list and don’t add until you finish that list. Wait on your community if you can. They can be quite demanding and trust me, your feature list will grow exponentially. Make gameplay flow. Even a complex game needs to feel easy to play rather than clumsy. To many layers of complexity can be overwhelming to both your team and your future players.
I am one of those people who need to have a plan rather than develop as I go. Otherwise, I fear a project can easily get out of control. Plans need to be flexible though and should be in stages, smaller increments with milestones, so you feel as though you are accomplishing something.
And if you are having fun, who cares if the game is too big, or the team is too small. Just keep marching along. Sometimes the journey is better than the destination.
I really like this thread. To many threads where people are telling others what NOT to do, or how foolish they are for even trying.
My original idea was to make an open world coop survival horror fps game (had this idea long before the survival boom). There would be an event system to make the world seem more “alive” and there would be key areas to explore… More and more ideas kept coming to my head and I remember thinking “This wouldn’t be too difficult to implement!” and then I realized something. My project had grown into something massive and looking back, it was originally too large to begin with. As a programmer, I hadn’t even considered the Art side of the equation.
So I went back to the drawing board: I wanted to streamline out as much as possible while preserving my vision of the game…
-I ditched the idea of open-world: this removes the need to highly detail a giant world artistically. This also removes the need to code a level streaming/handling system. I will now have 1 more detailed area to explore.
-I decided focus first on single player experience. I can add co-op after I have a fun singleplayer game.
-I ditched the event system and any non-enemy form of AI.
-I decided early on that I didn’t want my game to be about crafting, but exploring
-I heavily cut down on the number of items I will release with
So on the programming side I cut the game down for release to:
-AI that groups and acts individually. Fairly simple AI. (mostly done)
-Inventory system (already have this coded from old project)
-GUI
-Player Needs (have this coded from old project)
-ONE Detailed realistic environment (easier to design than something abstract or requiring “flow”)
-ONE type of enemy (can add a generator later)
-Dynamic spawn map system creating unique spawn patterns(coded in old project)
-Item spawning (base level coded…need a dynamic system to control how much the player finds forcing them to explore more often…no stockpiling)
ENVIRONMENT AND ENEMY AI were the most important things to my game…not “open world”. not “co-op”. Streamlining the game would allow me to focus more on the important elements.
Of course then I need to playtest and polish/change things! I am seeing progress on each little task and that makes me excited to work on my project. It’s crazy how cutting a few things out can make the design flow much smoother. Goal is to get everything non-Art coded, model the non-organic things myself, and hopefully get a more experienced artist on board at that point (or get funding to purchase art assets).
I’m an indie developer and we have something really big coming to the Nintendo 3DS in 1 or 2 years.
Indies and big games isn’t necessarily impossible, it’s rather not so quick to make compared to AAA companies.
AAA companies make big games in a matter of months, whereas an indie company would make the same game in a lot longer time.
Not because indies suck, it’s because indies have less resources and a much smaller budget.
The fewer resources, the more tasks a single person gets.
The smaller budget, the longer it takes to publish anything.
Like one Wii U game I made recently, it’s done a half year ago already.
And I can’t publish it yet because I have no budget at all (I have to make the game on my own costs, and surprisingly most the the costs have nothing to do with making the game itself).
I disagree indies should be given a type of game to make. I feel the scope of the game is a more important question to answer - and even then these questions only apply to professional indies, people who make a living from these apps. If you do not make a living from it, it is not vital you ever finish it.
So when replying to topics, I generally make that distinction, as the answers can be wildly different.
Agree, do whatever makes you happy. Motivation is something often overlooked, if you do something you love you’ll have more motivation to finish it.
Also I don’t agree you should be tied to small projects, just don’t skimp on the planning phase of it. Make sure if you’re going to spend years on it, make it do-able…
I’ve released a lot of “mods” that were pretty well received so I can give input here. But hippo already nailed it. It’s all about “scope”
The major problem is many of us have a lot of ideas! Rarely, does one only have one game idea. It’s great if you can narrow your scope, find the fun, then build on that
We just kept writing, filling volumes with stories and lore. Years later, I inherited the game assets and went browsing through the files. I was shocked by the unnecessary bloat. Oh, have I learned a lot.