Question:- how do you guys start projects.. any advice?😅

General
21

Oh, trust me. I’ve already got it.

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22

That’ brilliant..:smiley::smiley::smiley: All the best.. :+1::+1:

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23

Yes, this is what I do every time I do a game jam. Skele-Tom, which I linked above and you can go play now, I made from scratch in 10 days.

I’ve been doing this for decades. It just takes time to master all these skills. You’ll get there. Don’t rush it. Just start, and soon you’ll look back and be amazed at how far you’ve come.

There is no fast. It’s just doing it because you love it, and you keep going. Enjoy the journey.

Yesterday I spent the day reworking my Sound plugin. I took a break mid-day to play Baldur’s Gate 3 multiplayer with my brother. Then kept going. But while I was a bit daunted at what I had to do, I broke it down on notecards, then transferred it to an issue in GitHub, and started chipping away at things. I enjoyed the sense of accomplishment of creating something better, even though I was deleting half my code and removing four custom resource objects I’d spent probably a month developing. In the end, it will be better, and I enjoy the work once I start it.

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24

There are better and more awesome person then me,soo i am a noob

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25

Yea i do all work because I enjoy it.. thanks bro.. :blush: i will remember to keep focused on quality over quantity :smiley::smiley:

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26

Everyone is brilliant man. Don’t compair with other.. i never compair myself with anyone specially with my friends i know I am better than them :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:..

Might be your are not master but you are brilliant then me . It’s enough for me to learn from you… :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes::grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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28

I usually plan the actual story and general mechanics out before I start :slight_smile:

ive had only one project though, but, a lot of other things like this ive done, i usually started with a tiny concept and it just evolves as i draw/write about it, sometimes even the core changes, but eventually i settle onto something i love

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29

That’s good. Only one project it’s also good. Do one but dedicatedly.. well i am not that i have alote of ideas to work on. And hopefully i will learn alot from ll of you and make these ideas alive.. btw thnks for replying. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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30

Oh I thought I had nothing to add here but I do. Until @dragonforge-dev mentioned it I hadn’t thought about it, but I too always start with a notepad. (Often a new one). Hard covers, smallish pocket size, pen holder, and an elastic or magnetic closing mechanism.

Then I start jotting down ideas, whatever comes to mind, names, screen layouts, etc.

Then it comes to playtime! Godot time! I start with a new single scene and start building the game, the middle of the game. It always starts with the player and movement for me. Rough things to walk on, rough shapes to chase after, no art, no music, no planning, no folder structures. Just get something on the screen that looks something like I had in my head (functionally).

When I have explored for a bit, played for a bit, made a complete mess of all the folders, chucking anything anywhere, I sometimes get to a stage where I think I am ready for a proper protoype.

Then I start again. And I always start with a menu screen with a working game title and a big ‘Play’ button. Rough art, rough mechanisms still but more sorted so I can get a structured more complex prototype. And I work on this until I am convinced I have an actual game.

And only after that goes well and its fun do I start again. This time for a production build. Attempts at real art, sound managers, game mangagers, save/load stuff, intros, onboarding and tutorials in mind, maintainable code etc etc. Having learned so much about the game in the previous more messy attempts and prototypes, you have a really good understanding of the folder structures you will need. And I do not have separate folders for scripts and scenes etc.

So get a notebook. You’d be amazed how many times you get a great idea and just need to jot it down somewhere. If you are on the toilet, in the bath, taking the dogs for a walk, eating dinner, ideas come at the strangest times. And keep it with you, beside your bed at night time, in your pocket when out and about. (Also get one where you can store a pen with it too).

Enough said. Good luck.

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31

Also, if you want REALLY in-depth answers, go to my itch.io page https://dragonforge-development.itch.io/ and read the 7 post mortems I wrote for other games, and the daily dev logs I did for Katamari Mech Spacey.

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32

Perfection is the enemy of good.

No. I think I know what you mean from the context of your devlog, but this is not right. And when I say it I think you will agree. Perfection is the enemy of time. And in a game jam, time is often everything. 8 hours on your shader was a bad call, as you yourself noted.

Anyway, the reason I posted about your devlog here was just to say that many of your conclusions drawn (sleep, rest, focus on what’s important, set time limits etc) are very relevant to the OP here that is asking about advice about starting new projects. But here is one I learned hopefully the hard way. Given that you have minutes to make a first impression,

Front‑load the fun: most players will quit before your ‘good part’.

And seems to me to be especially true in a game jam. A gam jam isn’t about a good game, its about a good impact.

Anyway, what do I know, I have not even done a game jam. Where do you find the time?

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33

I mean, I get what you’re saying, but “Perfection is the enemy of good.” is a common programming aphorism.

Clearly in my sleep cycle.

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