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Why Game Developers Should Finish What They Start
Michael writes "Too often, hobbyists and open source programmers take on game projects that they can't hope to finish. Freshmeat is rife with games from developers who have bitten off more than they can chew. So I drafted an article which takes a look at the major roadblocks to successfully completing open source and hobbyist game projects."
"... they focus on strength areas like plot and storyline"
I have been writing a neverwinter nights modules for what seems like forever and I consider the authors tips, at least in the context of a "community mod", to be pure BS. Writing something good is hard, even on a platform like NWN where the game engine is already written for you and you can focus on the "plot and storyline". Doing it well is hard and takes a lot of work. Anyone who has ever written a large dialog tree for even a single conversation would know this. Think about what a players response to each line might be and write all the reasonable branches. By the time you have reached the grandchild node, it is immense. Oh and if any of these have a plot impact, or you include race or class based differences, it gets even more immense. Even a conversation between two NPCs to advance the plot can have you debugging for hours. A cut scene is a serious hair puller.
Blowing things up is the easy part. Fights are fast and simple to put together. Putting together an immersive environment with properly placed background noise and placeables - as opposed to empty and lifeless areas is difficult. Good, self consistent stories and smooth play are difficult. That is why 95% of the modules on neverwinter vault suck and that is also why my "soundstage" modules still have a toolset to gameplay time ratio of something like 100:1. And that is soundstage where I can keep track of the plot in a notebook becasue I will be DMing them later.
Oh and I periodically stop developing because I have a life; plain and simple. Wife, kids, job, friends, other hobbies. Sometimes I get sick of building and even play for a little while.
So here are my own tips on finishing the project:
1) If you have a spouse or significant other, they are simply a drag on your time and preventing you from delivering. Divorce is in order here. If you are not married, it is less of a hassle to extract yourself from this situation.
2) Kids? Give them up for adoption.
3) Friends. If they are not willing to help out on the project (remember the >1 developer rule), then they are not really your friends. Never speak to them about anything else for the duration of the project.
4) Other hobbies. And desires to do anything else with your free time is indicative of lack of focus. Sell your hot rod/mountain bike/golf clubs/books/whatever.
5) Getting bored with your project and need a break? This is the single biggest factor in not delivering. Oh, you say that you will take a break for a few days, watch that DVD, play, see friends, etc and then come back to work on your game again, but will you? Oh you might in a month or six, but your idea will be stale. REMEMBER - YOU ARE NOT DOING THIS TO HAVE FUN!!! Is the project starting to feel like you are still at work? You are. Now get back to that keyboard.
Close, but no cigar. "Why Game Developers Should Finish What They Start: So Articles Like This Don't Get Written"
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
> I have found that when I work on personal projects, a couple games amongst them, I get bored with them once the hard parts (those that I haven't had much experience with ie new to me) are done and bug free (as best I can tell
Yeah, I tend to think of a problem, program at it just long enough to see how to do it, and then go on to another one.
I suppose there's a reason we aren't all entrepreneurs.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Gah, don't remind me. I just got back on track dusting my code off and really getting work done on it when I remember that Doom3 gets here Thursday (not that the download isn't going as I type this). So Thursday and Friday will be a mad rush to finish Doom3 so I can get back to getting real work done. Speaking of real work, I need to stop posting to Slashdot and get back to that...
Reminds me of a joke:
From: dhein#NoSpam.onramp.net
An Engineer, a Physicist, and a Mathematician all go the same
Conference. University budgets being what they are, they all stay in
the same cheap hotel. Each room has the same floor plan, has the same
cheap TV, the same cheap bed, and a small bathroom. Instead of
a sprinkler system, the hotel has opted for Fire Buckets.
The Engineer, Physicist, and Mathematician are all asleep in bed. At
about 2AM, the Engineer wakes up because he smells smoke. He looks in
the corner of the room and sees that the TV set is on fire! He dashes
into the bathroom, fills the Fire Bucket to overflowing with water, and
drenches the TV set. The fire goes out, and the Engineer goes back to
sleep.
A little while later, the Physicist wakes because he smells smoke. He
looks in the corner and sees that the TV set is on fire. He grabs a
handy envelope, estimates the BTU output of the fire, scribbles a quick
calculation, then dashes into the bathroom and fills the Fire Bucket
with just enough water to douse the flames. He puts the fire out and
goes back to sleep.
In a little while, the Mathematician wakes up to the smell of smoke.
He looks in the corner and sees the TV on fire. He looks into the
bathroom and sees the Fire Bucket. Having determined that a solution
exists, he goes back to sleep.
The way that I get myself back on track is by concentrating only on the code that must get done and then I worry about making it more robust later on.
Rumour has it that Microsoft also use this approach. "Later on" never comes though since they're always busy thinking up new major features to add to the next "service pack". Clippy, the Office paperclip assistant, would have been one of those "must get done" things while security and robustness were put on the roadmap.