All game makers love to advise to keep your games small in scale. I take issue with this. Sure, a small game by a small developer is more likely to be higher in quality and more polished (and finished for that matter) but this advise tends to make games… Indie and hipster. Small cartoony people platforming around in a brightly colored cartoony world. Seen it. Tired of it. That style of game is so very "artsy," that is, pretentious. It's not fun, not cool, very annoying, very unoriginal. Stop making it people. I would argue that platformers themselves are getting really old, but I would be lynched by an angry mob of nerds.
Personally, I like to think big for my projects. I mean, it's not like I finish small ones either, so I may as well make what I do get finished super awesome and epic right? I am one of those people who starts a ton of projects and finishes none. I mean, look at the games I have on 64D? There are none, just two examples. I like to start engines then get sidetracked and never look at them again. I've got about 5 abandoned Unity projects (some of which were looking quite decent) and Satan knows how many abandoned GM projects.I mentioned pretentiousness in my first paragraph, which reminds me of how much I despise those "satanists." They love to be like "oh ho ho Satanism isn't the worship of the devil it's the worship of one's self." Well I got news for you buddy, Satan is a proper noun. It's like somebody claiming to be "Christian" and not believing in Christ. It just doesn't make sense. And on that note, there is no god.I really want to make a webseries. I have a 120 dollar webcam that is never used. I just wish I had creativity enough to think of an original premise. And then the patience for video editing. And the motive to do several episodes. And the charisma to maintain good energy in the video lest people get bored. Yeah it's never gonna happen.Oh and nobody figured out what I did with my banner/avatar last blog. All the whites are now transparent, I was hoping that it would blend in with the page better that way, but I guess I made it too well, and it looks exactly the same. Oh also I rotated it so that the entire SMG is in the shot. (Notice the slightly rotated "CCCP") On that topic, I'm really starting to get tired of this banner/avatar. I need to make something new but am lacking inspiration. Do it for me. Thanks in advance.Bye.
I'm glad to see someone else feels that way about larger-scale games. Unfortunately, that's pretty much all I do. I like my games to be (more or less) original, fun, and have a lot of play time, but most of all, I like to tell a good story.
Admittedly I've tried a platformer, but it's probably my most pathetic game so far, and I agree that it's horribly overdone.I'd like to see more "epics" in development. Though it might take each of us ages to finish with our busy, busy lives, it'd be a big accomplishment for yourself, and us here at 64Digits.Love was created by one guy. One person did everything in this game, including the engine and the software he used. That's truly epic.
I'd like to count my current project as an epic. Hopefully it will have a new demo in the next two weeks.
Other then that - large scale games are good if you can keep the player playing. Otherwise, it was fun at first but just drags on and on.So:
- You "take issue with this"- You "like to think big for my projects"- You are "one of those people who starts a ton of projects and finishes none"This is exactly why people say you should keep your (first) games small. You have limited resources, including knowledge of programming and time to spend working on the project. Also, as much as there are too much artsy games, there are also enough commercial/big games. I don't see how a platformer would be any less than that.Also, "there is no god"? That sounds a bit intolerant, no offense.None taken.
Dwarf Fortress is also being developed by one guy. And it's an EPIC sized game.
Are we talking about average programmers or 'people with no programming experience'?
I think the advice is meant for the latter anyway, that's the reason I 'defended' the statement.Also, I'd like to mention Braid here. It's something you could call a 'small game', it was made by 1 guy (and an artist), it looks a bit cartoony, definitely looks bright, and is referred to as 'art' by many people. In my opinion, Braid is way better than some of the big-budget games that have been released over the last years.What is your idea of a big project?I'm not against small projects, I just find that they tend to lack originality. I've played plenty of good ones, but plenty of dumb indie platformers as well. If the game is good, it's good, but rarely are they so.
But if the same developer would work on a bigger project it would be better? I don't think this is about the size of the project, but about the developer. Working on smaller project is a good way for new people to develop the skill to, err, develop. That could eventually help them to create cool stuff.
On the other hand, you aren't going to waste much time on a big project unless it's good. Perhaps it's too easy to create crap?I have to agree, in a way. I think the indie community is too focused on doing really quick stuff - I.e. hourgames, 24-hour games, etc… and the some of the more interesting games suffer from not delving deep enough into the massive originality of their gameplay.
While starting small is a good idea, we don't need to stay small. If Ultimortal had never started an epic project, we wouldn't have Iji.