These past few weeks have been kind of strange for me, as I’ve felt a strange mix of emotions while working on Tri-Wing. Perhaps I had issues with the code at first, and I began to feel uneasy about the stability of the game, or perhaps it was due to my perfectionist tendencies and lack of experience that halted my progress and created a sense of frustration. I’m really not too sure, but what I do know is that over the last couple of weeks I have not been fully satisfied with my work. I found myself asking questions like “What are you doing to do if it isn’t up to your standard?”. I really just felt so incompetent.
A few nights ago I was clearing my email inbox when I saw my old Alpha code for the game “Duelyst”, a game in which I drew some inspiration from, and decided to give it a whirl. I got through some of the tutorials and decided to stop playing it because I knew I would love this game. I thought to myself “Why can’t I feel this way about my own game?”, yet something was still missing. It wasn’t the fact that the game was still incomplete and the card system had not even begun yet, nor was it the fact that various combat mechanics are still in early development as well, but it was the simple fact that I felt insecure. I still kind of do, honestly. My game lacks a real lobby due to my own inability and personal constraints, it doesn’t have the most stable netcode, but it does work, it lacks many crazy online features and cloud saves that most games have, and I feel bad for not being able to do that much. It’s one game and I’m one newbie, so it’s to be expected, but I still feel bad about it.
I’ve been trying to find the inner motivation to work on this game once my exams are through with next week, and it was so hard. There’s still so much work to be done! I need to begin the card system, then I have to make card attacks (which includes coding them, doing the art and animations, etc), then I have to add all of the sound! After that, I have to port it to Android and try to get local Bluetooth multiplayer working in the future and then make a website! There’s so much to do, it’s just so stressful, when I could just be spending my free time doing other stuff.
I’ve been watching a lot of videos and reading articles about Indie games. Few of them ever “make it” in the gaming world, and often times they just get lost in a sea of games. I thought about how to present this game. Do I move away from the pixel art look? Do I add some crazy features? While I have considered a material (flat/solid) design, I don’t think I could change what I already have going for me. I like the look of this game. It means a lot to me. The style is strongly reminiscent of the Megaman series, which is something I wish to pay some homage to.
Speaking of Megaman, I actually played some Battle Network 6 with my buddy today. We grabbed our GBAs and played a good 5-6 sets, and I forgot how much I loved it. I forgot how crazy the dynamics were and how fun it was just to shout some stupid stuff at my opponent cuz we were having a good time. It made me reflect really hard on Tri-Wing, because my original purpose was to capture that essence. Tri-Wing won’t have super big lobbies. Tri-Wing won’t have super complex matchmaking systems or anything like that. The most important part of Tri-Wing that I will try my best to create is the gameplay, because I want people to enjoy that the most. I have to accept the fact that I am still just a new guy in game development with no real training and that of all projects, my first one will not be perfect, and that’s ok. It doesn’t mean that I won’t try my very best into making it the best game I can, and you can bet that I will. I don’t ever see myself not improving on this game as I grow older, because I want to see this game evolve with my skills as a game developer. I hope you guys will understand that, and I thank you all for the support. The card system is coming up next.
titsay
pixelskylines
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turnnoffyourmind
tangentwithtanner
germansingergirl
kaledo-art
romaincrisis
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