Currently, I don’t have that much time for the game (of the secret-mystery-kind), and that can easily be guessed from the amount of new posts (which is closely hovering around zero). Sorry!
I still have a lesson that I want to share. You see, I’m one of those “everything must be secret” types, which, well, can easily be verified by looking at this blog. Still, what I didn’t realize was how much this was actually hurting the game.
You often see people, beginners but also more experienced developers, asking for help, and thats okay, but they usually don’t tell much about the game. They say, for example, “We are looking for a programmer for our upcoming project“, or, if they’re really specific, “We are looking for a level designer for our shooter”. That’s… not much, is it? If I say “shooter”, that can still mean everything. Half-Life 2 is a [First Person] “Shooter”, but you still “shoot” in “Space Invaders”, and of course also in games like Ikaruga (that’s how you spell it, right?). The differences are great as far as the gameplay-style is concerned, but even more so when you look at the setting. Doom3 is completely different from Half-Life 2, which, again, is very different to Unreal Tournament. How am I expected to know what kind of game your “shooter” is?
Many are worried that people are going to steal their idea. All their creativity, hard work, all lost, since somebody else read of their idea, and was simply quicker. And it’s not an uncommon fear. After all, heck, I have it. And while others have elaborated on this very topic a lot better than I ever could, I just want to focus on the point of being just a bit more open with your game.
I used to not tell anyone, friends or people I’ve worked with in the past and still chatted with every once in a while, and, of course, I would never even mention on any forum that maybe I could be still possibly working on something resembling a game. But, well, not anymore.
I won’t go out and share the game idea with you (yet!), but I will say this: I’m now telling (some) people. Also, I’m more open for asking others for help when I can’t do something. I used to not ask anyone for help when it comes to code-related issues, and I also never considered buying editors for a few $, when it was possible for me to create that.
Of course, that’s not really a wise decision. Now I’m asking for help more often (might also have to do that I don’t have that much time anymore, and this gives me a higher production-boost per hour) and telling more people about this. And it’s great – I get a lot more feedback, ranging from the productive to the motivational, and of course, maybe someone will come along and solve that one issue. Who knows? All I know is that there are many talented people out there, capable of giving great feedback and help that I’d love to get. And how can they help me without knowing anything about my project?
