Hey
@ZeroHero and sorry for the late reply!
Please correct me if I am wrong but with your background in PR I would have thought you would have fleshed out a more unique gameplay before jumping on this project. It sounds like you do not have a complete vision of your game yet, is that right?
I don't know how much experience you have in developing games or software in general but if I were you I would be worried to start that big a project on my own.
That is absolutely correct, I have a main game mechanic that I want to focus on, open-world, levels and quests. If I were to quote Albert Einstein, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results." and that's not to say
thatcompletely specifies to game development as it's very different, but staying in your comfort zone is really dangerous and technically speaking it's hard to evolve. You sure do get better at developing games in a unique genre which isn't wrong and not trying to say what's works and what doesn't but I'm more a fan of trying out new genres so I get an overall understanding on how games work. Back in around 2014 (I think?) when I started making games, my bio on GameJolt said "I want to create a game in every genre, so tag along" or something like that since I can then after, know exactly what genre I want to delve deep into. I hope I don't come off in a negative way I'm all for learning and hearing other people's opinions! And I'm really glad you made a well formulated and awesome comment on the post.
Personally, I picked my game project based on my skill sets. A simulation game is right up my ally as it has a lot of similar mechanics as my previous project Pixie3D. A 3D software which I actually use to develop my game project (you can read more about it at
www.Pixie3D.com if you are interested). I could reuse a lot of algorithms as they both have a lot of things in common, like being able to build something for example, as well as allow the user to navigate camera around, also the animation system as well as generating different kind of 3D assets.
I usually pick my game project out from what I'd like to learn and achieve, with Legacy I had coded my own login system in PHP and HTML before which I then also did for the game. I've also never had an actual saving feature in any of my games and if I had it was mostly .ini files holding some variables so using an online database for Legacy, storing X and Y coordinates, inventory systems as well was a real hassle to learn. Luckily I'm very driven by motivation all throughout development.
Furthermore, the idea of being able to reuse assets in a small restricted area/map and having a world that invites the player to build facilities or entities (if you will) that can either interact or work together to eventually become a fully functional structure, rather than having me to design a massive pre-built environment appealed to me a lot, as I would be the only developer through out the entire process, I simply don't have the resources to build an open world alone, and on top of that have to test and polish it.
However, when I had made up my mind about the genre I wanted to do then I started to do a lot of research to find a theme that had not been done before and it happened to be that I could not find any festival themed simulation games. I figured that I could make it like a theme park tycoon styled game but instead of having rollercoasters I would have music stages. Naturally, I could also have decided to do an old school strategy game as they are also based on a restricted area and by nature will be made up of reusable entities but I do not have much experience in strategy games in general so I felt more comfortable going with a simulation game.
The focus on booking the right bands and upgrading the music stages has become more important than I first had envisioned as people seem to want those features over being able to build an entire music festival from scratch. For some reason, it kind of intimidates most people that have played my game to have an empty area and just have to building a music festival without any guidelines and then have to managing it afterwards, so I have changed the campaign so the player will start out with having to learn to manage a pre-built festival for the first season and then for each season to come, the player will be more confident with the game and will gradually need to do more building of facilities. All that is perfectly fine as the more hardcore players will have tje option to play the game in sandbox mode, where you will need to build everything from scratch from day one and no help will be given. Also the weather will have a much bigger impact on the gameplay than I had first imagined but aside from that I am sticking to my well developed written game plan.
I'd also quickly like to point out that Legacy will be open-world but released in sections. Right now there's two cities and more to come, but I'm probably estimating a couple of years before I see the game at a finished state. Though allowing players to play while it's being developed also creates a certain interest. "What town will come next?" instead of jumping into a world like Skyrim and knowing "This is all there is." not saying this in a negative way, Skyrim is HUGE and you'll probably never explore it all but the game is just standing still. I think it's the world we currently live in where constantly expanding on already existing games is what works. Call of Duty releases new maps every month, Stardew Valley just recieved a huge update, Minecraft is also having new items constantly, it's the feeling of the game being "alive" that keeps them from dying.
Oh can't wait to hear how weather will affect the game! Also wanting to add weather to Legacy since I love rain but there's no reason for it except cosmetically appealing to myself lol.
I'll also point out that it's a really cool game you're working on and I can't wait till you release it. You're definently right about it being a very nice genre and new to the market which is very daring and totally respect to you! Might even create a new era of indie games genre
Also your game is 3D which is also a lot harder IMO to work on which is why KUDOS to you!
Open-world in 2D Pixel is a lot easier, it still is a huge scope, but allows for quicker development as it's also easier to optimize!
Anyway, all I am trying to say (before I keep rattling on about my own project) I think it's very crucial you take a lot of time off to really come up with something unique and something you truly feel confident that you can finish. Unfortunately a lot of projects fail because developers totally underestimate the scope of a game they want to make and give up before the game has finished. It's such a shame to see a lot of hard work going to waste. If only they has restricted themselves to a smaller scope. Finishing a project is yet alone a very tough job to do and polishing and perfecting a game is even harder.
I'm right behind you on this one, and I totally agree. I do have to tell you some personal traits of myself in order to explain why I basically make a game up on the go, instead of having a roadmap and a realistic project scope.
I'm a HUGE procrastinator.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU I can't spend 6 months or more working up and writing down the whole game from start to finish, what cities should be in the game, what clothing is Samantha wearing, I simply cannot get myself do it. In my field working as a CTO currently I tend to do a lot of project management, and my experience from that is that it's insanity to code an app and ship it before you even have someone test it and give feedback and let you know what works and what doesn't serveral times during designing it. This is specifically tied to a case with Matas who's releasing a new app either this year or next (
insider knowledge ) where they
CONSTANTLY tested it before we did any of the design changes to it. It's sad to see in game-development how negatively Early-Access has become, I can totally understand why with huge projects being abandoned but it's the best way to develop a game (in my own personal opinion). With Legacy I want the players to be with me on the whole development and tell me what works and what doesn't, what features would be nice and what wouldn't. I'm not a huge corporation so I cant hire User Experience majors and testers to let me know exactly what works and why it works, so I'm a huge fan of letting your players take the game in the direction they want it. In the end you can work 6 years on something you think is cool but if no one finds it interesting it's 6 years lost. Now I do also want to say that I'm not personally fan of story-driven games, my example mostly ties into sandbox, open-worlds and in those categories. Now to get back on track haha, since I'm coded (lol) the way I am, I need constant feedback on the things I do in order to stay motivated. It sucks that I'm structured this way, but this keeps me motivated through out the whole game. Having people letting me know that they like the game, or what could be cool if it was added, keeps me going. I personally think it comes down to just sticking to your idea and finishing it, which is extremely hard to learn. Huge project scopes are in theory very realistic, it's mostly the time that breaks it for people. As I said before, my way of making games keeps me from working on the game for 6 years in my own head to then release it. I'm constantly getting feedback and engagement which makes me want to create more. Stardew Valley (Which I mention a lot haha) actually had no roadmap or any "end" during the first couple years of development. ConcernedApe (The developer) was mostly working on a Harvest Moon clone to be published in a couple of months on the XBOX Indie Store. He later saw the possibilites the game could have and just started adding stuff. By doing this he succeeded in developing the game after 6 years by constantly play-testing it himself and his GF, adding things he liked and removed things that didn't work. I do want to admit that I certainly have Trello boards I use for what I want to work on for the next month, but the project scope is endless. But yeah, basically Stardew Valley was made by him thinking "Hey, what if I added a pickaxe and you could mine, that'd be kinda cool."
To shorten this down a bit, whatever Legacy turns into is a Pandora's Box, I do obviously have a couple things in mind I will implement, but if it doesn't work I'd rather knowing that now, then in 2 yearswhen I release the full game to find out 90% of the game is dead-content. Right now I can analyze that (in Legacy) Ironforge might not be a place that users explore, so I can add a sign or waypoint in the next update and see how that influences it. This is easier and better for me then to create the complete open-world to then find out 3 quests aren't interesting, needing to re-write the whole quest-line as well as finding out mining is boring so needing to completely alter how that works, I'd rather work those issues out on the go instead of having a pile of things I need to change once the game is already "done".
No matter what, best of luck to you. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested in a chat at some point. I will be happy to share my experiences and bounce ideas. Looking forward to see more updates from you.
Thank you! And sure thing, I'll gladly chat at some point and just talk games and development, I'm sure I could learn a couple of things!
Wow this is a long post. Currently 02:41 AM so if this doesn't make any sense I'm so sorry.
