Hey, loneawoo here
Where do I even start with this?
I’m writing this just because—I should be coding in Godot. But I want to get this off my chest before I continue.
Game development is really complicated. It requires a ton of expertise, dedication, and time. You need to learn hundreds of different disciplines to bring a project to fruition, and above all else is the idea.
I need to learn the basics before moving forward. I thought I had an idea, but this is like learning an instrument—if you put it aside for two days, when you pick it up again, it’ll feel like four. Four, eight, eight, sixteen… You get the idea.
I think every beginning in an artistic discipline starts with having an idea. In video games, that idea is knowing for sure whether your game is fun. And that’s not easy to figure out.
But it doesn’t just have to be fun—it has to be addictive (in a good way); it has to make you fall in love with it. Lately, I’ve been playing “Mina The Hollower", a game that never forgets that video games are, above all, about fun. Fun from feeling that sense of power when you level up and master the game; fun from discovering secrets and hidden details every few minutes; fun from discovering interesting characters, the settings, the art, the music, and the flying skulls. The game feels like a thrill in every movement, every action, every little detail. You can find fun in many corners of a game.
Ideas come from where you least expect them. But an idea is just an idea. Until you try it out, you don’t know if it works. Because, well, it sounded great in my head, but then you have to actually make it—and make it well.
I’d like to make games from two seemingly different perspectives: narrative and investigative games and games where emergent gameplay plays a predominant role. But you never know how ideas will flow. The most important thing is to just get started.
I’m writing these lines to remind myself that I must keep going and never give up. This is a long-distance race, and I must never stop. If I want to rest, I must never stop completely—just slow down a bit—but always keep moving forward.
Thanks.