Amassment Message Board

I went to the Boston Festival of Indie Games talks this weekend, largely because a close friend has been developing his game for the past nine months, but also because I find discussions of game concepts really interesting.

It made me wonder about our community: are there any budding game developers here, too? In the industry already, or working on your own project?

I don't have any plans personally to develop any games, but I have a longtime friend who has had a dream to develop his own game for years, and I might help with composing the music at some point :D

I would like to develop a game one day, I have ideas for a simple interactive visual novel as a first project to get the hang of it, but I haven't really started yet.

I've done work for visual novels so far for Afterthought Studios plus some others for two monthly events.

Right now I'm working on interfaces for Connection Pending, a visual novel that was supposed to be for last years Yuri Game Jam during October. The head/founder is a friend/programmer who I've worked with before in the past and she asked if I was interested. So far it's been coming along great :D

I just popped on to check what's new after being away for a while and saw this. :D It's nice to see other people in the industry! I've been working in the games industry since Jan 2006 (oh man over 11 years, I feel old now..) and I've many acquaintances and friends who are or have worked in pretty much every studio you can think of, big or small. It's a really small industry so you end up making a pretty good network pretty fast. :)

I work primarily with user interfaces but I've worked closely with people in design, programming, 3D, animation, QA... pretty much every aspect, even marketing. /shudder I do 2D art, a bit of jack of trades really... character illustration, some animation, iconography, graphic design. But UI design is really what I excel at, probably thanks to my lifelong habit of over analyzing everything I do. xD

I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has about the industry! If it's questions about what it's like working in it or what it takes to get involved, etc. What I don't know from first-hand experience, I know from second-hand stories. :)

jacky999 wrote:May I get your advice, please? I am aiming to develop a game. Taking the first steps to do it. What do you think about that? Is that really important to start with something small? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPp1iIC_PJ0

I know you weren't asking me specifically but if you don't mind me adding my input, I'd suggest that starting out small is a very good idea for your first project, especially if you're working on it alone. You don't want to create something so large that you get overwhelmed and lost in it. I haven't looked at your youtube video yet but I will try to later... in the meantime, if you want some game advice, why not create a thread with a bit more information on what kind of game you want to make? :) That kind of information helps in terms of giving advice. <3 Or you can PM Camy and I with the information as well if you want to keep it private. I do suggest keeping the details private too, so no one steals any ideas until your game is ready to be put out there. :)

jacky999 wrote:Dear Laura, thank you so much for your advice!!! Well, I am still at the beginning of the process. To be honest, right now I am just trying to understand will I be capable make it or no.
Yes, I think you suggest the right think. If I start to make something, it is better to start with something small.

Usually it's best to start with something really simple too, like a basic puzzle game. The more simple the game is, the easier it will be to debug it if something goes wrong. :) There'll also be fewer art assets to deal with as well. The more complicated the game, the more likely problems will happen... and that means it'll take more time and effort to try to figure out how to fix it. Which means more frustration. XD It can get overwhelming really fast.

The nice thing about a basic puzzle game as your first project is that you can spend a bit more time on graphic polish too. :D So your first project will be something you can see finished sooner. <3

I'm trying to make a dating sim with Twine...