Journey vs. Destination
04-05-2010, 08:31 PM
When it comes to making games, I'm all about the journey over the destination. I suppose everyone is, in varying degrees.
Now, it seems like a lot of you are coders and can pop out Ruby and C or whatever like it's nobody's business, and that's great and all, and as long as you're having fun, that's all that matters.
Some of you are good artists and do all your own custom battlers and sprites. Another talent I'll never have, heh. *^-^*
But me, I don't have anything but ideas. That's why I like RMXP, it does all the hard parts for me, while at the same time leaving all the doors open to totally customize just about everything.
For me, it's all about making the game. I'm not so fixed on having a totally unique battle system or custom menus or unique chipsets so that my game stands out. I'm fine using most of the default stuff. Y'know, sometimes you see something in a game, and you want to do something just like it. Sometimes you want to do something totally generic, just 'cause it's fun to make. Like, a quest to defeat four Elementals and get the Crystals of Wind, Fire, Earth and Water. Maybe not going to win you any prizes on storytelling, but hey, making the fire cave can be wicked fun. And that Earth Elemental sprite is just too cute. ^_~
I think a lot of my ideas are driven by much of the standard RTP stuff, rather than vice versa. I'll play one of the default songs and think, "Where can I use this, what kind of level should this go into?" I'll look at a monster and think, "A mushroomâI'll look up some scientific names of mushrooms for my monsters, and research technical terms regarding their real toxic effects." I'll open a chipset and think, "What excuse can I make up to make the party go to this cool desert town?"
What I don't do is plumb the depths of my brain and think, "I want my game to be about boxing kangaroos, so I need to ask someone to make me some kangaroo sprites. And I'll need to request a custom battle script that scales damage based on where blows land. Plus it'd be cool if it were fully 3D." Again, not to say that people who do that are doing it wrongâanyone who's working hard and having fun is OK in my book.
But everyone makes games different. Me, I'm pretty focused on what I can personally accomplish with my own abilities; that's why I kind of stick closer to the default stuff rather than use a lot of custom scripts and graphics. Or maybe I just have better focus when I let myself be limited by the RTP. When you can do "anything," how do you narrow it down? .-.
Anyway, I'm just getting my money off my chest here. Thanks for reading.
But, where do you guys stand? Are you looking for something unique out of your game? Or is it fun just making them with the standard components?
I guess I'm saying, is it for making or is it for playing?
Now, it seems like a lot of you are coders and can pop out Ruby and C or whatever like it's nobody's business, and that's great and all, and as long as you're having fun, that's all that matters.
Some of you are good artists and do all your own custom battlers and sprites. Another talent I'll never have, heh. *^-^*
But me, I don't have anything but ideas. That's why I like RMXP, it does all the hard parts for me, while at the same time leaving all the doors open to totally customize just about everything.
For me, it's all about making the game. I'm not so fixed on having a totally unique battle system or custom menus or unique chipsets so that my game stands out. I'm fine using most of the default stuff. Y'know, sometimes you see something in a game, and you want to do something just like it. Sometimes you want to do something totally generic, just 'cause it's fun to make. Like, a quest to defeat four Elementals and get the Crystals of Wind, Fire, Earth and Water. Maybe not going to win you any prizes on storytelling, but hey, making the fire cave can be wicked fun. And that Earth Elemental sprite is just too cute. ^_~
I think a lot of my ideas are driven by much of the standard RTP stuff, rather than vice versa. I'll play one of the default songs and think, "Where can I use this, what kind of level should this go into?" I'll look at a monster and think, "A mushroomâI'll look up some scientific names of mushrooms for my monsters, and research technical terms regarding their real toxic effects." I'll open a chipset and think, "What excuse can I make up to make the party go to this cool desert town?"
What I don't do is plumb the depths of my brain and think, "I want my game to be about boxing kangaroos, so I need to ask someone to make me some kangaroo sprites. And I'll need to request a custom battle script that scales damage based on where blows land. Plus it'd be cool if it were fully 3D." Again, not to say that people who do that are doing it wrongâanyone who's working hard and having fun is OK in my book.
But everyone makes games different. Me, I'm pretty focused on what I can personally accomplish with my own abilities; that's why I kind of stick closer to the default stuff rather than use a lot of custom scripts and graphics. Or maybe I just have better focus when I let myself be limited by the RTP. When you can do "anything," how do you narrow it down? .-.
Anyway, I'm just getting my money off my chest here. Thanks for reading.
But, where do you guys stand? Are you looking for something unique out of your game? Or is it fun just making them with the standard components?
I guess I'm saying, is it for making or is it for playing?