Sidetracked

Have you ever begum a project and later found yourself completely gone from it and headed down another path with no real path back to where you started?

I think I was making a game using another program (RPG Maker) and I ended up on Construct2 ( which was a good move).

From there I was making a platform game and decided to make my own sprites because my son said the ones I was using looked like the ones that came with the program.

This led me to drawing and Sprite making programs which seems to be where I am now EXCEPT I forgot the flow of the original game .

Now I am learning how to make Sprites and getting my drawing back up to par and have completely lost track of where I was.

This morning I was looking at new programs ( I have more than I need now except a music one and I think I have that one too somewhere.) to make my work flow more smoothly.

Maybe the only program I have missing is a daily planner.

Have you ever had this problem and how did you fix it?

I know what you mean about being lost and sidetracked.

I have been there so many times earlier, starting with game mechanics and then after a while focusing too much on game graphics, ending up mixed up and ditching a project all together.

What I suggest is to take notes, on the progress regarding code. You can make bullet points and divide bigger objectives in smaller ones.

Also I would focus on the core mechanics of the game first, put box place holders instead of proper sprites.

As for the graphics, do some sketches beforehand, nothing really fancy, collect any inspiration that would suit your direction into a folder, and just look at it during quick breaks from coding.

Once the core mechanics are down, then start to dabble with the graphics.

As for sound, I would really focus on that at the very end, unless your game mechanic is a unique and different one.

I find choosing sounds and music comes more naturally when I load up my game, play a sound in the background and just test play.

Working on everything without a plan, can overwhelm a person. Perhaps you could make yourself a timetable, when to work on code and when to work on graphics or even sound.

That being said and taking into consideration that different people have different workflows, this is just some info I gathered from my experience and I hope that answers your question at least somewhat.

You seem to have followed my footsteps or I have followed yours. I had skipped most of those steps to get something made and then when I found out how easy it was, I proceeded to tackle something larger without any plan.

Now I need to begin all over and plan things ot before I begin the next project.

I do have all those resources though.

Thanks,

Ken

Also I suggest using Comments and Groups inside Construct 2.

That is a must for me. When working on a different part of the game simply hide the code in other groups, makes for much much less clutter.

I haven't started to learn code yet.

That is on my to-do list.

I am a huge devotee of doing one thing at a time when it comes to a production. If a game is story driven, start with a story. If thoughts of other areas come to your mind, write them down and put them aside until you are done with the first thing. Or what ever is the key element of the game, the unique twist that makes people play it, design that first. Graphics and music come later like Solomon said. Have a solid vision or a draft first before moving on to the actual production.

In some things it might be better to have someone else do something for you. Music or graphics for example. There is a good number of people on the forum who focus solely on these and provide their skills to those who need them

Thanks for all the advice.

I picked up a copy of The Animators Survival kit and that reminded me that my drawing skills have gone to pot so I am back to refreshing and relearning my drawing for awhile.

I also keep a notebook nearby for game ideas that come and go.

Thanks again.

Ken

Thanks for all the advice.

I picked up a copy of The Animators Survival kit (...)

Ken

Nice, good choice, I see you know where to look for references

You are most welcome! Just remember your priorities and keep the main thing the main thing. Things will fall into place with a little bit of thinking Happy drawing!

Almost a year and I am still not learning to focus.

I am getting a bit more knowledge.

I now have Indicate, Krista, Acreage 4.5, and Sprinter along with Construct2.

I also have notebooks. I think I need a notebook to keep track of what is in the other notebooks.

I am 76 now so I better get focused soon.

Oh yes, I picked up a program to make comic books for my son and have dabbled with that.

Now I feel my sidetrack has been sidetracked.lol.

Ken

I managed to stay on track.. sort of. I am on page 6 of the Platform tutorial now and plan to get back to it on Monday if I don't get to it during the weekend.

I also have set aside time to draw so I can eventually make Sprites and comic strips.

Ken