I just finished playing dead space 2. Space, horror, gore, good acting, great art, movie-like gameplay. It has everything a fan like me might want. After spending - I dunno... 45 Minutes going through credits, I realised that my true dreams are hopeless. No matter how low I set the bar.

When I bought game studio, I felt like this:



Now, having played a great game, I feel like this.



So if anybody feels like joining me (and trust me, acceptance is the first step to recovery), join me in metaphorically hurdling yourself into the pit of death... Instead of bitching that game studio isn't good enough.

*JUMPS*



It's not so bad down here. Plenty of rocks to talk to.

That is life for us. There are some extremely talented people here but to make games like anything we want to do (The new Batman Arkham games are my dreams), we would all have to team up and I think most of us have been on one of those teams that fell apart before the first level was complete. oh so sad.

Yip after watching the age of empires III credits i felt like that and just gone through the main missions of farcry 3 , holy hell epic we cant live up to such epic games but hey we should look to indie games for inpiration even though these games makes me feel like im just doing this for a hobby which is a better way of looking at it , stil there is hope , all you have to do is look at those small addictive games people play to pass time even at work , when i look at them i feel man i can do it too so i believe lets aim smaller but keep growing and one day perhaps be a proud owner of a great selling game.. On another point i have noticed that these big games arent just games they are carefully crafted to show the abbilities of game engine that was used as in farcry 3 it was so obvious to me how crytek shows off the engines abbility to do many types of games especialy rpg ,its more than gaming for these big companys its selling and advertising their tech and kicking the dust in the competeters eys

If your gonna do a game by yourself you definitely have to be conservative and realistic. And have a genuine idea. Doing this for 10 years with nothing to show can be a little depressing. But then again, what else is there to do? Go out with friends? Get a girlfriend? Have a life? And yes, the gaming industry is a giant pissing contest. Farcry 3 looks incredible but I bet they will make they're bread and butter licencing the engine.

Game developing is a tough world to step in to , especialy lonewolfing you
have to learn from coding to art production , a serious but addictive challenge !

I share your worries. When you see how the big players flex their muscles on trade shows like E3 or GamesCom, you feel very little and very lonely. It is disappointing to see all the glory in its shiny and polished form while you know that all you do at home is struggling.

The reason why you should keep on with your game is because quitters never win. Even if your game takes forever to be done - do it. Because if you don't, it will never exist.

This is so weird to me!
Are you all really that upset that you'll have to aim for smaller, more focused experiences?

I dunno, these limitations, I find, can be very helpful to fuel creativity. And I don't mind not even having the option to try and compete in the FPS-genre or whatever. I'd much rather try out new stuff.
I mean, did you really get into game design to make the same kind of experiences than those that are already there?

Yes there are soo much FPS games, i have friend buying little but awesome indie games, caus they cost lot less, and bring lot of entertainmenT.

For example "Giana Sisters" game is actually some eye candy great platform game. I like it a lot caus you go directly in the game like some last Mario Bross btu with lot better graphics and a totally new gameplay.

you could fo some Batman Arkham City, only if you target lower graphics, caus graphics AAA games are made by :
- veterans of 3D
- 3D artists specially for environments
- some for characters
- creative level designers
-sound artists
- music artists
- tools programmers ....

Even indie games can fail and remain unknownw if you can't promote enought or don't do ti in good ways ....

So yes the advice you can read on lot of AUM interviews :
BEGIN AND DO IT SMALL FIRST

You will never be able to do even some first level of God Of War 3, or GTA 5 etc ... Indies must concentrate on more little games they can do and be creative with new gameplay, ideas, new graphic design ...


You don't need best graphics to have a great game !


Some Zelda like :

I got into game dev because for the creativity part and I started with a text adventure, so, it wasn't for the looks in the first place. But I have to admit that games like No One Lives Forever or Shenmue already raised a certain bar graphically wise. To understand how to do such a 3D game you naturally have to ask how that was done. The sooner you get to answers you will also naturally see that it is a burden to re-create that. Hearing stories like warehouses full of artists doing assets for Splinter Cell can be frustrating, actually.

So, if you realize that you can virtually do technically wise a game comparable with todays games (you just have to learn coding and how to do things, actually games are pretty easy to make), it breaks down to "the content problem" as I say it. Stores like Arteria3D and Dexsoft are solutions to this problem but only in a limited fashion because they are producing for an anonynmous market.

You are right that these limitations can be helpful, though. Knowing your limitations gives you freedom to do something different. Your game Dungeon Deities is a great example: you are making a highly modern game with artwork that had its heights 20 years ago (no offense). Along with the retro-movement and acclaimed games like Minecraft, you have found both a niche and a solution to the content problem.

Every time I see a big game, they fuel me to finish my projects, they make me feel like I have something to offer, I never get depressed and jump off a cliff

I've learnt enough using gamestudio to know that it can do decent projects, I've undertaken some pretty big projects.

The problem is, are you a gamestudio developer or are you an independent developer? What's the difference? well, if you wish to develop with gs then you deal with its limitations and work around it, if you just want to make games, then there's no room for getting "faithful" to an engine. Be willing to move on and go anywhere your chance of success increases.

I dont get impressed by the credits of alot of AAA titles because sometimes I look around and see a single indie dev that does something way more impressive.

If you want to make your dream game, man up, nothings stopping you but yourself, if you want to use gs, sit down, plan out how you can make the project with gs in mind, what elements to change, tweak or drop. If gs doesnt seem like it can handle and youre willing to.. move on.

You may not be able to clone your favorite game but you can damn well remove all the eyecandy and make a straightforward fun experience that still grabs attention.