Mutable Game Project - Taking game development step by step

[chronomaster]

I've been mulling over an idea to kick my laziness and apathy about accomplishing anything out the door, and I figured I should lay it down somewhere so I finally commit to it.

I plan to open a dev blog over a year long project I wish to start about two weeks after Dragon*Con (giving me ample time to recover). Each day, I will improve on some aspect of the game I'm working on, producing a working title by the day's end. It could be as small as switching out a sprite I don't like, I don't care, so long as I'm improving the game, and that it is playable from that point. My approach is designed to overcome the overwhelming dread I feel whenever I plan a project, and the fact that I usually face it alone. By developing a game this way, and chronicling it, I should not only bolster my own self respect, but feel more confident and affirmative towards the game development process in general.

I will be developing the games using Game Maker 8 as the engine. This takes the stress off of focusing on the code and puts it towards honing my ideas and design instead. I've been impressed with the works produced by it (Daniel Remar has contributed significantly to that) and feel it would simplify my goal of creating a functional game each day. I'll probably push my blog through Blogger and upload my work daily to match (I haven't decided where yet). If I can get some help, and if I gain enough outside momentum, I hope to design a frontend for people to fork off my root and take the game somewhere else, where people can fork off of their build and so on and so forth. Eventually, when I retire from the project, I'll choose someone from those forks to take on a project of their own, turn it into sort of a challenge for a new developer to take up each year. They wouldn't have to use GM, though they would have to follow the same rules of building a functional game every day and releasing the code.

So, what does everyone think of my scattered synopsis? Critique on my approach is more than welcome, since I have about four weeks (give an extra week at the end to prepare the project) to smooth it all out.

[Geoff]

That kind of sounds awesome, go for it. 

[CaffeinePowered]

What do you plan to do for art/music/sound FX, etc?

Ive found from my own experience in working on things, code is easy to come by, art...not so much

[Chief]

Sounds cool, although the Flixel engine or something runs better than Game Maker 8 from what I've heard. Not like I've made games or anything though.

[chronomaster]

What do you plan to do for art/music/sound FX, etc?

Ive found from my own experience in working on things, code is easy to come by, art...not so much

I'm trying to hit everything. Most everything I'll do from scratch. That's why I set the time limit for a year, and the daily goal so low. The idea is to get SOMETHING done, every day, even if it takes me the whole day to draw one frame of a sprite to my satisfaction.

Art assets has been my weakest point so far, even below my dedication. It is the Achilles heel, and my apathy prevents me from improving on it. So, if I can encourage myself to keep onto a project, then eventually I'll be able to surmount this problem.

In group projects, hopefully someone will take care of the art assets. However, that brings up another problem where I can't seem to rally people together, even my own friends who are pursuing game development. So, the burden lies entirely with me, and I have to improve my reliance on myself.

Sounds cool, although the Flixel engine or something runs better than Game Maker 8 from what I've heard. Not like I've made games or anything though.

It'll probably be the backend of my Flash game, though I plan to make a card game for that project, and Flixel is oriented towards more active games with retro aesthetics. They did have a nice puzzle game in their showcase, though.

I'll come to that hill when I get to it. Since Flixel is more of an API than an IDE, it means I have to focus on the code, rather than just drag, drop, and script.

[KorJax]

Got any ideas of what kind of game this is?

[chronomaster]

Got any ideas of what kind of game this is?

At first it'll be something simple. Probably, clicking a button.
Then there will be multiple buttons to click.
Then you might have to click the lit up button.
THEN IT MIGHT TURN INTO A JRPG PLATFORMER THE NEXT DAY I DUNNO. :V

I'm trying to 'grow' a game and not worry so much on an overall goal as, when I end up doing that alone, I never get any work done because I'm always stuck in the planning phase.

[Vandamguy]

talk to zargon if you get stuck.

[ZargonX]

talk to zargon if you get stuck.

I can occasionally be a font of wisdom

[chronomaster]

I'll be starting this the first full week of October, since I'm moving late September.

[chronomaster]

Alright, I'm going to begin soon. I'll spend the next week setting up a blog, getting some file hosting space, and the week after I start chunking away at whatever the hell I have planned.