Beginner starting with a big project

[thatguythathasnolife]

So, I'm a beginner at making fangames, I've been playing them for about 6 years though and am a huge fan. I want to start making something like those that I've loved and made a lasting impression on me (Reborn, rejuvenation, insurgence, desolation, more recently pathways) but with my own touch. I know that those projects were massive undertakings and its just me and my friend working on our project but I think I have what it takes, I'm familiar with programming, but am new to the graphic element. Is this a stupid idea? I kind of wanted to try to get up to the second of eight gyms then release a demo, I started last week and have completed the first town, the main cast, the storyboard, programmed a starter quiz type deal. Am I on the right track? I've been extremely driven but also I feel like it can be frustrating (I spent 3 hours on a cutscene bug yesterday).

 

[nomists]

Welcome! I am late to the party responding to this one, but figured a month late is better than never. As someone who has made games off and on for a while now, the idea does not sound infeasible necessarily. However, there are some questions that I think might help with assessing what you're doing:

• How much original content are you yourself going to make for the game instead of ripping from elsehwere? The more custom sprites, GUIs, and code you add, the longer it will take. With programming (I have experience coding too), Pokémon Essential's build in Ruby can be especially daunting just because it is unwieldly to search up everything that is being referenced everywhere. Plus, other RPG XP plugins don't really work with Pokémon Essentials.
• What is your plan for when you run out of the initial stamina push? You may have already. If you're going to develop the game long term, you might want to schedule a dedicated time to work on the game weekly. Have breaks where you're not doing it. I only work on my game, for instance, one day of the week. This has worked so far and I'm not burned out yet, although I still feel it at times.
• How long are you anticipating game development to last? What will you do if it takes longer? It's good to have set dates so you keep your eyes on the prize and remove time consuming content that may not be essential. For instance, I was slated to have a demo released at the end of this year. It'll probably take another 3-4 months. But if I weren't initially shooting for the end of the year, I would have gotten bogged down in other stuff. I assume though you'll probably be going through some major life changes though in the next several years. Are you fine with your game spanning on them? Do you see yourself working on the game still in that time?
• How many hours do you think your game will take? I'm working on a fan game. It will have 3 gyms. I'm anticipating up to 3,000 hours of labor and I'm currently probably at 1000-1200.
• Are you okay if only a few people play your game? Game making can be really depressing and a lot of times you don't get feed back for the work you do. Are you okay making art for the sake of making art?
• And if you want people to play, what makes your game unique? Amid the sea of Pokémon fangames, why should people play your game? What's your catch? Who is the audience to whom you are appealing?

Aside from this, here is some helpful advice from Toby Fox, maker of Undertale, regarding the endeavors of he and his brothers to make games in RPG Maker:

The completion of the silly game that my brother and I were making was the first time any of us had ever finished anything like that. It was shorter than what our oldest brother had made, but at that moment, I realized something: we were still just kids. If we wanted to complete a game, we had to make something that was feasible for us! Since then, that thought has always been with me. At that time, all those using RPG Maker were trying to make their own version of something like Final Fantasy. The sort of epic game where you had to level up your character to 50, battle with every enemy in the enemy list, and if you really completed it, it would take about 20 hours to play.

However, after seeing the game our oldest brother made, I realized that something like that would be impossible for me. From then on, I made sure to keep the scale of the games I made small and to develop solid development plans. By understanding my own abilities and not exceeding the limits of my mind and body, I was able to complete a decent number of games. So, everyone, you can make games right now too! Just maybe don't try to make Final Fantasy.

Anyway, what you're planning can be feasible, and I think the idea to shoot for a demo first is a good one. It also serves as a good exit point if you decide that making a full-scale game isn't for you (it's totally fine if it isn't or if you want to come back years later!), but still want to see some fruit of your progress.

Best of luck!

 

[-FL-]

The more small/medium games you make before, the better your "epic" game will be.

You can also go to "remake" route, constantly remaking your game while you improve, but this will take a lot of time too. One of reasons that Uranium took 9 years to be completed was the devs keep remaking this game. Just compare the first demo to the complete game, almost few things remain.

 

[safr]

So, I'm a beginner at making fangames, I've been playing them for about 6 years though and am a huge fan. I want to start making something like those that I've loved and made a lasting impression on me (Reborn, rejuvenation, insurgence, desolation, more recently pathways) but with my own touch. I know that those projects were massive undertakings and its just me and my friend working on our project but I think I have what it takes, I'm familiar with programming, but am new to the graphic element. Is this a stupid idea? I kind of wanted to try to get up to the second of eight gyms then release a demo, I started last week and have completed the first town, the main cast, the storyboard, programmed a starter quiz type deal. Am I on the right track? I've been extremely driven but also I feel like it can be frustrating (I spent 3 hours on a cutscene bug yesterday).

one important thing is dont give up because on you stop making progress designing in rpg maker the game will never finish, its not important how many sketch of pokemon or new character you made if you never try using rpg maker then it will never become reality so dont give up that the first think, speaking from experience i give up andall file lost. dont need overcomplicated story so just go with normal pokemon story beating league for your first game

 

[mindbender12]

Start small. I jumped in with a big dream, and I’m quickly approaching 2 years with nothing to show yet.