I really like the idea of this post! It’ll be cool to see everyone’s experience and plans. Hopefully it’s also inspiring to at least one person.
Who am I?
To be honest, these past few years have been less than fruitful. I officially started developing stuff when I attempted to make something for the 2022 Gain Jam. I didn’t finish in time, but I wanted to keep developing it. I coded a ton of stuff and had loads of fun, but then I got to the point where I needed to make assets. I have never been an artistic person so trying to make good assets felt like pulling teeth. I eventually just dropped the project altogether, which is sad because I really liked the concept. It was gonna be a game show type thing where you spun a wheel and tried to get as much money as you can before becoming overweight.
2023’s Gain Jam was a similar story, except I made even LESS progress before giving up. I was also in the process of finding a job at the time, so I’m not gonna be too hard on myself.
For 2024, I actually made the smart decision and did the Jam with a team! We made Poke-r Gut and I had a blast! The whole process was so much easier and it was good to have people to share progress with. This trend continued with the GET LARGE Jam that recently happened, and again, I had a good time making a game and actually posted it.
The main problem is my failure at finishing projects. I have at least 8 or 9 different projects I’ve started and given up on. The really sad part is they almost all end the same way, I start making assets, get frustrated, and give up. It really demoralized me which just made the problem worse over the past few years. But every once in a while I get a moment of clear-headedness and I think “I really want to make this work”, so I just keep trying.
I’ve always been ok at programming and awful at art, so I’ve been working to improve my art skills recently. I’ve done more work in Blender and I’ve been making an effort to draw everyday. It’s been really fun after quieting my internal critic and just enjoying the process.
What I’ve been working on
Since I’ve been improving my 2d art skills, I really want to go back and work more on Tubby Tomes, a Twine game I messed around with. It also suffered from me hating assets I made for it, so I eventually just pushed the demo out with text only.
I also have that pile of concepts and unfinished games I would like to work on. The biggest one that I need to revisit is a collection of short scenarios, designed just to give me practice with 3d art. Like with Tubby Tomes, I want this to be a learning experience so I can actually grow as an artist.
I’ll jot down some more unfinished concepts, just to give an idea of how much failure it took for me to finally lock in:
2 projects for 2 different Preggo Jams, one that was fancy brick-breaker and one that was a crappy Temple-Run clone
A dating sim that I was working on with others before we all had tons of things go wrong for all of us. On indefinite suspension now, but who knows, it might resurface.
A game for Team Quimbly’s first Belly Jam that I didn’t release in time, spent MONTHS trying to finish, and then hated the art. The coding was also sub-optimal, so I canned it. This one was probably the closest to being done, but it was little ambitious for someone of my art skill.
A minesweeper type game that someone suggested in a post. I ended up just remaking basic minesweeper and that’s it.
There’s also like 3 or 4 other projects that I’ve made design doc’s for but haven’t developed at all.
All of this to say, DON’T EVER GIVE UP. Keep pushing through if you really want to make something. In the process of all this I may not have released a lot but that doesn’t mean it was in vain. I met a bunch of cool people, learned a bunch of new skills, and all the struggling has helped me learn more about myself and what I need to do to work well. I am so excited to keep learning and applying what I learn, and I hope everyone can feel as pumped about their own projects!