Thanks, Vito. Taking your suggestion of trying to remake a classic game, I'm now working on a remake of "Galaxian". Your name will be mentioned upon completion. thanks again.

Coming up with your own ideas usually doesn't come from just yourself anyways. Ask around what people would think would be best for a game and see how many say the same thing if your going for popular status.

Reinhartstar wrote:

Note: Certainly hope I posted this in the right area, and sorry If I didn't. Ive never seen a question like this one asked before so I really didn't have anything to go by.

Well, to start off, after my three or so years with BYOND, I believe Ive reached the status of an intermidate programmer.

I find that highly unlikely. Your skill as a programmer does not simply come magically by being around for a certain time, but by practice and by application of good programming logic.

I was looking at some of your past posts, and back in July last year, just 8 months ago, you had a question that an internewbiate programmer should at least have been able to get started on on their own. Given that you haven't posted much lately, there's really no way to gauge your progress, but if you look back you may find a thread from a while back chock full of people who thought they were between intermediate and advanced in skill level. Almost all of them thought so in error.

But I've yet to get a single game on BYOND(or at least, a single popular or functioning game). I've tried thousands of games(90% of which were RPGs), and dumped them all withing a few minutes. So I come to, fellow BYOND members, with my problem. I currently have neither the skills nor the patience to make an RPG(Though one day, I the future, I will have an RPG up on BYOND, once I vastly improve my own coding ability), so I ask all of you, what type of game do you think I should try to create as my first good BYOND game?

It only takes intermediate skill to make a good RPG, so if you were intermediate, those skills would be there. Patience is another story; that's one of the main things that's held me back from making one.

As far as what type of game to make, well, the field's wide open. If RPGs are too much for you, try something else. Board games usually work quite well as a first project.

Lummox JR

I would also add that a good RPG is usually very plot dependant. Most well regarded RPGs are known for an immersive story environment. So if you are having to ask around for a game idea, this seems to be lacking.

The only true tests are results.

That's a good test - only add "if you think you're the uber programming god, you're probably expert." That would cover all situations.

--Vito

good for you. You'd better be persistent. (10+ years, 15+ popular projects, by my estimation (and 4 or more must be top 20 ranked))

-_Vito

Vito Stolidus wrote:

good for you. You'd better be persistent. (10+ years, 15+ popular projects, by my estimation (and 4 or more must be top 20 ranked))

that's why its so hard to tell, because you can't measure it in years, projects, or popularity.

if you think you're the uber programming god, you're probably expert."

not quite. my point wasn't to determine how skilled someone is, i was just pointing out how people tend to be less skilled than they consider themselves to be. if you're skilled, show it and people will notice, then you won't have to say "i consdier myself to be an intermediate programmer".

Fan games havn't been done to death... DBZ has been done to death (And possibly a few others) but there's nothing wrong with fan creations.

As far as I'm concerned, original work isn't always the best way out. Alot of people lack the imagination required to think up their own successful hit, but could really put other people's ideas to work for them... I'll give you an example:

In a business where web programming or anything of that level comes into play. There are usually three main jobs: One is of course the writer for content, the other is the graphics designer for appeal, then there's the programmer, who generally lacks the abilities in the other two categories but can really put it together nicely... now often one is great at their job, but horrid at the others... and that's where my point comes in.

The idea of Fan games isn't terrible, not everyone is creative or inspired enough to start from the very beginning, and writing up an original story and branching from there is a very tough task. Also, it's very redundant to create a whole new story if there's already one out there that's similar, that you'd rather present and work from (What's better creating a fan media or creating some horrible copy. If you need an idea just look up MadCatz products). That idea's been done for everything from movies, to books... And if you're inspired heavily towards something, why force yourself to create some sort of crappy offspring of that idea?