Behind the Scenes: Game Development Advice

Hey all,

So another addition of behind-the-scenes posts here and this one tackles a pretty common question that I get in my DMs and I recently was asked it again so I thought it was time I actually articulated some of my thoughts in a more organized fashion.

I'm consistently humbled when people say that playing Straight!? has motivated them to try and create their own projects and I'm in full support for this as a hobby, creative, or even therapeutic exercise. As such, a lot of people attempt to jump into game development from scratch for the first time and it's extremely overwhelming. So this post will mostly focus on what I've learned in the way of lessons since I started from scratch in 2017. These are not professional suggestions and they may not apply to anyone but me but they're things that I believe in and they're things that have continued to keep me motivated while I've watched hundreds of projects collapse in abandonment as this little story trudged onward.

Note: These are in no particular order and I may add to it over time 

Write the Story For Yourself and Not the Public

Straight!? for me was a personal journey and an exercise for myself, the fact that it was actually released to the public was almost an accident and based solely on one post on one website. I can tell you without question that if I had gotten a negative reaction to my pitch, I still would have created this story, I just wouldn't have told anyone about it and never would have shared it.

My point here is to make a story for yourself that you want told. This increases your own motivation. Find a story that you have a desire to see through, even if people do not back you, subscribe, like, purchase, or donate to. At the end of the day, make it for you. Artists are always their worst critics and hundreds of individual games like this are abandoned constantly. Mostly, because I feel like people see a way to monetize that and try to bank off it-- especially in the adult genre. Succeeding globally is very hard to do. I had one sub my first month and I think 3 the second and I'm still not massive and I'm ok with that. I've stayed motivated because I was a fan of this story and unlike many network shows nowadays, I was invested in seeing that story finish-- regardless of whether I made money off it or not. 

Don't do it for the money.

Don't Make Decisions Based on Polls

I see a lot of developers do Polls on Patreon to determine the direction of a story and I think this is a mistake. I have subscribers come and go frequently and the primary reason for that is job changes or financial changes. It has little to do with the content or the story. So you could do a poll and have your supporters request the story to go in a direction that you dislike, forcing you to work in a direction you don't want to. But then a month or two later, you could lose many of those voting subscribers for economic reasons beyond your control. Thus, people who are no longer subscribed have determined that your story go in a poor direction and not be actively supporting the game financially. 

To offset this, tell the story your way. You typically have more direction and you can setup plot things longer term. Many polls will usually go in a direction that gives people resolution. Some stories need tension and that's uncomfortable and that can be a good thing so let that shit linger. 

Create Characters You Don't Mind Looking at for Thousands of Hours

Whether you're creating your characters using 3D software or drawing them as sprites or CG scenes, you are going to spend hundreds or even thousands of hours looking at them. Draw what you like. Regardless of how many times fans play through your project, they are still going to spend less time looking at your characters than you do. If you don't like what you're looking at, you're probably going to lose interest in your project.

Google and Youtube are Your Friend

If you have a desire to code something or do something with an image, picture, or software, it's ok to Google that or look it up. Odds are someone's had the same question before. I do it constantly. Constantly. Most of the time, I have to do it multiple times because I forget how to do it the next time I try again. You can also get on forums and ask. Some devs are jerks, but we can also safely assume that if they are, their character flaws probably exceed your own and that's why they're an asshole. But there's also some really good people out there and some devs really like to help others so give them an excuse to scratch that itch when they're not busy.

Tap Into Your Fan Base

Straight!? is kind of an exclusion here because it's a very personal project so I've done most of it on my own, but tons of fans to projects out there love to help be a part of something. Some will even help volunteer their time, just don't take advantage of kindness and remember to say thank you and give credit when you can. They can also help do early reads of scripts or test your demos before you release. It's faster to find bugs when you have 10 people playing the game than you do just yourself.

I'm also going to suggest finding people that can talk sense into you, organize you, and call you on your shit. I have friends that support me. They talk to me in a language that I understand and they have strengths that compliment my own weaknesses. That helps me on a level that is indescribable. While Straight!? continues, they will tell you that I've wanted to give up more than once. I've gotten frustrated for many reasons and the only reason I'm still here is because they drug me back in a way that I was receptive to and I allowed them to do that. 

If You're Doing a Dating Sim, Watch How Many Routes You Make

If you've never talked with me on voice chat, I'm very hyper and scattered person; my concentration is garbage despite me really trying my best. Me juggling multiple routes for a dating sim was quickly axed near the beginning of the game. Keep in mind, the more choices you have, the more things branch out and more complicated they get. If this is ok and you're a pro at organizing, go for it. I'm not so my point here is no your limits or ask for help. A lot of projects will quickly introduce dozens of characters and then get abandoned because people don't know what to do with a full litter.

Don't Personalize Feedback and Learn the Difference in What's Constructive vs. What's Selfish

This is a tough one to learn. But when you share your work with people, they will have reactions. Straight!? is an adult game but it doesn't really play out the way most adult games play, therefore I would sometimes get people who wanted more sex stuff. If that feedback is important to me, then I can choose whether those feelings are congruent with what my goals for the story are. If they're not, then it's not helpful and I can disregard or explain why the feedback doesn't apply here. 

It's ok for it not to apply. Keep in mind what your goals for your project are and then write within that box. Regardless of how hard you try, you will find people who will hate you for reasons even they can't articulate. That's the internet. You'll find people that go off on your project or take great delight in condemning it or searching through a Thesaurus to try and find large words to attack it with. The Psych world calls that "projection" and it's usually the result of a personal war within that person that they just direct towards places it doesn't belong: like you or your game. So don't personalize that. You can want to change the world with your story but you won't because the world is more diverse than any story can ever be.

Don't confuse what others want your project to be with what your project really is.

Release Things Episodically

This one is weird and personal but hear me out. Straight!?  will never be perfect but it is infinitely better because I wrote it episodically. The advantage was that after each update, people read it and they reacted. Sometimes they would postulate something or spot something that I never thought about, which generated ideas and pushed the story in a new direction that I never could have alone. The plot of Straight!? was developed over time and literally became a dance between myself and the comments after each update-- or the discussions on Discord. Characters that never would have gotten screen time became fan favorites because someone out there in the infinity of time and space asked a "why" that resonated. Don't miss using that as an opportunity if it's something that resonates with you. 

Pace Yourself and Ignore People That Complain About How Long it Takes

Like some of the other ones, this one is a bit weird and you have to be careful. When I started, I was doing monthly updates on the game. The reason there is because the indie game community abandons shit constantly so people don't trust game developers with their money-- and honestly they're right. If you start out and you can pump out updates monthly, it builds you some trust and I think it's a good idea so people take you seriously. However, in time, trying to elevate things or add things to the game takes extra time and pretty soon you're working hundreds and hundreds of hours a month. Then you're bound to get an idea that expands things and it takes longer than a month (for me it was the poker game point of the story). My updates slowly took longer, not because I was being lazy but because I was researching and practicing more stuff and I tried to be open with the community about that. Straight!? also releases very long updates in contrast to other games like this. So one game may update monthly and add 10 minutes of gameplay, Straight!? started to update about once every 6 months and dropped 90 minutes to 120 minutes of gameplay so honestly, it balances out. People who complain about development time are not going to do that math, they see things transactionally: they gave you money, they want something back now.

Some people will complain regardless and hearing that sucks because it normally strikes a nerve where you have a desire to pump out something monthly, but it's insane how long it takes to develop things-- especially if you really care about them. It did for me and I'm very aware of how long my updates take and honestly, I hate it. I've said it before to people but watch the credits of a Tv show, movie, video game, anime, and how many people are involved and then reduce that to one. When I release my game updates and people subscribe for just that download, they're literally paying about $5 for 2,000 to 3,000 hours of work. The hourly wage sucks and you gotta be cool with that. Honestly, it's better to not keep track of how many hours you work. Just focus on the project that you wanted to do for yourself and it won't matter.

If you rush shit, you make mistakes; you cut things out just to  make the time hack; and you burn out and become disappointed in your work. The people who complain about that, won't see it that way. However, that being said, don't take advantage of people. If you mess up or things are taking longer, tell people. Don't hide. Don't take donations and do nothing. That hurts your project and honestly it hurts other developers and sows many of the rotten feelings that are directed towards the indie game community now.