I have been working on a remake of a Half-Life 2 mod called Too Many Crates for about 2 months now.
It has been a very interesting yet painful ride.
This was a project that I thought would be quite straightforward. It's a game about breaking hundreds of crates. How hard could it be?
What do you need?
Now that sounds simple, and it was...
Until you sit down and really think about what you need for a game like this...
Take a moment and REALLY think about what you need to make a game like this from scratch, using only whatever you are provided with from your game engine. (In my case, Godot.)
I'll let you take a moment to think about this. Click the button to see what I actually need for this game.
AND THIS ISN'T EVEN EVERYTHING I NEED. THIS IS ONLY WHAT I KNOW I NEED NOW. (Though most of this work is mostly done by now.)
If you go down the game development rabbit hole, just know that nothing comes for free. Everything has a price and the main price point is time.
Nothing is simple. Everything has to be hand done. Nothing in game development is brainless work.
But I like it.
I love the process of learning how to make my own things with my own hands. I enjoy the struggles that come with making a game like this.
I wouldn't ever want a simplified editor that lets me do these types of things for free, because programming is a puzzle with no straightforward solution.
It puts my brain to work in a way that I can only get from making my own games with my own noggin and I wouldn't trade that for the world.
I didn't make this post with the intent of turning anyone away from game dev. I just wanted to get out what I've been working on for almost 3 months now and show everything that goes into game development.
I hate seeing posts talking about "lazy game developers" because I know there is an art to making video games.
An art that is hard to learn and harder to master.
Even those who have thousands of hours of time developing software and games still go through the same pitfalls as indie developers do who are making their first game.
Gamedev is hard and the stigma around "lazy devs" doesn't help anyone. It only serves to downplay the amazing efforts that go into making and especially releasing a game.
When stuff goes wrong with bigger games, it typically isn't the fault of the developers, but rather the higherups that don't know jack shit about making a game.
If anything, it is a miracle that any game gets released. When they do, it's because it was a passionate project produced by equally passionate people who care about the games they make and the audiences they make the game for.
As always, I hope you're doing alright. Life can sometimes be quite hard and will kick you down to the dirt. Sometimes it feels like it wants to keep you there, but that feeling won't last forever. Every feeling you have is only what you're feeling right now. Not what you'll feel forever.
If you are feeling hopeless, please reach out to close friends and family. Reach out to the Suicide Hotline (988) if you are feeling like ending it all.
I promise you, the world is a better place with you in it. Keep on going no matter what. Show life that you're in control of it, not that it controls you.
Have a wonderful day. Take care! See you again soon.