With the new year only hours away, I want to reflect on this first year of designing games.
The Good
- I took my first steps into exploring what has become one of my passions. Before 2014 I had barely dipped my toes into designing games, mostly because of the workload of my Bachelors degree. With the additional time afforded to me while studying my Masters, I actually got to spend time exploring game design, trying it out and discovering how much I loved the process.
- I have designed two games! Yea, the second one (Avatar Pro Bending) doesn't really work very well. I've been considering a redesign, but probably not anytime soon. And, thirtysix, well it works! And that's a lot better than some of the other game designs I have made this year, so I'm very happy.
- I've met so many awesome people in the local game design scene, which considering where I live, is a fairly small one, but vibrant nonetheless. Just being among other people with the same passion, sharing ideas and being able to talk shop has been great! I hope that I meet even more people next year!
The Bad
- Games take so long to develop! While this was something that had been hanging around in the back of my mind since I started, I didn't realise until I actually started trying to make a game. But, I still think the hard yards are worth it. To be able to turn an idea into reality, that's what it's all about.
- Despite meeting so many new people, I still generally work by myself on my games. Not that is necessarily bad, since I get to own the outcome, but having someone else to bounce ideas off and get motivated with would be nice for the year ahead.
- I have a lot of ideas, but I am not able to progress with so many of them because I only have so much time. But, I also know that I haven't finished the games I have started working on. I should really focus on doing that in the new year!
The Horrifying
- Money! I've spent so much money on buying new games! I don't want to see the size of the hole that has gouged into my bank account. But, every one of those games has been worth it, so I can't complain too much, and certainly not since I have the money to spend on buying so many games. Now if I only had the bookshelf space to store them all...
Overall, 2014 has been an amazing year for me, not only in designing games. I have learned a lot from designing games; how to take a concept and build some fun mechanics around it, how to run playtests, how to talk to people about game design and how to teach others to play games, just to name a few things. I hope that your 2014 was just as awesome and that 2015 can be even better! Happy New Year!
You can always contact me by posting a comment below, on my Facebook page, Google+ or sending me an email!
You can always contact me by posting a comment below, on my Facebook page, Google+ or sending me an email!