I have noticed that my games have been of poor quality. But for some reason I can't tell why.
Is it my engine? Or my poor understanding of Game-play?
Is it the graphics, sound, overall story?
Its kinda hard since some say there good and they don't really explain what does not work.
(Some people do though)
Thanks in advance :)
~Star
Sorry for not responding was just thinking how to formulate this response. If you are alright with me being perfectly blunt your games first and foremost lack any original assets, most images you grab off of google have some copyright attached to them not to mention the music you use so in all aesthetic regards your games do not feel like they have any personal touch. Next is that the lack of any feel or juice, im sure you have heard of the concept of game feel but probably not explored it. When it comes to polishing games there are many ways you can make the actions feel nice and usually that is through sound and animation, these things combined with controls contribute to the overall feel of the game, there are many videos and articles on the topic so i suggest you take some time into researching that. Next is competition, your games are doing things that many bigger more experienced developers have done many times so in that regard you dont stand a chance, as a indie developer the safest bet for us is to play it risky and make something different, if you have trouble coming up with ideas i suggest Jonas Tyroller's "But" method, take a simple well known genre that you know you can develop and pitch it with a "but". An example would be: bullet hell but getting hit by certain bullets damages the enemy, or maybe a bullet hell but the enemy is also trying to dodge your bullets. once you have something simple and different you can make all the smaller design decisions based around that core. One final thing your games miss is a personal touch, to me they kind of feel like they are trying to be other peoples games and not your own from your own experiences, some of your greatest inspiration and ideas will come from your own life. Anyone can copy a mechanic or a aesthetic but no one can copy you, and thats what will make you stand out in the large sea of indie games of varying quality. Hope to see more from you and hope this was helpful!
I used to create music and then upload every single idea. I never realised that until it was too late that it would be the reason no one really listened...
Writing many ideas is great, it means your creativity is on overdrive. But what could really work is collating the ideas together and combining elements in to one project :) When I set out making a game with RPG Maker, I had to discipline myself to make one project only and make it work somehow against the back drop of saturated RPG Maker releases...
I've learned more using the engine for one game then I could have by making 50 game ideas. It takes time, and surely sometimes you need to go away because you're missing that one thing , it drives you up the bend. But it's really worth hanging on to an idea then making it grow, which in turn you will also.
One thing you could try is having a listen to the GDC seminars on You-Tube. When I had nowhere to go, there was a game developer with massive experience who was there to help. Game devs from Indie and Mainstream talk to an audience about their experiences, good and bad. Really cleared some things up for me, this could help also :)
