Topic: Stupid improvement...

[Technocrat]

Don't you just hate it when you notice that, while working slowly on a game over the course of a year, you discover that since starting it six months ago, your skills have increased? You end up finding that the rooms the protagonist starts in are MS Paint messes, but since then the newer ones, while more technically proficient and appealling, no longer match the character?

Or is that just me? It seems like I started by building a model space rocket and of matchsticks, but by the end of it, I lift my welding mask and find that most of enormous booster I've been building on a baikonur launchpad no longer fits with the wooden cargo module.

Nuts to that, I'll start another game!

[ManicMatt]

That's why my first game was a few rooms and then never saw the light of day. 

[MoodyBlues]

That kind of happens to me every now and then when I learn a new programming language.  I'll look back on what I did at the beginning of a project and think, "Dang!  Why did I decide to implement it that way?   Now it's going to make other things harder to do!"

[ThreeOhFour]

Nuts to that, I'll start another game!

That response is the best way to ending up with 8 unfinished games 

Trust me, I am proof of this 

[Stupot+]

I have 4 unfinished games... none of them got past a couple of backgraounds and a sprite.  Although storyline and puzzle-wise I've pretty much finished two, but lack of artistic abilities has meant I've had to leave them to rot... and I've still yet to actually do any proper coding.

I think I have recruited a willing artist for the current project, though, so I can concentrate on design, and hopefully finally get my hands dirty in some code.  Aiming to have at least enough for a GiP thread by easter.

[InCreator]

Nuts to that, I'll start another game!

That response is the best way to ending up with 8 unfinished games 

Trust me, I am proof of this 

Same here, but number is a bit bigger than I'd like to reveal. Either here or to myself.
Dammit, perfectionism 

[Akatosh]

That's usually the cause of death for my unfinished projects. That, or "oh, wait, it's not actually that rad".

[ThreeOhFour]

That, or "oh, wait, it's not actually that rad".

I am guilty of this one AS WELL 

[uncle-mum]

That's the joy of working with pen and paper on a short game.  True it may not feature any of that artistic ability stuff or be even be that pleasant to look at, but as the all of the art work from Stediddy 1 took my about 2 hours tops there was no time for any "Stupid Improvements".  Shame Really...

[Ghost]

Improvement is everywhere; I've noticed myself getting better at spriting, background art and coding, for example. As long as you're in the short game department, there's hardly anything to worry about, people will simply notice how your last game looks/plays better.
For a lengthy project there're some workarounds like placeholder graphics and so on.

Just like Ben, I am also guilty of the dropped-game charge, but for a couple of projects I actually went and recreated large amounts of content. What me worry, it's not as if I had a shedule or something!

[Huw Dawson]

I can barely get through half a background before giving up. I just keep zooming out, looking at the background, getting cross and starting again.

 I've drawn my PI's office about 20 times over the years.

 - Huw

[Dualnames]

I usually didn't use to drop projects while I was sucking a lot at art and coding. Now that I've improved I am..it's difficult to keep a project(large one) up to date with your skills. Really. But so far it's manageable.

[G]

I'm also guilty of many chages.

Right now, I'm noticing it on my actual game (codename: Vendetta Project). I've learnt so many things about code, and graphics, that even now that the GUIs are all established and running smoothly, I'm having new ideas for new and more efficient GUIs.

And I say to myself: "Holly mollars! You should save those ideas for the next one, G."

Also, I startes doing quite simple graphics for one mere reason: to save time. Right now, I find myself sometimes making a hiper-detailed room, and I stop fot a moment.

And I say to myself: "Holly Cosmos, G! You're making those full-detailled scenographies again!"

Even the characters start to look more dinamic, and right now my main character looks stiff and boring!

And I say to myself: "Holly Gauacamole! I'm going to remake the sprites of the main character"

So, yes, this is a common phenomenon.

[Ultra Magnus]

Yeah, I'm only on my first game, but already I've had three or four instances of "I just found a much better way to script that thing that I pasted all over the inside of my game" and "it'll take so much effort to go through and change it all, I may as well just start again from a blank page".

That, and the GUI stubbornly refuses to stay relevant.

[Sektor 13]

Thats why you must be really prepared to start a new project !
I have started three and finished them all ! Well if i look back i would change a lot, now. But you can't do everything you want.
If you start new project and don't finish him, this will be happening all over again in the future project ...

[Azure]

I guess this happens on any creative project.. I guess an idea might be to do all the graphics at one point in the dev period rather  than as you go along so that it's consistent.

[TheJBurger]

I know everybody says it, but it is critical that you complete at least one short game before going on to a full length one. Doing this gives you an entire overview of what is important in the game creation process; what matters, what doesn't; what you need to do immediately, and what can wait until the end. It shows you how to overcome silly mistakes that will save you time and energy in future projects. Furthermore, it prevents you from falling into the "I've put way too much work in this sinking ship to abandon it now" syndrome.

For a long project, this is what I find effective:

Plot out everything first on paper: if it doesn't work on paper, it won't work in the game. Don't waste your time putting in features that don't work or have loopholes. Work out a small prototype first that contains all the "intuitive" or edgy features you want to put in the game. Find out if it works or not before you spend half of your time on a game, only to find out that the selling point you want isn't going to work after all. Placeholder everything: don't be bogged down by animations, high-detail character art, animated backgrounds, and polished GUI buttons. You don't need these at the beginning, they'll just consume your time and lose your focus from the big picture. If you start out working on character art at the beginning, you'll find you've improved too much by the end. Just work on the graphics at the same pace once you have everything else down, and DONT commit to anything too early. (Don't create all the animations based off one half-thrown together sprite that you will revamp later, anyway) Work from the beginning to the end in layers: Try to get the entire game complete before going in and adding all the small little touches. Of course there are many exceptions, but it is easy to get distracted by the little things that don't matter in the long run. It is much more important, in my opinion, to get a full prototype of the game first, and then build up on top of that, since you have all the core work done. The downside of this method is that it can become very tiresome as you are just revising and polishing and not adding any new features towards the end. However, I think it's more fail-safe and effective than just "winging it" and hoping for the best, or thinking that inspiration will carry you on forever.

[xXSasukexXXxUchihaXx]

Of course! when I first started back in '07, the only command I could understand was Display();
But now that I know how to do a wide array of things without consulting the trusty help file, I play games and try to think of what the code might look like for that particular part. You know?