Anyone have games on the backburner?

[Jared]

I know everyone says that you should make your first game as simple as possible, but of course you know rookies are going to ignore that advice - so my first idea for a game was essentially full-length, but I decided I'd make it easy by having a limited setting and 13 characters (which I consider a very small number). I've basically made the graphics but, during the course of that game I decided that I really should make sure my programming was good by taking on a simpler project first.

So then I tried to think of a one-room game to make that would actually have a fun idea behind it that I'd like to make. I came up with Secret Agent on Rollerskates (Because the main character's on remote-controlled rollerskates I don't need a walkcycle...) which would be set in one room... but then to compensate I decided to make the one room very large. And then added two more rooms anyway.

So then I've done almost all the graphics for that , started programming it with the LECScumm Interface, gotten to a third of the way through... and realised I'm dirt poor when Valentine's Day is coming up. Luckily it's a long-distance kind of thing so I thought I'd make a relatively simple game for my girlfriend with some stuff she'd like and give it to her as a late present...

Feels a bit weird to me because I've got two fully-planned and partially complete games on my computer that I have every intention of finishing and releasing in a few months' time, so I was wondering how many half-finished games there are on peoples' harddrives..

[auriond]

Many, many many, I'll bet.  I've got so many ideas for games, one of which has been "almost complete" for a year now (and driving me batty every day) and another which I've started the planning process for. As for the others, it remains to be seen if they'll ever see the light of day.

I thought I could start with a simpler game too, at first. I used to have a couple of half-baked crappy sprites knocking about in my hard disk. But I couldn't sustain my interest long enough for a game that was essentially just for practice. So in the end I dived head first into making a game, never mind if it turns out long or short, and I've never regretted it.

[ThreeOhFour]

I have two yet to be completed but planned to be completed ones on mine.

When you're doing it as a hobby, you're free to focus on what you find enjoyable rather than saying " I don't wanna work on this but I have to release it  ".

[Jared]

Well, yeah, but the think is I like all of my 'games' (Inverted commas because they exist mostly in potentia only at the moment) and am hoping to get them all out there.

[Intense Degree]

I have about 4 or 5 games in varying states from half way in to nearly complete. However, and in all honesty, they are mostly rubbish and that is why work on them ground to a halt! They were really just tools to help me learn how to make games with AGS (and learn to draw!) and so were very useful and even necessary (for me) for that reason.

On the whole I think that, in the majority of cases, first and second games should never be released as the ones that are tend to be a little... well I'd be embarassed to release mine put it that way!

Having said that you get better with every attempt and I may even have something vaguely releasable in the not too distant future!

[Darth Mandarb]

I think most of us probably have a game (or four) in some state sittin' on the back-burner.

I have a sequel to The Dark Crystal that I wrote (and did some graphics for) called The Song Crystal that I want to make into an adventure game.

I have some work started on the sequel to my first (very short) game called JP & Cosmo II: The Jewel of Denial.

I still have intentions of, someday in the future, working again on Rebel Spy (my first attempted game with AGS)

I have a few (many) other ideas that I'm not sharing

[jiro]

Yeah, just one. 

A college friend and I talked about adventure games we loved and eventually decided to create one of our own. We started with him as a programmer, me as a story and puzzle designer, and his art student roommate as a background artist (we bribed him with promised meals and art materials). We spent about a year and half on it before we abandoned it.

The story is a tribute to a favourite mystery writer, Edogawa Rampo (Japan's answer to Edgar Allan Poe, which was how ER obtained his pen name), who's best known for both mystery stories and his 'Kogoro Akechi' stories.

Akechi is a genius but highly eccentric detective that investigates supernatural or weird mysteries. Like Sherlock Holmes, but Akechi is more weird and he's at home in Japan where the supernatural and the paranormal exist.)  Rampo's stories were such an influence on me that I wanted to create an adventure game that set in Rampo's world.

We named the game "A Strange Tale of the Hotel Butterfly". In Japan, a butterfly is usually seen as a messenger of death. The hotel is located at the base of the real-life forest, 'Aokigahara' (a sea of trees), which is nationally nicknamed "The Suicide Forest" because obviously, it's where suicidal people go to take their lives. 

In this story, a wealthy member of the Diet asked our hero to investigate his wayward son's disappearance. The last sighting of him at the Hotel Butterfly. Hence the trip, but our hero thought the son may have killed himself at the forest. Why else was he there?

When our hero arrived, he quickly discovered it wasn't as straightforward as he expected. To begin with, the place was creepy as hell and the staff were skittish and strange. Some guests weren't as who they claimed to be. Our hero suspected the wayward son may be alive and that his life was at stake. In fact, there may be three lives at stake including his own.

I wanted the hero to be Japanese, but my mate argued to make him British to make him "appealing" for the likes of him. We compromised by making him a half (half-British and half-Japanese), the only son of British journalist mother and Japanese diplomat father. We gave him a name, "John Yamada", which unexpectedly provided a running gag.

Yamada is one of most common Japanese family names (like Smith) and John is one of most English given names (like Taro). We had him switching between John Yamada and Taro Smith throughout the story.

The game was 46% completed when we got sidetracked by real life issues and college stuff.  I doubt we'll ever pick it up again because my college friend and I lost touch after he went off to save lives somewhere in Delhi when we graduated a few years ago. 

But it was fun while it lasted, though.

[miguel]

Blue Moon takes mostly 90% of my time dedicated to AGS (I'm currently on location 4 out of 6), but I've been doing hand-drawn sprites for Dwarven Dagger 2, and I've got a fairly stable idea of another game I want to do.
And of course all the other ideas that pop into mind during the day when I'm at work and think: "Hey! This could just be a very cool game!...Nope, I don't think so..."

[Dualnames]

I'm working on a RED DWARF game idea for the last months. Spriting Rimmer and Lister...

[Ghost]

I'm quite possibly a backburner personified. 

I bet everyone has something on his drive that takes/took/has been taking *ages* by now, and, well, it's only natural, isn't it? Better somewhere safe in a nice directory than just a vague idea jotted down on a sheet of paper- that way it's "in the making", and a bit more tangible.


I have three such directories.

And they've got sub-directories...

with zip files in them...

and that are just the AGS thingies...

*sigh*

[Matti]

1. I had an adventure game in progress 'til my hard disc crashed... i might redo it some day..

2. I have worked on a 2D space shooter, made with Turbo Pascal. A first version many years ago then a second one some years ago and I am considering remaking it with AGS (or perhaps Pascal again). The older versions weren't finished anyway..

3. I'm working on an action-RPG right now, the only 100% serious project at the moment..

..and well, stored somewhere in my mind, there are plenty of other ideas who might or might not see the ligt of the day..

[Snake]

Anyone have games on the backburner?

I have nothing else to say, but "Yes".

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Let's see...

I have 3 I definitely want to finish and at least one other I'd like to make but doubt I'll bother.

[Joseph DiPerla]

I still have my two simpsons games. Atleast I have gotten a template released with 40 rooms.

@Darth: I REALLY REALLY hope you continue Rebel Spy. I love Star Wars. I hope you continue or remake that game again. Hey, did you ever have a demo for it?If yes, do you have link we can download it from?

[Dualnames]

Anyone have games on the backburner?

I have nothing else to say, but "Yes".

Oh, shut up!!

You reminded me how I want to play that game of yours again.

[Cirius]

Half finished games...good grief, let's have a look.

Right. In the Doctor Who category we have:
Dawn of the Daleks. Alas, this will never be finished, as the source material died with the hard disk.
Episode One, (almost finished, I'd put it in the 4/5ths category over 1/2 finished.)
Episode Two,
Episode Three,

Outside the Dr Who category we have:

MacGuyver-A short one room game that was supposed to take me an hour. I have yet to finish it, and I don't know why, perhaps this week.

Away Team- A 'star-trek' inspired randomly generated away mission simulator, that is proving more trouble than its worth.

Then we have a bucket load of assorted sprites and backgrounds that I am incredibly tempted to just bung together with a few backgrounds and just call it Random Quest.

[Mr Flibble]

Since you ask; I've been working on a game for a while now that charts the slow descent into madness of an alienated figure.

Puzzle design is a stumbling block.

[monkey0506]

So Flibble you're still working on that MI project after all?

As far as myself I have to date approximately 834719 projects on my hard drive, 836725 of which have lain dormant for some time.

Hmmm...all this talk is making me want to get back into the scripts. Sheeze.

[LimpingFish]

Everything is on the backburner at the moment. Even the active ones. Bah!

[Dualnames]

To reply seriously this time, I never used to have more than one game on the backburner. Now I have 3 and one semi-abandoned. It's a living hell.