How long did it take to make your game?

Anarcho · Mon 03/05/2004 06:05:51

As the MONTHS wallow by since I first started my current project, and my own blinding obsession with pefection compels me to redo perfectly good graphics, I've just read on Yahtzee's site that it took him three weeks to make Odyessues (sp?) Kent...WTF?Ã,Â Not that it's a work of art or anything, but it's a solid game...but to get to the point,

I'm wondering how long it takes most people to complete games?Ã,Â Obviously it would vary on how long the game is, but on average.Ã,Â I've been working on this damn 13 room game since October of this year.Ã,Â It sounds ridiculous to even say it, and to be fair i've spent most of that time learning from scratch about graphics and AGS, but at what time do you just declare yourself insane for still continuing with a project out of sheer stubborness?Ã,Â

-Logan

Timosity · Mon 03/05/2004 08:05:33

It really depends on if you're working on the games 15hrs a day 7 days a week or 2 hours a day 2 days a week (or somewhere in either side)

It took me around 3 months to make Larrywilco 17 room game medium length, working pretty long hours.

I made a MAGS game in about 3 weeks, working pretty hard but not over the top.

I've been working on an LSL3 conversion for the last 14 months, but have varied in length of time working on it, for the first 9 months I worked really hard on it as I was working only part-time in a job and sometimes spent days working on the game for 15hrs or so and did at least something every day (appart from a few days or weeks off here and there)

Now that I'm working fulltime in a job that's physically draining (eg. walking 8hours a day) I don't have as much mental capacity to sit in front of a computer for as long, so It's only slowly progressing at the moment.

Everyone takes different amounts of time, and are more efficient in different areas. Also take into consideration your planning and length of game, There's no real gauge for how long it takes, cause there's too many variables.

It just takes as long as it takes, but don't give up, it's worth it in the end.

Quote from: ldw on Mon 03/05/2004 06:05:51
I've been working on this damn 13 room game since October of this year.

and since you've been time travelling maybe if you start it now you'll finish it by then.

Gilbert · Mon 03/05/2004 08:14:23

It took a millenium for me, yet I have never finsihed making a game. As mentioned, the time involved is mainly depended on:
1. How you want your game to be (length, graphics, etc.)
2. How much time do you have to work on it.
3. Motivation (...)

Alynn · Mon 03/05/2004 10:27:07

Quote from: Gilbot V7000a on Mon 03/05/2004 08:14:23
It took a millenium for me, yet I have never finsihed making a game. As mentioned, the time involved is mainly depended on:
1. How you want your game to be (length, graphics, etc.)
2. How much time do you have to work on it.
3. Motivation (...)

4. Getting deployed to a war torn 3rd world country....

* Alynn couldn't resist.

LordHart · Mon 03/05/2004 10:32:59

I think this is a really good question... but only one man can answer such a question...

m0ds, where are you?

Andail · Mon 03/05/2004 10:53:19

my first two games were done within half a year, the third took about half a year itself, and I worked pretty regularly on it.
Then there was a month of beta-testing as well, of course

Gilbert · Mon 03/05/2004 11:07:43

Quote from: Os Ã Å¡ltimo QuÃ£o Queijo ^_^ on Mon 03/05/2004 10:32:59
m0ds, where are you?

Heh considering time and effort, I think I'm comparable to m0ds.

Privateer Puddin' · Mon 03/05/2004 11:52:18

I think Pirates Pride is coming up to a year now, blimey

When it's done..

Kinoko · Mon 03/05/2004 14:04:02

The bulk of Cirque de Zale took about 3 months of reasonably hard work. I wouldn't work on it EVERY day... but most days, easily, and for long hours when I did. Actually, thinking about it now... wow @_@ I can't believe I'm still sane. If I make another game, given that I probably won't ever have a "summer holiday" as such again, it won't be worked on that intensely so will most definitely take much longer to make.

AGA · Mon 03/05/2004 14:26:10

My first game took about 3 1/2 months. My second, which I started a week or so before I finished the first game because I was bored of working on the 1st game, took about 9 months. Alien Rape Escape, which was supposed to take a few days to make, took something like 6 weeks. The current game, Jon Stickman, has been going roughly since ARE was finished. The demo was actually finished around July last year, but it took until January for us to get 'round to cleaning it up and making it presentable. And now scotch has disappeared into the ether, so I can't really work on it. Spring Fever, which was supposed to be Team 5's entry for the AGS team games competition thingy, is still going, just about. Artwork is trickling in every now and then, and I'm getting it done bit-by-bit...

LGM · Mon 03/05/2004 15:09:28

The longest I've spent on a game is probably a month.. My MAGS game..Which was never finished, now that i think about it.

Which really says alot about any of my games.

mätzyboy · Mon 03/05/2004 18:41:01

Only released one game in public so far, Crypt for MAGS March, and it took me one weeks spare time in the evenings to complete...

Dave Gilbert · Mon 03/05/2004 18:48:05

It depends on the individual.Ã,Â "Purity of the Surf" took about nine months, but only in fits and starts.Ã,Â I spent two weeks working on it, then did nothing for eight months, then I got obsessed and spent another few weeks finishing it up. Same thing happened with part one of "Bestowers of Eternity."

Ishmael · Mon 03/05/2004 19:33:25

I've released three games, all of which have taken something like 3 weeks each... MAGS games all of them. Sequel to the first one has been in slow production since October, if I remember correctly...

Gregjazz · Mon 03/05/2004 22:38:26

I spent the entire month working on that MAGS game, Evil Enterprises. I felt pretty bad when I heard that most people just spent two weeks on theirs. Wasted time for me, when I could've (and should've) been spending the time on App2.

Matt Brown · Mon 03/05/2004 22:43:05

bob's quest took about 3 weeks...but Im still tweaking it

The TGC Demo actually took about 5...but I only worked in spurts for both of them.

I've been working on a game that I havent told anybody about (in hopes of me actually finishing it) fot about 2 months now...who knows how long it will take before tahts done

Kweepa · Mon 03/05/2004 22:54:06

My RON game (IIISpy) took about 6 (long) weeks, but that used a lot of graphics from the RON universe.
My current game has taken two or three months so far and it's nowhere near finished.

Anarcho · Tue 04/05/2004 01:22:25

These are two big things that have really cost me time and sanity:

Lack of planning--I should have planned everything room by room, puzzle by puzzle, story and backstory. I didn't do this for a very long time, and as a result, I kept going back to redo backgrounds or characters to avoid design/plot irregularities. For example, I have a couple extra rooms to my current game that are completely superfulous. I did them because I thought i could use them, before finalizing the story and puzzles. What a waste of time...

The pixel art learning curve/curse. Just made that up...isn't that a fun label? I've found that every so often, after completing a new sprite or background, I go back and look at old artwork and get disgusted with it. The new stuff looks so much better than the old stuff, and my drive for uniformity makes me go back to redo stuff. I don't know if this has happened to other people, but it's been a total drag. It drove my girlfriend absolutely crazy, cause she would ask how the game was going, expecting me to say, "oh, it's almost done" and instead i'd be like..."oh yeah, i'm going back to redo everything. again." We've since broke up.

There are other things that have cost me time, but those are the biggies. I don't know why i felt like sharing, but it's over and done with, and there's no going back now.

-Logan

Davis · Tue 04/05/2004 01:23:37

Quote from: ldw on Mon 03/05/2004 06:05:51I've just read on Yahtzee's site that it took him three weeks to make Odyessues (sp?) Kent...WTF?Ã,Â Not that it's a work of art or anything, but it's a solid game...

That was also his like, 9th game done in AGS. When you're working on your subsequent games, they'll probably come to you faster. Practice makes perfect.

Anarcho · Tue 04/05/2004 05:07:40

excellent point.