1. Today, I was working almost all the time on my game, and I managed to finish 1 background and 1 animated object. I figured that making good adventures is time-eating, and reguires lots of your time. I was actually wondering at what speed you work, say how much time does it take for you to actually finish a background, and I'm not talking about the working time, but about all time with eachother, because I have also some times, that I need to do something else, like go cycling, or EAT! ;)
2. And second I wanted to if I should first make all sprites and then the programming or some of all through eachother. I do not talk about weither you should first complete the plot/storyline.. because thats obvious. So do you complete all your sprites and backgrounds first, or do you start at the scripting?
1-a back ground takes me about 2 hours
characters take about 1 hour, objects about 15 mins or less
I use MS paint ;D
2- I usually first work out my concept write out a story make concept art think up more puzzles start drawing everything on the computer and last import it onto AGS and make a game out of it.
(ofcourse I test some things in AGS before I continue)
Here's my development schedule:
1 - Write the story, outline, puzzles
2 - Make a list of all resources needed. Every background, sprite, sound etc...
3 - Do all of the graphics
4 - Scripting/Sounds
I find it much easier to do all of the artwork ahead of time, that way you can really focus on the scripting. RQ2 was made that way.
I came up with this system after the failure of RK2. I was doing a room at a time, drawing things as I needed them, and everything suffered as a result.
Now-a-days I can pump out one traced background in about an hour, but keep in mind I am on aim, msn, irc, the forms are up, and have kazaa running, so I get slowed a bit. Not to mention, I tend to eat while I work which happens to be around midnight. Last night, I was on aim, msn, irc, had kazaa running, was eating two sandwiches at about midnight. I caded out an entire sheet of plans for the Ags plane (aka: traced like 60 peices). If I tried hard and worked fast, I could draw out, scan, and color a background in half hour. Ok, so I babled on again. What else is new?
I can usually make a backround in an half an hour to forty-five minutes, characters can vary greatly, as some I might want to walk, others not. Objects five minutes max, usually. Puting all the responses to all hotspots and making walkable areas and regions and all coding anywhere from one hour to three hours a room. Of course then there is a dialog, which takes a big chunk of time, even though it's not part of the how long does it take to make a room thing. I made an almost complete room yesterday in an hour and a half, but it was a fairly unimportant room, with only six hotspots, and no characters.
My system of making a game:
1. Think of basic plot and story
2. Split up your ideas into parts (not necessarily evident to someone playing the game, but pieces so that have a general goal, like escaping a pit).
3. Make art for one room
4. Flesh room out
5. Add Character to room
6. Add dialog to character
7. Test Test Test, the room.
8. As you finish up one piece start another one.
9. Allways think about future pieces, even if you don't want to go ot the trouble of writing down all puzzles and plot twists (ie. Me, because I prefer to leave my game able to change to other ideas that I may get over the production period), so that you can connect earlier inventory puzzles to new ones.
Or....
1. Click on Make Game in AGS options menu
-MillsJROSS
Gosh, I can't believe how quickly you guys work. An average background takes me about 8 hours. A walk-cycle in a single direction another 8 hrs.
As for the order of things to work on, I like to mix it up. One of the nice things about making a game is that their is a diverse amount of work to complete so if I get tired of one task I can move to another. Still sometimes I really get into the zone and don't want to switch off of backgrounds for a week. I imagine everybody works at a fairly different pace.
I do pretty much what rodekill does, except I do it in small portions, like one chapter at a time...which means I pretty much don't do it as Rodekill, but you get the picture :)
I work pretty fast and quite regularly, and I seldom have problems with inspiration and such, I just sit down and get it done. It's the same thing when I write or paint or whatever; it has been my bliss to easily find motivation for what I do
you lucky dog!
I can't really say how long I do about writing a story
sometimes it takes me hours and I can't think of anything
and other times I acomplish exactly the same within 5 minutes! :P
I agree with quintaros that you are really quick in drawing! It's probably that I'm so slow, because I'm at the moment first making everything in Bryce, and after that... a trace... wich in total takes some time!
Just to make a note of it... I have done 5 of in total 8 backgrounds of my Sept MAGS game, in 8 days. I also completed the maincharacter and 1 animated object... (a clock with slinger!) tik tak tik tak ;) ... I need 4 more characters and I also have to still start with scripting... so lets hope I'm going to finish the game in time!
The way I am currently working is first get the story complete
then make it in a similar order that you will play it, allowing for non linear parts.
I like to work in sections so I don't get tired of doing the same thing all the time.
Get the rooms ready for that particular section
Add the objects
Then make character/object animations for the section
script any animations/cutscenes
Add interactions and dialog
Eventually the same rooms may come up in other sections numerous times, so I do the scripting only for the section that I'm currently working on.
I make notes in my global script to keep track of all the GlobalInts, that is the main way I remember what I've done and what's happening at certain points.
then move onto the next section.
It works well for me working this way and it makes it easy to test as you go along. It also vary's your tasks, which in turn keeps all your skills current (even helps in keeping up with the great pace that AGS is updated)
Some sections can take a few weeks at a time, but I don't really worry about time too much, I just see it as an on going learning experience which at times can be very enjoyable, especially when you get some really complex scripting to work.
I wouldn't worry about how long it takes you to do any certain part eg. backgrounds, as some people are faster than others, some people are more talented than others, some people are more efficient than others, everyone has their own skills and standards that can't really be judged by time taken. If it's complete and you're happy with it, then that's how long it takes.
Well, what I usually do is to draw things first on paper (I can at least draw something a bit better than a stick guy), because the scanner is in other part of the house and I'm quite hasty, I take pictures of them, trace them and colour them.
The image you'll see below took me about 1 hour or 1-1/2 hour. If you're talking about developing a game, it's really recommendable that you plan the rooms first while you're developing the plot, in order to know what you're going to draw, you don't have to plan every single detail, the most important things, and the things below them, that way you can be flexible with the game if something happens in the middle of the production stage.
(http://www.ldc.usb.ve/~ciro/tomate/alintro1.jpg)
(http://www.ldc.usb.ve/~ciro/tomate/alintro2.jpg)
(http://www.ldc.usb.ve/~ciro/tomate/alintro3.jpg)