What is harder than doing something, is admitting to yourself that you can't do it now don't be mad at yourself because you didn't do and finish it, be happy because you gave space to do something else. you did the right thing man, and I wish you the best on whatever you do next o7

Thankyou for this realistic portrayal of a early game dev’s experience. It’s refreshing to see someone be raw about a project they really wanted to happen, not turning out, and that it’s ok.

When I’m feeling demotivated I just work on something else until I feel motivated again.

Dream games are usually tricky. Working on smaller projects seems to be a good strategy, up until the point you have all the resources for the dream one. I'm working on a game right now, not a dream one, and I'm also creating devlog shorts about it to keep me motivated. I never felt that I could actually finish and ship a game as much as I do now! Good luck!

I think I know why the game was doomed from the beginning: You tried making a tower defense game without terrain. Without any obstacles the enemies will always just head for the base in a straight line. And since enemies can spawn anywhere you might as well also place your turrets anywhere (placement feels redundant besides stacking towers with buffs) - there is no positional advantage and thus no preparation gameplay that you could have if you had a tilemap with obstacles and pathways. And preparatory descisions are like the heart of what makes strategy games fun, it's to give the player information that they can use to make smart descisions ahead of time. Being able to move turrets at any time also doesn't fix this, on the contrary, although it could be done at a cost. This and the usual tower defense ABC, enemies with different speed, health, some special abilities, turrets that play different roles etc. Admittedly tower defense is hard to do because the genre has been around for so long that it's very evolved and complex, some may even say played out. And you need a lot of moving pieces before your gameplay becomes even alive and testable. Either way good luck on your next game dev project!

@samamies88

6 күн бұрын

Agree with most of the text. Really well written advices and insights. Terrains are a must like you said. I think that his first problem about end of level not feeling rewarding could had been fixed in few ways such as maybe it gives bigger amount of credits or maybe completing level allows you to upgrade turrets (and the ones u get during round are always base forms). A thing you mention i see bit differently tho: I can see few ways how moving turrets could still be a thing while still touching on the problems & fixes you proposed. Either if the base is moving then the turrets have to be moved with it. OR! If the map is big and has multiple entrances for enemies. Each map has few waves and before enemies appear it would highlight where they come from. Then you have planning phase and have to align your towers how you feel they'd suit the best. It is somewhat similar how some other tower games have players either minmaxing some very efficient way to complete map OR sometimes there are puzzle-like challenges where the solution indeed is to sell your existing tower and buy either same on but land it elsewhere in map or buy another tower that deals with enemy of current round better. These are already elements at least tower defense gamemodes and players already do so it is not completely out of ordinary for player to be able to move towers. The game just has to be build around for it to make sense. I can see how this game could be still made and be fun. There just needs to be bit more planning, quite a lot more content and especially, this i find the hardest part: balancing. There is a reason why bloons 6 is so liked. Every monkey has essentially 6 ways they can be upgraded, each giving specific benefits, many of them countering some bloon types super well while having weaknesses to other types. And the game has a lot of maps, planned "economy", hero apes, speedrunning, daily challenges, community maps some of which are really puzzles, co-op, difficulty levels... bosses..... it is really hard to compete with a game like that because it is done so well. U need to stand out and i don't think just new mechanic is enough of a hook to really shine. But if you or anyone else learns to polish the game on bloons level while offering new fresh mechanics - then that kinda game could gain attraction and playerbase. It is just really hard to do. Especially as a solo. At bare minimum you need the terrain Bananabauer123 mentioned but on top of that you need every moving piece have reason to either be chosen as a card/turret, placed, replaced... I too wish good luck to dev no matter if they try another round with this ambitious project or if they try something else (either to improve their skills and/or finds a game they have skills for that could potentially even be that first commercial release).

@jbroook

2 күн бұрын

Yeah this is a fair assessment of the game, my mistake coming into the project was not doing enough research on this genre. In fact, I haven't even really played much tower defense games in my life, so I had a hard time even knowing what the "traditional" gameplay was. Moving forward this is definitely something I need to work on!

😟 It's hard to finish projects. Good luck with your next!

First: I have TOTALLY given up on games when they started to frustrate me. (Watch my devlog on Cosmic Cavalier) And I work in Game Maker, so I can certainly relate to everything you're saying. Second: I found that being crazy organized was a huge help to success. I just released Dungeonesque on Itch and then I did a game jam. I found myself in a really good groove at that point and game structure / organization was a big factor. Buttons, as per your example, could be made once, but code their action in a flexible way so it's easy to repurpose them. That stuff shouldn't trip you up - set up systems to help you succeed. Anyway. That's my 2c worth! Shrug it off if you don't want to keep going on a game - you don't owe anybody anything. The next project you jump in to may get moving at warp speed because of what you've learned.

@jbroook

2 күн бұрын

Thanks for the advice! I appreciate everyone's input on my UI design, it's definitely shined a light on a weak spot that I've been neglecting for a while now. Definitely didn't help that the project was started quite a while back so the UI was done before I developed better techniques. Moving forward, I feel like this is going to be a really valuable learning experience though! And congratulations on your release!

The concept actually sounds pretty cool! Sucks that you had so many problems, but I would like to see more of what you do soon.

one of my biggest curses/blessings is i dont do anything but if i decide to do it im putting my life into it. Last time i went ballsdeep was when one of my classmates was needing a map that was AI generated concept full of different areas i told him ill do it but this is the last time im getting involved and he was ok with it. It took me 5 days non stop no sleep. I got it done i baked the details in substance painter and delivered the low poly meshes with their baked maps rdy to texture after that i didn't open any software for like 2 months. Being consistent has to be one of the hardest thing in this world to me at least so i feel u.

@jbroook

2 күн бұрын

I see you're a fellow hyper-focuser as well! It's definitely hard for people like us to just stop and take a break from what we're doing, even at the cost of our mental health, or even the state of the project. It's definitely something to work on!

That's a shame, the game looks really fun. But I understand. I've given up on all of my games too, I don't even try anymore.

@jbroook

2 күн бұрын

I'm sorry to hear that, I understand the burnout that comes with game dev sometimes, and it can be quite crushing. I hope you'll be able to find the passion to work on games again, at your own pace!

Went through the same until I decided to pick a simple popular game to take the base concepts of game design (which for us solo devs is the most hard thing to do and do it right), and discarded everything else. I first coded the exact same behaviours to have the core an balance as close as possible. From there I started adding my own things and art and music. And well, even using the base of a popular stablished gameplay, when I added my own things and art I struggle for 1 year, mostly with gamedesign choices that made me scrap features and rethink them again and again Now I have almost everything ready, and Im just doing polish. And I think from now on I will always start working with a base core and gamedesign of popular games, cuz thats always the hardest to get done.

@jbroook

2 күн бұрын

You've got a point, don't fix what isn't broken! I just lacked the experience of this genre as I don't find myself playing tower defense or strategy games all that much, but it's definitely something I'll be considering if I ever decide to pick up this project again. Congrats on nearing release for your project as well! All the best with your game!

@luqnotperfect

2 күн бұрын

@@jbroook thanks and yeah, I think the only way to not overload our desires for our games is start that way and add our personal twiste. Its really hard to create something completly new and figure out how it will need to be balanced or how all systems will interact. Quite messy. And ive been working professionally for a mobile game company por 8 years and still seems no one in the world has figured out what or how to acchieve success. My goal is pretty simple compared to big corporations of course but I want to make sure I like what I did and people also enjoy it

Watching you explain how and why this project failed was very informative and fun. Thanks for this vid.

@jbroook

2 күн бұрын

Glad you enjoyed the video!

Man, you should consider learning Godot/Unity for these UI dependant games, it'll make your life much easier. Also, a lot of the troubles you experienced seems to come from a lack of prototyping. Prototype your idea on a separate folder so you don't have to worry about messy code and once you're sure about the direction you want to go, then you cleanly develop your ideas into your game without bringing the messy and convoluted code from the prototype.

@jbroook

2 күн бұрын

Absolutely yeah, I've been eyeing godot for a long time now but have never made the switch, if time permits, maybe I'll make a video in the future documenting my experience switching to godot!

Hey this is just gathered experience!

this game design makes allot of sense though.

I really like how u did with the card UI and I have been trying to do something similar but I kinda suck at UI so can u share resources so I could create a similar effect to ur cards ?

Hey if you need some help ill be willing to do art and animations so you can focus on game design and code!

Hey friend, quick question, would you had an issue if I iterated on this concept and also tried to make game like that, there would be changes here and there

@jbroook

2 күн бұрын

Yeah sure! I'm excited to see what you'll make of it!

You have nice marketing skills and fluid way to speak, you shouldnt give up... My game for some reason doesnt have more than 100 views on youtube but ill finish it anyways.

@antoinebutterfly8555

3 күн бұрын

I’ll give it a watch 😉

I had no idea the UI elements were such a pain to code in GMS. Maybe this project could be something to think about if trying out a different engine? I've only just recently started my game making journey with my engine of choice being Godot and although its been very challenging, surprisingly I am managing and I think for someone like yourself with plenty of coding experience in other engines, it would be more than manageable! I like your idea quite a lot! And now that I think about it, it shares quite a lot of DNA with vampire survivors. Tower defense vampire survivors? Sounds fun as hell as a concept. Maybe there could be some lessons learned leaning more into the Vamp survivors genre? Just with a tower defense twist.

@jbroook

2 күн бұрын

Thanks for your comment! And I actually have tried Godot before and found my experience pretty positive, I've been eyeing the switch for a while now, but I'm just so used to GMS2. Who knows though? I might try it for a video one day!

babe wake up JBrook uploaded a new video! Great devlog, keep doing your thing!

@goreldeeno

7 күн бұрын

babe, stop watching youtube and do your dishes

@jbroook

6 күн бұрын

haha stop 🤭

@fakefaith4187

5 күн бұрын

​@@goreldeeno😐

Give up on this, but redo again, you got exp now 💪

Jbrooog

Think this could look good if it had a more cartoony saturated style as a phone game

project moon game spotted

@jbroook

2 күн бұрын

I had no idea it was called project moon game at all haha. I just knew it as Lobotomy Corporation

@AndroidSLC

2 күн бұрын

well yeah, the game is named lobotomy corporation, but it is a project moon game (you should play all of them)