#nothing will build your confidence more then those small dopamine rushes of fucking around and just makin shit

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

I’m not asking for an actual timeline of the game development process, I was just wondering what you had expected as far as a time frame when you started? I’m new at programming and game development myself and I know it takes a long time, especially on a solo mission, so I was curious if you were pretty close to estimating your skill level in terms of getting where you are… if that makes sense?

To be up front, I'm not the best person to ask this. I'm a hobbyist, and do this between the occasional commissions, my day job, ADHD, and frequent health problems.

When I suggested this game about 8 years ago, I was in art college for an animation degree with just a few *coughpoorlytaughtcough* game dev classes. I thought I could make it in maybe 3 years because that's what I heard was a usual amount of time, only to stop for a several year hiatus until about 2022. I only recently started learning how to pull my shit together in the form of doing small build after small build. That's still an uphill battle with ADHD, but I'm trying.

I didn't start my dev journey..."professionally," as it were. I still treat this as skill building. Like a beginner pianist who's learning their scales and how to read sheet music. I learned the most about the engine I use, RPG Maker MV, by fucking around in projects that didn't get too far. I love to push it's limits by attempting to execute visual elements that the engine wasn't built for, which requires me to learn about it's basics. I'm as clear on the path to the end of this game only because I have a good grasp on what MV can do now, on top of dropping some features that crept up on me.......I was actually planning to animate every menu in the beginning. Like a maniac.

So, uh, my answer is I missed my timeline by a huge margin and I'm still terrible at estimations. I try not to let that past hold me back though.

#mod serpy #mod serpy answers #time enjoyed is never time waster though #if you want to get a feel for game dev on a micro scale my advice is make lots of small things before you commit to a big project #download twine and make a roughly 10 min playtime text based adventure with 0 visuals #work up from there #trust me #nothing will build your confidence more then those small dopamine rushes of fucking around and just makin shit