What inspired you to create games?

corbanwolf

  • Posts: 223
Hey. I'm making this topic so people can share their inspirations and reasons why they decided to become game developers. What games made you see a game as an art. What games you fell in love with for their climate, memories associated with them, music, graphics, younger years? Why you like making games? Is it because you can build a world are rules in it, an engine, a system of the game that works. It's like creating a world of your imagination. You draw characters, you add sound and you add code to make them look like they are alive, like they are real. They can fight, they can die, you can talk with them.

My fav games are:
SNES: Super Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger, Super Bomberman 5 (and all other versions), Super Mario World, Secret of Mana
NES: Kiwi Kraze, most Kunio-Kun games, Bubble Bobble 2, Chip n Dale (1 and 2),  Bonk's Adventure, Kick Master (love the music in this one)
PC: Terraria, Worms 4
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I just like making games. Even tho I haven't released any, I got few projects and I work on them in my free time. I like drawing nice pixel art, them animate it by drawing animation frames/sprites, and then importing it to a game engine so I can control that character and draw enemies, draw silly enemies, or scary-looking. Add an exploration and progress system to unlock some secrets. I just got so many ideas for games that if I just didn't do anything in that direction I would see this as going to waste.

Share your experience guys
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merrak

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  • Posts: 2738
I like world building. Making games isn't my only creative outlet, but it's my favorite one since it combines a lot of different skills (writing, art, programming). Programming is where I spend most of my time, mostly because it holds my attention the longest. Most of my completed games are simple puzzle games or jam games.

The "Vallas" series games have spanned the longest. I like RPGs, but there are a lot of things about them I would change... so why not do that? I also like hiding secrets and easter eggs... maybe a bit too much. I like to find subtle ways to break the fourth wall.

ceosol

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  • Posts: 2279
My first computer game ever was hero's quest: so you want to be a hero. It amazed me that a whole story and lore was created for a game - as if you were playing through a book. When I started considering quitting my career a few years ago, I thought about how my brother and I tried to create QBASIC choose your own adventure games that could have the same effect of hero's quest. I didn't know anything about making games nor artwork. Stencyl gave me the ability to create something starting from zero. It has expanded way beyond that starting point now :D

I've always written short stories in my free time. Making games is simply an extension of that. Basically creating a visual representation of the story. Most of my publications are not story driven, though. I keep that for my personal projects. After all, I needed to make money to keep making games. Sometimes it is about the business rather than what you are passionate about.

Within the past two years I have expanded into the other passions in my life. I get to teach design and development and work on government grant funded apps to help people. I started as a microbiology and genetics professor. Now I get to teach and still help people from a completely different field. I couldn't ask for anything more... well maybe a bit more financial stability since being an indie developer is sometimes tough :)


irock

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  • Posts: 2891
I've always been interested in being creative and trying to captivate people. I owned a keyboard as a kid, which I pretty much only used for improvisation. I'd draw new levels for the video games I was playing. I loved writing funny stories to read in class. I'd do anything to make people laugh. I tried making a board game once. I'd try and make movies with friends using my mom's camcorder.

None of those things were very focused or serious, so my rate of improvement was really slow. It wasn't until by happenstance I got a hold of RPG Maker and started making video games. It probably felt like the ultimate form of creative expression to me when I was 13, so I kept at it. If that had never happened, I possibly may have chosen some other creative outlet.

ozz

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  • Posts: 575
  When I was a kid I got a console as a gift, unfortunately it was one that required memory cards to save your games and I didn’t know this.  Consequently, I picked up an RPG before I had a way to save.  So, I played the first few hours of the game more times then was reasonable.  I was a bit thick as a kid.

   When I eventually was able to save, I found a game that I could only play when it could be asked.  In addition to being amazingly buggy/lagy, I couldn't play it for too long without it overheating the console (I never found another game that did this to the system).  All of that really should have made me stop, but in addition to being thick I hadn't developed taste yet.

  Which is unfortunate as I had never before (and never since) seen a game that was so badly written.  In many senses as the mechanics were very dodgy and not really what you might call fun.  As the credits began and I sat stewing over the terrible, sequel-bating ending I said allowed:

 “even I could make a better game than this”. 

Within the year I was designing games on the family computer.

Kinda wish spite hadn’t been my starting point, but that is how it happened.

Bombini

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  • Posts: 1400
I was always amazed by creating worlds and their rules. I was fascinated by the few level editors you would find for Amiga games when i was younger. I was into writing and performing music for many years because i don't have the patience to learn a programming language. I understand the logic but i get annoyed by spelling errors.

One thing that worked for me was Actionscript 2 with a lot of copy pasting my own stuff.
You know i am a visual person.
That's why i started with games again when i found Stencyl.

What i like about creating games is that you can achieve something cool even in 5 minutes.
Its easy to pick up.


jacquelyn

  • Posts: 1
I had never played an open-world RPG before, and I was astounded by how big it was. I haven't needed to look elsewhere for inspiration since it includes multiple guilds, hidden loot, the mythology, the musical score, and the ability to transform into a vampire.

kaylenoop

  • Posts: 1
It's from games that make me want to make my own games, sometimes contribute ideas on forums for publishers but no one notices, this is the core of what makes me a so