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[drChengele]

Argh. I hate the following scenario:

I have a mechanic all worked out in my head. Then naturally it doesn't work as well when prototyping so I chip away at it, refine it, add stuff until it works. So far so good. But the next thing I know this thing has taken over the original idea and has gone who knows where as if on its own whim, completely violating the design creeds for the rest of the game.

I deleted a lot of code over the past few months 

[Calmarius]

I always become the victim of failing to look at my game as a regular player.

I like the programming challenge of making a game, I always trying to do something different, but the result in 90% of the cases is a huge fail or players don't appreciate it.

Some of my biggest disappointments in the latest years:

- Peer to peer multiplayer games. I don't have the cash to have low ping internet connection to do a server-client game, so I made a peer to peer game where the server's rule is connecting the players together, but nothing else.
Since it's often hard to connect two computers together due to firewall, router issues. Players can easily say that my game suck and blame me saying I'm trying to intrude to their computers, rather than just allowing the connection on the firewall or router. This was the fate of my game 2 years ago (Space Cubes Descent)

- Making the stars on the night sky be in the right positions and brighness and color (downloading sky-maps using them). This was a thing I found cool, but 99.99% of people never notice it... But well this was stupid idea...

- I invented an online board game where 2 to 4 players can play. But the rules was too complex and one match may last for 2 to 5 hours. But the main problem is that in order to start a game, 2 players must be there, so players almost never can play, because no 2 players was there simultaneously...

- Saturating a saturated market. This happened with my new game StraTaDi... After playing Travian and Tribal Wars. I thought I can do it better. Despite the fact, you can manage your empire very fast, so you can login and done in one minute every time, the game remains yet another same boring villagebuilder war game, where the big fish eats the small fish. I realized too late, that too many players pwned hard in these type of games so they avoid these at all costs... The non beta server started today. And there are no one else there, except me and some of my friends in the same guild, practically winning the game before it even started. (biggest fail ever)

[Articulated]

Currently referencing stealth-em-ups to see what gameplay works and what doesn't (and what I could realistically implement solo).  It's not that easy to find good examples to be honest. 

I also know I want some sort of upgrade shop in there, but can't decide whether to make my character's sneaky-bo-beakiness a result of training abilities (and by playing it straight and making the PC "Cool") or buying gadgets (and making it camp and cartoony and making the PC a bungling foil).

That, and then schlepping all this detail into a coherent design doc with a timetable.  And this is only my first serious game!  The design doc's 20 pages already and I'm not even halfway done!

I know this is going to make the actual implementation MUCH easier, but that doesn't stop it being tough going at times!   

[C.D Buckmaster]

Having an "arty" game idea that focuses on storytelling via gameplay...and then realising that it is way too ambitious and using the mechanics to create a "lowest common denominator" type game (hint: it has ninjas).

Oh well, not every game has to push the genre forward, the next game I have lined up should soothe my more creative ambitions.

[Theophilus]

Down periods.

[TacoBell_Lord]

...feeling insecure about code-designs & art-designs while showing them to the team..always feel i could do my part a little better but limited by what i can do..

[AussieBen]

Getting too focused on the little details before the whole thing is done!  It's okay to do it sometimes, but I've found that if you obsess too much, you end up getting stuck on one ridiculous minor thing (like the colour of a character's pants) and it really doesn't matter in the long run anyway.

But even worse than that is when you don't realise that you're doing this! =)

[gimymblert]

My biggest problem is to start making a game without an artistic vision but "technical" vision. Once my head is lock with technicalities I can't direct art anymore, I only do uninspired shit and stuck with paradox of choice. I'm making a racing game with a friend we start by accident and finish by discipline but can't do anything interesting with art, not even generic good...

Working with an artist with this mind state however is stellar, I'am totally able to cut through the shit and get important thing up.

[mirosurabu]

Reading this thread and wanting to answer each post.

don't design games, MAKE games

There is a reverse problem too.

"don't program games, DESIGN games"

Programmers, who are capable of developing massive projects from ground up, usually struggle with design and end up making a game that is boring to everyone, including themselves. The problem is that they end up treating game design like programming i.e. coming up with coding challenges rather than thinking of things that will be fun to players.

I experienced both pitfalls myself. Really bad shit.

After playing Travian and Tribal Wars. I thought I can do it better.

Yes! That's another pitfall: to treat game design like you treat application development.

Basically, what I do when making games today is say to myself that "I can do this in a different way" rather than "I can do this better". Of course, there are some things that you can do better (like, game balance) but generally it's not enough to make you stand out from the crowd.

[Bree]

Having interest in designing a pen and paper game but having no clue where to start. Also, same with programming a videogame.