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[Slapdash]

I was going through a particularly tough months this month...still am.
Lots of different challenges that makes it hard to find the positive or rather to stay positive. External factors mostly.

I also hit roadblock after roadblock with my game I'm making...struggling...but then when you make a breakthrough its fantastic.
I then thought of WHY I make games...what drives this?
I made a few Flash games before and only recently looked at starting seriously about a year ago.  but I want to do it.
My main thought of WHY? I do it...

I like creating.
I like making these pixels/verts move ons screen with input and then making them do stuff that I want them to do...and then see the delight or smile when someone tests it....all out of thin air. Thats my drive.
I spoke to another dev who does it because he just loves playing games and the games he likes to play doesn't exist....so he makes them for himself.

What drives you  games?

[RaconteurNick]

I make games to add to the great conversation that we call interactive entertainment! I love making something new, I love working with part of a team, I love the challenge and thrill and unmistakably distinct experience of so many talented people coming together to create something.

One of my side projects for my company is a podcast interviewing other creators about exactly this! I've talked to people like Rami Ismail, Adam Saltsman, and more - you can find it here if interested: http://raconteurgames.com/stories/

Reading what you said was inspiring! Gonna absolutely dominate my workload today now.

[J-Snake]

I spoke to another dev who does it because he just loves playing games and the games he likes to play doesn't exist....so he makes them for himself.

That's real motivation that reaches far deeper than monetary. I guess it is easy to claim that in the initial stage of the game-dev journey, respect if this attitude remains persistent.

Btw:

this development philosophy existed in 90s, also in bigger games like Baldur's Gate and the original Deus Ex for example.
Those games were created like the developer wanted them, according to his vision. Now a major chunk of bigger games is mainly about offering a collection of features and playstyles which have to appeal to the mainstream gamer.

The problem with many games today is that they are more about power fantasy, not about intellectual stimulation. That's where the shallowness often comes from.

[oahda]

Potentially good thread, but why is it in the business section?

[spacetoadsmayhem]

For fun. Like the guy Slapdash mentioned, I like to make games for myself. I enjoy making games I wanna play.

Obviously now I've got aspirations of commercial success, but I would continue making games even if I didn't have a slightest chance of ever making a penny from games. Just like I did when I first got my hands on Turbo Pascal 7 a while back

[Slapdash]

Potentially good thread, but why is it in the business section?

Not sure where the best place would be....Should it rather be in General? If a Mod can move it that would be cool 

I reckon a lot of people initially start out to make games for fun, or for learning etc. A lot eventually turns to monetary gain?

[ndnninja15]

It's fun/rewarding when the thing I'm trying to make works.

But probably the biggest of all is that I have (almost) absolute control over the game I'm making. When all is said and done I can say that I made that my way

[jamilWinkelbaum]

I come from a webdev background and in comparison, making games is way more creative and intellectually challenging

[ndnninja15]

I come from a webdev background and in comparison, making games is way more creative and intellectually challenging

True dat. How was the transition from web to games?

[agedev]

Well, in a way it is just what I have always done. I have made them professionally for near a decade, and as a hobbyist for much, much longer. It is what I do. I think it helps, though, that I derive a lot of interest from building complex systems and a lot of delight from making something other folks enjoy. The first time I saw someone playing a game I had worked on on public transit that I had never met was awesome. And the various reactions I get every time someone finds out what I do is always good.

[CesarD8]

It's my personal way of making art I suppose, I believe that it's the way in which i can express my ideas better. Also I find it really rewarding, seeing how the game takes shape little by little is something that I really, really like.

[GMOs]

To breathe life into artwork via coding. I made a comic book and I realized how shallow that medium was. I'll put it like this:
Books tell about the story/world you created, movies show it and games bring you into it. 

[djr]

I started making games on my C64 because I couldn't afford to buy the games I wanted (I was seven). I soon discovered that I like making games more than I like playing games... 30 years later I'm still doing it.

If I'd been born before computers I'd be making things in meat space.

[WarpQueen]

I've actually given this some serious thought.
Been working with games for ten years, and last year I was thinking real hard about if this is what I want to do with my life. Do I want to change course, do something else? I started looking at ads and imagined myself working on other things, and everything else just seemed SO BORING. I really don't want to work on a JVM, or any of all the other things I looked into.

So no, games is the thing for me. I went indie instead, and that rekindled my interest and passion.

Like the friend in the OP, I'm leaning toward making the games I want to play, but don't exist. I have a LOT of games I want to play that do not exist.

[Gospel]

I too want to create more of what I personally love to play, because I think there's a serious lack of it out there. I'm more into visual novels, especially murder mysteries/detective games like Ace Attorney or Danganronpa.

For me, the focus lies more on storytelling. Ever since elementary school, I've enjoyed coming up with my own stories, characters and worlds and I just want to share them in an interesting way. Books or comics just aren't the same, because they lack interactivity. So, over the past three years, my best friend and I have been working on our own murder mystery VN with the goal of telling an intriguing story and making the player feel like a detective.

It was a lot of hard work, at times very frustrating and stressful, and every now and then I began to wonder why I was even doing it. But about two months ago, we finally released it and I can say now that it was totally worth it and that I definitely want to do it again.

When people tell you about their experience, who they suspected and why, which red herrings they fell for, which ending they got, etc... it's just the greatest feeling imaginable for me. I've always dreamed of having other people see and hopefully enjoy the stuff I come up with. I want to make them think and surprise them. I want them to laugh, cry and experience all the emotions I like to experience myself when going through a good visual novel/game. And if, in the end, only a single person would say they liked it, that alone would already be enough to make me happy.

Not that many have played our VN yet, but those who did, despite some legitimate criticism, really enjoyed it. I honestly can't ask for more. The first time I received feedback and someone told me they loved it, it literally brought tears of joy to my eyes, lol

Now I just want to do it again and hopefully give those same people another enjoyable experience.

[Slapdash]

I've actually given this some serious thought.
Been working with games for ten years, and last year I was thinking real hard about if this is what I want to do with my life. Do I want to change course, do something else? I started looking at ads and imagined myself working on other things, and everything else just seemed SO BORING. I really don't want to work on a JVM, or any of all the other things I looked into.

So no, games is the thing for me. I went indie instead, and that rekindled my interest and passion.

Like the friend in the OP, I'm leaning toward making the games I want to play, but don't exist. I have a LOT of games I want to play that do not exist.

Yeah look I'm seriously bored with my day to day in Web Development :-/  I love doing game development.

[WarpQueen]

I've actually given this some serious thought.
Been working with games for ten years, and last year I was thinking real hard about if this is what I want to do with my life. Do I want to change course, do something else? I started looking at ads and imagined myself working on other things, and everything else just seemed SO BORING. I really don't want to work on a JVM, or any of all the other things I looked into.

So no, games is the thing for me. I went indie instead, and that rekindled my interest and passion.

Like the friend in the OP, I'm leaning toward making the games I want to play, but don't exist. I have a LOT of games I want to play that do not exist.

Yeah look I'm seriously bored with my day to day in Web Development :-/  I love doing game development.

If you don't want to quit and try to live on creating games full-time, have you considered changing your career to making games as an employee? I mean, you could try it out and see if it's for you.

[Anton]

One of my managers once said to me "Our job is to make people happy", it was the day after one the attacks in Paris (where I live).
since then it is one of my main motivation. I make game because it's whats make me happy and it can help other. I make game to express myselft because it is the media I consume the most. I make game because it is fun to solve puzzle and I can't stop making theme.

[Slapdash]

I've actually given this some serious thought.
Been working with games for ten years, and last year I was thinking real hard about if this is what I want to do with my life. Do I want to change course, do something else? I started looking at ads and imagined myself working on other things, and everything else just seemed SO BORING. I really don't want to work on a JVM, or any of all the other things I looked into.

So no, games is the thing for me. I went indie instead, and that rekindled my interest and passion.

Like the friend in the OP, I'm leaning toward making the games I want to play, but don't exist. I have a LOT of games I want to play that do not exist.

Yeah look I'm seriously bored with my day to day in Web Development :-/  I love doing game development.

If you don't want to quit and try to live on creating games full-time, have you considered changing your career to making games as an employee? I mean, you could try it out and see if it's for you.

I used to yeah with eLearning games and such. The amazingly ironic thing is that i was approached by an employment agency yeserday for a job. Where i am they are really scarce though. But yes....it's possible.

[Homie G Dog]

I make games to add to the great conversation that we call interactive entertainment! I love making something new, I love working with part of a team, I love the challenge and thrill and unmistakably distinct experience of so many talented people coming together to create something.

One of my side projects for my company is a podcast interviewing other creators about exactly this! I've talked to people like Rami Ismail, Adam Saltsman, and more - you can find it here if interested: http://raconteurgames.com/stories/

Reading what you said was inspiring! Gonna absolutely dominate my workload today now.

cause if you have ideas/creativity you wanna express, no one aint gonna do it for you if you don't speak your mind.