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[MadByte]

I mean, I'm pretty handicapped:

• My spoken/written english isn't good
• I'm not a professional or well experienced developer or artist
• I tend to produce unfinished content
• I'm from Germany - & who likes germans anyway?

But does that mean that I'm not qualified to work with other ppl in general?

I often see posts from beginners that read like this:Reddit

ppl who start with game development often tend to be overambitious, having unrealistic expectations (like earning lots
of money with the first game project) or simply misjudge their skills or the skills of others which inevitable
lead to failure. So I ask myself, am I one of them?

First off, I'm not really a beginner. I'm working on my relationship with game development for like 6-7 years now. It's not
an easy, nor an very successful relationship, but it's fun.
Also, when working on a project I do it for the creative process, not for any kind of profit. I'm not interested in
selling games. I want to create a game that I would like to play myself, I want the process of building the game,
developing cool ideas and seeing them grow to working systems and features. And I always try to improve my abilities in
coding, art and game design. This is meant to be a hobby for me - with the possibility that it's getting more then that
if the work is good enough.

I think that this is a healthy way of thinking about that whole topic. But what is the problem then?
Okay, possibly it's the fact that I can't really stick to one project and get it done. What might be the reason for that?
I like to think that the problem is the lack of inspiration and diversity in the development process which would be much
easier with someone who contributes his/her own ideas, which then leads to an never ending loop of inspiration and variety
in the process. But that could be just an excuse for my lack of motivation in general, based on my personality, who knows.

ppl also could dislike the stuff I present to them, like my artwork. But is it so
bad that there's nobody even remotely interested in working with me?
Even ppl who are in a similar situation - trying to improve their skills with the help of a team?

Lastly it might be the language barrier. It's not easy to discuss complicated matter with someone, who needs two or three
tries to get a sentence together which remotely makes any sense. But even with that in mind, I can't see why this
shouldn't work out at all. If there's no other way, you could draw a quick sketch to illustrate what you mean. That
might be inefficient and time consuming, but the result will be the same.

That whole post might read very negative. I just tried to express my thoughts about the matter as
good as possible.

So my questions:

• What do you think could be the biggest problem for ppl who really want to get in touch with
  other developers, but aren't really able to accomplish that for whatever reasons?
• Do you have advices or tips for them (other then "learn english")?

I'm really interested in your thoughts and opinions so let me know what you think.
(given that someone understands it I can do a sketch if needed )

[-Ross]

I just want to say, I enjoy the way this perfectly fulfills the stereotype of German people who say their english isn't good. (Said statement followed by 500 words of 98% perfect english, including words like "overambitious". )

Have you posted requests for partners and no one responds, or do the people you join up with simply not stick around? It is hard to find good people.

[litHermit]

• I tent to produce unfinished content

***
I like to think that the problem is the lack of inspiration and diversity in the development process which would be much
easier with someone who contributes his/her own ideas, which then leads to an never ending loop of inspiration and variety
in the process. But that could be just an excuse for my lack of motivation in general, based on my personality, who knows.

This is your only handicap. Your written English is great, your artwork is alright.

I worked with people who couldn't commit to see the project through to the end. It's frustrating. What you're calling the never-ending loop of inspiration is just that, a never ending loop of constantly bouncing ideas back and forth, wasting more time on that "important creative process" than buckling down and getting actual shit done, and then it doesn't pan out anyway because the project drags on too long and interest dwindles.

Most of us are in gamedev to complete/publish a game and hopefully make some sort of return out of it one day. Whether it's money, or just the sense you created something others enjoy and that you actually brought your "cool idea" into the world.

Look into the gamejam scene. You should be able to both keep interest in a project for a weekend/week, have a sense of completion, and find a willing cooperant, because the whole nature of such fast development lends itself really well to teaming up.

[MadByte]

Thanks for your replies.

I just want to say, I enjoy the way this perfectly fulfills the stereotype of German people who say their english isn't good. ***

Glad to hear that there's a stereotype for ppl like me.

Have you posted requests for partners and no one responds, or do the people you join up with simply not stick around? It is hard to find good people.

For some reason I get responds from ppl who do stuff I didn't requested in my post like sound designers
and music composers which is kind of a good thing sometimes because I can save me the contact to use later. Sometimes
complete beginners ask to team up, but that's not what I'm looking for. I had contact with an really good pixel
artist once a couple years ago, but I have to admit that I was the one who lost interest in the project
which I regret now.

I worked with people who couldn't commit to see the project through to the end. It's frustrating. What you're
calling the never-ending loop of inspiration is just that, a never ending loop of constantly bouncing ideas back
and forth, wasting more time on that "important creative process" than buckling down and getting actual shit done,
and then it doesn't pan out anyway because the project drags on too long and interest dwindles.

Thanks for your feedback. Really appreciate it.

You're right. I shouldn't think about designing and adding new stuff for an existing game concept while working
on the parts of said. There has to be a clear vision for what has to be done and what is needed to deliver the
final product, and that shouldn't change throughout the main development process. New stuff could be added if
the base game is finished and polished...
I always want to work on a game design document before starting a project, but what I did most of
the time was more like writing down the core concept of the project with the most essential content and
then add new content to the design as I go. "Wouldn't it be cool to have a rocket launcher as well?".. that kind of stuff.
So, I think I'll need to work on my discipline to stick to a concept.
An alternative for me could be to work with someone who has that clear vision for the project. I've no problem
to work under instructions / using an existing design document as long as the idea is something I like and support.

Most of us are in gamedev to complete/publish a game and hopefully make some sort of return out of it one day.

I'm not an exception here. If ppl enjoy a game I made - I'm happy. If this hobby is going very well and the quality of the games is right, then I would start to think about earning some money to be able to work on this full time.. but that's an utopian imagination for me right now.

Look into the gamejam scene. You should be able to both keep interest in a project for a weekend/week, have a sense of completion, and find a willing cooperant, because the whole nature of such fast development lends itself really well to teaming up.

That might be a good idea to try out, thanks. I'm not sure if I could draw many assets under pressure that look good enough to be used for a project, but it's something I need to try before saying I'm not able to do it.

[Schoq]

Music composers tend to just indiscriminately and relentlessly spam anyone and anything that seems to be working on a game so that part is normal

[goob256]

Honestly I would think about working with you but completed projects is very important. Also, you keep saying you're not motivated to sell games, just to make good games. I understand what you mean but many indie devs are making a push to try and sell a game and earn some money so even though it seems like a good attitude it's really not.

[MadByte]

Honestly I would think about working with you but completed projects is very important. Also, you keep saying you're not motivated to sell games, just to make good games. I understand what you mean but many indie devs are making a push to try and sell a game and earn some money so even though it seems like a good attitude it's really not.

Thanks for your honesty. Completed projects is what I strive for really.  Anything I could say now would sound like excuses why I just can't get my first real project completed - so I don't even try to explain anything and keep working on myself.

What I don't understand is why my will to create games without trying to make profit (in form of money) out of them isn't a good attitude. The underlying thought is that I want to get the quality right before even trying to sell games. And even if I start to sell games, I wouldn't do it for my profit, but instead to be able to work on my hobby full-time.. and if my product is good enough, the profit would most likely come without me wanting it anyway.

btw I wanted to say that I found a colleague on thursday who is really motivated to work on a project & right now we are working on a small test project to get used to each other.. Looking good so far.. now we just need to keep motivated and finish our first small game. Finger's crossed that this will work out.  

Again, thanks for all the feedback from you guys!

[goob256]

Well to be honest I used to be the same, I didn't care about profit. Maybe I've gone in reverse... would explain a lot. Well, good luck to you.

[Crimsontide]

I'd say try to get in a few game-jams.  You can see quickly if you can work with your teammates, how things will mesh, if you have compatible styles, etc...  If one of the projects 'clicks' and everyone is happy with how it turned out after a week or so, then try and take it the rest of the way.

[Dre Reid]

You're artwork is good. Dont know what your beating up yourself about.