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[michaelplzno]

I've gotten wrapped up in theory and I find it to be counterproductive to the process of being an artist:

Its easy to push yourself to get to some ideal floating in space "the perfect game is some far away lofty goal"

Really you just want to make a lot of games and have fun making them. That's the key to any kind of art, make more and more art till you master it. Make good art, make bad art, make art that people say isn't art. You are the artist, not the critic.

Edit: when you are making games in an artistic way, even if people say your games aren't rich, you'll just laugh to yourself because you know that you made a work of art that got a reaction which is the ultimate goal of the artist.

Edit2: the only theory that is useful is one which makes it easier to create. If you are thinking about richness or some design framework, or anything at all really that isn't helping you produce work you are proud of try to throw out that way of thinking.

[michaelplzno]

just to sort of pontificate:

Its difficult enough to make art on its own. Even simple marker drawings require a lot of effort, and writing the code of a game and making the art and design is even harder. You don't need to kill your own spirit with some sort of theoretical framework that makes it even more difficult to make a game. There are enough barriers to making something without you adding more yourself.

[beetleking22]

Only thing has changed since then is that the Game industry is now  bloated and heavily saturated with copy cats. People saw that you can get successful with indie game and now every are chasing that golden mine.   Thats why you are probably feeling like this. If one indie guy make successful  game. There will be 10-20 guys  trying to make similar game.

[DarkGran]

@michaelplzno: i like the painting  

Agree theories can easily lead you astray. And should never stand in a way of artistic thought.

To me, theories work best when they focus on the crafts required to make(=realize) the art, not the art itself.

(Also, I personally like theorising in general. :p)

@beetleking22: haha ye, so many minecrafts out there just because Minecraft exploded... :p
(And who wouldn't want to be famous/rich because of games...)

[michaelplzno]

I shouldn't belittle the theory heads. They are having fun trying to quantify what makes greatness. But a theory person who can explain what makes a great game in theory but doesn't actually make games is dangerous to an artistic mind.