17 Jun 08 The difference between games, websites and music.

I am currently busy with 3 projects. A game, a website and an album. As an artist/creator, I like to see the result of my work. I like to hear about people enjoying it.

I like doing anything creative, so I have dabbled in almost every form. Currently my desire to do game dev has been waning and I mused upon it and came to the following conclusion.

Websites:

-Most websites don’t have a finish state. It is constantly in beta and constantly being upgraded and updated. During the development process, you already receive “feedback”. There is constant motivation. With websites you also see the result of your work much greater. You can see people use it by them joining and using your website. Thus with little work, it can be very rewarding! (Note: I am talking about interactive websites, ala web 2.0).

Games:

-Games have 1 finished state (excluding bugs and patches). During the whole development process, it is never quite fully playable until the whole package is finished. Sometimes after the whole process it turns out to be something you did not expect it to be and you have start over (note: Roach Toaster 2). It is actually very unforgiving. The only feedback you receive are “reviews”. When you receive positive feedback it is totally awesome! You get that warm feeling inside. But as you can see, with loads you put in, you don’t get that much feedback.

Music:

-During the creation of music, it is rewarding because of the nature of music.  As you chime out melodies, you revel in its sweet sounds. Music does have a final state. Like games, you don’t really have that much feedback. The feedback is more prevalent than games though. Playing live gigs and hearing your songs being played in various clubs/bars are awesome, but you still miss out on the big slice of pie where people listen to it at home. You don’t get that feedback. Thus with little input, you only get moderate feedback.

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MMO’s are a different puppy though. It combines the web with normal games. Start small, revise and upgrade. You get immediate feedback (via users joining and playing) and satisfaction.

So as you can see, my desire to do game dev is waning. Building websites and making music is much more fun.

But you can’t deny game development. It IS the epitome of creativity. Making a great game (on your own), you must be proficient in music, arts, design and you have to be able to solve the logic puzzles of programming. And that’s why I still like doing it every now and then. I can see it remaining a hobby, but I’ll probably start leaning towards a cactus approach to games. Short, fun, stylish.