Why Make Your Own?

Games are awesome. There are so many of them out there, I can't reasonably expect to have played them all. It is this very thing, in fact, that has largely inhibited my ability to get any of my own projects done. So why in the world am I so determined to build them myself?

Here's the thing. My reaction to any given game falls roughly into one of three categories. See if this tracks:

A. "This game sucks. The control scheme is terrible, I have to kill half a gazillion monsters to level up even once, and none of the good weapons are even available until I've beaten the game twice and been inducted into the Guild of Regents. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? I could build a better game than this in my sleep."

B. "I have a lot of fun playing this, but if the overland map was just a little bit more functional and if they'd tweak three things in the combat system, this would be the best game. EVAR!"

C. "This game is perfect. The developers really nailed it! I wouldn't change a thing that significantly affects the gameplay. Either this is exactly the way I would have written it, or I couldn't possibly have done this myself."

Unfortunately, about 97.5% of the games I ever play fall into the first two categories, so I generally walk away from a particular game with the knowledge that I could design a better game myself. Maybe that's a lucky thing after all, since most of the resources required to produce a good game are now publicly available.

If I don't like the way something is done, I'll try to do it better. It's what I am. It's what I do.


How about you?



:)