Not Giving Up

That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die.

 

I think this pretty much summarizes why the OP feels this way.

 

That's the beginning of a poem by Dylan Thomas (and used in the movie Interstellar).

Don't give up! Perhaps it is youthful ignorance, but not all is in vain. Consider that you may not find true happiness and contentment in developing or playing video games alone. But they can be worthwhile endeavors.

 

All I have done is state the reality of the situation. If that reality causes you to feel discouraged, you can't say that I am the one discouraging you.

That's a choice everyone gets to make for themselves.

 

Isn't that the exact attitude I am criticizing?

All I ask is that if you want write searing remarks, try.

 

OK I'll bite.

You want the world to fall into your lap without doing anything. You want excitement go out and find it, carve a path, figure out a process to get there.

At the moment you've told us how you sit at home watching your TV and say how you are disenchanted with everything. You yearn for an adventure, something exciting, but nothing comes of it.

I can already tell by the way you write, you haven't tried anything. You say you have, but you haven't. You have however, been quick to liquidate those dreams and assume 'nothing ever works out.'

If you want to have friends, be successful, enjoy life, you have to practice these things everyday. I mean, for you this is going to be hard, everyday you will have to wake up and remember, not to tell everyone to go **** themselves, you will have to remember to smile and be polite and ask someone about their day, you will have to remind yourself to stop thinking about yourself 24/7 and try to think about the other persons problems hopes and dreams. This is going to be very difficult for an angry and passive aggressive personality which you have gloriously cultivated over the past decade.

You could however, drop someone, who is the polar opposite of you into an unknown country, strip him of his worldly possessions, and he would be able to attract people into his life. Because this person has learned how to attract others and not repel.

As I said, it's not going to be easy to change, but it's possible good luck bro!

 

This is by far the most intriguing thing I have heard someone say in a long time... I will be thinking about this for a while.

I am also working on becoming actively aggressive, although passive aggression has traditionally been my forte.

I will not just disagree with you on anything until I take some time to think about and test out what you've said.

 

BTW my 2p: I think it's pretty normal for people to feel a bit crap this time of the year. My advice is: go play downfall. It's simple, finish able by anyone and a bit fun. Why don't more developers do that and experience the achievement of finishing? That finishing something small really helps you finish game after game because it's kind of a popped bubble.

 

Interesting. Never heard of that game. That's an interesting concept, to just finish anything.

 

Worked for me. I didn't finish anything solo until I did a small kids game. Now I finish everything. It's IMHO a mental block.

Even Cthulhu could do it, instead of dreaming.

 

Only if the stars align or an earthquake comes along. It doesn't happen everyday.

 

And so do you, and so does everyone in the world, and so, therefore, do I.

I thought a while on this. No, you can't tell that. Even if it were true, you simply have too little to go on. You're just taking a shot in the dark.

Also, it sounds like you've been reading from "The Secret" when you talk about "attracting". I think it's a little more involved than being a happy-go-lucky guy and being everybody's best bud. That will get you somewhere, but it will not take you everywhere you wanna go. Having a spine, expressing yourself, being genuine (even if you're genuinely absurd) is more important than being universally agreeable. And even if you're not invited to all the cool kid's parties, you will wind up with a lot more people respecting you.

I think you're maybe being a tad presumptuous with your summary of me and my life and your advice as to how I should live going forward.

 

I think it is possible to be both, like me.

I am not bragging but I have tons of friends and go to a lot of parties. But I also don't try hard to be everybody's best friend just so I can go to "all the cool kid's parties". I have these many friends because I'm being genuine to them and if I argue with someone I can relate to their point of view and explain my point of view to them really well. The only people I hate and who often hate me are the pretentious and arrogant ones who, like you said, are only friends with someone to go to every parties and try hard to be cool.

This in my opinion brings you even further than being stubborn and calculated.

 

The problem with what you're saying is that your strategy isn't accounting for the classic manipulative personalities in the world. Let me explain. There are people in this world who have no sense of right and wrong, a.k.a. what we call a "conscience". They just live to fulfill their desires. They quickly realize how people work and how to control people from a yoing age. They are always meeting new people and ending friendships all the time. They are practicing. When you walk up as Mr. Genuine Friend, they see a "easy mark" a.k.a. "classic sucker". When you reveal your spine, they say... o.k. harder case, but still possible to be manipulated. They just need to learn your weaknesses and stengths first. Eventually, they will have you.

I realized these people existed a few years ago. Typically they work in management or any position where they can hold power over others. You will not know one when you see them, because they spend the majority of their time concealing their lack of a soul (essentially).

My way, being myself and not allowing anyone or anything external to influence my identity, is the only sure way to guarantee that I'm not just playing into yet another person's grand plan to make their lives fabulous while promising me the moon.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about or this all sounds made up, I'm very sorry to say that it's pretty much guaranteed that someone is using you without your knowledge.

I don't have a lot of friends, and it's not because I'm no fun to have a conversation with. It's because I don't have the patience to weed through all of the non boring people in the world to find which one's aren't considering ways to screw me over.

 

Giving up is fine. Calling it a day is fine. Throwing in the towel is fine.

Posting the demise of ones self on this forum will pretty much guarantee it.

 

What?

Who is "demising"?

What is so special about this forum that whatever is spoken here makes it come true?

 

Hmm... I never considered the possibility before.
Maybe these forums are kind of like those fabled magical wishing wells?

And thinking about it... a magic wishing well would be cool to stick in a game.

 

Crikey... magic wishing wells are sort of under served these days. I wonder what would power a magic wishing well? Who would have created it? Hmmmmmmm

 

Wait... this forum is a magic wishing well? Great.

I wish to not give up making my game. And when I do finish it, I wish it will sell at least 100,000 copies.

 

I wish once I finish single-player mode for my game, it will magically become multiplayer overnight. Thank you magic wishing well.

 

You get personal very soon sir, I was not criticizing you. Please calm down (if you are angry ) and read your post again. If you think that everything written in your post is not discouraging then probably I've failed to explain my thoughts to you. Telling people - "One day you have to give up" is discouraging in my knowledge.

 

The way someone chooses to describe "reality" says a lot about them.

 

Well, there's only one reality. I'm not sure how many ways there are to view it or why it necessitates finger quotes. I know there are a lot of cults and things like that, where people specialize in constructing elaborate fictional versions of reality. Scientology is a popular one. None of that's for me, though.


FRIGGIN' "REALITY"

Just remember kiddos:

Everything is cyclical in nature and our physical universe results from the interaction of these cycles. The Earth goes around the sun. The moon goes around the Earth. In fact, every molecule in your body is cycled out in your lifetime. Everything eats and therefore, poops (except androids). Everything lives and therefore, dies (except the immortal jellyfish). Everything has a beginning, a middle and an end (except Cthulhu, R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn).

In the end it's not really how you view reality that matters. It's the fact that no matter how you view reality, you are powerless to change it!

 

I was planning on being a motivational speaker, this was going to be the cornerstone of my message. Back to the drawing board.

 

You're quite the character aren't you?

Shot in the dark, lucky guess, call it what you like. It is true though?

No idea what that is? Is it some chick book? Enlighten me.

Except you don't have a spine, you let everyone walk all over you and then you sulk in silence or post in a passive aggressive style on internet boards such as this. Who respects you? Do you respect yourself?

Nothing presumptuous at all, just reading what you write tells me all I need to know. It tells me you were probably invited to a New Year's party of sorts, but in your wisdom you decided you probably wouldn't go, or if you did you closed yourself off. Tells me. you had a bad time, but at least it is something you're familiar with, something you can relate to? And then you can moan about it -now or later.

Long story short, stop being the clown, everyone in your town, including your family and friends know you play the clown. And yes, I have to agree reading your threads, even I chuckled a bit. Although it was a rather uncomfortable chuckle. Simply, forget all you know start from the beginning.

Begin afresh. Create a Diary, or add events on your iphone, to remind yourself you wear a smile, ask people around you how they are, unlearn all that angry stuff you have bottled inside of you, all those little rejections you've experienced.

Does the world fall into your lap? No of course it doesn't, if you went to you maths teacher you wouldn't just ask him for a 'A' grade. He'd laugh at you, instead you work, and work, everyday winning one little thing at a time, studying in the library when everyone is out fooling around. Eventually, you put in the work so you can get that 'A.'

So the world HAS a chance of falling into your lap.

At the moment you're a nobody, a clown that everyone forgets, nothing more nothing less. But you certainly have the capacity to change.

Good luck bro!

 

I like your story of my life better than my actual life!

No.

Actually, throughout my life I have gotten into trouble quite a bit for standing up to people. Who respects me? That's sort of a tough question to answer. Let me go ask everyone who has ever known me and get back to you. In the meantime, I expect you can handily produce a list of people who respect you with contact information for verification purposes?

... aren't you posting on an internet board such as this, as well?

Elaborate work of fiction originating entirely in your own imagination.

I didn't have to ask for an 'A' in math, because I always got an 'A' in math?

I am not sure where this is going. It seems like I'm arguing with a fiction writer. It's a unique approach, let me try...

I'm guessing when you were in the 7th grade, you like a girl but she didn't like you back, so you fantasized about becoming a masked superhero. It wasn't until you were 17 that you realized that you had the power to turn corrugated cardboard into glossy cardboard, although you couldn't find a way to use your powers for good... and so you became a super villain. It all came to a head when the one girl you ever truly loved got engaged to a Verizon Wireless salesperson and you had to retreat to the shadows... you now post on the internet from an old Dell computer running Windows 98, secretly searching the world to see if you can find someone with psychic powers by putting them through a series of riddles and tests, your posts are filled with secret clues that only a gifted person could decipher.

...and the really funny part, your story isn't any truer than mine. Which is, of course, 100% true.

Spoiler: Psst...

Also, how can you not know what The Secret is?

 

I wish, I wish I had a fish.

 

There might only be one reality, but we each only experience a tiny part of it and interpret it differently. So the way an individual describes it still says a lot about them.

 

Some may even turn to religion and say something like: "What was that loud bright thing coming down from the sky? It must be one of our god's anger! We better behave! Dear Zeus / Thor, please don't kill me!"

 

Son - "Hey dad, what's that bright light zig zagging in the sky"
Dad - "Oh that's a shooting star son!"
Son - "Uhmm dad - it's just hovering in front of us with a beam of light"
Dad - "It must be a headlight from somebodies bright lights"
Son - " DA----------------"
Aliens - You are mine Bi-itches lol.

It's called Aliens here to abduct and experiment on you lol.

 

You can't ask him to play and then get all defensive about it.

Clearly you are here only to contemplate your own beauty. You are not here seeking answers or new perspectives. A cinder block who refused to be anything but tethered to someone's leg in the ocean.

Here's my play... 2 choices:
1. quit and walk away from this nonsense
2. get off your keister, change your diaper, go outside and do something (I recommend climbing a rock face since you are so close to Red Rocks, the Magic Bus is easy and a classic)

[tossing my coin into the well]
I wish Unity would lower their price points!

 

Me, when I figured out what was actually happening in the game. Holy crap. Who would make such a game? No, this is no Silent Hill. This is no The Witch's House. This is Se7en. This is Jeffrey Dahmer Simulator. I'm like, "This game must be good or why would the hippo recommend it? ... give it a chance, the hippo recommended it...." Look, I like horror. I like to be scared and this game was freaking scary. I've been reading Edgar Allen Poe and Stephen King since I was in middle school. Got into Lovecraft and horror flicks later in life. But... I don't know, man. I kind of feel like I just spent a few hours inside the mind of a psychopath and no amount of brain bleach will ever quite be enough.

 

Nobody asked him to "play". All I said was if you're going to try to write something really scathing... try. By try, I didn't mean make up a bunch of stuff and see if you can hit a nerve. Anyone can do that...

See?

(IN THE OCEAN)

 

Oh, I made a mistake. It's actually http://downwellgame.com/ - ie a simple addictive affair. Heh.

 

1. You only have a lap when you are sitting.
2. Everyone wants the world to fall into their lap.

This is why nothing is ever done & the world is in the state it is in, everyone is busy sitting on their butt instead of actually standing up & doing something about it.

 

Does it say a lot about them, or does it say a lot about the tiny part of reality they have experienced? If you take a person born into, let's say, extreme poverty and you take a person born into extreme wealth you can't, for instance, call the impoverished person an ungrateful whiner when he complains about dealing with hunger and malnutrition, simply because the wealthy person never has any complaints. And whether it's likely to be admitted to, here, or not the environment in which a person is raised contributes a great deal to their personality and perspective. All you can really do is take someone who grew up where you grew up, went to school where you went to school and then if they see the world differently than you do... that says a lot about them. But to just take any random person who sees the world differently than you are accustomed to seeing it and make determinations about that person based on that... why, that's just run-of-the-mill xenophobia.

 

So, this one won't traumatize me for life? I think you have to go play Downfall now, it's only fair.

 

Both.

I agree entirely, though it seems moot since, at least in my slice of reality, people don't usually seem that shallow.

 

Sorry, couldn't stop myself.

But seriously, quitters don't win. I won't give up on my game, Computer Virus Simulator and neither should you, unless it's so crappy that it is beyond salvation without 2yr+ worth of rewriting it.

 

Do you have food to eat today? That's because I got off of my butt and did something today. You are welcome.

You may now go back to making cool games for me to play. Thank you.

 

That DownWell is a fine example of what I think an Indie game should be.
It's doing well on Steam with over 70,000 sales so far.

Not meaning to hijack your thread. Just suggesting it might be worthwhile to look at this game and think about why you did not make it? And also contemplate if you had made it would it be sitting out there "unknown" or would it still have made over 70,000 sales? I think this bit is the elephant in the room folks around here seem to not talk about much.

 

prob'ly

 

That is a good question why did downwell do so well but Meteor crush didnt.

 

I agree absolutely. And the answer to that is at the heart of how to succeed as an Indie Game Dev. Well if you consider making maybe $150k or more from a game like DownWell as a success. I definitely would call it a big success.

It makes you wonder if M.C. was on Steam would it actually have far more players? From what I've seen there is a good solid base of retro minded gamers on Steam. Perhaps Kongregate is filled more with casual gamers on the one side and modern gamers on the other.

Did the creators of DownWell already have a community to market to? Did they do a huge amount of marketing? Did they get a lucky break and their game was covered by a couple big YouTubers? The "devil is in the details" as they say. And the details are far more than just the game itself. At least in my view.

 

Well downwell was published by devolver digital which has a pretty good track record. At least all of there games sell over 10k units.
http://steamspy.com/dev/Devolver+Digital

 

What is the point of ski'ing? They spend $millions$ to prepare the mountain, generate snow, and build lifts that will carry thousands of people. Then, we ride up, freezing our buts off, only to fall off the lift, so that we can ZOOOOOOMMmmmm down the mountain. Then, we get in line and do it again.

There is no point. There is only the joy of doing. Try, improve, and repeat. Sometimes quitting is part of that process.

Gigi

 

Personally, I know why nobody played Meteor Crush.

1) I don't think the game is all that fun to play. I struggled with trying to make it entertaining but I failed to really make it truly awesome. In the end, I spent a lot of effort on making it prettier and more difficult and more adventurous to kind of compensate. But I never nailed the fun aspect.

2) Not replayable. I tested the game many times. Maybe in 1980, the game would have been well received. But now there are just too many other ways to spend your time that are more refined, made by very talented people.

3) Zero advertising, marketing and promotion. Absolutely nothing. I didn't even bother. I didn't make a WIP page/post/anything. I worked on it, then got some feedback and made some changes, then threw it to the wolves.

Downwell gets 10/10 in reviews... you can't argue with that. That owns. If I made a 10/10 game, and in feedback I got parental complaints because kids flunked tests because they were up all night playing it... I would retreat to my secret lair and figure out how to capitalize on it. As it is, I am not sitting on a 10/10 game. Meteor Crush is a 5-6/10 game, in my opinion.

Here's a challenge to all of the snarky people out there, snarking with all your snark... I dare you to rip apart your own game as I have.

 

As much as that's an important part of the process, here's another important part: I dare you to see the good in yours.

 

When the sky is literally falling, just keep shooting. When faced with the impossible, evolve. When your aim is unreachable, learn to fly. You can do it... if you don't give up.