Trying to decide on my project

I'm trying to figure out what game I should be working on right now. I don't really expect anyone here to be able to tell me what I should do, but writing down my thoughts helps me sort them out, and I figured I might as well share them. If anyone wants to chime in or offer advice I may have missed, go right ahead.


I've been working on a particular project for a number of years now, but I've discovered that it isn't the project I should be working on right now. I've re-evaluated my goals, and what I really want is to finish and sell a game while my dad is still with us. He has Alzheimer's so I don't really know how much time that is, but I don't expect it to be long. The name I am using for my company is derived from the name of the my family's (now defunct) company my dad ran. With that in mind, this also has to be a game that I feel good about attaching to that name. So I'm not going to just make some cheap and crappy jewel-busting game that was built from some kit.

I want to make a game that's good enough that I can feel good about what I've created, but is also as small (or quick to produce) as I can manage, and of course be within the scope of what I personally can create with the tools, resources, and talents at my disposal.

I've been going over some ideas. I've narrowed it down to four ideas for a game that I think meet those requirements.



My first idea is to create a scrolling shooter, like Gradius or R-Type.

I had started on this project a few years ago before I got bored with it and moved on, so I already have the basic gameplay and systems programmed, and a high-res model for the player's ship. Also I wouldn't need to create animations for the player nor the enemy ships since they are just spaceships.

But boss fights are really important to these games, and I'd need about half a dozen bosses designed, modeled, and animated. I'd also need to likewise create art for six environments, which wouldn't need to be particularly detailed and fancy, and could utilize some textures/assets from the asset store, but it still needs to be done. There's also designing and programming additional weapon effects, enemy patterns, and other miscellaneous content.



My second idea is to create an NES style RPG.

I was looking into such a project a few years back, and I already have tiles for the world map, and sprites for the characters. I'm quite confident in my ability to create the rest of map tiles I'd need, and I'm thinking I could just hire some pixel artists to make my monsters' battle sprites.

But I don't have any programming done for this game at all, so I'd need to create everything from the ground up. As far as games go it would be relatively simple to program, but it's still a tall order.



My third idea is a very small-scale metroidvania, styled to look like an original Game Boy game (And about as big and expansive as they were as well.)

Since I've been working on a side-scrolling platformer already I have a lot of code that I can re-purpose for this title, and as an added bonus working on this title might help me find improvements to that game when I go back to it.

I would still need to create tiles for four or five environments, plus a handful of enemy sprites, some bosses, the player, and so forth. Trying to make it look like Game Boy art would both be easier and more challenging. I'd probably hire some people to help make the art. There would still be a degree of new programming I would need to write as well.



And my fourth idea is kind-of like a dungeon crawler, but heavily watered-down, so I guess more like a top-down action game with simple combat. I could get away with only having three environments.

I don't have anything already made for this game, but I'd want hand-painted environments, and I can easily find more textures and meshes than I will ever need on the asset store.

I would still need to program everything for this title; most of it would work similarly to what I've done in the past so I'm sure I could pull it off, but it still would require the work. I also still would need to create the player and all the enemy art. It wouldn't be very complicated since even the player wouldn't need more than three animations, and I could easily-enough hire freelancers to help make some of it, even most of it. But even so, it still would need to be done.



I've looked into a few other ideas as well, but they all ultimately either clearly required more time, or once I got them water-down enough they were not good enough that I felt comfortable selling them under my family's name.

Of these projects, I'm struggling to determine which I could produce fast enough. They all “seem” like simple-enough projects, or “seem” like they have enough of a head start, but when I really look at all that needs to be done, they all clearly require a lot of work.

I'm not afraid of doing work, but I'm really under the gun from an unknown (and literal) deadline. I want to apply myself on the project that has the best chance of hitting my goal. I just gotta figure out what project that is.

Well, thanks for caring enough to read my long summary. If you have any thoughts on this matter, I'd love to hear them. But if not, I understand; this is ultimately something I need to decide for myself.

 

I'm not sure if I remember the exact terminology, but I believe you are facing my age old enemy, decision paralysis. With so many things you could do, you end up doing none of them.

This is me almost exactly, and recently I got pissed off so I did something a little different. My niece was having her 6 year old birthday party, and I decided since I didnt know what project I wanted to work on, I would build her a little super hero game for her party(she loves super girl). I had 2 weeks to get it done(came up with the thought late). In 2 weeks I produced more than I had in almost 2 years of mucking about with my indecision.

Most importantly, when I realized I was out of time, I cut out a lot out of the project the last 2 days. Let me tell you that was some of the crappiest code I've ever done heh.

At the party though, she loved it. And so did everyone else.

I cant help you decide what game to make, but I can tell you that indecision is a big killer. So is wanting everything to be perfect. Get it done, dirty style, with the thought that your next one will be better.

 

I've faced some issues with analysis paralysis before, but honestly that is not at all what I'm up against right now.
I suppose I should share these details about my work habits because maybe they will resonate with someone and give them the support they need.

First of all I should say that I've actually planned this ahead of time.
I made a distinct decision to spend only one month examining these options, I would spend no more than a week focusing on a particular project to examine its details and what I could do with it. That was my plan from the beginning.

See my real problem isn't really analysis-paralysis per-se, its more of ADD. I get distracted by other ideas that draw my attention, and then I get pulled into analysis paralysis as I debate over switching to the shiny new project.
But having been working with this for a few years, I've learned that I can devote myself to project, but it needs to have a certain foundation.

That's where this plan comes in.

I'm not just toying with ideas, I'm seriously examining them. So later when my development starts getting a little boring and some other idea will start to entice me - when I start thinking of Castlevania again and want to make a gothic-themed action platformer - or when something will remind me of Mario games and I'll want to make a light-hearted silly title - when something comes up to shift my interest toward another project, I will have this solid month of analysis and experimentation to look back on and I can say "That's a fun idea, but I KNOW that isn't what I need to be working on right now."
I'll have a good solid foundation where I can be certain that this is the project I should be working on. I'll know exactly why a particular project wouldn't be a good fit.

And second of all, I will say that I'm on schedule, and I'm not trying to decide on my project anymore.
And that summary I posted about the projects that made it to my final decision - that really helped me make my decision. Previously I had tried to make a comprehensive list of everything I needed to do for each project, but writing that summary, spelled out simple enough for anyone who doesn't know these details to begin with, really helped me see the issues that were going to be the biggest problems I would face.

I wound up deciding on the top-down shooter; the heavily watered-down dungeon crawler. My second choice is the Game Boy Metroidvania, and if (while still early in development) I find that this project is going to take more effort than I had estimated, I can switch gears to that one instead. But things are going well and I am rapidly approaching my point-of-no-return

I'm quite excited about this project and it is taking shape quite nicely.