What's the longest you've worked on a single game project?

Yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of the day I started my current project.

The first few completed items in my super sophisticated task tracker (Notepad++)



This is by far the longest I've worked on a single game. I generally realize at some point along the way that my idea just wouldn't be that fun - either to work on or to play - and abandon it. This one is different on both accounts, which has provided enough motivation to keep me going. Once I pool together enough money to replace my programmer art, a stage I've never made it to before, I can hopefully start to go more public with it.

How about you? What long term projects have you worked on? Did you finish? Still working?

 

Depends on perspective really, if I include re-writes which modify the actual design of the game probably about 2.5 years. If I say from current prototype to now, probably a year..

Still a work in progress.

 

About 150 hours is the most I have worked on a single project. But only 1/3 of that time was spent on the actual game. The other 2/3 was spent on trying different approaches to figure out the best way to do it in Unity. And ultimately it was never done.

Of the games I've completed the longest has been around 60 hours (5 weeks). Anything between 30 and 60 results in a completed game.

 

I kind of wish I had tracked hours, but I'll just have to do a really gross estimate once it's done. Well over 60 though.

I've definitely rewritten major portions of mine so far. Went through 3 versions of AI (goal oriented action planner, utility, behavior trees), some major refactoring to support threading once it became clear that was going to be needed (pathfinding for a couple of hundred units), and so on. I'm hoping that major refactors like that are done and I can really start moving forward on fleshing out game play.

I've started the occasional shorter game like you prefer. Finished 3 versions of one of them (early iPhone, Xbox 360, Windows Phone) and made enough to pay for a nice laptop. But the games I enjoy making are just much more complex than that so it's hard to stay motivated on those sorts of games.

 

Congrats on completing some smaller games already. I definitely get the refactoring. It just comes with the territory I think. No way of knowing really what exactly is needed until we're down the road a ways then it becomes clearer and need to circle back and overhaul.

Although I greatly enjoy tiny game projects (and games) I am also very interested in doing bigger games. I wanted to start with tiny games because every time I started on something that was much bigger it seemed like I wasn't making much progress.

So I went way back on scope again kind of starting fresh. The idea is each little game will build on the lessons learned and tech made for the games before it. This way I don't have to deal with challenge after challenge all on one game. Instead I can tackle just a bit of that in each new game.

 

I did 7 games so far but work for more than 4 years on my submarine game now...

 

Looks nice. How long did you work on it before your first release?

 

It's not released yet, or do you mean the other games? They're all mobile games which took about 3 months each.

 

Ah, my bad conclusion based on the website. 4 years then, wow. Any ideas how much longer before a release? I have some slim hopes of putting out an early alpha release sometime next year, but that remains to be seen.

 

I'm going to release it by the end of this year. It's part time development, about 600 hours of work with about 20,000 lines of code so far.

 

Probably 1-1.5 years or so. Unfortunately, I've yet to actually release anything. Been programming for years now but haven't released a game. Why? Because I'm a programmer. Releasing a game requires more skills: marketing, art, music, etc. I specialize in programming and not the others.

In either case, I work on projects to improve my programming ability. My current project has been going for about 2 years, but I took a 9 month break at one point to do other things before returning to it.

 

late 2014->present day

 

Prior to Unity, I'd spent about a year and a half writing my own engine.

I've been on my current project for about 8 months now, between 8 and 10 hours a week. So ~300 hours.

 

You're even more part-time than I am! I generally can sustain about 12 hours per week on this stuff. But 12.5 hours per month for your game. Wow! Shows that even a little time can really produce something nice over a long haul.

Do you generally just work on your game 1 day per week or two for 3 or 6 hours or working several days per week like 30 minutes each?

 

I've been working on and off my space game kit for quite a while, probably a year or so now? - at various points (before I announced it) it was going to be a space game of my own and then I would change my mind again (which of course meant a rewrite!) But aside from large stretches where I put it on hold and did other stuff, I spend only about a third of my game development time specifically on it - most of the time is building up my skill in everything from scripting, shader programming, modelling, customizing blender, and a million other things. I like to go off on a tangent for a week or two to make a quick assessment of something that might have a use for what I'm 'officially' working on, such as practising making modular kits, or a promising procedural sound effect generator I want to finish developing in the near future, that is already being used for the kit.

I tie it all together around the space game kit, so although a lot of things I work on aren't specifically designed for it, they all push in that direction, and it keeps me from having a clash of different projects. And I suppose the space game kit is really part of a push for my upcoming game(s).

 

I am curious do you guys work on 8 hours a day, every day or just work whenever you feel like it spradoically, where your putting in like 12 hours a ay and sometimes you wont work on it for a few weeks.

 

I have a day job, but generally average 3-4 hours a day on my game project. My productivity level goes in waves (might be slightly bi-polar ). Sometimes I'll do 16+ hour days just on my game and make huge progress, sometimes will have nothing mentally for a few days so nothing much gets done. I do try to do at least one thing on it every day, even if it's something that just takes 5 minutes. Daily progress.

 

I have a hobby project...Worked on it with two different engines, and wasted a year on each...I have been rebuilding it in Unity for past 4 months...The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence...Unity is very time saving...In 4 months I am already to the point I was in a year with the other engines...Go Unity!...

 

Mine goes like this... start new tiny game project work 1.5 to 2 hours per day until it is done. Release then take 1 week (or more) off before starting a new project.

Not written in stone though. And now I have 2 projects going on... one with another dev and my new solo project. Only done a bit on each very sporadically over the past 2 weeks.

I think it was just the change.... I was just sort of "getting in the groove" knocking out games again. Then decided to try teaming up with another person and it just seemed like it added so much overhead and extra work it kind of broke my momentum. I think we've got that sorted out now though.

Tonight I will be focusing on my solo game project. It's another I can knock out in 2 to 3 weeks at most if that is the only one I had going on.

 

I did the concept art for mine in January 2008.
Which means I was never inspired by minecraft.
Didnt start with Unity until the PC version.
Before that I was poking around with Java+Slick for 2D isometric.

 

Would you do it again for future projects?

 

I have a 3.5 hour commute every day, so that's my gamedev time. Whether I actually do that or play Grim Dawn instead is another story...

 

I am not sure yet. I mean the person is not "bad" or anything like that. lol

Just that I have a very specific way I develop based on lots of trial and error to arrive at a very streamlined approach. And my goals are pretty much crystal clear. Mainly that is get the game done as soon as I can and focus on the game itself (the mechanics & gameplay) more than anything else. I think few people approach it this way.

I probably also just have too much of a lonewolf mentality. Even at work I've never cared for meetings. See them as a necessary evil that I usually skip in the interest of actually getting things done.

I think what would work best for me is to spend a few days or week on a game and then send that over to the other programmer and they do the same spend a few days or week on it adding more stuff then send it back.

What has proven to work well for me is hiring an artist to create art. This way I can focus only on the project at hand instead of communication & general interaction with another person. It is super fast and easy to send a message please create these graphics and pay the person. Simple & efficient.

 

I worked for about 2 years in this project: http://imgur.com/a/HGtsr
I didn't had too much experience at the time and I was learning lots of basic concepts of programming, along the way I put the project on hold lots of times for like 1 month, sometimes for weeks, I didn't finish it though, I was sick of working with JS and I was too lazy to port all the project to C#.
My current project is ~1 year old and counting.

 

That project looks pretty nice. You should convert it all after a suitable break period.

 

Thanks! I will convert it when I finish my current project, which will still take around 2 more years.. I hope.

 

April 11th - now. Averaging 20 hrs a week.

If we counted non-game projects my longest would be 3 years at around 50 hours a week. Was a tad burnt on that project by the end...

I tend to prefer being a lone-wolf (programming) on my own projects, but I really like teaming up with another programmer from time to time on their projects. I learn a lot of new things this way. My current teammate makes me look like such a newbie...

 

I don't know how much time I've put in each day, since I tend to get distracted by something mid-work, but I started my project around December 2015/January 2016 and have been working on it since. Except for the occasional rest period, several hours a week go dedicated to it.

 

Active, released games, 3 years. We just had our 2 year anniversary for Commander (now with Rouge One content!). Personal project, 6 years. It had one release 4 years ago, but I am always working on it, though really only a few hours a week, someday I'll finish it.

 

3.5 years and counting...

 

Been working on The Deep Paths since early March, 2014. Release date is the 14th of October.

 

Very nice. Looking forward to this one.

 

I've been working on BHB: BioHazard Bot since 2012. So over 4 years now.

 

Well usually I worked in waves on that project. So 1-2 months really heavily 2-3 hours per day, then kind of a break kicked in (sometimes even several months!) and I did other games in between. But now I'm totally focused and will finish it this year.

 

Most of my projects only last a couple of weeks. Pond Wars took up almost six months, then again, it did get finished, so that may account for the majority of the extra time.

 

Nearly 8 years and counting on SuperTrucks Offroad.
Thank goodness the beta is literally weeks away.

I'm getting kind of over working on it with no reward lol.

 

Great questions Dave-Carlile. And congrats on your 2 years!

>> What long term projects have you worked on?
Let's see for me, it's Build a Game Universe.
Over 4+ years now. Average working time is 85-120 hours a week.
Prior to that, most industry projects I've done were 1.5 to 2 years in length.

>> Did you finish?
Getting close! There is a public beta available on Steam.
If you're interested in testing it out, let me know. Thanks!

 

about 1-3hr

oh you mean in total? no idea I don't want to know, I started last year and haven't finished. I'm sure with Unity's S*** ton of analytic tracking S*** they could probably tell me though right?

 

Very cool, needs one litle extra feature.
I cant say more without NDA, but I need "Generate Fun Game" button added to the botom left.
I offer $10 dogecoin for this 10 min work.
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

(In all seriousness, it looks like a neat project. I would never be able to sustain that workload, thanks for sharing!)

 

After reviewing your site, there is one thing I was wondering.
It seems that when a user finishes a game and wants to sell it, the potential customers can only be users of Build A Game. So the sales are locked to your system. This limits the potential number of people that see the game for sale.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.
If I'm right, it could be made more obvious on the site.

For what you're doing, I don't think that's a bad thing. Its a site for more casual builders.
If it became popular enough to make a lot of money for you, I don't see how you could keep up with items being submitted for review. That's going to be a challenge.

 

Does the worked on time include GI rendering time?

 

5 years and counting.
To be fair, it's a hobby project of mine (14-16h a week at most), not my full-time job, and i started it 1 year after i started learning programming in university, so you know, a lot of problems in the first couple of years with a lot of remakes.

Word of advice, don't start with something too complex

 

I've got a 5 year old project I still do stuff to from time to time.

Current ambitious project is ~1 year in. Side projects vary greatly in length, between maybe a month and maybe a year.

 

I think the time taken to make a game is grossly underestimated. Mainly, for the following reasons, the game developer has no real set goals, they loose enthusiasm along the way, they have too many ideas and as a result get side tracked extremely easily, they spend too much time polishing one part of the game and then realises the other parts of the game do not work well at all, they soon realise as a one man team there are a lot of things they need to work on, 3D modelling, concept art, texturing, retopoing, animating, programming, sound development and design, game design, game play, lighting etc.

I've spend about a year on my game however, the reality is I've only actually spent about a month or so on actual real man hours.

 

4 years and counting on my main Unity project. No stress, fully motivated and no desire to give up.

 

One of my projects has taken over 6 months.

 

Sounds like regular development cycle that we all go through, which eventually (hopefully) generates great games for the masses to play.
Anything less results in inferior product.

Though - agree totally we can't estimate how long iterative creative revisions will take from the outset of a project.
Hey - app/asset idea - game development crystal ball. Input features, mechanics, resolution, style, depth, hours per day towards development, competency in all aspects of the game idea, click the button - out pops estimated time to market - and random number generator for chance of success.

 

Sometimes I open a game asset in my "WIP" and work on it, or I make a new asset because I've learned something and want to put it in "the game". I started it just after I joined this site in 2012. So, it's been four years. But I admit it, I don't have any game engine installed, so I'm not sure I'm still developing it.

 

Wow some of you here have some long projects 4 5 8 years...that is a huge chuck of your life..would like to see some videos of said projects. I wonder does anyone fear of of those years not paying off?!

 

Is this solo effort? Your game looks very professional!