My Mistake in Game Development
In life there are challenges and obstacles which can force you to give up on your dreams and ambitions if you are not strong enough. You need to possess positive attitude and always learn the mistake which you come across because they will greatly help you as you forge forward in life. The obstacles should be your stepping stone and the challenges should be your strength.
After learning programming several years ago, I decided that I would become a game developer. I chose this profession because I was also a very good artist and loved drawing. Therefore I knew that I could come up with an enticing art style for any game and thus I would yield big. However, I needed a great story for my game and I wasn’t that creative. I was willing to pay for something which stood above the rest, but it took time for me to get a solid story line on which to base my game.
After about 8 months of trying to get someone creative enough to develop a good story, I eventually landed on one which I had to part with a fortune for it. All that time I had been honing my game development skills by playing with various designs and game mechanics.
I then started developing a 2D game based on the story. It wasn’t as easy task for me to work on both the designing of the game and its development but I was determined to make it. I spent several hours each day working on the various aspects needed and I love my progress. Everything was going as planned although I had some delays here and there and I couldn’t stick to the original schedule. The game which I had initially thought that it would take about 5 months seemed like it would double the duration.
Anyhow, I was so determined and I knew that I would make it big in the industry. This determination always motivated me and made me to sacrifice my best. Unfortunately, about 8 months down the line, all my efforts were grounded.
Importance of Backing up Your Coding Work
I had just arrived from the local library where I had been working the whole day, when I tried to boot my computer so that I could finish on some code that I had left hanging, only for the computer to freeze midway as it booted. Apparently the hard drive had corrupted and crashed. All my efforts to recover the date therein were futile as no software was able to retrieve data from over 70 modules of the game that I had worked on.
I was able to just retrieve a few modules, and the rest of my 8 months works just vanished like that. I learned a bitter lesson on the need to always back up my work. It was a bitter pill. I couldn’t continue with the project and it took me some more three years, before I decided to start working on it again.
When I did resume the development I was careful this time not to repeat the mistake. It took me another 7 months to finish compiling it. Then I faced another setback, I didn’t have enough resources to market my game before releasing it to the public. Virtually, I had to invest all I had and to rely on borrowing from family and friends. Then the ultimate time for the release came. From the various comments of potential buyers, I knew that it would be an instant hit.
Why You Need to Test Your Game before Release
That was never the case as I had anticipated. I had made a huge mistake of not testing the game properly. During those days, most computers were not much advanced, though I had used a more advanced computer to develop the game. Therefore, upon release, many players online experienced video problems and entire I had to make many refunds.
I had ignored the fact that I needed to test the game using various computers to ensure that the game was solid under various configuration. Although it was a well developed game, I missed my point. I had to suffer huge losses
I decided to remake it with the help of a friend after several months with the intention of changing its name, but I had another problems. During the coding, I had omitted comments of the game code and thus my companion had a hard time figuring out most of the things. It took another 3 months to work on it. I felt that I needed to maintain the same name as before because it resonated with the games’ story. However, during the initial release the damage had been done and the game never recovered from the hit it had experienced, though it made several sales to cover some costs earlier used.
I wanted to give up on game development, but I decided against it. After spending several years working for a gaming company, I’m back working on my own and I believe that the lessons I’ve learned in my career will help me make it big when I finish working on my current project.
