Hello Everyone

[JakWabit]

Hello all, my name is JakWabit. I joined this community because I learned a lot from this group. Thanks alot for all the tutorials btw . I do have some knowledge in php and mysql scripting. I do not have any past projects that I can share with you. I'm currently working on a personal project. It is a pbbg based on hotshot trucking businesses. I haven't seen anything like this on the net yet. The closest thing I found is http://www.trukz.com which I'm using for inspiration. I'm making the game kind of like a business sim where you run a hotshot company. You start off with one free contract and one truck and driver. You will have to grow your business by out bidding other players (businesses) for contracts, buy new trucks, hire drivers, ect. I'm just getting started so I have a long way to go. I am always open for suggestions and hope to make this a successful game.

[Jackolantern]

Welcome! Sounds like a neat idea I think it would be popular, too, as we have had a couple of other people say they wanted to make a trucking game, although I believe they petered-out on their projects so I don't think you have to worry about one of them beating you to the punch. Finding a mostly uninhabited niche genre can be a good first step towards making a popular game!

[SpiritWebb]

Welcome to the forums. I look forward to seeing your progress with this game, sounds great and fun!

[Callan S.]

I second Jack's comments on filling a niche no one else really has! Sounds like you've reall focused your vision! Welcome and good luck

[ConceptDestiny]

Welcome Jak.

[JakWabit]

Thanks to all of you! I'm very excited about this game and I even found a good name for it, I'm calling it "Hot Shot Boss". I think it has a good ring to it. I'm going to purchase the domain name soon from GoDaddy, while it is available. I know a lot of people come up with a good idea and start making their game and still don't have a name. I have a lot of good ideas for this game and I'm still working with pen and paper for a good site layout and design document. When I get a layout prototype of the game coded I will post a screenshot some where on this forum. I agree with you Jackolantern, I have seen a lot of people give up on their projects. I just hope I don't make that mistake. Again thanks to everyone, look forward to learning a lot from this community.

[Callan S.]

Just describing personal experience in terms of burning out - I think to a certain extent you can develop as much as what you've already made is somewhat fun already. It's kind of like a budget - if what you've already coded is a bit of fun, that gives you the drive to code more. The tactic is to then take that and code something else which is a bit fun. Which in turn gives you more 'budget'. Because if you go and code some monsterously huge code which is all support infrastructure and boring, you'll likely burn yourself right out/run out of budget.

Anyway, trying to do a massive project which is completely boring and even painful to look at until it's 100% complete (ie, only when it's 100% complete is it any fun), I think, is a recipe for burn out. Try and always make little things that'd be fun right now, even before the projects fully complete.

[kaos78414]

Callan I really like the idea that you have a fun budget That should be in a poster or something.

The way I expand my fun budget is to have multiple small but fun applications in development or in testing at any given time. Switching between them allows me to feel fresh again when going back to work on any of them.

Another thing that gets me excited and eager to code is when any given project gets an upgrade, improves functionality, or anything along those lines.

I would also suggest subscribing to a blog or two that motivate you. Paul Graham's blog really motivates my business (he talks about start ups and things along those lines). Sometimes just reading or going through some tutorials can get your mind in the right mood again.

Also a quick note: This is definitely a good reason to use a framework, especially if your working in PHP or Ruby. A lot of the purpose of the framework is take some of the not-so-fun stuff and do it for you.

[Jackolantern]

Just describing personal experience in terms of burning out - I think to a certain extent you can develop as much as what you've already made is somewhat fun already. It's kind of like a budget - if what you've already coded is a bit of fun, that gives you the drive to code more. The tactic is to then take that and code something else which is a bit fun. Which in turn gives you more 'budget'. Because if you go and code some monsterously huge code which is all support infrastructure and boring, you'll likely burn yourself right out/run out of budget.

Anyway, trying to do a massive project which is completely boring and even painful to look at until it's 100% complete (ie, only when it's 100% complete is it any fun), I think, is a recipe for burn out. Try and always make little things that'd be fun right now, even before the projects fully complete.

I definitely agree, and I think that is one of the draws to web development. You can have something that "does something" in just 30 minutes of coding. This is one of the reasons why new game engines and from-scratch, traditional indie games are pretty few and far between. When you have to work hard for 5 months just to create a program that can show something on the screen, you have to have the patience of Gandhi and not have much other fun stuff in your life to stick with that. Otherwise you will quickly get bored/burn out.

[hallsofvallhalla]

welcome and yeah there is some good posts in this thread. One thing I learned is continue to play other games. Sometimes I get caught up in development so much I stop playing games. I then forget why I started developing in the fist place. Playing other games is the biggest motivation you can have.