Porter's World

Head First

It wasn’t too long ago that I jumped into the Flash industry looking to bring some of my game-related ideas to life. One of my many motivations for entering the industry was the game Golden Sun on the Game Boy Advance. I fell completely in love with its unique story and advanced battle system with additions unseen to me before. The game also had a sequel titled Golden Sun: The Lost Age. Sadly enough, this game ended with a slight cliff hanger that left many people wanting a third game in the series. It never came. To this day there’s been speculation of more games to come, and a few words here and there from Camelot, but still no solid plans. At the time, I wanted more than anything to learn how to program so I could continue the game myself in the unfortunate event that the third game was never released, which seems to be the sad truth over 5 years later. You may be asking yourself, “Why the back story?” Here’s why:

Many developers jump into the industry with what seems to be a grand idea; this huge project that they have all planned out, know what they want to do and try and get right on it. The very realistic truth is that 99% of people that try to do something that big so soon, or even later, can’t follow through with it. It’s just too much work with not enough experience. It’s hard enough to get a small Flash game out. A simple platformer or puzzle game offering a few levels with enough polish to survive in the industry is no easy task, let alone a MMORPG or console-quality game. Too many people jump in with these amazing ideas that just can’t be done. Baby steps are a must. I had the fortunate experience of messing around with animation for a long time before I even started game work; knowing your way around Flash in every aspect other than code is incredibly important as well. Flash is very different from nearly every other platform you’ll create games in, so it’s incredibly important to know those differences. Once you’re familiar with the program in and out (aside from code) you can then learn the basics and make a small, yet, incredibly addictive and fun game. That task alone is harder than it sounds, I urge all beginners or developers having trouble selling current games to go back to that starting point and work from there on, It pays off.

Everyone has great ideas, and we all want to jump into them and make them a reality more than anything sometimes. The truth is though, it just won’t work. Everyone needs motivation, and on long projects you’ll find it hard to keep moving when nobody is praising your game. Start small and get some encouragement and work your way up. If you follow these thoughts and slow the pace a bit, I’m sure you’ll see an increase in your overall success as a developer.