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Other Announcements / To learn or not to learn (help me decide)
« on: October 17, 2009, 10:30:17 PM »
My dream is to make my roguelike game and then put it online (for free) and keeping updating it maybe adding fans suggestions.
I planned and writed lots of stuff for it, about mechanics, gameplay, and story as well. It would be a very huge game with arcade gameplay and retro style graphics.
My problems are the lack of time and knowledge (about how to code).
I have two main doubts, but before I'll tell you my current situation.
When I was a teenager (and even before) I used to be an hardcore videogamer. I really, really like videogame - expecially rpg, and expecially expecially roguelike.
But after high school I started getting a degree, a girlfriend, sport and all kind of social "time sinks" so I didn't managed to spend at videogames as much time as I would. I graduated and within a couple of years I will be even more busy because of my job, so my situation will never gave me the free time I had before. At this point of my life, I have a sort of mental block about learning how to code.. but I think still not enough money to pay a programmer and a graphic to do all the coding (I will in 3 years). Furthermore, my eyes have become less tolerant to the monitor and I can't stand behind a pc for more than some hours. The good thing is that at high school I studied something and now I know some of the coding logics ("if" processes, recursiveness, etc).
Now my doubts:
#1- If I decide to take the work all for myself, can I learn a program language in my situation? How many hours will this take? And then, how much time could require a project let's say with an ADOMish depht but also graphics and stuff?
#2- I fear that when I'll have learnt how to code, all my passion and game related creativity will disappear. Maybe it's a stupid irrational feeling, but who knows.
(I remember many years ago, I discovered an engine (RPG maker) and started developing a game.. and then experienced this. Maybe it was because the engine sucked and didn't allowed me to do anything. Whatever.)
What do you think? I must admit this second doubt is strong.
I planned and writed lots of stuff for it, about mechanics, gameplay, and story as well. It would be a very huge game with arcade gameplay and retro style graphics.
My problems are the lack of time and knowledge (about how to code).
I have two main doubts, but before I'll tell you my current situation.
When I was a teenager (and even before) I used to be an hardcore videogamer. I really, really like videogame - expecially rpg, and expecially expecially roguelike.
But after high school I started getting a degree, a girlfriend, sport and all kind of social "time sinks" so I didn't managed to spend at videogames as much time as I would. I graduated and within a couple of years I will be even more busy because of my job, so my situation will never gave me the free time I had before. At this point of my life, I have a sort of mental block about learning how to code.. but I think still not enough money to pay a programmer and a graphic to do all the coding (I will in 3 years). Furthermore, my eyes have become less tolerant to the monitor and I can't stand behind a pc for more than some hours. The good thing is that at high school I studied something and now I know some of the coding logics ("if" processes, recursiveness, etc).
Now my doubts:
#1- If I decide to take the work all for myself, can I learn a program language in my situation? How many hours will this take? And then, how much time could require a project let's say with an ADOMish depht but also graphics and stuff?
#2- I fear that when I'll have learnt how to code, all my passion and game related creativity will disappear. Maybe it's a stupid irrational feeling, but who knows.
(I remember many years ago, I discovered an engine (RPG maker) and started developing a game.. and then experienced this. Maybe it was because the engine sucked and didn't allowed me to do anything. Whatever.)
What do you think? I must admit this second doubt is strong.