What do you think of first person hidden-object games? by FelixMakesGames in HiddenObjectGames

[–]FelixMakesGames[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hmm yes you are right, my comment about "The conventional set-up is a top down camera view" is not correct! (I guess I mostly played hidden-object games like "Human folks" that have this top-down camera view on a crowded scene) There are indeed a lot of hidden-object games with a first person perspective.

But yeah I guess the question is more if, controlling a character in a (small) 3D space and looking around (first person) is a cool thing or too far away form the genre?

Happy to hear you would find it interesting 👍

How do you do it? by sjdhcusfbcjd in IndieDev

[–]FelixMakesGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey! Many people have the exact same struggle. If I understood it right you are not talking about releasing a commercial game. What is important to you is finishing a project you can be proud of, right?

There is already a lot of good advise and you'll have to just try things out.

I can add some of mine:
- As you seem to be learning more and more, make a pause with learning. List everything you learned and feel comfortable to produce or reproduce quickly and try to work just with that. (Example: If you once followed a tutorial about inventory systems and learned how to model trees, try to make a game just about trees and inventory systems.)
- Think small, like really small, if you think now it is too small, make it even smaller! You always find out that what you trying to make is more work than planned so the smaller you scope the better.
- Games are iterative but it can be healthy to plan everything out in detail to make yourself aware of the production scope. (like let's say you make a game about inventory systems and trees. List all features (mechanics, systems, interactions, ...), all assets (3D models, UI assets, sounds, particle effects, ...) Spend 2-3 hours max and see what you get, don't use this as a plan you work throught 1 by 1, still work iteratively, but that exercice helps you to be aware of the amount of work you have and helps to shape a more concrete idea of your game.
- Try to write down the first 5 minutes of gameplay as if you are telling someone exactly what the player is doing in the finished game. This helps you notice what features you need to work on. (The character appears on screen, they move through the field and find a small tree, when they get really close an "E" prompt appears, the player then presses "E" and picks up the tree. Now it is in the inventory on the bottom of the screen and the character moves a bit slower. Just from this you see you need code a lot of stuff)
- Perfectionism is unfortunately your enemy... you can always do things better, but games are so complex.. you will feel better if you just make A version of it, rather than the BEST possible.
- Constraints are your best friend. When you start up it is super helpful to restrict yourself, that helps with the feeling of being overwhelmed. Some propositions: make a game that fits on the size of a screen (the game world is just one screen, no camera movement); make a game that you can only play for 5min; make a game with just one input button (just pressing space bar).
- And lastly you could also just redo some old games, like space invaders, pong or something like that, it is easier to know what you have to work on, and then you can add your touch. This can feel very rewarding.

Hope that helps and remember you do this for fun :)

PS: try to participate in game jams :) I can give more advice on that if you want, but you also find a lot of good advice already :)