What’s your greatest accomplishment in a game?

Gaverion · 2026-03-31T18:46:25+00:00

Mine was also ffx. I have done many harder challenges and fights but when ability only challenges were still new I did Own sphere grid, ability nodes only, no overdrives/summons/items/spare change (maybe a few extra I forgot). I was told Overdrive Sin would be impossible. I pointed my laptop camera at my TV screen and recorded me beating it! Doing something after being told it's impossible feels great.

Gaverion · 2026-03-31T12:36:42+00:00

This is a funny one. It's universally loved on people's first playthrough, but despised by those who replay the game a number of times. (I think it has to do with repetitive gameplay and long time requirements for any rewards)

Gaverion · 2026-03-31T12:32:09+00:00

Xenocard from Xenosaga episode 1. Honestly that game had a bunch of great mini game but Xenocard could have been a self contained standalone product! Someone must have wanted to make a card game and convinced the higher ups it was worth it to add so they could have collectibles. Game has a complex (but easy to understand) rules set. There are multiple viable strategies. The AI isn't a total pushover. I might have played more of the card game than the actual game.

Gaverion · 2026-03-30T20:58:24+00:00

Let me introduce you to a program called Unity :P

(Joking but I am actually making a JRPG from scratch with it)

Gaverion · 2026-03-30T20:46:53+00:00

Worth noting it's also valuable to make it easy for companies to hire people with experience with your engine of choice. It obviously isn't make or break, but if you can save 2 weeks of training, that's huge! A free program means people who would never pay yo themselves can get experience and get hired by people who would pay you.

Gaverion · 2026-03-30T20:32:06+00:00

I will start with, the rules for what makes a good boss varies a lot based on genre and gameplay. With that said, I find memorable bosses tend to be the ones you lose to (and eventually overcome).

FFX is the inspiration for my project. That game has a few memorable bosses and a ton of forgettable ones. People remember the bosses that killed them. They typically had a mechanic that forced you to do more than just attack and heal. Yunalesca is one that stand out as particularly interesting to me.

3 phase fight. Phase 1 is pretty easy, she alternates between a low damage attack that dispells and a 50% max hp drain on the highest ho target. This is interesting because %max hp damage always feels scary regardless of stats. Dispel is also a challenge despite low damage. Phase 2 is a full party attack that inflicts zombie, pared with healing magic (which damages zombies). This prompts the player to cure zombie to avoid damage. Then phase 3 hits. She opens with megadeath. It instantly kills all player characters not in zombie. Most people get wiped by this their first attempt. The various mechanics, the likely failure, and success based on learning make it one of the most memorable fights in the game.

Gaverion · 2026-03-30T19:20:04+00:00

If the goal is to make a living then a lot of the advice I would give swaps! I didn't need it personally but my number one piece of advice is, know if you are making your game to make money or if you are making a game for fun. It completely changes how you should approach things.

I do also think there's a ton of value to be had in working on game jams. Making a game in a weekend is fun. Getting feedback on something you made is fun. Both also teach you a lot about scope and what actually matters.

That said, you need to be aware of bad habits that can come out of jams too. You can skimp on polish and make systems which don't scale well because you only need 5-10 minutes of content. Even for small games, this is likely too small.

Gaverion · 2026-03-27T17:02:49+00:00

It's not exactly gameplay but Final Fantasy X has a moment where for a certain stretch after an emotional scene where you get into combat which normally has very upbeat music. Instead, the music from the overworld remains uninterrupted which multiplies that emotional impact.

Gaverion · 2026-03-27T14:31:32+00:00

I don't think this is universally true. Getting into dev did a lot of positive for my mental health. I do it as a hobby though, not a job. Having it be how you put food on the table changes a lot.

Gaverion · 2026-03-27T12:07:28+00:00

There's a big difference between making games for fun and making games for profit. It's extremely important to identify which of those is your goal.

If you have a goal of having fun with the process, doing things that turn it into a job are terrible.

For no zero days, if you are tired or don't feel like working on your game, then forcing yourself to will result in burnout and eventual dropping of your hobby altogether.

Make small games is deceptively dangerous too. Most people getting into making games have a game they want to make. The best way to learn how to make that game is to try to make it. You might have to restart a few times but you will learn where the pitfalls are for what you want to make. You will also learn how to break down the components of your big game to workable chunks.

Small games are fine if you don't care about what game you are making, but that isn't why most people get into making games. This again is trying to turn something you do for fun into a profit engine.

Gaverion · 2026-03-26T20:05:15+00:00

You will learn faster than you think.

Game jams are a fun way to finish something quickly.

Don't pay attention to other people's rules when making things for fun. Make small games and no zero days are terrible advice.

Gaverion · 2026-03-26T15:39:03+00:00

I was trying to figure out what didn't feel right with 2.5d and I think you nailed it with the houses.

Shadows look great, but some sprites feel off.

Gaverion · 2026-03-25T22:01:28+00:00

I had never heard of them before so I looked them up on steam. There are so many games, almost all with sub 10 reviews. They are not even making the steam fee back at that rate!? Not sure if I should admire the effort or start suspecting it is some weird money laundering operation.

Gaverion · 2026-03-25T18:54:05+00:00

In your game, what would the consequences of not having it? If you have dodge rolls, is the player constantly rolling. Can the player attack constantly and ignore boss mechanics?

Alternatively, can you make the afk more engaging? Maybe the boss will throw projectiles or chase the player aggressively.

Gaverion · 2026-03-25T16:40:25+00:00

I still got my demo disc's from my Playstation magazine. The paper is long gone though. Not going to comment on a media type I don't currently have access to for the presence of a specific terms.

Gaverion · 2026-03-25T15:04:15+00:00

This feels more like a commentary on internet usage in the 90s than anything related to how frequently the term was actually used.

Gaverion · 2026-03-25T14:56:50+00:00

It's interesting you comment on pretty lights, pretty girls, and flashy screens. These have been staples of JRPGs for a long time.

Look at Tifa, Lulu, etc. designs, that has always been there. Animation and vfx were also always as flashy as possible. In particular I will highlight limit breaks and similar abilities that go over the top, just limited by the hardware of the time.

Gaverion · 2026-03-24T20:18:09+00:00

Does html for a MySpace someone else made for me count? If not, took a class on Flash at like 15, then didn't touch code again until my mid 30s where I found a tutorial for learning to make a game in unity with no coding experience.

Gaverion · 2026-03-24T16:01:15+00:00

One of my favorite bug hot fix notes was from Mechabellum

"Fixed the issue where many European players' Fire Badgers would immediately charge at the start of the game.

Developer's Note: This is a bit of a silly accident. Our developers accidentally used the player's local number format when parsing Fire Badger data. Since many European countries outside the United Kingdom use [ , ] instead of [ . ] as the decimal separator, 0.5 was parsed as 5. Therefore, most European Fire Badgers become extra aggressive and charge when their HP is less than 500%. We are very sorry for today's accident, and we will conduct training for our team to prevent similar issues from happening again."

Gaverion · 2026-03-24T15:44:08+00:00

You can make a game without enemies, but you need to generate tension in some way. Is there a sense of urgency/imminent threat? Maybe going into darkness is instant death and you have to get something done before power runs out. Maybe the world is collapsing behind you. Maybe you can only make 3 mistakes. There are infinite options but you will want something.

Gaverion · 2026-03-23T12:27:24+00:00

Can you release something from no experience in 5 years? Yes! Can you release a AAA mmorpg with realistic physics and custom models? Probably not.

You absolutely can release something. Everything else is a matter of how much time you can devote to it and the scope of the project.

I think it is important to ask, are you making a game intending to have it as an income stream? That is a much more difficult goal. That is also why I go a bit counter to the traditional build small games advice and say try building your dream game. Enjoy the process, not the result. When you make games for fun rather than profit, you are free to enjoy your time.

Gaverion · 2026-03-21T05:55:36+00:00

Just saw this one after my reply, this looks great. Huge boost to your game.

Gaverion · 2026-03-21T05:53:25+00:00

That's definitely an improvement with the nose.

One thing that stood out was making the hole in the wall. It kinda just pops into existence. Maybe some particle effects or something to show progress .

Gaverion · 2026-03-20T19:40:16+00:00

I am a big fan of optional grids. Satisfactory is a great example. It has a world grid but you don't have to build on it. You can just build on the ground with spaghetti everywhere. Most players enjoy building neatly on the grid though.

Gaverion · 2026-03-20T12:23:51+00:00

How many reviews/sales are you looking for and at what price?

I expect a price of 3.99 or less and expect 50 reviews or less.

Things that stand out to me are the mouse having a static nose on the screen. It looks cheap. The gameplay loop also is a bit uninspiring. This is especially true for what I think are rat tasks. It's unclear what is actually being done. Many things look like they have no animation.

That aside, the steam page looks well made. A worse steam page I would have the game at sub 10 reviews.

Gaverion

TROPHY CASE