Woah. It's been over 2 years since I left Scratch. Let me go over three problems I had that killed most of my Scratch projects. Those three problems are overambition, perfectionism, and lack of focus. OVERAMBITION Ever noticed how most of my games that ACTUALLY saw the light of day were small, simple ones? Yeah, a big factor of me barely releasing anything was overambition. I keep announcing these big, grandiose projects without having ANYTHING to show for them. And look at what happens two months later: canceled. Projects with huge ambitions are possible, but only if you have experience. And experience comes from starting small (which is what I should have been doing before announcing all of those grandiose projects: Office Simulator, Rhythmic Roughhousing, etc.). PERFECTIONISM This problem is a fairly new one I've discovered. It really hit me in the face after watching "Loneliness Kills Art" by JayTheDevGuy on YouTube. Another problem I have is that I'm a perfectionist. I didn't want to release ANYTHING until it was a perfect, golden 10/10. That's a problem because you will NEVER reach that standard. You'll always find a minor flaw, you'll fix that, and look! Another minor flaw! Participating in game jams helped combat my perfectionism. I had to make a game before a strict deadline. Whatever was done, was done. And that helped SIGNIFICANTLY! None of my game jam games were perfect, but that's fine! A lot of people liked them! (Of course, there were some criticisms, but like I said, nothing is perfect.) Nowadays, my main goal is to release something once it's an 8/10 in my eyes. I can guarantee you that you'll never release anything if you aim to only release the 10/10s. Because you'll never reach that 10/10 standard. LACK OF FOCUS I've been looking at most of my canceled Scratch projects and noticed that I haven't actually focused on the gameplay! Rhythmic Roughhousing is a major offender. All I have to show for that game is...some backgrounds and a main menu. Wow. Where's the gameplay? Office Simulator is another major offender. Instead of focusing on gameplay, I've been hooked on the art and the cutscenes. Maybe I could've hit it big if I became a Scratch animator or something... (nah just kidding Godot is leagues better) The closest I've gotten to being focused was TSM 5.5. I actually worked on the gameplay!!! I canceled it because I was too ambitious with the boss, but in all honesty, I probably should've just packaged what I finished with TSM 5.5 and released that (which I eventually did). Thank you for listening to my TED Talk. You can find me on the internet as DragonAero or DragonAero64.
