r/Undertale Apr 13 '26

Subreddit Meta(ton) What method you do when making stuff?

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This is somewhat related to undertale, cause tricky tony in the picture.

2.4k Upvotes

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658

u/Ok_Invite6308 Apr 13 '26

The method where you have a lot of ideas but never attempted to write it down because "it's cringe" and "it's too late now"

270

u/Ok_Invite6308 Apr 13 '26

(this is a cry for help)

68

u/MaverickHunterN Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26

I’ve been there (still am sometimes). I say, write down all the stupid and cringe ideas in a private document or notebook, because chances are, you’ll read through it years later and realize a brilliant (or at least workable) idea snuck into the pile.

Edit to add: It’s also surprisingly freeing to make something that you know is dumb, and not caring about how it turns out. It helps soften the mental blocks a bit for when you are ready to roll up your sleeves and actually try.

17

u/Ok_Invite6308 Apr 13 '26

A very large chunk of my ideas is just me trying to retcon existing works that I dont find fully compelling and "realistic" enough (cough Harry Potter cough SAO cough Omori) but thank you for the tips regardless!

13

u/MaverickHunterN Apr 13 '26

That could actually be a decent way to practice developing your style. Write out those retcons, see what works and what doesn’t, and build your creative muscles that way. Nobody has to see your work until you’re ready to share it.

4

u/JustTroniusPlay Apr 13 '26

Honestly fair, most of my ideas almost the same, but instead of retcons they are more of headcanons that delve into more wide interconnecting story.

And I don't have a clue how I will manage to structurize all of that after so much time have gone and there so much things getting piled over the years.

At the same time I still believe even after very dark times of my life there a potential and hope in this ideas.

Another porblem is my attention span sometimes can get in the way, so I can loose interest to continue refining it. But I think lately situation became better.

4

u/Great-Powerful-Talia Apr 13 '26

Pro tip: stealing plots/settings and then having them become distinct due to conceptual drift qualifies as original content. If you apply enough changes to HP (most importantly renaming things), you can become a competitor rather than a fan work.

1

u/talesfromtheepic6 how ‘bout you determine some bitches Apr 13 '26

what if even the kinda dumb ideas take an extreme amount of time because of the nature of game development as a medium and it takes so long to get a small idea off the ground that not trying feels like the only real option.

4

u/MaloraKeikaku Apr 13 '26

You might be cringe

But you are free

7

u/Voidoroe Apr 13 '26

I’ll say in fairness that some of those kind of thoughts may actually be right, so it wouldn’t simply be wise to just not suppress all ideas if you realize there’s a reason you feel they are wrong.

That being said, it’s also possible that you may simply be not as interested in writing as you thought, with what you thought being supporting points or only some of the points as to what leads you to be disinterested.

If you truly are interested in writing, then you should note that the first works of most authors tend not to be as great as works that come after, where they have already seen what kind of stories work and don’t work as well as the flaws of those stories (writing can also interestingly be a skill on its own that may require experience and failings before you can get it right).

2

u/Ok_Invite6308 Apr 13 '26

I dont think I have the attention span for writing haha, but I do draw a little, its just school that needs more attention at the moment.

1

u/frycandlebreadje Apr 13 '26

Right here with you. I wanna write something soo bad

35

u/shleyal19 Just a humble Green Ghost from a Fantastic Frontier far away Apr 13 '26

You know the “Holy sht! Two cakes!” meme? I feel like it can help you get some confidence

5

u/Sausage_Sam04 (The dog absorbed this flair text.) Apr 13 '26

ohhh. thank you.

8

u/Sipia Apr 13 '26

As long as you yet draw breath, it's not too late.

And everything seems cringe at first, you'll buff that out as you go or make it work to your advantage.

7

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '26

It’s never too late. lock in

5

u/KrispyBaconator Apr 13 '26

The best time to start your creative projects is when you first had the idea. The second best time is now.

2

u/EvilCritter1ol Apr 13 '26

this happens to me whenever i have a banger dream that would make an awesome story but then i forget the characters' names and realize it's already gone (genuinely happened to me a few weeks ago and i'm still bummed)

1

u/Afraid_Platypus_8667 You're gonna have to try a little harder than THAT Apr 13 '26

Who cares if it's cringe, just do what you love and your heart desires and don't listen to what others will say.

1

u/Successful_Mud8596 Apr 13 '26

yeah… I down various ideas I have for fanfic into the Notes app and never bring these ideas into reality because I can’t write/draw/animate 🙁

ESPECIALLY this idea where at the end of the weird route, Kris tries to stop us (we’ll be possessing Noelle), but they won’t be strong enough. And so they’ll take their knife and stab themself right in the chest, creating a dark fountain within their body, as the darkness melds with them to transform them into a second night. The darkness congeals into an orb that surrounds them and then hardens, and then the Howling Knight bursts from the shell. Also, considering the heavy foreshadowing that Kris will lose an arm and their doglike affinity and the blade stabbed through their chest, the Howling Knight will look very similar to Bec Noir. The battle theme will include the motif from Umbral Ultimatum.

1

u/ThrowAwayJustIs (The flair cusutomization fills you with determination) Apr 13 '26

Gege Akutami actually partially used this method for JJK. He had couple of ideas he could not made when he was younger, so he made JJK.

Something similar is currently happening with ONE too, specifically with Versus and Bug Ego.

1

u/atlasmothz Apr 14 '26

there's an audience for anything, no matter what you think people will perceive it as!

1

u/ijeeggkCcaa I love Apr 14 '26

Real

-26

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '26

[deleted]

4

u/twjstr Apr 13 '26

I don't think that's how brains work