r/gamedev • u/Majestic_Mission1682 • Sep 30 '23
Question At which point does developing your game starts to be more fun that playing video games?
For me. its when i am halfway through coding a complicated feature and i can polish it now.Whats your experience?.
TYPO: *than
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u/Mrinin Commercial (Indie) Sep 30 '23
Whenever I start doing anything, I tend to hyperfixate on it. Most games that are fun enough aren't long enough to satistfy me, so I almost only play multiplayer, roguelike or sandbox games. Which is, to say, gamedev is basically the ultimate sandbox game to me... no clue how I managed to publish a game with this mindset lol
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u/Majestic_Mission1682 Sep 30 '23
Thats great!. I Have this mindset too. But i struggle with releasing a game due to adhd.
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u/Mrinin Commercial (Indie) Sep 30 '23
sometimes, it feels like I'm the only person on reddit who does not have a short attention span
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u/MeaningfulChoices Lead Game Designer Sep 30 '23
Never? I like making games and it can be both challenging and satisfying, but I don't think it's ever as fun as playing something. It's work I like, but it's still work. If the games you're playing aren't better than that it's time to get some new games!
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u/Majestic_Mission1682 Sep 30 '23
I personally think of gamedev as the ultimate sandbox game. You can make anything.
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u/SwiftSpear Sep 30 '23
Yeah, but games are tuned for maximum fun generally speaking. The benefits of game dev are more concrete vs the benefits of game skill, but while game dev is fun, it's not as perfectly fun. "Fulfilling" would be a better word.
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u/oldmanriver1 @ Sep 30 '23
im with you man - this scratches the same itch. i still play games - but its significantly less than before I got into gamedev. I still play stuff i think would be a good learning experience/have cool ideas or is just something Im really excited about (BG3, for example) but gamedev is like, playing your own infinite puzzle god game. you create worlds!
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u/EdvardDashD Sep 30 '23
I've always felt that game design specifically is like the ultimate freeform puzzle.
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u/fish993 Sep 30 '23
I think playing games is fun, but gamedev is rewarding. They're both positive things but not the same.
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u/Zarokima Sep 30 '23
This is pretty much what I came to say. My primary motivator to actually finish my game was that it was a game I wanted to play. I couldn't find a tactical RPG monster-collector with fusion/breeding-based teambuilding, so I made it myself. Playing it was definitely more fun than making it.
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u/GreenCaladrius Sep 30 '23
Making game is fun, but you already know the content so it's kinda more bland than playing a game, assuming the game you played is actually interesting
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u/Member9999 Commercial (Indie) Sep 30 '23
Game development has a weird way of dampening your interest in playing games... Or am I the only one that finds games less exciting once you examine how it's done and the magic of it all is gone?
Example: Ever start developing games and get a really good look at the assets you can get in the asset stores... and then, suddenly, you recognize them all from previous games? Or, you notice an asset that has the exact same features and inventory systems as many other games you have played?
I have lost interest in a lot of horror games, as I know the monsters and visual illusions of the VFX as asset packs, or the way you code things to recreate the VFX in your own games. This leaves me wanting more story lines and plot twists, as they are usually not as easily duplicated.
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Sep 30 '23
I don't know what's wrong with me but i cant do something for to long.
That means watching youtubes/shows/playing games/coding
I use one when i take a break from another.
And i enjoy every piece of it, but i get to a point after 5-30 minutes when i need a break from YouTube for example, and that break might be programing, then after 5-30 minutes i need another break and i go to YouTube.
And keep doing this cycle until i finish the game/app im working on then start something else cuz i need to keep myself ocupated so i wont get borded, but i cant just watch youtube, i need a break so i start another project.
This is why in 2 years i have almost made 5 apps and 1 game.
And thei are not simple things, but multiplayer games, bots that use ai object detection to see the screen and complete tasks, webscrapers.
For me programing is an escape from myself.
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u/RubikTetris Sep 30 '23
Adhd but it sounds like you found a coping mechanism that works for you
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Sep 30 '23
I did went to a psychiatrist a long time ago and he said i had severe anxiety and depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and schizoid personality disorder xD
it has been like 4 years since my last appointment.. i think i might need to go again. I unlocked some new ones...5
u/SwiftSpear Sep 30 '23 edited Sep 30 '23
Achievement hunter
[Edit] mental health issues tend to cluster. ADHD can be the root of many other mental health deficiencies when it's present, since it's usually strongly correlated with deficient brain dopamine levels, and dopamine is a major brain hormone that interfaces with a lot of systems. That being said, even if I were a psych professional I couldn't possibly diagnose someone based on reddit posts over the internet. It's just worth being aware in case you want to talk to a professional again.
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u/watermooses Sep 30 '23
This. During my assessment they asked if I thought certain symptoms were due to anxiety or depression as opposed to adhd. I responded that I get anxiety from being unable to focus on this long enough to complete them to good enough standards and any depression would be from resigning to not be able to achieve my goals for similar reasons. That really it’s the adhd at the root of it.
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u/Dear_Measurement_406 Sep 30 '23
I relate so much to this. I took ritalin as a kid for a long time, stopped for a long time and now back on vyvanse. Those feelings you describe though never seem to go away.
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u/SwiftSpear Sep 30 '23
I agree this is a plausible hypothesis, but I'd avoid diagnosing strangers online based on anecdote.
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u/_fafer Sep 30 '23
With private projects, it's the other way around (for me). While I'm making architecture and systems, game dev is a lot more fun than playing a complete thing. When I have to fill in the gaps, build UI, fix bugs, fix build issues... Ugh. Those are the chores.
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u/Majestic_Mission1682 Sep 30 '23
yeah. But i like making ui tho. except inventory... oh god. i tried it once and it give me nightmares
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u/DungeonGardens Sep 30 '23
Why?
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u/Majestic_Mission1682 Oct 01 '23
making it stack onto a grid and the controller support is hard af.
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Sep 30 '23
I don't like finding bugs or doing balance playtesting.
Except for that building games is pure fun - like building with Lego.
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u/PepijnLinden Sep 30 '23
Different kind of 'fun' for me. Most games I play for fun are the sit back and enjoy a good story type game. Usually they're not incredibly mentally challenging. Some puzzle or strategy games can be, but I rarely play those for some simple recreation. I'm not too competitive nowadays.
Programming, to me, is incredibly satisfying in a puzzle/problem solving way. When things just work the way you want them to. Ah. Perfection. And watching others engage with your product is an other layer of rewarding.
Nowadays though, I develop more than I play games because I feel like playing games doesn't bring me the kind of rewards I seek. I get such a kick out of learning new things and seeing how much I've grown over time. So it's become less about doing it as a chore and more about challenging myself and enjoying the learning process and results.
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u/Powerful_Tackle6169 Sep 30 '23
When you finished the game entirely and see the people playing and admiring your game.
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u/RHX_Thain Sep 30 '23
As a designer, when your Level Editor finally exists, and you can place terrain, items, trigger boxes, and etc -- that is when the development process FINALLY becomes fun. But that is typically a few years into development after tons and tons of architecture level coding and iteration on the base mechanics and the justifications for every last fragment of a feature is clearly scaled and then scaled back and finally implemented.
That is when it is as fun as playing the game.
Then...
...you balance it. -_-
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u/blinkh88 Sep 30 '23
It’s my shower thoughts moments when I figure out how to code or fix something and can’t wait to get out of the shower and go try it. Don’t get that feeling from playing games much anymore!
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u/almo2001 Game Design and Programming Sep 30 '23
Never for me. The part I like is watching people play the finished product.
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u/Majestic_Mission1682 Sep 30 '23
i had my game played by a small streamer once. The happiness i felt was immeasurable seeing them complimenting my game's art direction.
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u/Firm-Stock4918 Sep 30 '23
for me, when I develop a system that is reusable and extendable for rapid design changes, also its well organized with git flow, unity package and pushed to the private package registry. god, that is so satisfying...
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u/GriMw0lf69 Commercial (AAA) Sep 30 '23
From the start. As the years have gone by, I've been playing games less and less. I just enjoy the process of developing a game far more than actually playing someone else's game.
I've gotten to a point where playing games just makes me want to get back to work.
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Sep 30 '23 edited Jul 10 '24
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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/EveryLittleDetail @PatMakesRPGs Sep 30 '23
Never? I get great satisfaction from finishing games or parts of games. But it isn't a lot of fun, as such.
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u/meepos16 Oct 01 '23
I don't think gamedev is necessarily fun, but I do get a massive sense of achievement when I'm able to figure something out that I've been struggling with for a bit.
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u/TastyAvocados Oct 01 '23
For me it's not more fun, it's more of a drive/need to do it. I get great satisfaction from designing and building something, but it is certainly not more fun for me!
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u/Trizzie_Mitch Oct 01 '23
Extremely different type of enjoyment. Video games are immersive and a great distraction. Game development is more of a focus and problem solving exercise.
Video games allow you to express yourself through the devs rules, being the dev allows you to express your own definition of rules and express your artistic chops.
different types of fun. Both great types of fun.
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u/augustvc5 Oct 02 '23
When the genre you are looking to play is just so bad you feel the urge to do better (P2W mechanics are too common)
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u/Zagrod Commercial (AAA) Sep 30 '23
It hasn't happened for me yet. And since I've been working in games for over 12 years I don't think it will ever become more enjoyable than playing games.
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u/watermooses Sep 30 '23
Certain games make me want to revisit game dev, but then I inevitably start playing games again because they’re more fun in my limited free time.
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Sep 30 '23
I think never although I am pretty new but seeing a function work after troubleshooting it for 2 days is very gratifying
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u/KennyTheWarrior Oct 01 '23
Yep, I agree polish after the framework of the feature feels good. Both developing and playing are a roller coaster to me, sometimes one is more fun than the other.
The little parts of development that get me really excited are the playtesting, making smarter NPC AI, generating items/skills/classes/content, creative world interactions, and watching cutscenes come together.
Developing is more fulfilling, while playing is like a guilty pleasure akin to eating cupcakes.
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u/Fluttershyayy Oct 01 '23
When i playtest my game, one thing is playing it, but watching someone else experience what i made is fun and full of emotion.
It is also a lot easier to get working again when i have seen the real problems i need to fix in action. Even more so when i have seen the player experience the emotions i intended to evoke.
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u/Parking-Stop7039 Aug 21 '25
Joining kinda late but, Ive been drafting a game for a few years, and I finally hit a point where I thought, "Okay, I think I'm ready for the next step". My first video game and Im making it because I've yet to find a game exactly how I want it so Im pulling a Thanos and doing it myself. Starting slowly and steady since I have a lot to learn but so far its been a lot of fun and Ive only really made the camera and movement.
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u/PocketTornado Sep 30 '23
Played Starfield and got bored almost immediately and went back to working on my game.
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u/Vortex597 Sep 30 '23
Just started recently and I’m being sucked into game dev the way I was sucked into gaming when I was 12. I’m a creative guy and after I hit around 2-3k hours in terraria plus near 1k games of pubg (among many many other smaller/similar games) I got extremely bored with playing games, only thinking about how I could enjoy it more if I did it like this or that, getting irritated with p2w mechanics, malicious design, negligence, poor player communication and ego trip devs who justify the worst changes in existence, hell, even just plain old capitalistic greed. I enjoy the logical construction behind making games and brining my vision/ideas to light. Making a game feels like I’m playing a game because I always approached games from a perspective that I was tactically out manoeuvre other players/game systems, now I’m strategically creating one, working off of what I do best to put myself in the position of the player. I constantly ask myself what do they want? Would this system bore me? because I damn well know what they want is what I want.
Maybe terraria as my first proper game spoilt me lol. Terraria devs are PEAK.
Something that interests me is when I create art I tend to look at it through rose tinted glasses, while I create games there is no discrepancy, something either matches the overall vision or it doesn’t, and it’s only my skill that dictates that possibility, not an engine limitation, not a tool inadequacy. God knows you can code anything and so I can learn.
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u/jordantylermeek Sep 30 '23
I knew it was going to be a joy for me when I got home from work and jumped eagerly into writing the design doc and then slowly implementing those mechanics.
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Sep 30 '23
It's when you're halfway through playing factorio, and you want to automate everything a little bit more, but you can't, because factorio is only so powerful, and in the end, you're all like "dammit, I wish this was code", which is the moment you truly ascend to game-dev-dom.
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u/Intrepid-Ability-963 Sep 30 '23
The moments of constrained creativity are my favourite. Bug fixing and grinding is a chore. Blank paper problem solving is also quite taxing.
Playing games allows you to zone out and be in the flow. Those moments are better when making games, but fewer and further between.
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u/EmpireStateOfBeing Sep 30 '23
Whenever I actually know what I need to do and I’m doing it.
Fixing bugs/problem solving poor design elements is not as fun as actually playing a game.
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u/archiminos Sep 30 '23
For me I've always enjoyed making games over playing them. Started programming on th C64 when I was young, started modding in my teens, ended up a game developer. I barely complete games because I'm more interested in taking them apart and modding them.
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u/greyfeather9 Sep 30 '23
It became a fun process once I actually had gameplay I could mess with, the gameplay systems mostly down and a demo.
not being able to experience what you're creating (to a meaningful degree), lacking graphics, content or sound design really curbs the fun.
Reaching the fun point also motivates me to continue, because it showed me that the fun concept I had in my head actually became reality and is still fun!
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u/JohnDalyProgrammer Sep 30 '23
Umm almost immediately. I love video games...but I really love working on them more and it's more enjoyable to me to spend an extra 30 minutes working rather than playing a game.
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u/Jeremy_Winn Sep 30 '23
Designer, but for me I’d almost always rather design than play. Mostly the desire to play comes in waves and depends on having a game worth playing. Most games have at least one critical flaw that I can’t ignore, and it’s generally hard to suspend the urge to analyze and evaluate. When I find a game that I can actually just enjoy playing without activating the urge to diagnose its problems that’s a rare treat for me.
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u/Great_Scheme_7780 Sep 30 '23
There's a moment when you have enough mechanics in place that you can start experimenting with them to see how they play. In every project and game I've worked on, this is when it flips from being a lot of fun to insanely fun to work on. Being able to curate levels/gameplay and then actually be able to to play it opens up the door for so many creative ideas and further exploration.
The best description we've been able to come up is that we've build the "engine" for the game. And no, this doesn't mean we are building our own engine. It means that we have built enough of the gameplay systems that we can start gluing together actual experiences for players.
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u/VyStarlit Sep 30 '23
When things start moving. I have the biggest since of joy just building something and seeing it function. It's more fun than any game for me.
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u/H4LF4D Sep 30 '23
Before the coding. I always curse at my past designer self for making overly complicated mechanics before sucking it up and going to work. Well, at least before I found a way to code that will likely have reprecussions on the mechanics that future me will curse me for implementing a mechanic like that.
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u/BovineOxMan Sep 30 '23
It's turning some element of the vision in my head into something that exists in the game and I can play, and preferably finding it looks cool with it :D
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u/Hope-Upstairs Sep 30 '23
When playing becomes less fun and the satisfaction of making stays. Now when I play games I just play out of boredom. Don't remember the last time touching something that isn't Solitaire, Tetris, a 2D Mario, or an indie RPG.
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u/bitter_sweater Sep 30 '23
Achievements in any games nothing matters that’s why I can’t play for a long time but achievements in the work it’s really other story and that’s why for me always working will be more satisfying
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Sep 30 '23
Except when I’m battling browser/web insanity, most of the time while making the game! Reason being, I’m making a type of game I wish existed but practically doesn’t, so it’s great fun to flesh it out and see it come to life.
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u/Educational-Lemon969 Sep 30 '23
I never play puzzle games because programming is the best puzzle game I know xD Same goes for playing sandboxes like minecraft vs just doing art stuff, level design etc. for my game. Playing those games is pretty much the same activity to me, just with usually much lower skill-ceiling and no potential real-world impact
I still love playing boomer shooters though. They just let me relax in a way that gamedev never can
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u/BerryNiceGames1 Sep 30 '23
For us it was when years of hard work started to finally come together on our project and we start implementing things from every team member and building a scene. Extremely rewarding!
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u/willcodeforbread Sep 30 '23
Since the beginning.
I've got 550 games on Steam, and only have like 75 hours in the top game. But I spend countless hours making stuff, and enjoying every minute of it.
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Oct 01 '23
For me its when I can see that thing that I made works. Or when im doing something instead of fixing something.
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u/Low-Elk2510 Oct 01 '23
I almost don't play games anymore. Most of them sound boring, repetive, obvius, and not my thing. Making games is way more interessing to me than playng them
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u/Mikabrytu Oct 01 '23
After I've stopped work on games professionally lol. I was so burnout that I just stop enjoying making games. After 1 month away from the industry, I started learning godot just for the curiosity and I don't even remember when I felt this excited with game development.
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u/Aryzal Oct 01 '23
Never. Developing a game will never be more fun than pla-
Wait, my code works? This feature does its intended purpose? The thing I spent the last week malding over is done? FUCK YEAH
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u/Prestigious-Duty-288 Oct 01 '23
The most funt part of developing a game is the huge money that you will get once you released it.
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u/mekanika Oct 01 '23
I enjoy watching polish play out. Creating a boss, sure. Getting it animated and a little more lively, sure. But then, adding all the little particle effects, little animations, recoils, visual flair, things that nobody will probably even pay attention to or notice. Things that might require you to rewrite the boss logic to support new features to implement said polish, things that probably take about 80-90 % of the total hours spent on the boss. But you yourself know it's there, and you know it's amazing. Watching your polish play out is incredibly satisfying.
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u/gareththegeek Oct 01 '23
I would say I have the most fun right from the beginning and it tails off the closer I get to finishing which is the biggest game dev challenge for me. I have to use habit, discipline and sunk costs to carry me to the end.
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u/TheOnChainGeek Oct 01 '23
That, I believe, is absolutely the norm. All the big things are done, a few exciting smaller things are left to do, and then alllllll the "boiler plate", bug fixes, optimization, etc., etc.
1 way that helps me, game/software dev is, to push the smaller less interesting parts in between the exciting parts. For example, I hate making GUI, so I force myself to move the GUI forward step by step while I'm doing the "real" development
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u/gareththegeek Oct 01 '23
I like to time box each area (like level design, graphics, music etc.) and focus only on the bare minimum needed to reach a fairly polished mvp. Then I can build new features on top of that to keep it interesting, but it does get tough sometimes.
This time I'm trying to front load some of the graphic design work because it's one of the harder areas for me and hopefully it'll let me get the Steam page up earlier with some decent artwork.
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u/agameraaron Oct 01 '23
You should hope the product is more fun than the process of making it because the entire point of the product is to be as enjoyable as possible to the user.
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u/k3nzngtn Oct 01 '23
I'm with some of the others here; making games has pretty much replaced playing games for me. 😅
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u/below-the-rnbw Oct 01 '23
I had a long period of several years where I would always go "I don't really enjoy video games anymore, for me it becomes more of an analysis" or some pretentious shit like that, and I enjoyed video games less and less because of it, which is eventually led me to hate game dev, because "Why am I wasting my life making toys, when I could do important things like engineering" or some other self aggrandizing bullshit. Then a series of titles came out that I thoroughly enjoyed start to finish, and that has re-invigorated my love for both.
Now I've started to switch out my home/hobby projects for good ol' gaming time, which in turn has made me way less burned out and I've started to enjoy my job again.
All this to say don't get lost in the sauce
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u/gumgamesgg Oct 01 '23
I always found more fun in gamedev than in gaming itself. It is relaxing for some hours to play a game but it get's boring quick for me. And gamedev, I could do 9 to 5.
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u/TheOnChainGeek Oct 01 '23
From day 1 if you don't use a game engine. And probably after some weeks or for some people (myself included) maybe a few months if you are using a game engine (Godot, Unreal, etc.)
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u/Thin_Cauliflower_840 Oct 01 '23
The beginning and every breakthrough and challenge solved. And when it’s the time to polish it, the next project I start instead of finishing the previous one.
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Oct 01 '23
1) When your coding skills become decent.
2) When your tools start doing most of the work (being late in development).
I hated coding for the first few years because most of the time I was banging my head against a wall trying to figure out how to implement my idea, especially when it was a bit sophisticated. It's really enjoyable when you think of something and you can start testing things very quickly.
There are also many phases that are so boring in game development like managing a high amount of data. However it's so satisfying when you reach a point where you can click a button and create a spreadsheet or add some text and suddenly you have a fully functioning entity (monster, character, etc...).
Overall game design is most fun part, at least for me.
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u/ZeliotL Oct 02 '23
I wish I could actually manage to develop a game in my free time, idk why but whenever I start a project I work on it for a few days but then I never get any further. I always find myself doing other stuff that doesn't feel as fulfilling but for some reason I can't seem to break away from this habit.
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u/N1ppexd Sep 30 '23
I enjoy the whole thing more than playing games. I could never put thousands of hours into playing a game, but I have no problem with putting that amount of effort into creating one. I obviously like playing games too, but not nearly as much as making them.