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> People saying that it's "easy to make games" surprise me. Are you actually trying to make something real, or is this just speculation? If you're on the sideli
by kbenson 3y ago
> People saying that it's "easy to make games" surprise me. Are you actually trying to make something real, or is this just speculation? If you're on the sidelines or a dilettante, why speak? You're just adding noise.
Perhaps you're interpreting a general statement that means different things to different people through your own context and missing a bit of what they mean. It's easy to do something as a career and discount the non-career people doing it, but everyone has their own reasons do to things, and sometimes it's not external.
If we replace "games" with "art", then we get people saying "easy to make art". I'm sure professional artists trying to support themselves think similarly to you, that it's hard, and I'm sure it is. But they may not be talking about art the same way you are talking about art.
Making art for yourself can be fun, and relaxing, and even liberating. Making games for yourself can be too. In this context it can be very "easy", because you're only looking to please yourself. It's no less "real", it's just for a different purpose in some cases. They aren't adding noise, they're talking about a slightly different thing, but it's also an important thing, and also important for the other, professional context as well.
Do you really think professional game makers and art makers are making their profession better by telling laypeople that no, what they're doing is not the same at all and what you do is hard so they shouldn't relate their own experiences? Won't your profession be better served by instead of discounting their views discussing the differences of when it's done personally or as a hobby and when done for general consumption? Aren't many of these people the professionals of tomorrow, or maybe not, and you're helping some people realize they'd rather keep it personal and a hobby?
- a1o 3y ago> it can be very "easy", because you're only looking to please yourself. You have no idea how much harder I can be on the developer when I have a direct line to talk shit in his head
- marcus_holmes 3y agoI think this is the common mistake. Making games is easy. Making a living making games is incredibly hard. Substitute "art", "music", "fiction", etc for "games". As the article says, making stuff that satisfies your creative itch and also appeals to a mass market is like getting hit by lightning twice. But as you say, this needn't be a discouragement for people who really want to try it. Because it's mostly luck whether your creative itch aligns with what people want to buy, so there's no harm in trying your luck. For the rest of us, it's either the long meaningless slog of creating stuff we're not interested in creating but people are interested in buying, or of doing something completely different to make money while keeping the creative hobby.