Jump to content

Photo

Rushing


  • Please log in to reply
4 replies to this topic

#1 TheLegend_njf

TheLegend_njf

    Deified

  • Members
  • Real Name:Grant

Posted 20 July 2018 - 10:00 PM

Any tips from quest designers for quest designers how to catch the signs that you're beginning to rush your quest, and how to stop those habits?

 

Because I'll admit, I've been rushing. 


  • Anthus likes this

#2 Anthus

Anthus

    Lord of Liquids

  • Members
  • Location:Ohio

Posted 20 July 2018 - 10:11 PM

Heyyy, aren't you on vacation?

 

No, but this is a good question. I have also felt this with past projects, and I'm not really sure what to suggest other than, if you feel that way, take a break, and come back later when you hopefully won't feel so rushed. I think it is also easy to get into the habit of wanting to rush the boring parts to 'get it over with'. I mean, there is nothing wrong with doing something quickly, as long as the quality is there, but if you are worried that you are sacrificing quality, I'd suggest: Working on a different part of the quest, walking away and coming back later, or, decide if the idea is worth implementing in the first place if it is causing you to possibly sacrifice quality.

 

Edit: Also, when it comes to screens, if you are feeling rushed, maybe it would be better to.. embrace it? In a way. Hear me out. If you wanna design an area, test it, and get it playable, it is okay to just drop down some rough graphics that no one but you and the testers will see. Once the idea, mechanic, dungeon, or gimmick idea is fleshed out, then you can come back later and add in all the details that players will actually see. This may help you test/ implement stuff faster, and make making it look pretty more fun, since you already know it works as you want, and now you just have to make it look how you want.


  • Nightmeres, Jared, Cukeman and 2 others like this

#3 TheLegend_njf

TheLegend_njf

    Deified

  • Members
  • Real Name:Grant

Posted 20 July 2018 - 11:46 PM

Heyyy, aren't you on vacation?

I referred to this topic in that topic. ;p


  • Anthus likes this

#4 klop422

klop422

    Guess I'm full of monsters and treasure

  • Members
  • Real Name:Not George
  • Location:Planet Earth

Posted 21 July 2018 - 03:47 AM

I know that a lot of writers (and I've found this with music composition as well) that getting something down is the hard first step, then revising it is the next stage. Honestly, if you have the motivation to put down all your ideas, I'd say that's possibly a better thing than failing to work on your quest (like I am at the moment - a screen every few days is not a good workflow).

After that, you just need the presence of mind and the skill to look at what you've done and decide what works and what doesn't. Honestly, with quest design, the 'does it work' question is easy to answer for functionality. Whether it's fun is a different question that I haven't quite mastered yet :\.


  • Nightmeres likes this

#5 Haylee

Haylee

    ~ The Ragin' Cajun ~

  • Members
  • Real Name:Haylee
  • Pronouns:She / Her
  • Location:Italian Restaurant in Koorong

Posted 21 July 2018 - 09:02 PM

I don't really know how to CATCH signs, but when I think on it, I know how to spot signs of something being a bit rushed in the future.

 

Like, yes, I made Nostalrul for a two week contest, but hear me out. There's some very clear signs of rushed questmaking there, specifically in terms of difficulty balance and the last portion of the game. I made next to no effort to actually balance the difficulty of the quest, and as a result, Level 3 is just this huge mess without any shortcuts, and for some reason, I thought it was a good idea to balance it around the player getting the White Sword, Magic Shield, AND Blue Ring, despite the fact that the Blue Ring is really easy to miss, and I designed the White Sword and Magic Shield to be a "one or the other" deal. Everything post Level 4 was even worse though, I gave the player WAY too many Heart Containers and as a result, between Level 3 and 4, you get an entire row of hearts. To top it off, Level 4 is exceedingly easy and short.

 

Point is, I rushed it. While sure, it's a two week quest, I had no real reason to rush the final dungeon of the quest, as I had one more day to finish the quest and I did basically nothing with it, and as a result, Level 4 practically isn't even a Level. As a result, I've been taking a bit more concious an effort to polish things that need polish and outright redoing things that are clearly rushed an unsalvagable.

 

The lesson here I'd say is if a quest is "finished," it might a good idea to replay it some time after you finished it, without thinking about it, so it's not fresh on your mind, and then playing it to see if you feel the quest is rushed or not. This really only applies to finished quests though, so it doesn't work all the time, that's for sure. I'm mostly just rambling right now, but I figured I'd give my two cents, even if it's not ENTIRELY relevant.




1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users