I have heard many aspiring game devs say “I’m not going to make a game I wouldn’t play” and even though I agree that you should work on games you like to play you need to keep your expectations in check. If you only play major AAA games like Fifa, Zelda, Uncharted or Halo you are probably not going to make a game like that as your personal project.
Start small and simple
I have heard many experienced game devs talks where their number one advice to aspiring devs is to start by doing small simple games which don’t take a lot of time to finish. This is not only to lower devs expectations, but to also make them understand that by completing personal projects you are gaining precious experience. The first game you complete probably won’t match your expectations but you need to keep in mind that these personal projects are stepping stones and that once you finish one the next one you create will be bigger and better than the previous one. Now just because you are doing a smaller game that doesn’t mean it can’t be a fun game, finding what makes a game “FUN” is great skill to have, and it can make want to play games you never thought before.
Surpassing expectations over time
Like I mention in my previous post about lack of motivation I do believe personal projects are very useful to get into the gaming industry but like everything in life it takes time to make it right. I would like mention a game dev youtube channel I follow called Sebastian Lague, on the 1st of January 2020 he posted a video called My First 10 Years of Game Development. In the video you can see the progression of his projects over time and with each project they grow in size and quality, probably always surpassed his initial expectations.
What I’m expecting from my game
I know its not going to win any awards but I’m making to game to understand how far have my game dev skills developed in the last 5 years, my expectations are that the game I create now is better than the one that came before it, to make something from start to finish that I can say I did it all and to display on my portfolio. While I wouldn’t say the original game has fun to play I think I found something this time, what I believe the “FUN” part of the original game should have been.