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[_DivideByZero_]

So I've been thinking about improving my pixel art a bit once my exams are over. To be specific, I love to draw spaceships. But I'm always looking to improve my art, but I find that I have little motivation to do so.
It also turns out that i enjoy programming, but only, once again, when I have motivation.

The thing is that when I try to motivate myself, I have difficulties with starting out because I have no basic plan on what to do.

So why not plan the game out first? You ask? That's what I'm trying to do! The problem here is that I absolutely can't decide what to make. It is certainly going to be in space since that's what I can draw the best, however I cannot stay focused on one concept for more than a week to save my life.

The two leading candidates are an idea for a space travel/exploration simulator, and a hybrid RTS/4X hybrid.

The pros and cons as I can immediately tell are:

Exploration Game:
+Simple to make
+The game would be fairly customizable involving your own ship
+Easily expandable
-The content would have to be premade
-I don't have the skills like Toady does to make a procedurally generated world

4x:
-More complicated than a singleplayer RPG
-Massive amounts of planning would have to go into it
-I don't have much experience
+In-game history is optional, so procedural content is easier to make
+I personally enjoy strategy over simply shooting enemies or flying around

What do you think? I simply can't decide if I want to put in the extra time into making a 4x, or whether I want to devote time into making a simpler but more limited exploration game?

[Euld]

Lack of motivation is a problem for everyone.  There's always lots of little tips and tricks to get you going, but when it comes down to it, the only thing stopping you from working is yourself.  You have to do the work regardless of how you feel at the time.  Yeah I even have trouble with doing that, but I know I'm not going to get far unless I actually do something.

I vote for the Exploration.  What do you mean by "procedurally generated world?"  If by world, you mean the chunk of space the player will be exploring, then there's ways to do it.  Write a list of the space games you like.  Write what you liked and disliked about each, paying extra attention to how space was set up in each one.  Then try to set up outer space in your game in a way that seems most interesting to you.  Also read up on astronomy, how solar systems are arranged, all the stellar bodies involved in them besides planets and moons and stars 'n such.

[alfie275]

http://videogamena.me/

Also, make lists and check off things you have done, should help with motivation.

[alway]

What sort of programming do you know/can you do, and how much experience do you have with it?

[Sensei]

Start with something real simple, a non-game. For example, a ship creator to show off your art, or a 2-d flight simulator.

[_DivideByZero_]

Start with something real simple, a non-game. For example, a ship creator to show off your art, or a 2-d flight simulator.

What I generally do is try to have an open-ended starting point. For example, instead of a tetris clone, I'd make the ship creator like you said, but later add in the option to export the ships for another project such as a combat simulator, etc.

Hey! I can do that! Thanks!

Lack of motivation is a problem for everyone.  There's always lots of little tips and tricks to get you going, but when it comes down to it, the only thing stopping you from working is yourself.  You have to do the work regardless of how you feel at the time.  Yeah I even have trouble with doing that, but I know I'm not going to get far unless I actually do something.

I vote for the Exploration.  What do you mean by "procedurally generated world?"  If by world, you mean the chunk of space the player will be exploring, then there's ways to do it.  Write a list of the space games you like.  Write what you liked and disliked about each, paying extra attention to how space was set up in each one.  Then try to set up outer space in your game in a way that seems most interesting to you.  Also read up on astronomy, how solar systems are arranged, all the stellar bodies involved in them besides planets and moons and stars 'n such.

Thanks for the motivation. By procedural, I mean that unless the game's world is pre-crafted by mappers (or me) then the world would have to be generated either before or during gameplay. Of course, a portion would need to be done beforehand to allow civilizations to expand and build up their infrastructure, but either way I have no experience in procedural world or even starship generation.

Premade worlds are fine for a while, but eventually they get old and there's not as much to do

[monk12]

You could always go with randomized world gen instead of procedural. Create a bunch of attributes that can be applied to races, ships, planets, etc, then just have the program randomly assign things. May not look nearly as nice as something really procedural, but it'll work to play around in.

[_DivideByZero_]

I'd prefer equipment and ships to be premade but modular. For example, you could have a generic fighter hull that is armed depending on which military force employs it. Ship attributes are completely different from geographical location. You're right about planets, etc, though. Planets are geographical locations, so they should be unique. I may experiment with race generation, though. Thanks for the ideas.
Anyway, school's almost over so I can get started soon.