This is a post about a game that I have been working on. Mini monster quest is a spherical tower defense game. Your main goal is to protect your crystal and fend off waves of monsters coming after you. You have a blade that spins around your crystal, which you can level up and change into a different form. Can you beat it? Find out at https://dasheck.itch.io/mini-monster-quest
I dug this project back up after a while, and I immediately realized why I abandoned it in the first place. This is an update on how I overcame motivation issues and lack of inspiration, and what the current state of the project is. This is by no means a "how to overcome lack of motivation". This is just me rambling and trying to get it out of my system. So please do not expect a well-crafted punchline :)
Let us start with a not so surprising, but still demotivating fact: I can't draw for the life of me. All of you who have already developed a game know what I am getting at. The look of a game is in some way proportional to the motivation you have to work on it. The better it looks, the more desire you have to keep working on it. At least that's been my experience. Due to my lack of drawing skills, I always start with a big malus. So I rely on third party assets or procedurally generated content another project of mine. But in the end, it does not solve the problem for various reasons:
- Third-party assets do not cover everything, so you have to stitch together assets from different sources that do not ultimately fit together
- It's hard to find assets that match the style you want to use
- You tend to be more attached to your own work than to the work of others
So what brought me back to this project after almost two years? And how do I get my assets today? Let us discuss the first question:
What brought me back to this project after almost two years?
Actually, a variety of reasons. First of all, without knowing it, I have built accountability partners. I have friends, family, and colleagues with whom I often talk about my projects. Every time we meet (especially colleagues), they show me my progress on their projects and I show them mine (if any). And I regularly wished I could show more instead of just talking about what I could do. Having accountability partners is a great thing to keep the ball rolling, even when the pace is slow.
Second, I have a dream of building a passive income stream. While I am not sure games are the best choice here, it's been a long-time hobby of mine. So it feels natural to do it. Even if the passive income part fails, I have done something fun along the way.
And finally, I like the original game idea (which I saw somewhere). However, I do not see this particular type of game anywhere. There is undeniably great potential for tower defense games. But I always see the same structure in these games, at least for the mobile platform. My goal is to bring new ideas to this field, as I like this type of games myself.
And how do I come up with my assets these days?
I still try to find suitable third-party assets from other artists, especially ones that are free to use. But as the game progresses, it gets harder and harder to find assets that really fit the style and do not feel weird. I am also considering buying some, since the market for free assets is limited. However, that's not something that would work with what I am planning with Mini Monster Quest.
With the advent of AI, I tried Midjourney and found something that works for the foreseeable future. Midjourney does not generate vector graphics, but it gives some inspiration and does the creative part (a big problem for me). I then just replicate the generated image as a vector graphic in Figma. I have done this twice and it works quite well, even if it is time consuming.
What is the future of this game?
I will not present a complete roadmap. But I want to give some ideas of what I plan to do with the game. Especially for upcoming releases in the next months (this is about building responsibility).
My main goal is to build a tool to help with balancing. I tried Machiniations.io but failed to build the game loop properly to predict balance in higher levels and waves. So I am in the process of building something that works like Machinations and gives me insight into multiple runs with different parameters of the game economy. I hope to end up with something that is fun to play (not just once) and provides an incentive to "grind".
The next big task is to increase the replay value and provide something to work on besides just getting through the levels. One idea is to allow players to collect drops and make their own radar templates that they can use to beat certain levels. Each of these radar templates has unique shapes and properties (damage, speed, ...).
That's if for today. Thank you to everyone who has supported me so far!
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