Quote: "Another hard bit, is squashing bugs, when your code is young it's fairly easy to squash them, but as it grows in complexity coming across a bug can have you pulling your hair out. I'm sure this kind of think hinders motivation leading to, "oh I can't be buggered with it any more!" *throws tantrum and runs away crying like a girl*"
I generally don't have problems with bugs. I know that's a grand statement to make, but it's true, and I think it's because I constantly play test. The minute I implement something, I test almost every aspect of it. So if I added some collision code for the player sliding, for example, I'll be running around the level jumping off every surface until I'm 90% sure it's all good.
Having said that, I do still have the head scatchers. A few days ago I implemented the drop weapon functionality in Carnage, so everyone drops their gun when they die. AI weren't dropping their guns though! What? I took a good long look at the code and just couldn't figure it out. Why were AI not dropping guns but the player was, even though they followed the same code streams? Well, in the end it occurred to me that there are a few places in which they diverge, and one such place was in the pick up weapon logic. Turns out AI were dying, dropping their guns, and their dead corpses were picking up their own dropped guns instantly after death. Bastardos!
But the reason why that wasn't a mega head scratcher was because I played the game for ages after implementing that code, and noticed the pattern after a few minutes. It would've been easy for me to see myself drop the gun, assuming it was working and move on, only to forget the code stream when I realised it was a bug later.
Basically, if you're not horrifically bored of playing your own game after a few weeks of development, you're not play testing enough.
As for the media argument, I think it should be considered just as essential to learn to create the media as it is to code, otherwise you'll just never get anything done. Sure, you're never gonna make media was well as a good modeller, but so long as it's half decent, it'll do right? You can get the game complete, and then perhaps interest a good modeller into joining your project when it's done.
I think some people have a flair for making truly awesome media, but I think anyone with a brain can learn to produce good media. Good media isn't something only artists can produce, in my opinion. It's just another set of techniques and skills you learn through trial and error. Anyone should be able to model a good head, given enough attempts at sculpting it, throwing it away and starting again. True, a great modeller will have a flair for doing it better, but you can learn to be good enough for an hobbiest project. You just gotta take the plunge and force yourself to dedicate time to it, away from coding.
I'm not saying I am a good modeller btw. All I'm saying is, I'm happy enough to model well enough for my own little projects, so I can make whatever I need.
