I like game programming cause of the challange.

basicly started with it as kid, having some stupid idea to make my own game, take all good parts from existing games and remove all bad parts and make the "perfect" game.
Soon i realized game development was not that easy and the game idea we had was way out of reach (current technology still wont make the game idea possible, ... more as 10 years after starting)

So the only thing that remains of the original game idea it all started with, is the name of the game engine i wrote over the past few years.
I must admid that i really love game development and got pulled into it (spend pretty much all of my free time on it)

I just like the challange of programming something "not so easy". I enjoyed (learning and) programing applications in .NET for few years (after .NET beta came out), learning new stuff, taking challanges, but these days there aint much challange in that anymore, last companies i worked for, all i had to do was make some form, write some database and link it to eachother ... all day, every day ... BORING!!!

Game development is something that keep advancing every day and give enough challange not to get bored with it. There is allways something u must try and research to see if u can make any improvements and finally the satisfaction of see your project running, having a realistic looking environment ... just make this more fun

the only sad thing for me about game development, i would love to do it as a living, go work for a real game dev company ... but even while the city i live in has game dev at univercity and win many prices ... there are no game development companies in my country, so the only way to go work for game dev company is create your own one or move to other country (not an option for me cause of the kids)

RetroGamer79:

Here's some additional reasons I make games, and I believe there's a growing market here:

• I'm now 30 and have 2 kids, which means:
• I don't have time to play 80-100 hour games
• It took me over a year to finish Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. 100 hours of gameplay at 2 hours a week = about a year.
• Control schemes have gotten much more complex. If I'm only playing a game for 2-4 hours per week, then I usually have about a 20-30 minute period of time where I have to get reacquainted with the control scheme. That can be 25% of my game time.
• If I play games like Halo online, I get pounded because I don't have time to memorize maps, serve in clans, etc.
• I've started breaking out my Sega Genesis and Nintendo 64 more and more, because I like being able to sit down and accomplish something in a short period of time.
• I like to be able to play games with or in front of my kids, but it's rare now days that a decent game comes out that is not full of sex and extreme violence.

There's been a lot of talk over the last 10 years about how gamers are growing up and need more adult content and bigger games. Well, some of us are getting older, are having kids, and our needs are changing once again. Pretty soon I'll be an old man in a nursing home who can only push one button, but I'll still want to play decent games though. I think there are a lot of people in similar positions as me that want well made games that are shorter and easier to pick up in a limited time span and that are geared towards adults, but that they can still have on in front of their kids. I think Community Games is the perfect environment to make that happen.

I can totally relate. I dont have kids or a family but I do have a career and work almost 12 hours a day in a very demanding technical job. When I get home my brain is ready for something different. I think there is a place for really deep and engaging games but for the most part the over 22ish crowd will not be the ones playing them, the demands of family and work are just too much.

I also have been returning to the great games of my youth(?) and have rediscovered them all over again (Fallout (1, 2), Zelda: A Link to the Past, DiabloII etc. etc.).

Back to the main topic:
For my demographic (and yours it sounds like) the thing I have discovered is that you have to be able to put the game down at any moment. Save points suck, you have to be able to save anytime, not when the game allows it. Stories have to be simple so I can pick them back up after a week down the road. I am making my game mouse only, which makes it very accessible. 2D only graphics, the artwork is part of what makes the game great, not the number of vertices or lighting engine. 2D is easy to understand for the player.

The down side to my game? Its really hard to program. It is VERY math intensive (I know 3D is more so but there are far more built-in libraries to help with it vs 2D). 2D is not supported by the community as much so you really have to figure things out for yourself. Artwork can also kill the game so it has to be good.

I also picked a very difficult genre as my first game and would not recommend it, but I cant turn back now, I am really liking how the game is turning out. When things work right it is a great feeling that you did something cool. I was having a blast just watching my character run around on a basic map last night, it was a great feeling getting the map engine, character movement logic, and enemy logic mesh nicely.

So here is the point relating to the main topic: I can make games for me and you and everyone in our situation and not wait for the big companies to figure it out. It is a great opportunity.

I like to make games for the chanelnge for fun and the fact that your game can be posted on xbox live and other people can download it.

I have some art background, and long time ago, I used to be interested in computer graphics.  But my day job as a software engineer, though fun and interesting, does not involve graphics.

 

So games are my fun way to continue playing around with graphics.  Mostly, I like learning all the tricks graphics and games programmers have found for eeking the most out of CPU/GPU horsepower.

 

-Neil

The Shape of Games to Come:

I recently watched Jonathan Blow's lecture from Free Play 2007, and one of the big issues he talks about is the fact that most game designers ask themselves how they're going to make their game rather than the more important question of why they're making their game.  I thought that would be an interesting question to address here, since I think it's a good point to make.

I think the most important question isn't why that's quite secondary. I mean people at large game companies might make game solely for money, but the results are games players enjoy.
The most important questions are rather "what do you want of a game yourself? what are you looking for in a game yourself?".
I think it's important to make games you would love to play yourself and not just because you spent your heartblood making them. Games you would love to play when someone unknown made them.

faultymoose:

I consider it an amazing gift to be given the opportunity to communicate with others. I believe that every single person has something important to say,

I most certainly don't think so.
This must sound elitist and maybe even snobbish, but just turn on the TV and look at afternoon talk shows and reality TV. I would never want to hear what like 99% of the people there have to say.

I am somewhat philosophic, but I never read any philosophers. To me most of that stuff is way to hypothetical, lacking any sort of practical application.
Anyway, I'm an avid gamer, I love gaming, so for a long time I wanted to get into the industry and make the things I like so much.
I'm aiming to be a gameplay programmer, because that's the the defining core of most games. More importantly, it's for most games what is the most fun to experience.
I'd also like to be a writer, but I have zero experience and it's ultimately just a hobby (even more, I didn't even write any kind of story, it's mostly limited to forum post like this).
But still I think of myself as very creative.
I don't really care about communicating with others or "reaching out to them" with my games/stories.
I just think I have a good idea and I'd love to see that implemented. In the end, if it's myself that actually implements it, or if it's someone else, doesn't really matter to me, I just want to see it done.
But I have many ideas quite different from all games and stories (regardless of what medium) I have yet seen, so it's rather unlikely that someone else would implement my ideas without my influence.

After years of fascination with video games, as a young adult am begining to look past "top rated" games and explosions and cars and so on that comes with a lot of blockbuster style hits. To me know they've become interactive art. I'll buy a game, appreciate it for what it is or tried to do and then put it down and go buy more... man, I could own a nice car if I didn't like games.... soo many thousands... ...anyway...

I can buy a game like killzone 2, adore it for its technical and graphical achievements, its personal take on the FPS genre, how much it can draw you in and so on. All just to put it down a few hours later after seeing what its all about.. most recently that infamous game.

Some though, do get me, and get me good. Like Half-Life. I'd personnal call the series the best FPS genre to date with each game extremely highly rated... and I played them quite late suprisingly so they weren't "new" or "revolutionary" or anything like that... for some reason it drew me in till I was on it for hours a night..

But the ones that itch my skin and need a good scratch every now and then for years on end are small and effective multiplayer game, either team based or competitive. Years of CS:S... now for my competitive urge I'm now truely adoring Team Fortress 2 and for so team work "Killing Floor". KF being a perfect example. A relatively small, balanced and amusing game where the same thing over and over and over and over and over again doesn't get old (well, quickly).

That leads me to why I'm starting to develop my own games, to make a game that people enjoy.. and me. Not profit, not to express myself but to create something that as many people as possible will enjoy. Sort of like a the odd person who pops up and posts a great little song on youtube for everyone to enjoy but otherwise not bothered or pushing themselves to become "famous". Just for entertaining others.

I mean, if it goes to plan, then I'll build up a portfolio and try join the industry or even set up my own studio. If I make some good games on the way, I'll be happy enough. If I make a few bob on the top, I'll be even happier.

I'm actually addicted to creating games.  Some nights I stay way up longer than I am supposed to working on my game just to get something working exactly the way I want to.   Sometimes I am unable to stop thinking about how I need implement some feature in my game or how to solve an issue I am having.  Needless to say, I enjoyed video games my whole life, but now I'm starting to enjoy creating them more. 

First of all - I love games and I love to create things. I think that's the main reason I'm making games. It's like I'm creating whole new world I like the most :)

caedicus:

I'm actually addicted to creating games.  Some nights I stay way up longer than I am supposed to working on my game just to get something working exactly the way I want to.   Sometimes I am unable to stop thinking about how I need implement some feature in my game or how to solve an issue I am having.  Needless to say, I enjoyed video games my whole life, but now I'm starting to enjoy creating them more. 

+1

I make games because I like being able to do something nobody else in my immediate vicinity can. It makes feel like an arrogant elitist intellectual ***, which is good for my ego.

And also because it's fun. But mainly the ego thing. :P

Edit: Darn you autocensors! Darn you to heck! (for the record, the word most peoples mind replaces the *** with is actually far worse than the word I used)

Edit 2: Don't take me seriously, I'm in a wacky mood today!

I'm making my game because I felt a push. Something inside me said go for it, NOW!
I do it as an artistic expression.
To create an atmosphere.
To send the player into an alternate dimension.
To entertain.
And perhaps, at best, make the player consider things that he/she never considered before.

I make games because of I like inventing and creating whatever comes into my head. Also, the challenge that comes with it akes the creation of games almost a game in and of itself. I get a great feeling every time I finally finish coding a complex algorithm, and it turns out to be working and bug-free, and its a completely unique feeling and is unlike any other forms of pleasure.

My dream goal isn't to program games, though. I want to create fiction. Making games just seems more accessible than, say, making a movie, and games do not have the silence of books. I see myself juggling between my computer science classes and books, my art books, drawing easel and Photoshop, my music theory/composition books, keyboard and Fruity Loops set-up, and various phenomenal works of fiction from Books to Games to Movies which I try to learn from.  I want to eventually hone my skills on all of these things (while trying not to be a "Jack of all trades, master of none") simply to create fictional experiences. Unfortunately, i am not naturally talented at any of these things so I've really had to work my butt off to get where I am today, and I haven't gotten as far as I would like.

I make games because I love games and programming.  What better way to bring the two together?