Here's a question for people who make things:

Why do you do it? HAHAHA NO I'M JOKING THAT'S A BORING QUESTION!
But seriously, how do you stay focused? LMAO NO REALLY THAT'S NOT IT EITHER!

I was gettin to sleep last night, and I'd just watched some audio commentary thing, and I fantasized about putting audio commentaries in my games. Which is something I've thought of a hundred times.
And I thought "well I'll talk about these characters and how the joke with them is that they got too much dumb luck... and I'll talk about this character and... he's all dumb luck aswel... huh... wait... EVERY character in this game got propelled to a position they're not ready for."
and it reminded me of an interview I saw with Ed McMillen where someone asked him "Why are all your protagonists ugly and disgusting?" n he was like "Wow, I don't know!... Wow! That's weird!!" and it made me think does what's going on in the back of your mind influence what you put out without you realizing it?

So I really thought about it, and dumb luck is honestly something I've bin thinking about for the passed 6 months at least.
It's not the first time I've took a sideways look at what I was doing either, I noticed in about 2008 that out of all the 20-ish games I'd made, with all these characters and dumb little worlds and adventures that were all basically stream-of-conciousness I'd never made one girl. Not even in a passing cutscene or anything, which was WEIRD when I spotted it, so like the next 3 games I made starred girls.
The first one I came up with was Jessie from Legend of JOHNNY (you don't remember? that's fine) and the whole point of that character was that she was A COMPLETE BITCH! ...and I just remembered there was one girl I made before that, it was the prostitute in Crunchdown who you get an achievement for punching.

No Time To Explain: All the characters are one guy. He goes all over the world through all sorts of times and dimension, and never meets another person. Then the final main character is revealed, and it's another You who hates you. Then there's the other consistent character who has literally one defining feature, and it's that he's a cry for help- BOY, THERE'S A GOOD POINT TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT!!

I submitted a tonne of art! 1 2 3 I'm not an art guy, but I got that last one on the front page, and everyone seems to like it. I'm makin these to flesh out the world and style of this new game, and I could go into detail on what I learned from each one, but this post is pretty long already. It's nothing amazing.

OH-- AND!!!! I started work on something for NATA, but then the company who's contracted me said "hey, make this fuckinn... Dutch guy's iPhone game trailer" so now I'm animating that instead. THEMS THE BREAKS, SWEETHEART!!!!
The good news is that while doing this, I remembered I fucking hate animating full-length cartoons. I animate a tonne o small stuff all day, and that's great, but man, animating big stuff is fucking draining. fuckinn... SO MANY FRAMES!!!!

Anyway yeah, comment on that thing I said before, or my art portal stuff. Right after I was thinkin about that I thought "Alright let's think... Dan Paladin made Alien Hominid... and Castle Crashers... and BattleBlock... so... fuck, well those are just regular games." So MAYBE IT'S JUST BULLSHIT! YOU TELL ME.

Here's a question for people who make things:

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I-smel 2012-04-25 21:08:10

Keep an eye out for Intrusion 2, and remind yourself that you actually don't fucking know how to use Flash at all.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJZAzNKZBew">www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJZAzNKZBew</a>

FrozenFire 2012-04-25 21:14:00

To answer your question: Definitely.

I can remember countless times when I found something related to my life and mindset somehow making its way into what Im drawing or animating.
Eammy does have a point too, if you don't have the skill to do something, your style will most likely avoid it. If you don't have the time to do something, the style you choose to use will probably find a way around it.

For my latest project I chose a simple style because of time restraints, but I didn't hold back on the amount of content or the quality of the content.. just the style makes it easier to mass produce in good quality, while avoiding time consuming nuances like lip synch and proper anatomy.

I-smel 2012-04-25 21:14:00

Oh right yeah, I know what that means.

That's... KIND OF related.

deathink 2012-04-25 21:36:31

personally I found your first question much more compelling, and not boring, its one of the most difficult questions a true artist will face (whether your art form is painting, drawling, programming, managing the best website in the world ::wink::)... "WHY AM I DOING THIS?" for most people its just a pay check, that's cool too, but for others truly devoted to there craft the answer becomes much more complex.
P.S. as to your real question, if i had to guess, I would say that , 1. its simply because we make content we can relate too unless told other wise. and 2. it might have something to do with the "why am i doing this " question.
So Mr. Smell, why are you doing this! 8D

I-smel 2012-04-25 21:36:31 (Updated 2012-04-25 21:42:25)

It's boring because everyone asks that. At least with games, the answer is 100% of the time:
"I MAKE GAMES BECAUSE I LIKE THEM! WHEN I FIRST PLAYED ZELDA IT WAS LIKE WOAH."

or "I TRULY BELIEVE IT'S THE SOMETHING SOMETHING MEDIUM, INTERACTIVITY, SOMETHING SOMETHING OF OUR GENERATION."

or "COS I SURE COULDN'T DO ANYTHING ELSE! HA! HA! HA! HA!"

That's everyone's answer and that's my answer. The question's bin done to death.
I watch a lot of interviews though, so maybe it's just me who noticed.

CyanSandwich 2012-04-26 01:21:06

You know how you were like "the passed 6 months"?
Well I thought to myself "holy shit, have I been incorrect in saying 'past X months' my whole life"
Then I took it upon myself to do some googling and apparently not.

Slightly relevant.

Oh and about the style thing. All of my animations have been limited in a way that allows me to do it as quickly and easily as I can without having to redraw too much. My brain likes to get it done rather than make it look good. So like, yeah.

I-smel 2012-04-26 01:21:06 (Updated 2012-04-26 12:07:08)

"passed" makes more sense to me. Cos it's like... the time that just PASSED. I don't know what's the actual right way to do it.

I wish that first guy hadn't raised the point that nobody draws anything well cos otherwise it'd take forever. Cos now that's all anyone's talking about >:|

Josh-B 2012-04-26 04:07:37

That star button is only a few days old(previous news post). So yes, favoriting people was some dumb thing that didn't do anything for the longest time.

Pjorg 2012-04-26 06:23:08

I just noticed that I like to make all my games look rushed and shitty. It's sort of my calling card.

Luis 2012-04-26 09:22:05

I didnt read most of that but i think if you had audio commentary on no time to explain thatd be weird... that you had time to explain... HURRRR

I-smel 2012-04-26 09:22:05

We gave a post-mortem at Minecon called On Time To Explain.

There was actually a tonne of stuff to talk about.

Neophyte-Ronin 2012-04-26 14:49:11

When I write, I notice I make a conscious effort to turn what would otherwise be comical into something deathly serious and horrifying. I have no sense of what would be appropriate for a genre. So I have people die horribly in comedy and have people solve problems in dramas by throwing pies at each other. I don't follow distinction or pattern.

Also when I write, I vent out shitloads of frustration. That means if something bugs the living shit about me, there's a character who suffers a similar mishap in order to address it. It's the source of all the pitch-black, political, religious, or what have you in my material, which is also a reason why I hate to publish anything.

Another motif is to illustrate characters in not just a realistic fashion, but also a fair assessment of their character. It's insulting to present a character and chock up their worst behaviors upon something that shouldn't have anything to do with their fall from grace.

I involve both sexes. They play vital roles without eliminating the general makeup of their masculinity or femininity regardless of where they are in the story. It's a little more believable than forcing upon them a role of any kind. Usually, their best traits come out by disregarding sex in the equation, but they cannot be human without addressing sex in some way.

Writing what you know can be dull. Since I'm a guy, I will try to write about ladies. It's challenging but fun. You have to invest time in research and feedback prior to release, which can be harrowing if you're mistaken for writing something that Marquis de Sade would write, especially if that's not your intention at all.

Last night I overheard a television interview with the head of the Marian Society, that it's not about being true to oneself at all. Self is the worst fucking thing on the planet right now. Thoughts and emotions betray you, senses deceive you... good grief. We're doomed. The point is that everything you have come to believe and understand is all bullshit and nothing that anyone says is true.

That's my motif right there, and it's why everything in the story collapses in the third act to the extent that there's practically nothing to salvage. Maybe that's another reason I haven't made anything. Must I reel it in just so pacify the audience, or do I write what I understand will collapse anyway?

My advice? Just draw shit.

I-smel 2012-04-26 14:49:11

That was tangentially relevant and difficult to follow, but a fun read anyway!

Felt like an unguided stream-of-conciousness comment, but that's cool, I'm into it.