Dream the impossible, and make it yesterdays news.
That's why I program. I seem to mostly do two kinds of program: simple arcade games (because they're fun) and stuff nobody has done before (because I can). The others i've attempted, the staple and mainstream type games, I never finish. I think it's because something either needs to be doable in a few days, or it needs to be something so exciting and revolutionary that it's worth finishing.
It's the worth finishing bit that interests me in regards to this thread. My current project is in the revolutionary category. It's ahead of its time within its very limited genre, a racing simulator multiplayer server thingamy ... extremely niche ... but revolutionary, utterly totally mind blowingly advanced and extremely difficult to make and its taking me months not days to do...
I think if it wasnt so noteworthy I would have aborted it. There's no way the rewards (a palty 10-15 thousand non-paying players) make it worthwhile. I'm still making it because it's a challenge, because it's world beating, and because on launch it's going to have a huge impact on my other hobby (sim racing).
So, is it the ego that interests me, or the challenge? I'm not sure, the number of users makes me think its not ego - but then these are peers rather than some random leacher from my old freeware site where downloads in the tens of thousands would have left me feeling gutted.
I hope it's the challenge, i'd like to think it is. I'm inspired to keep going because it's never been done before. My last project [at work] was in this category too, and now sells for an astronomical sum to line my bosses pockets because it's still the only thing in its class.
Then again, I did that because it was my job to identify niche's and fill them. That's work, that's not why I love programming.
Maybe, at the end of the day, maybe the only reason I program is so that I get a little Becky-worship going on. Because if my releases met as much ridicule as they have acclaim - I would have stopped releasing a long time ago and played with go karts instead.
That's why I program. I seem to mostly do two kinds of program: simple arcade games (because they're fun) and stuff nobody has done before (because I can). The others i've attempted, the staple and mainstream type games, I never finish. I think it's because something either needs to be doable in a few days, or it needs to be something so exciting and revolutionary that it's worth finishing.
It's the worth finishing bit that interests me in regards to this thread. My current project is in the revolutionary category. It's ahead of its time within its very limited genre, a racing simulator multiplayer server thingamy ... extremely niche ... but revolutionary, utterly totally mind blowingly advanced and extremely difficult to make and its taking me months not days to do...
I think if it wasnt so noteworthy I would have aborted it. There's no way the rewards (a palty 10-15 thousand non-paying players) make it worthwhile. I'm still making it because it's a challenge, because it's world beating, and because on launch it's going to have a huge impact on my other hobby (sim racing).
So, is it the ego that interests me, or the challenge? I'm not sure, the number of users makes me think its not ego - but then these are peers rather than some random leacher from my old freeware site where downloads in the tens of thousands would have left me feeling gutted.
I hope it's the challenge, i'd like to think it is. I'm inspired to keep going because it's never been done before. My last project [at work] was in this category too, and now sells for an astronomical sum to line my bosses pockets because it's still the only thing in its class.
Then again, I did that because it was my job to identify niche's and fill them. That's work, that's not why I love programming.
Maybe, at the end of the day, maybe the only reason I program is so that I get a little Becky-worship going on. Because if my releases met as much ridicule as they have acclaim - I would have stopped releasing a long time ago and played with go karts instead.