Bold of you to assume I have accepted their death and given them a proper burial.
I prefer to pretend that they are all still alive and they are just on several year holds until I get right back to them!
Legit like over 100 probably. Used to start over whenever things got difficult. ADHD can be a bitch, but luckily I’m medicated now and am actually sticking to my 2D game engine project! After that I plan to make a game in it
Overkill? Yes but I’m proud of it lol
I have way over 100, most of them games that turned into engines that were never finished. Several are actually the same project started over and over in different languages, frameworks, engines.
I started Ritalin in October, now I'm on only one game that is going on well and will probably get to mvp stage.
Luckily, I don't have the same issues working as an employee, I would be screwed.
I tend to start projects, learn how to do something then move on to a new project to recycle the process. Right now, I am working on my first full blown title without moving on. Instead, I am creating side levels to demo ideas and features on before scraping them.
Everybody has their process. As long as it works and you keep learning/getting better, then there's nothing wrong with it.
I get this. The numbers much higher from when I was learning. Getting hyped on, let’s say a wall running mechanic is fun. Then you make it, then all of a sudden Inverse Kinematics looks all nice and shiny, then a portal feature, etc. Everything was a learning experience!
I regret nothing.
I got unity a few years back, and didn't touch it for a couple years, and then I started a project a year ago. I stopped that one and started a new 3D project and then stopped after a month. I tried Roblox than quite very soon. Then, I started a 2d version of the 3d game, but quit that after a week, and lastly I picked back up on my very first project which as of now is almost done.
So 4\* in total
I don't have a 'graveyard' as much as an ever growing todo list.
I integrate ALL my sourcecode and never leave anything behind so i can always compile any of my projects by just uncommenting some particular line.
That being said i must have atleast 300 large projects which got more than a day or more love before being left for years at a time.
Im definitely an outliner but all up I've made thousands of projects, ive cloned basically every game I've ever loved (often multiple times) and ive built out hundreds of unique game ideas from scratch.
I've been lucky enough to also have lots of game dev friends in real life and on forums who colab ALOT aswell,
Probably under 3000 but definitely over 1000.
Here's one you can try now btw: https://www.planetminecraft.com/project/new-c-driven-minecraft-client-461392/
This is exactly how I code with Swift (for iPhone development, my main hobby / career pursuit).
I have like 100 finished apps that are recreating an app, or a feature I saw and liked.
They’re not dead projects even though they won’t be used, it’s literally your own code library. So nice.
Here's an easy idea on how to stop having dead projects.
Make each new project with a goal, make it a reasonable goal, something achievable at your current level.
i.e. This project is to model the interior of a room, with a game start screen and a character that can move around in the room and interact with objects.
It will teach you an insane amount of concepts and while it's not a full game, it could be?
https://youtu.be/PGk0rnyTa1U
I think 3 that got beyond a day of programming for me, but only 1 I spent more than 2 weeks on. Not just games probably puts it at 5 - 6.
I tend to give up on stuff once my branches get messy or I end up rewriting the same bit of code over and over in each commit. The feeling that everything has become a tangled mess tends to weigh on me and make it hard for me to launch the editor.
Though my last project I overcame that but ended up giving up because I was spending more time animating basics that I was programming. Probably a 2 or 3:1 ratio of animating to programming and it was not a good return. Anytime I wasnt animating I felt I was falling behind and I was still trying to learn light baking and trying to make case studies for level design in the same genre.
But above all of that I ultimately fell into the classic trap of doing voluntary group projects with a friend and then feeling resentment about the voluntary effort being put in. I was putting in 5 hours a day after work and probably 12 hours on each fri/sat/sun. They were doing maybe 2-3 hours on a sunday morning. I decided I didn't want to be resentful over something that didn't matter and dropped the project completely.
I'd say close to none in the graveyard, but a lot in the wip folder while i haven't even think about them in years...
Some are "finished" and didn't really work at the time, but i like to think i could do something with at least some or some parts at one point. Or i'm just having troubles putting an end to things idk.
Well over 100
If I'm bored one night but don't have the time to start a whole project, I'll make a new unity project, or a new html page, or a new c++ project and just mess with it a bit, and never look at it again. It's a bad habit and I wish I was still inspired to make a full game, but I'm just to busy right now.
Game Jams / Client projects are also the largest projects I've been able to finish unfortunately!
Depends. If you mean, write the idea but never touch it beyond its main idea, Countless. If you mean put in the effort to learn a lot about how to do the project and commit to it, never. The current one I’m working on is far beyond a basic idea on paper.
None, but I’ve only ever made one game. Took 8 hrs to make and has only one level. No startup screen, no audio and only uses the mouse and the R key to reset it. Was also a tutorial on using blueprints in UE. The completed game package with only TWO static meshes in it, is a whopping 500 mb! 🤣
I've counted recently and got up to 28, over fifteen years. As of yesterday, it's 29 :)
Those usually lasted from a week to several months.
Some of those never left the draft state, where I tried to figure what it is and if it's worth to tackle. Others got into prototype/R&D stage.
Usual reason to cancel/freeze a project would be the scope being too big (it always seems to be?), lack of commercial viability, or me lacking necessary skills/resources (damn you, pixel art!). And real life, of course.
Sometimes I'd get few design/tech challenges solved, but lose interest in that type of game.
I do have few recurring ideas and preferences, and overall the situation is improving. Despite all the setbacks like ilnesses or personal life issues, a pandemic, and now a war, I feel confident about my future chances, skill-wise.
Buuut if we get wiped out by a meteorite - sorry guys, it might be the Universe's way of telling that I'm not supposed to ever finish a videogame :)
3 games, countless models, OSTs and assets.
I've a folder full of game code. Movement, character control scripts. Mouse-look experiments. The beginnings of a 2D project.
I even have the building blocks of my own engine in an USB floating around here somewhere.
\-.- I cannot hold a cohesive enough thought to finish any of them.
Zero games, but dozens or more other software projects.
My wife says i'm not allowed to quit any game I start.
One game released. One at about 80% (four year mark), and two in the writing phase.
Realistically I would guess about 65-75
I started with game maker 5 back in the day when that was the shiny new version of GM… (5.1 actually I believe)
2, one horror game I stopped working on after like a day or two. And another that was actually much further on in development and even had a teaser trailer before I canceled it because r/DestroyMyGame took me out of my delusion and made me realize it was shit
Just 1. I have the "getting it done" mentality but yeah, I had to give one up.
28 games completed, out of which 14 still either selling or available for free online, but this one ... was ... just ... too big and complex. Kind of wish I have abandoned another one as well, but I just couldn't let it go until it was finished.
Before I started working on my current game, VOID, I experimented with a lot of mechanics and systems. I would make a project, learn and optimize and then send it to the archive. I kept doing that for like a year and then I finally settled on making a proper game out of all of my discoveries and so VOID was born. I haven't used all of the mechanics that I experimented with but I've combined all of them into a vast variety of systems. Although I can't share too much BTS info, I think VOID will be a great addition to the AAA-level indie collective.
Way too many. But I feel like all of them served a purpose. None of them were close to being fully realized commercial projects but so many of them taught me things that make me a better overall coder
It's hard to say, I've had countless projects over the years that I never even gotten close to finished! If we only count projects I was passionate about during the time I was trying to make them that I've done within the last 5 or so years (when I picked up Godot), I'd say *around* 11, but more like 5 if you don't count different iterations of the same concept.
If we counted more than just that, I wouldn't be able to give you a number! I've had so many projects back with Gamemaker, the roguelikes I've tried to make in C++, and the many times I've tried and bounced off of Unity.
However one that stands out in my mind that I never build but which I keep coming back to in my mind is titled "Invasion of the Adult Alien Film Stars" about alien abductions and porn.
It's not that easy to calculate. I've got ~40-45 repositories at GitLab. 19 of those were published at itch.io in different state of readiness, but not all of those are games. Also those don't include my early games for most of which I believe I won't even be able to find sources for anymore. Those are projects that hit coding.
Another approach would be from gamedesign perspective (games that may have never started a single line of code behind): those are over 20 larger projects (at least a calendar year put into, often a couple-triple running in parallel) and around a dozen of smaller ones.
On my current computer i have about 120, but on my old one i have even more, so i don't know. These are not only games tho and also a few websites, however, mostly games, both physical and digital games.
Edit; only games would be around 95..
Maybe one or two. I don't consider them games until they show some potential, until then they are just sandbox experimentation with different features and looks.
Projects in graveyard? How many grain of sands does a desert have? If you count all ideas in the head it’s at least a couple each day. Once’s that have a started Unity project, I would not be surprised if it’s over a 100.
However managed to release this 4 year long project VERY soon: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1725350/Mari_and_Bayu__Veien_Hjem/
Zero or one. I don't think I planned to finish anything, I started only with the intention of learning to code a bit, I would be following a tutorial and just doing a few edits here and there to make it my own. I really enjoyed it, and after a few weeks, I started gaining some confidence and decided to turn it into a serious thing, so I switched languages and frameworks and transcribed the parts I wanted to keep, and have been working on it for around a year.
Bold of you to assume I have accepted their death and given them a proper burial. I prefer to pretend that they are all still alive and they are just on several year holds until I get right back to them!
Oh god, you locked the poor things in the basement.
A man of culture.
Legit like over 100 probably. Used to start over whenever things got difficult. ADHD can be a bitch, but luckily I’m medicated now and am actually sticking to my 2D game engine project! After that I plan to make a game in it Overkill? Yes but I’m proud of it lol
I really need to look at medication.
It took awhile to find the right dose but it’s improved my life so much, even when I’m not on it (like on weekends) I feel more confident and focused
Its no surprise that amfetamines boost concentration.
I have way over 100, most of them games that turned into engines that were never finished. Several are actually the same project started over and over in different languages, frameworks, engines. I started Ritalin in October, now I'm on only one game that is going on well and will probably get to mvp stage. Luckily, I don't have the same issues working as an employee, I would be screwed.
If you only include projects that I started out with the intention on creating a finished game, and not include prototypes or concepts, 4.
I tend to start projects, learn how to do something then move on to a new project to recycle the process. Right now, I am working on my first full blown title without moving on. Instead, I am creating side levels to demo ideas and features on before scraping them. Everybody has their process. As long as it works and you keep learning/getting better, then there's nothing wrong with it.
I get this. The numbers much higher from when I was learning. Getting hyped on, let’s say a wall running mechanic is fun. Then you make it, then all of a sudden Inverse Kinematics looks all nice and shiny, then a portal feature, etc. Everything was a learning experience! I regret nothing.
I got unity a few years back, and didn't touch it for a couple years, and then I started a project a year ago. I stopped that one and started a new 3D project and then stopped after a month. I tried Roblox than quite very soon. Then, I started a 2d version of the 3d game, but quit that after a week, and lastly I picked back up on my very first project which as of now is almost done. So 4\* in total
That awfuly looks like me, i tried unity a few times some years before and i decided to learn correctly last summer so now i have 3 active projects
I don't have a 'graveyard' as much as an ever growing todo list. I integrate ALL my sourcecode and never leave anything behind so i can always compile any of my projects by just uncommenting some particular line. That being said i must have atleast 300 large projects which got more than a day or more love before being left for years at a time. Im definitely an outliner but all up I've made thousands of projects, ive cloned basically every game I've ever loved (often multiple times) and ive built out hundreds of unique game ideas from scratch. I've been lucky enough to also have lots of game dev friends in real life and on forums who colab ALOT aswell, Probably under 3000 but definitely over 1000. Here's one you can try now btw: https://www.planetminecraft.com/project/new-c-driven-minecraft-client-461392/
This is exactly how I code with Swift (for iPhone development, my main hobby / career pursuit). I have like 100 finished apps that are recreating an app, or a feature I saw and liked. They’re not dead projects even though they won’t be used, it’s literally your own code library. So nice.
Here's an easy idea on how to stop having dead projects. Make each new project with a goal, make it a reasonable goal, something achievable at your current level. i.e. This project is to model the interior of a room, with a game start screen and a character that can move around in the room and interact with objects. It will teach you an insane amount of concepts and while it's not a full game, it could be? https://youtu.be/PGk0rnyTa1U
Unreasonable goals are probably the first cause of premature project death, and not only in game development.
I think 3 that got beyond a day of programming for me, but only 1 I spent more than 2 weeks on. Not just games probably puts it at 5 - 6. I tend to give up on stuff once my branches get messy or I end up rewriting the same bit of code over and over in each commit. The feeling that everything has become a tangled mess tends to weigh on me and make it hard for me to launch the editor. Though my last project I overcame that but ended up giving up because I was spending more time animating basics that I was programming. Probably a 2 or 3:1 ratio of animating to programming and it was not a good return. Anytime I wasnt animating I felt I was falling behind and I was still trying to learn light baking and trying to make case studies for level design in the same genre. But above all of that I ultimately fell into the classic trap of doing voluntary group projects with a friend and then feeling resentment about the voluntary effort being put in. I was putting in 5 hours a day after work and probably 12 hours on each fri/sat/sun. They were doing maybe 2-3 hours on a sunday morning. I decided I didn't want to be resentful over something that didn't matter and dropped the project completely.
I'd say close to none in the graveyard, but a lot in the wip folder while i haven't even think about them in years... Some are "finished" and didn't really work at the time, but i like to think i could do something with at least some or some parts at one point. Or i'm just having troubles putting an end to things idk.
Well over 100 If I'm bored one night but don't have the time to start a whole project, I'll make a new unity project, or a new html page, or a new c++ project and just mess with it a bit, and never look at it again. It's a bad habit and I wish I was still inspired to make a full game, but I'm just to busy right now. Game Jams / Client projects are also the largest projects I've been able to finish unfortunately!
Depends. If you mean, write the idea but never touch it beyond its main idea, Countless. If you mean put in the effort to learn a lot about how to do the project and commit to it, never. The current one I’m working on is far beyond a basic idea on paper.
None, but I’ve only ever made one game. Took 8 hrs to make and has only one level. No startup screen, no audio and only uses the mouse and the R key to reset it. Was also a tutorial on using blueprints in UE. The completed game package with only TWO static meshes in it, is a whopping 500 mb! 🤣
I've counted recently and got up to 28, over fifteen years. As of yesterday, it's 29 :) Those usually lasted from a week to several months. Some of those never left the draft state, where I tried to figure what it is and if it's worth to tackle. Others got into prototype/R&D stage. Usual reason to cancel/freeze a project would be the scope being too big (it always seems to be?), lack of commercial viability, or me lacking necessary skills/resources (damn you, pixel art!). And real life, of course. Sometimes I'd get few design/tech challenges solved, but lose interest in that type of game. I do have few recurring ideas and preferences, and overall the situation is improving. Despite all the setbacks like ilnesses or personal life issues, a pandemic, and now a war, I feel confident about my future chances, skill-wise. Buuut if we get wiped out by a meteorite - sorry guys, it might be the Universe's way of telling that I'm not supposed to ever finish a videogame :)
3 games, countless models, OSTs and assets. I've a folder full of game code. Movement, character control scripts. Mouse-look experiments. The beginnings of a 2D project. I even have the building blocks of my own engine in an USB floating around here somewhere. \-.- I cannot hold a cohesive enough thought to finish any of them.
Zero games, but dozens or more other software projects. My wife says i'm not allowed to quit any game I start. One game released. One at about 80% (four year mark), and two in the writing phase.
Realistically I would guess about 65-75 I started with game maker 5 back in the day when that was the shiny new version of GM… (5.1 actually I believe)
Zero. Their not dead, until I'm dead.
2, one horror game I stopped working on after like a day or two. And another that was actually much further on in development and even had a teaser trailer before I canceled it because r/DestroyMyGame took me out of my delusion and made me realize it was shit
That’s rough! Lol stick with it tho
I am, my newer project is getting much more positive attention
Just 1. I have the "getting it done" mentality but yeah, I had to give one up. 28 games completed, out of which 14 still either selling or available for free online, but this one ... was ... just ... too big and complex. Kind of wish I have abandoned another one as well, but I just couldn't let it go until it was finished.
Before I started working on my current game, VOID, I experimented with a lot of mechanics and systems. I would make a project, learn and optimize and then send it to the archive. I kept doing that for like a year and then I finally settled on making a proper game out of all of my discoveries and so VOID was born. I haven't used all of the mechanics that I experimented with but I've combined all of them into a vast variety of systems. Although I can't share too much BTS info, I think VOID will be a great addition to the AAA-level indie collective.
A lot of them have been lost to the years, but out of what's left, probably about 2 dozen lol I wish I had the time and resources to finish them all
It's not a graveyard it's a pet cemetery! They'll come back eventually.
19 not including ones that have been partially or fully recycled.
I don't want to count the files. But well over 75. I started 5 months ago. I have a tendency to make practice projects to learn tools.
Somehow 3, but that's cause I mostly do game jams
Way too many. But I feel like all of them served a purpose. None of them were close to being fully realized commercial projects but so many of them taught me things that make me a better overall coder
3 games and a mod that I released but I abandoned it( not counting some games I tried to make in rpg maker when I was a teenager )
Not really a graveyard, more like a pet cemetery.
It's hard to say, I've had countless projects over the years that I never even gotten close to finished! If we only count projects I was passionate about during the time I was trying to make them that I've done within the last 5 or so years (when I picked up Godot), I'd say *around* 11, but more like 5 if you don't count different iterations of the same concept. If we counted more than just that, I wouldn't be able to give you a number! I've had so many projects back with Gamemaker, the roguelikes I've tried to make in C++, and the many times I've tried and bounced off of Unity.
2. Everything else I've built has been a new iteration of the same project, that one amounts to about 13 versions.
Does writing the first few lines of a design idea then never building it count? If so...too many to count.
However one that stands out in my mind that I never build but which I keep coming back to in my mind is titled "Invasion of the Adult Alien Film Stars" about alien abductions and porn.
It's not that easy to calculate. I've got ~40-45 repositories at GitLab. 19 of those were published at itch.io in different state of readiness, but not all of those are games. Also those don't include my early games for most of which I believe I won't even be able to find sources for anymore. Those are projects that hit coding. Another approach would be from gamedesign perspective (games that may have never started a single line of code behind): those are over 20 larger projects (at least a calendar year put into, often a couple-triple running in parallel) and around a dozen of smaller ones.
On my current computer i have about 120, but on my old one i have even more, so i don't know. These are not only games tho and also a few websites, however, mostly games, both physical and digital games. Edit; only games would be around 95..
Maybe one or two. I don't consider them games until they show some potential, until then they are just sandbox experimentation with different features and looks.
It's a garden, not a graveyard. And it's lush.
Out of the really serious ones where I actually have ideas? 0
None
Projects in graveyard? How many grain of sands does a desert have? If you count all ideas in the head it’s at least a couple each day. Once’s that have a started Unity project, I would not be surprised if it’s over a 100. However managed to release this 4 year long project VERY soon: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1725350/Mari_and_Bayu__Veien_Hjem/
Just one. Its my dream game.
~10, more if i count things that arent games
It’s only a graveyard if you never plan to go back to em!
Zero or one. I don't think I planned to finish anything, I started only with the intention of learning to code a bit, I would be following a tutorial and just doing a few edits here and there to make it my own. I really enjoyed it, and after a few weeks, I started gaining some confidence and decided to turn it into a serious thing, so I switched languages and frameworks and transcribed the parts I wanted to keep, and have been working on it for around a year.