Do you have a "Cave Story" sitting on your hard drive?

[whisperstorm]

I was reading the story about Cave Story and thought about how that person had worked for so long (over 5 years!) just on evenings and weekends on that game. The result is something that will probably be considered a classic in 2D gaming. I was just wondering... how many other folks here have a "cave story" sitting on their hard drive - perhaps only half finished - but still having the potential to be something really amazing.
(I know we have "abandonware" games that represent something that was released but forgotten. Imagine how much more "desertedware" is out there - half finished. )

[Anthony Flack]

Well, I have Cave Story sitting on my hard-drive, and it's half finished. Does that count?

And then there's my game of course, which is following a similar sort of development. But I'm not at all like that Cave Story guy, who, having left his university days behind, seems totally resigned to leading an unremarkable life as an anonymous company man from now on. That darn Japanese social conditioning...

Why he feels that trying to make money from games is futile, I really don't know.

[whisperstorm]

While his story is ultimately depressing (resigned to a life of drudgery) the fact that he was able over time to create a wonderful game with nothing more than perserverence is encouraging. I am working on a game like this as well - spending a few minutes here and there working out the story, or trying out a technique, etc. I encourage other folks to talk about and possibly revive their "pet projects".

I think the hardest thing about starting out as an indie developer is you initially are very excited, you get about 20-30% of the way then discover it's actually work, and given that not anyone else but you knows/cares about your game you either give up or put it into perpetual limbo.

I see folks working on games like Mina and the Pirates (which has been stopped) or Contient One (http://natomic.com/game.asp?id=41 ) and watch them get so far but then get bogged down. I wonder if there was a place where game developers could put their half-done games (if they were wanting to give up on them) for "adoption". So that perhaps someone else could pick up where they stopped and see if they could bring the game to completion - or at least reuse some of the resources like sprites, sounds, code, etc.

[papillon]

I get a few emails from people wishing I would take five years to craft much longer masterpieces rather than trying to design projects I can finish in a reasonable amount of time... :)

(Yes, person who will not be named, an epic strategy game based around the career of Joan of Arc would be an interesting project, especially if I could manage to make the RTS genre more girl-friendly. NO, I do NOT have the time and resources to do it entirely on my own. Now hush.)

[BarrySlisk]

I have no idea what you are talking about...???
Where can I read this story ?

[Indiepath]

I have no idea what you are talking about...???
Where can I read this story ?
It's a game...

[BarrySlisk]

I figured out that much. But it sounds like there was some article by the author?

[Artinum]

I found a link:
http://agtp.romhack.net/doukutsu.html

Is this what you're all on about?

[Drake]

But it sounds like there was some article by the author?
There's an interview (http://www.tigsource.com/features/interview_pixel.html) with the creator of Cave Story on TIGSource. Of course, the link doesn't work at the moment. :(

[Pyabo]

I have it sitting on my hard drive... but I finished it!

[Anatoly]

I think that what he is talking about is that Cave Story took 5 years to complete, but maybe some of you have a game sitting on a harddrive that you worked on for some time, but never got complete (one of your own I mean). Maybe release it as it is becuase it was lying around for so long you will never complete it, but public may enjoy it anyway! Desertedware actually sounds quite cool.

[whisperstorm]

exactly Anatoly.

[oddvark]

Heh, I've been working on a video game now forever after work and on weekends. I REALLY want to finish it just to say that I've finished something you know....eventually I want to play around with the whole website/marketing thing, not to make $$$ but because I think it would be a fun hobby.

http://www.devimg.net/?Post=663

[Anthony Flack]

Well, I put my old abandoned game up on my website a little while ago.

www.squashysoftware.com/bert.php

[mahlzeit]

I wonder if there was a place where game developers could put their half-done games [...] for "adoption".
That's a very interesting idea. Of course, there is SourceForge which already hosts an incredible number of unfinished projects. ;) But something more user-friendly and purely aimed at games sounds cool.

[Greg Squire]

Well, I put my old abandoned game up on my website a little while ago.

www.squashysoftware.com/bert.php

Bert the Barbarian is quite impressive. Especially as a first game done back in 1999. Like you say the controls are a bit unresponsive, but that could be fixed (if you ever picked up the project again). Very Nice!

Oh and yeah I have Cave Story on my machine as well, and still unfinished too.

[Bad Sector]

Nico Tuvla (http://www.slashstone.com/prod.php?id=1) is a game that i was making since 2000-2001 (not remember exactly) and released it for free at 2005. Dunno if applies as a "Cave Story" case, but it took me a while to make it :-).

And it's finished.

I'm thinking to put the Free Pascal sources on the page at some point...

[dmikesell]

"or are you just happy to see me?"

[Anatoly]

@ dmikesell: Lol! It took me like 10 minutes to get how does that relate to the topic. :D