Failure, and what is failure.

I hope this is the right section for this, if not i guess move it.

But i wanted to know from the community.
What constitutes failure?

I was told my fan game is going to fail.

But then i thought.."how?".
I always felt the only way a fangame can fail is if i gave up, and never finished it.
I said a few times i quite, but i went back to work on it.

Give me your thoughts on this.

I mean if i make it, and finish it, and at least one person plays it other than me, then i figure it's a success.
Anyhow, again.. tell me your thoughts.

I don't know what people are intending when they say things like this, I tend not to say such things, personally, but I would think they're suggesting that the game won't be finished. I wouldn't let it get to me; like others have suggested, fan games come and go, there really is a low completion rate with them because they're huge undertakings and it's hard to generate interest, but if you're passionate about it and it makes you happy then just go for it, haters gonna hate.

I dunno, i think they meant no one would like it.
I was not interested in arguing or debating with them anything cause up until that point they had just given me a hard time.
I was just trying to wrap my head around the whole failure thing.
Specially with a fangame, as to me failure is me giving up.
I have no intent of giving up honestly.
Just was curious what others thought about it.

You only fail when you stop trying. For the record your game looks fantastic and I am looking forward to see more progress and eventually the game itself!

jessie wrote:

You only fail when you stop trying. For the record your game looks fantastic and I am looking forward to see more progress and eventually the game itself!

No worries, i'm not really worried with what they said.
I was just like "how the hell does a fangame fail?".

And yeah i been working on it for years now, going this far into it, i can't give up.

Fact 1: people who gratuitously tell you your game will fail all fall under the following category: the jealous. You have a project, you have a drive they wish had, you have a talent they will never have.

Fact 2: failure is the absence of success. You defined your success as the following:

Quote:

I mean if i make it, and finish it, and at least one person plays it other than me, then i figure it's a success.

I agree 150% with this. I have yet to see a single real, complete PS fan game come to fruition and trust me, we have seen really awesome projects in the past. The owners gave up, life went on. Will yours be different? I have absolutely zero idea. That depends on you and only on you.

Let's do this once again:

Quote:

I mean if i make it, and finish it, and at least one person plays it other than me, then i figure it's a success.

Now go, goooo! Finish it so I can play it!!

First off, I would say stay away from negative thinking opinions and do not listen to them. It will only make you feel bad. Stay in a positive frame of mind and keep concentrating on what you want to do with your project and keep moving ahead with it the way you want to regardless. If you are happy with what you are doing then that is all that really matters. Some will like what you do while others may not like it. You can not please everyone, so do not even try. Keep yourself busy and happy doing what you like to do.

It doesn't matter how many times you may take a break from working on your project or how long those breaks may be (even months or years). Everyone needs some rest time every now and then which will only help you to come back later on to work on the project feeling refreshed and ready to move forward again, possibly with some new ideas to help further your project that you had not even thought about previously.

In my opinion, you are already a winner because you have already accomplished a great deal with your project, and you enjoy it, and want to learn from constructive opinions that others may have to offer. And many people are looking forward to seeing and rejoicing with you on whatever you may accomplish in the future. So, stay positive and keep working.

No worries.. it did not really affect me, not much does.. but it just left me scratching my head. So i thought i would ask what people thought.

What is failure? Good question. While I like Aero's definition of it being the absence of success, I'm not sure that's it, at least personally, as to me, it begs the question of "what is success?" I find that often, when something fails, it often just means it's leading elsewhere than intended, wherever that may be.

But anyway, whoever said your game will fail seemed to be someone who either had negative intentions, or someone who just didn't really give much thought to what they were saying. In your shoes, I'd stay away from such unwelcome and unnecessary negativity. That's pointless negativity, as it doesn't help much of anything.

Failure in this case would be not being able to meet your goals. Nothing is an absolute failure, because something can only fail if it was intended to achieve something that it couldn't.

You game will only fail if you have set goals for it that it cannot reach. If your goal is to finish the game, it depends only on you.