I guess starting the post is the tough part.

INSPIRATION

Well, as basically anyone will tell you, creating your own content always starts with taking in other content.

If I love something and I want to make other stuff like it, I just do a lot of looking and listening. I try to find out why it makes me feel the way it does, what factors contribute to the feeling it accomplished, etc.

Pretty much all of my content is inspired by music. You ever hear a song and just imagine a scene or a character that your brain just fits into whatever you're taking in? I totally do. Is that weird?

LittleGame started with FakeBaby from Hit Single, a mod for Friday Night Funkin', which lead me to look into more Sonic.exe content, which planted the idea to put my own spin on such an idea.

Outcasts obviously is not my original concept. It was initially designed by @ERROR989 , who then shared with me and @TheMuffinMan343 and turned it into one of the most fun group projects of my life.

However, the very thing that caused me to pick Outcasts back up after ERROR dropped it was the music. I found an old MP3 player with the first two versions of The Madness Within, the original Taking a Stand, and the menu theme. The music has always been what brings the game to life for me.

I actually created an entire character who almost got his own game all because of one song- Karma by OR3O.

His name was Norman and I loved him. And he's doomed never to have his own content.

Another way I might start a piece of content is with a drawing, which brings us to...

CONCEPTS

With or without a song in mind, I need characters next. I might have a story in my head already or I might completely wing it, but one way or another I need to know my characters. Heroes, villains, and everything in between. And all of that personality can be placed in a drawing.

Here's some concept art I've done in development of my projects, and some extra art for projects I haven't even started. OR ANNOUNCED! Yup, reading this wasn't pointless. You get some exclusive content!

You like them? I think they're pretty sweet. Maybe a little trashy in the earlier years but they could've been so much worse.

So sorry about the sideways ones. I forgot to turn them...

Sometimes I'll add a poem to the drawing or on the back of the page just to really bring the character to life in my mind while I write them. It really helps. And if poetry isn't your thing, just write descriptions of them and their own thought process.

For whatever reason my weird ahh brain wants to write them in Anglo Saxon runes. I guess it looks cool but it's extra and I write a little slower that way.

Also, another quick note about getting your ideas on paper is simply to not worry about how pretty it is. My handwriting sucks so bad and strangely my writing is more stable when I'm writing in runes, even if it still sucks, but those concepts are for me and me only... or they were, until I shared them with you.

PROGRAMMING

I always use TurboWarp. I want to move on to more advanced engines, but for now TW does the trick just fine. I start with the gameplay, then move onto the storytelling stuff later. This might be a mistake.

THE INEVITABILITY OF PROCRASTINATION

I always have points in time where I know exactly what my goals are, but I don't really believe in my ability to actually achieve them. If I'm being honest, I think I'm going through one of those right now. The solution? Talk to people. Discuss your plans. Find workarounds. Above all, experiment. You might fail a lot before you get it right, but refusing to try is its own failure. Never give in to the question of whether or not you should keep going.

PUBLISHING

Not much to it. I usually make my game pages way earlier than I need to because I like designing them, but there's really nothing remarkable about them. I try my best to make the colors pop, emphasize my title, logos, try to feature some characters, and do what I can to avoid just copying game assets for stuff like thumbnails and headers.

And that concludes my creative process post! Hope you enjoyed and if you did please check out the rest of my profile!

Later!

BONUS CONTENT

Later x2!