Originally posted by: Benihana
My biggest problem is I was not getting results fast enough and got frustrated to easily.
Plus I SUCK at math, so that did not help any either.
I think this is a big problem for almost everybody, myself included. I had experienced option paralysis for a good many years and a number of failed projects before I realized...in terms of getting results, you MUST accept the reality of how long it may take. Especially if you have a fairly busy life.
Basically look at it this way...if you're like me, you love retro games. You've always loved retro games, you'll probably still love them when you're falling apart at 95 years old. So who cares how long it takes to make that game you've always wanted...3 years...5 years...10 years...20 years!? It doesn't matter. Let it go slow. If it takes you a year to get a sprite on the screen and move it with the controller, so be it.
For me...this hobby is way different from what one usually thinks of as indie game development. This is something that will be a part of me, forever. This isn't something where I want to basically kill myself with all nighters for months on end. I know a lot of folks find that sort of appealing in a heroic, viking berzerker kind of way, but, I don't.
And, another thing...fast results are not as satisfying. I love that it takes a long time for my games to take shape. When they finally do...its...just awesome. That's all I'll say.
And finally...as for math, you don't really need much math to make a good NES game. Take sinusoidal movement or circular movement for example. You can do these 100% with add and subtract. No joke. Once you learn the trick to smooth movement on the NES so many possibilities open up, you'll wonder why anybody ever invented more advanced math. A bit of tongue in cheek there, but, it's pretty neat what's possible with such simple tools. (*edit* not to say you shouldn't learn some math concepts for movement like acceleration and velocity, but you don't need to be a whiz bang at trigonometry or calculus on paper or what not...that's my only point)