Placeholders, "I'll do it later" Options

[kayden997]

Placeholders are something I've seen people do in there projects while they develop. Whether it be maps or dialogue, is it really a good thing to do? Sure, someone can just make a map with the basic walking areas and what not, then leave it and go to another map. But what if they miss it or make so many placeholders that the project becomes overwhelming thus leading to it's doom?

Personally, I always spend a lot of time on a new map to really give it it's final feel. If I have to go out of my way to create an object specifically for that map, I would. It just leaves things out of the way instead of partially finishing it just to go back to it while you're finished half the game already. I think one would lose motivation to do much effort on the placeholder if that was the case.

Not sure about dialogue but again it's something that I believe has to be fully developed and looked at if needed.

So, what are your thoughts about placeholders?

[amerk]

This may be true, but you should have an idea of what will be in front of the characters at the time of the scene. You wouldn't want to avoid adding details, create a really nice looking customized route for your character, then go back and add trees only to realize the character's route gets blocked and the scene messes up.

For me, it's a matter of doing it "somewhat" right the first time. Having to redo everything later takes a lot of work. Now when I say "somewhat" right, I don't mean it has to be perfect. If you spent your time trying to make everything perfect, you'd be at it forever. Make it doable, test it out, move on.

Once everything is in place and you're finished, that's when you should replay from start to finish (and get some other testers as well). You may find that some scenes worked fairly well, while others didn't come out quite as expected and may need to be revised. But at least the game is finished, and revising a scene after the fact may be prove to be far less time consuming.