My Year Project

[Tim Wilson]

I'm planning on creating some kind of 2D video game as a one-year project. As today is my birthday, I thought it would be a good day to begin. If anybody has some kind of suggestions for a project, I'd love to hear them!

[dandymcgee]

Work on whatever is going to keep you interested for the next year. If you lose interest in a week it's going to be extremely difficult to keep at it without anyone telling you that you have to. Since we can't possibly know your experience level or interests it's quite difficult to recommend anything in particular.

[Tim Wilson]

As for my experience:
I've been programming for over a year now
I am able to create full games in c#, possibly c++ (never tried), and Java.

EDIT:
As for my interests, I am a big fan of old-fashioned games like what the ES team is working on, plus action games in general. My favorite game is Summon Night: Swordcraft Story.

[superLED]

What if you took one of your favorite games and tried to tweak around with the game elements/game play?
Like, take Zelda and put in some leveling system, which may leads to upgradable items and armor.
I guess that would lead you in to making a game you'll be enthusiastic about and not lose interest.

Since it's a "Year Project", you may plan for a huge game. That may put you in the trap of "there's so much to do that I don't feel motivated anymore".
Maybe make plans for a smaller game, and when you are done, you can add in more elements. (Keep this in mind when you're programming, so you don't hard-code anything, that will make it hard to add stuff later on)

[Ginto8]

Make a demo. It doesn't have to be big, it doesn't have to be pretty, but it has to show some functionality of the game, whether it's player animation or camera panning or a whole battle system. After you make each bit of functionality that you consider interesting, make another demo. Every so often, make something just because it would be a really cool demo, even if you don't intend to actually have it as part of the finished project. By working on little bits at a time, you won't get bored, and by making the demos, you'll have something cool to show for your efforts at every step of the way. Even if you then decide to drop it halfway through, you'll have your last working demo to show for it.

The most important thing is just doing it. Demos are cool and awesome, and they can motivate you to make the next cool and awesome thing. If you spend too much time thinking about what you want to do, you won't spend enough time actually doing anything.

[Pornomag]

If you spend too much time thinking about what you want to do, you won't spend enough time actually doing anything.

+1