Damn, that's a lot fucking darker than I'd thought it'd get on reading the title of the fable.

I know it's not the point, but I love the completely arbitrary bit where they're walking down a road together, and has absolutely no bearing on anything the happens.

It is, in fact, very easy to code a game!

from pygame import game
game.load_player()
game.load_enemies()
game.load_audio()
game.run()

It's like scope creep, but where the demanding client is also your boss/coworker.

Hey there, champ! I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I'm afraid I have to disagree with your statement. Game development with effort or coding skills? Today I'm gonna show you how to do it without any effort, it's like becoming an astronaut by watching the big bang theory!

Let me break it down for you. You see, creating a video game is as easy as pie. Typically, you would use lines of code. But what if I told you that you can gather a bunch of random images from the internet, throw them into a a computer, and voila! You've got yourself the next "Call of Duty" blockbuster. Going by standards nowadays people will be lining up to buy your game, guaranteed!

Who needs coding when you can just use a magic wand and poof your game is magically coded? Just like that! Forget the coding aspect of it, you can make a game effortless! How do I do this you ask me? Well, If you really want to master the art of game development without lifting a finger, I have the perfect solution for you. Introducing my revolutionary course: "Effortless Game Development Masterclass"! In this course, you'll learn the ancient secrets of game creation without any pesky coding skills or effort required. You'll be churning out awards winning games in no time, all while lounging on your couch and eating Cheetos. 😎😎👊 Dm me if you want more info for the affiliate link

I got asked by a team of first timers who have never done any professional coding or design if I wanted to chip in on a competitive MMOFPS they want to make.

That's not going to happen. Between the rise of cheating, the insane hardware and optimization requirements of an MMOFPS, the general lack of interest in the genre (most have died due to low player counts), and the sheer amount of time and effort involved in designing and balancing the game even after it's largely feature complete? Forget it, I'm better off buying lottery tickets than hoping for anything to come of that.

I had a guy whose pitch was "Ok, you're the president."

That was the game idea. The whole thing.

"games out there that don't exist" how high r u rn

I can code but I can't do art. I can make a game, but it will look ugly as fuck.

You mean like an MMO where different maps are arranged in an infinite hexagonal pattern that's randomly/procedurally generated based on different biomes, that also keeps track of how many players have entered/completed each hex and begins scaling down the difficulty in said hex and evolving it into a more peaceful zone, that way the higher traffic areas eventually form safe zones/towns for low level characters while low traffic areas encourage high level characters to visit and explore, with the highest level characters able to survive unexplored areas and expand the map for all players, all while having developer tools to specifically add unique dungeons/events/items directly to tiles so that the game doesnt feel a mile wide and an inch deep but instead as if the whole world map is alive and constantly changing?

Yea... That'd be cool.

I envy you in some ways, recognizing your limits is something I wish I would have done. I came from a coding background, spent like 2 years learning unity, then eventually realized much of the cool stuff for games happen on the art side. So I learned blender... the whole pipeline- modeling, sculpting, materials, animations, each piece had it's own challenges and quirks.

It's been like 15 years since I started, I still haven't released a game... but I do have a collection of neat prototypes that no one has played. I often wonder if I've wasted my time with the whole thing. If I could go back, I'd choose one niche, specialize in it and find a team to collaborate with, but there are trade offs with that too like giving up a lot of creative control.

You can have someone else do it for you. You just need the money. Give yourself Executive Producer credits, tell them your vision and pay them to make it happen.

"Sure, we'll pay you 2% of the profits"

I have this idea of how to solve the world's energy problem...ok ok just hear me out... nuclear fusion....just need some smart science nerd to figure it out. Any volunteers?

Have you considered making your deck building game an mmorpg?