The fear part comes from my lizard brain telling me that I'm not going to be able to make the controls engaging, and that thus I'll be wasting my time. So even if I create a puzzle game with a unique game mechanic, it's going to fail due to poor controls. Again. This fear is not unfounded, as this isn't a very improbable outcome.
I also believe part of the part of fear comes from the initial reaction from the maker of Cross Fingers as I e-mailed him for advice on how they made all the levels:
Do you want to steal our game design, or did I miss something??I explained the situation further and he chilled, but I've been demoralized before by "intellectual property" look-and-feel. It just doesn't feel good if someone thinks you're stealing. It's ok if you say it yourself, and as long as you yourself think you're extending previous work. Sort of like science or evolution. But if someone else says it, it just doesn't feel right. Not for me anyway.
The lack of motivation comes from making a game which is not my best idea.
On the other hand I can get over my fear. And the idea is small enough that I could make it into my best game so far, by far. I think. I need to gain some momentum, the game is not going to write itself. Unfortunately. (This time it would have been nice. Getting old?)
