Keeping in the format of the OP.

Idea : Top down action shooter with a scrolling field.
How far it went : I completed !!!
Evolved : It was like i wondered.
Lessons : soo many to point it out.
How it would be now : Like the game but with more stuff. And probably isometric.

Some footage of the game.
[media][/media]

I was much into early GTA-style open world games, and I thought it'd be cool to create something similar myself. After having been learning c++ for a short period and some basic game -related things such as main loop I created a few prototypes of the game using console graphics.

Here's a screenshot of the final version:
[attachment=9212:con_.png]
An intense firefight in some hotel hall. The map scrolled as the player moved around.

Pretty much everything was hardcoded (enemies, weapons and objects), except the maps which also supported primitive events (walk somewhere and something is spawned). The game had cops, civilians, enemy gangs and even some monsters. Available weapons were two types of shotguns, rocket launcher, flamethrower, mines, remote detonated bombs and my personal favorite - poison arrows .

The game featured some pretty cool blast wave, fire and blood splatter effects - all done using colorful ascii characters. Among console graphics and 2d game stuff I also learned something about AI and sound system (the game btw had extremely brutal death screams). Later I tried adding a multiplayer, but of course that would fail as I had zero knowledge on the subject and I was using tcp for everything!

If I did a remake of this thing with my current experience and knowledge, it would probably end up being insane. I've actually started to recreate this thing in 3d, and so far everything's been going great! I might post an iotd some day, so stay tuned !

The idea was just a simple flash platformer based on ancient egypt.
I finished the first level, minus the enemies and pick-ups.
The game didn't really evolve much since I didn't get very far with it.
I learned that creating content, even for simple games, makes up the vast bulk of the work. It takes an incredible amount of time and effort to create all those art assets.
I also learned that you don't get anything for free, every little detail that you want in your game you have to take the time to program/create yourself.
I don't know what I'd do different, I don't use flash anymore.

Gotta say this thread makes me cringe "what happened to your first game idea?"..
We all probably have thought of millions of game ideas while not being a developer or anything in game biz.
And even when we get into that biz it's still just an idea... = nothing really. We all probably think of tons of ideas constantly.
You have to make a detailed concept and iterenary of the game which is not just 1 idea anymore... it's forming that idea together with tons of more ideas. And it's still just an idea then.. You still don't know if you can do anything with that idea.. it just sounds good.

Ideas leads to concept leads to iteranary... all these 3 things are basically ideas... And then you must make a GDD out of the idea... all those 3 things are just starting ground to start writing the GDD.. and your ideas will most likely have to be reformed into something slightly or very different during the GDD writing process.

Or you can skip the part of writing a GDD... it works too... but you will have to do 1000000 times more work then because you don't know what you're going to make ahead of time... it's much much easier to rewrite parts of the game if it's in text in word than it is in code.

Idea: Strategy game/ fps based on controlling the earthly elements.

How Far: In development.

Evolving:
I had this idea after watching an episode of Avatar: Legend of korra. I was thinking how enjoyable the pro-bending fights were, and it would be really cool able to control the elements and fight like that. After I thought over this idea for a few days I decided to expand on it and make maps for it(I'm more of a level designer than I am anything else). So after I came up with some basic ideas and maps I started to think how simple the gameplay would be and that it would just feel repetitive, face it, it would have been a boxing game with fire.. I then decided to make it outdoors which would allow you the freedom of running and strategizing. After I made a few maps for that I stuck with one in the mountains, but that led me to another problem, the story and why would your character be randomly fighting in the mountains? So I changed the game again making it a horde style game where you fight off waves of enemies using different attacks. I am now a few weeks into development still working by myself trying to figure out different mechanics and I am making a lot of progress given the fact that I am a student, I have two jobs, I make texture packs for minecraft and I have to balance out a social life! I am really learning a lot about creating a game since I am teaching myself everything and doing everything myself.

Lessons:
1. Don't give up just because your only one person. I'm one person and even though at times I feel like this will never get done due to the fact that I have no earthly idea of what I'm doing, I still push on.
2. Take others advice, and don't be afraid to ask questions! People are smart, take advantage of that!
3. Dont get stuck on one idea. You may have the "perfect idea", I know I did, but you may find that some things wont work with it and the more you fight changing or swaying from that original idea, the harder it will be on you.
4. have fun, I'm doing this game for no profits what so ever. none. I'm doing this simply because I want to, and I think it will be cool to see how all my hard work pays off.
5. You will learn a lot so be ready! I've taught myself how to use the unreal engine and I love it! I also have some knowledge of how to use cryengine.(I prefer unreal engine though)

[background=rgb(250, 251, 252)][font="helvetica, arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif"][size="2"][color="#282828"]What was the idea? An FPS Strategy game hybrid with First person elements in the style of Red Orchestra, and call of duty 2. The strategy mechanics were similar to that of the on rail flash flash game Ware-fare 1944, but with a command system using marker such as "Defend Here" "Attack Here"[/font]

[font="helvetica, arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif"][size="2"][color="#282828"]How far: Glad to say I'm still working on a rough draft of sorts. I'm glad I've stuck with it. I've got a GDD and a few half finished models and lines of code, all coming together slowly. It's a good excuse for me to learn java. [/font][/background]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif]

[background=rgb(250, 251, 252)]Evolving: It started out as me wanting to improve and bring out my favourite mechanics of Ace of Spades, and as I designed it turned into something else entirely. [/background]

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[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif]

[background=rgb(250, 251, 252)]Lessons learned: Ideas morph and change, what you set out to make will change. Java's hard to learn when all you've ever dealt with before's html and python.

I tried making early versions of it in 2d using game maker, but it just wasn't flexible enough.[/background]

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