Staying motivated to make a game
Monkey Archive Forums/Monkey Discussion/Staying motivated to make a game
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Hey all, Was wondering if any of you have experience or advice on how to stay motivated with working on a game. I seem to regularly go through phases of lacking motivation to do any game dev work. Since I work full time as a web developer, I "think" this may be part of the problem, in that it reduces my desire to continue doing work on the game after hours. On top of that, I am at a stage now where I've managed to do most of the coding work and it's now down to doing the graphics. And lots of it. It's stuff I've done a lot of in the past 5 years when collaborating with my mate on other projects, but I am finding it really hard to get it done these days. So, any ideas, ie, more sleep, eat less crap, exercise, give up day job, etc. ? :) What do YOU do to stay motivated? |
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I'm a full time web developer myself. Have been struggling to dev games since 15 years at least now. More than once I simply stopped. I thought it was simply not feasible. The truth is, at least in my experience, you lose motivation when you're not doing what you would like to do. This means the project in itself is maybe not so exciting as before, in which case you should probably just switch to another project. It's ok to make some false starts, we've all been there. Sooner or later you'll find that project which will eventually go for you. It could be that you finished developing the interesting parts of the project and now only boring stuff is left. In my experience, to solve this you should find someone to help you developing the parts you're not comfortable with (graphics, in my case), or automate those parts. For example in the past I was always stucking on GUIs. So much that eventually I simply started to make my own GUI systems, and that helped a lot. (Or use third party libraries.) Another factor could be the lack of support from the external world. It may seem stupid, but just the fact of telling someone else what you're doing can help you focus on that thing, because you create expectations on others. So increase the social connections of your game developments. Tweet, blog, create developer diaries in forums, participate in events like #screenshotsaturday, talk to your friends, etc. Sometimes, just by looking around what other people are doing can motivate you. Moreover, if you really can't make any progresses with your current project, simply take a break. Prototype something else (perhaps do something like a game in a weekend, or in a day, or a week, or whatever). Or maybe take a break from programming or computers altogether. Become interested in something else, for example music, reading, films, table games, photography, foreign languages. Often, doing something can inspire you in other parts of your life, even completely unrelated. Just increase your sphere of interests, it helps. There are many other tips which come to mind, but I'm on the run now! My two cents :) |
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This means the project in itself is maybe not so exciting as before, in which case you should probably just switch to another project. I strongly disagree. Every project will lose its exciting factor after a while. This is when you have to force yourself to keep working on it, not "switch to another project" - if you do that, you'll keep switching, and never finishing anything. If you're doing it as a hobby, fine - do whatever you want; but if you doing this to make money, you just have to keep on. One of the things that help me go through the motions is having a "to-do list", right in the beginning of the main code, on a big #Rem ... #End. This way I can see how much I still have to do, what's being done and how the game is progressing in general. Its something dead simple to maintain, and its very rewarding to knock off items off the list :) |
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I prefer to mix the things that have to be done and that I like to do. If my motivation goes down I add some new things or do prototyping. The creative part. After that I take something from the todo list to finish. I although found important to add some graphics in the earlier part of my work, to have something nice on the screen. Keeps up my motivation. A small walk out of the house helps me clear the brain. |
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I've struggled with this in the past and in the middle of 2012 I felt the need to abandon a game that I worked on and off for almost 10 years. I got burned out, was finding excuses not to work on it, and realized that I wasn't making games anymore, which is my favorite hobby. What did help to get more productive in the tough times was to have a to do list, with milestones, so that I had a sense of accomplishment in the little things that helped to keep me motivated. Getting interested people involved is also important, since the concept that someone else on the planet other than you cares about what you do will make you want to keep at it all the more. I found that I had trouble getting people who I knew personally to try out my 3D marble platformer game and give some feedback. Meanwhile they were always playing simple mobile games at lunch break that I could have coded over a weekend. I decided to skip desktop development and go mobile from then on. :) |
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I strongly disagree. Every project will lose its exciting factor after a while. This is when you have to force yourself to keep working on it, not "switch to another project" - if you do that, you'll keep switching, and never finishing anything. True. My advices were coming from an indie/hobbyist dev perspective, and by "switch to another project" I actually mean take a small break from the main one, use your mind for something else, and come back later. Of course, this is not really viable when there are strict deadlines to respect :) By the way, the todo list is a really effective method, also cause it helps you break down the problem into smaller ones, and focus on a specific thing (which can also help you separate concerns in your code entities). |
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Thanks for the input guys. Appreciate it. I rely heavily on a to-do list. I use google keep for my list so I can add/update/change things anywhere I am, on my tablet, phone, desktop, laptop whatever. What I find is helping is really breaking the to-do list down into the tiny things. For example, saying "do graphics" doesn't work for me. I actually have to break it down such as "do environment enemies for level 1.", etc. What I also find is helping with having the to-do list, is that I can really think about the finer details of what still needs doing in the game during my lunch breaks at work, and then doing what I feel is achievable on the day based on my motivation. For example, tonight I actually managed to complete my audio class that lets you create sounds that get played at a set time in the game. I started the evening with a plan of recording my own voice, playing with effects until I found something I liked. This then inspired me to implement the audio class code to test it with. In the end it was quicker and easier than I expected and I am feeling a nice warm glow of having achieved something productive tonight. Nitty gritty to-do list items are what seems to work for me. Otherwise, I'll be playing games more than making them, which is fine when I need a break :) |
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I used to use a to do list, until I saw Jordan Mechner's Journals. There is a free sample on that page. So I bought myself a thickest notepad I can find and start writing. My experience is that this way you write why you make a design decision. |
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@Ferdi whoa thanks for sharing that! It looks remarkable, can't wait to start reading them :) |
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I'm actually amazed there are still people who try develop competitive products on their own. It takes half a year for a well-funded studio to do a game with shallow mechanics and basic 2D animations and graphics. That's a building full of compartmentalized seasoned pros collaborating.. What we're really talking about here is the economics and psychology of maintaining product development over the span of years with a life being managed in parallel. There is ZERO aspects of this that are explained with minimal conversation consisting of mostly motivating small paragraphs.. My experienced advice: Divide labor. This means getting friends with skills to do free work(investing) in your product to reduce turn-around and load-balance your involvement. If you don't have at least four such friends you will have to go it alone for years sometimes grinding, or spend thousands or even tens of thousands sub-contracting to freelancers. Graphics and animations are the actual "hard" parts; especially if your just a programmer.. |
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You got to ask yourself the question why you are doing it. Is it for fun or to obtain some form of commercial succes? If it's for fun and you have to force yourself to do it then it may be a good idea to start on something new or quit. If it's for commercial succes you might want to ask yourself the question if you believe in your idea. If you believe in the idea it can motivate you but I agree, it's hard to stay hungry becaue you never know if all the effort will pay off. |
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I'm going to be the radical and dare to consider you're doing it for fun and profit. I know this is misguided since most countries give all their citizens free homes and means of transportation and nourishment, but let's imagine a little.. No economics GO! Just use logistics, "Divide labor" so you see results without heavy rigor and lengthy time. It has almost nothing to do with dedication given the complexity and time.. It's kind of non-sensible to suggest you don't like something because you have a logical observation of it.. It's ONLY years of work in parallel to an adult life.. |
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I have finished many projects, but have never finished a game. If making game is your secondary activity (like mine), consider it as something like learning and playing guitar. It helps you enjoy your time. You do not have to finish anything. For professional game programming, go with Playniax comment: "you might want to ask yourself the question if you believe in your idea". I wish I was web programmer like you. Because recently I tried to make a simple simulation with JavaScript for a friend without any luck. I became very confused with this language. Then, when I finally got the logic of it, I realized that I have to write some libraries to make sense of what is to be done. But, I realized that I do not have time and I have to use what I already know rather than using JavaScript. I read some universities teach this language as a first language. In my time it was c++, which few years later became unpopular for applications and my skills became obsolete as I was never a system programmer type. The way IT is developing is very stressful. It has dog-eat-dog logic, very unfortunate. There are too many languages, too many lords ruling in their own territories. The matter is simple: one hardware->C->OS->application language-> done, but self interest has created unnecessary complexities and unknown territories. I am even doubtful about OOP, although I don't know anything other than that. Sometimes it comes to my mind that OOP is more territorial issue rather than science issue. So, despite all of these "wrong" or "right" thoughts, life goes on for me, and every now and then I make game-like programs that give meaning to my life. You do not have to blame yourself, consider our environment too. |
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I believe if you do what you love then it's not a waste of time, only a waste of time to the people who don't understand. |