Staying Motivated

[Leper]

Hey Guys,

I'm working on my latest project, DarkRA and I have been lacking motivation lately. All I have to do is make the circular movements, and spline paths, then bullet patterns. Then I can start on level creation.

I've been saying this for 2 weeks now and haven't touched the project. I really want to say that I think a lot of many of you because you finish your projects! It is amazing especially to see complex projects like Kudos being completed.

I do have another project that is unfinished, called CodeName Interceptor. It seems to me that I get so far in a project and then I lose interest.

I have completed one game completely, called Ace of Bases, but it didnt get too much attention.

I can say that I do divert my attention to my website, and I really like working on it. BUT, I want to work on my game, but its like there is some sort of "wall" blocking me from continuing forward.

Does anybody get this? It's like.. you're working ona project, and all the suddon it just seems like there's a wall of somesort that is blocking you from finishing it?

I was just wondering, what keeps you motivated?

[Indiepath]

My will to succeed keeps me motivated, as does the need to pay the mortgage and put food on the table. Oh and sunny Friday afternoons with the promise of cold beer.

If your game project has hit a wall, and you're not constrained by time then I would suggest doing what you need to do on the website and coming back to the game. After all, when the site is finished you'll have a great feeling of accomplishment and will be properly motivated to get the game finished.

[GBGames]

I'm one of those who haven't finished a project, so take what I say with the grain of salt it deserves.

I would argue, however, that perhaps you're not motivated to finish because you haven't clarified why you should finish. If you don't know why you're doing something, it can be very demotivating and you'll waste time doing things inefficiently. After all, what's the most efficient way to do something when you don't know what you're trying to accomplish? Enhancing the graphics might seem productive, but if you should be working on that input problem that everyone is complaining about, you aren't doing the best thing you could be doing.

What EXACTLY will it look like to have a finished game? Are you really that close? How do you know when you are done?

As for getting myself motivated, I find that just doing ANYTHING related to the project will result in me spending more time than I expected on it. I am very bad at judging how long something will take, so I use it to my advantage. "I'll just work on this project for 15 minutes, regardless of how I feel" will sometimes end with 15 minutes of more-or-less-solid work, but usually I'll end up staying at the computer for at least an hour.

Also, it can be demotivating to think "I need to finish the game" as opposed to "I just need to finish this function". Thinking of your project as one big overwhelming mass will kick procrastination into action, so to speak. Just start slowly, a lot. Start a project enough times, and eventually you'll start on the last part.

[KNau]

Is there anything in your to-do list that is beyond your current abilities? If so you might be experiencing avoidance behavior, which is perfectly normal. You may be subconsciously avoiding the pain of having to figure out spline paths for example.

If avoidance is the case then I recommend finding a simpler way to achieve the same result that is within your current programming abilities. I experienced the same thing on my first project when I had to write the enemy AI. It wasn't until I broke it down into little chunks that fit within my current skill level that I was able to break through that wall.

Of course, the opposite is possible, too. Maybe the tasks you need to complete are too easy and boring for you so your mind wants to wander on to more interesting things. In which case you might want to take another look at the game you're designing and find a few more intersting and challenging elements to add to it.

Lastly, if everything fits squarely into your experience level and you are mentally excited about the project but still find yourself doing nothing I would say your best bet is to break the project into chunks and work it that way. The old "what can I do within the next 15 minutes that will move my project forward?". Only give yourself 15 minutes to complete a small task and then break for something fun like a game or a movie. (LOL, I just saw that GBGames beat me to this)

Eventually you should get to a point where you actually want to spend more time working on your project.

[gosub]

The two best suggestions (IMHO) I've heard are this:

1) Keep a "to do" list with every task that needs to be completed before the game can be released. Update the list regularly (add bugs, break tasks in to smaller tasks, cross off completed tasks, etc.)

2) Force yourself to work on the project for a minimum of 10 minutes per day. Sometimes it will give you inspiration to work for longer, and sometimes it won't.

-Jeremy

[Teq]

I'm always motivated, unfortunately distractions have the same effect!

[mahlzeit]

Originally Posted by Leper

Does anybody get this? It's like.. you're working ona project, and all the suddon it just seems like there's a wall of somesort that is blocking you from finishing it?

Duh. That's a natural occurrance in any project. At some point you'll have solved all the interesting problems and all that remains is drudgery. So what do you do? You stick it out. That's the difference between quitters and winners. It actually gets better again at some point.

Taking some time off to recharge isn't so bad, but don't fall into the trap of never going back to the project. It seems oh so tempting to start something new instead, but that project will have its own roadblock. (Then again, some projects *do* need to be terminated prematurely, and your current block may be an indication that this is one of those projects. Some stuff just isn't meant to see the light of day.)

[Tom Gilleland]

The hard part is getting started on your task list. Do some easy tasks to get going and then jump right into one of those ones you're been avoiding.

Tom

[bignobody]

I can relate, having just completed my first project. Most of the suggestions I would have given have already been said. There were plenty of times when I couldn't even bring myself to look at it. But in the end, the creative urge was strong enough to help me work passed the tedious bits.

Good luck!

[Escapee]

I find that after taking at least 45 min jog/walk/light exercise , i'm more pumped up to work on my stuffs. before that it was like " okay i will do it at 6:30Pm ,7:30pm and finally never do it"

[Sean Doherty]

Matt,

I feel like you a lot of the time. What helps me get through those times is releasing iterations. When I started, I was planning to release an iteration every week or two. That said, a few iterations have been as long as 6 weeks. However, I find that any feedback at all can help carry me to the next iteration.

Also, it feels like I'm starting the project from a fresh perspective with each new iteration. Lastly, when I started, I time boxed the number of iterations at 30; this gave me something to focus on.

Keep in mind that getting feedback can be tough; and hard to pull out of people.

Thanks

[lennard]

At a certain point in a project - when that mythical 10% of polishing is left and you know everything that needs to be done... I roll out the head banging stuff from high school, junk food and just hunker down. Sometimes remind myself of some crap job or another that I did back in high school or college and that I get to make games for a living. Fear of failure is another good one.

These combined usually get the job done - best not to start crunching until you are really near the end though.

Good luck!

[scotths]

I'm kinda with GBGames on this in terms of what works for me. I had a long history of stalled projects in the past, but once I started to make working on art a habit, I have made great progress. For me, I always work on the train, which means there are no distractions like kids, a dirty house or posting to forums and I am just plain stuck there with no possible escape route. I almost always get a guaranteed 40 minutes a day and I usually end up feeling like I want to get back to work as soon as possible.

Of course there is always dark chocolate. That helps late at night.

Scott

[electronicStar]

Originally Posted by Leper

Hey Guys,

I'm working on my latest project, DarkRA and I have been lacking motivation lately. All I have to do is make the circular movements, and spline paths, then bullet patterns. Then I can start on level creation.

I would break up the task in smaller and smaller tasks. The smaller the tasks the easier it is to undertake them. If you just write on your todo list something like "implement enemy AI" then it's normal that you are stalling. Start conceptualizing (on paper) the bigger tasks; that will help you break them up in smaller task and streamline them.
For example make small todo entries for ech bullet pattern you'll need (and also for the sprites required for them, etc)

Originally Posted by Leper

I can say that I do divert my attention to my website, and I really like working on it. BUT, I want to work on my game, but its like there is some sort of "wall" blocking me from continuing forward.

Does anybody get this? It's like.. you're working ona project, and all the suddon it just seems like there's a wall of somesort that is blocking you from finishing it?

I was just wondering, what keeps you motivated?

Once you break a wall you'll feel a greater motivation to continue, a temporary boost that you can take advantage of. Of course you'll encounter more walls later on.

The key is that you don't have to wait to have a "motivation" to continue working. Just start working. It's a job, you don't need a motivation to wake up to go to your dayjob do you?

[GBGames]

Originally Posted by electronicStar

It's a job, you don't need a motivation to wake up to go to your dayjob do you?

Sometimes. B-\

[impossible]

Originally Posted by lennard

Fear of failure is another good one.

Eh, fear of failure (well more like a history of failure) has made me completely unmotivated. At this point I tend to think "why work on anything when it will come out sucking?" Anyone have a cure for that ?

[LilGames]

Leper: Are you working alone? Having team-mates or at least one other person to communicate with is great motivation. Say you're a coder, and you work with a great artist, you can feed off each other's progress to stay motivated.

Of course this scenario breaks down as soon as one of the two starts slacking.

[GBGames]

Originally Posted by impossible

Eh, fear of failure (well more like a history of failure) has made me completely unmotivated. At this point I tend to think "why work on anything when it will come out sucking?" Anyone have a cure for that ?

Quotes like: "If you're afraid to take some action, begin to focus on the possibility of the price you'll pay if you don't take action."

[Sysiphus]

hey...wont that be 'cause I haven't made yet the different bullets for it?

Don't worry, I'll do them for sure..

All other art is done(you told me u liked it man) and is gonna be a great game, you shouldn't let you self down..

[Sysiphus]

Say you're a coder, and you work with a great artist

Yes, he works with me in DarkRa, and I am a great artist, last time I checked. Totally crazy, but you know, nobody is perfect...

[Leper]

Thanks alot everyone! After reading your posts I got motivated and finished up the circular movement patterns.

I guess its not much that I dont know HOW to do the things, its just that I have little experience, so I have to sorta figure them out.

Like with the circular movements, it took me about 30 minutes to impliment, and most of it was changing variables, re-arranging statements, trying different statements etc.

If I knew exactly how to do it I coulda put the code in just a few minutes, but because I had to do some tweaking it took 30 minutes.

I guess that was one of my blocks.. Knowing that I have to sorta figure the thing out, and I guess sometimes its hard to get into it knowing that I'll have to play with it for a bit.

I have designed my game in such a way that it is easy to test things, as I can skip different sections like the title and the splash if I just flip switches.. That has made it easier to test out movement algorhythms.

But during the coding, I got a rush of ideas!! But then again that always overwhelms me when I get a ton of ideas and so little time. So I decided to KISS (keep it simple stupid) and put the ideas off for another time.

I now have to implement spline paths.. Since I've done spline paths before this shouldnt be hard, its just a matter of figuring out exactly how its going to be implimented in this game (that's the block right there, hey atleast I'm identifying them now) and then I'll work on the level design, which will be tick based.. then firing off different creation functions during what "tick" but I wish I could design an easy script like "at tick 100, create this" that I could parse through. Perhaps I'll do that at a later time!!

Ugh and bullet patterns, those are going to be new to me. I think I'll have the bullet fire depend on what enemy image is being used. Each of the 20 different enemies will shoot differently, that is going to take the longest I'm afraid.

So I guess I should probably get the splines in, then formations like in galaga (this I've done in Codename Interceptor) and then I have to do the bullet patterns.

I'm going to stray from complex movement algos (circle, then do a half circle left, then do spline G, then mvoe into formation etc) because those are way over my head for the moment.

I'd like to create a system where I can type in a string like "move left, shoot, circle right, shoot, splineG, stop" and then it would parse the string and fire off complex functions off of each thing read between the commas. That Idea sounds awesome to me, but I dont think I'll use that for this game... See? My ideas sometimes get the best of me, because I can really put the cart-before the horse per se.

Sorry for the long rant.. thanks alot everyone!

-Matt

[impossible]

Originally Posted by GBGames

Quotes like: "If you're afraid to take some action, begin to focus on the possibility of the price you'll pay if you don't take action."

Thinking like that just adds to the problem. Generally speaking I won't pay a price if I don't work on anything, its maintaining status quo. I do pay a price if a make something through negative feedback or people ignoring it. Sure there are potential rewards that I'm missing out on, but its hard to stay motivated on that alone...

[electronicStar]

Originally Posted by Leper

I'd like to create a system where I can type in a string like "move left, shoot, circle right, shoot, splineG, stop" and then it would parse the string and fire off complex functions off of each thing read between the commas. That Idea sounds awesome to me, but I dont think I'll use that for this game
-Matt

When you have a high-level concept like that you should not hesitate to try and implement it. You could be surprised how fast it can be coded in if you have a clear and concise idea of what you want. Every time I had such an idea, I managed to put it in the game fast and efficiently and it saved me probably weeks of tweaks and hacks and it opens new horizons for the quality of things you can do in your game. If after one week of work on it you still haven't good results, it's probably not worth pursuing.

Of course, in this case you should more probably use an array of integer pairs instead of a string. And you should add conditionnal branching in this "language" to give the enemies some kind of autonomy. That's probably something I'd do if I was to design a Shmup.

For example in my game engine I took the time to implement a timer object similar to the one I knew from the Unreal engine, it took me 2 or 3 days, and now I uses that for all level based events and honestly I can't imagine the problems and the messy code that I'd have to ressort to without that system.

[GBGames]

Originally Posted by impossible

Thinking like that just adds to the problem. Generally speaking I won't pay a price if I don't work on anything, its maintaining status quo. I do pay a price if a make something through negative feedback or people ignoring it. Sure there are potential rewards that I'm missing out on, but its hard to stay motivated on that alone...

Bah! Fie! And other exclamations as well!

You're just not imagining big enough potential rewards!

[Christian]

You have to work on something that you absolotelly love to see finished, thats how i keep motivated... otherwise you wont get motivated on something you really dont care for, or dont feel exited with what you are working on.
You first have to work hard on deciding what to do... design your game first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (dont clone a design! a kitty dies whe you clone a design)

[Chris Evans]

For me, the first month or so of developing a game is the exploratory phase (Basically prototyping). During this time I usually have the biggest motivation for the project and it's very easy to spend 8-12 hours a day working on it. Even though I'm really excited about it, I don't formally commit until about a month later. At that point, I sitdown with myself and give the project an honest evaluation. By then usually the honeymoon phase has subsided some and it's easier to be realistic with my goals and expectations.

If after this point, I'm still really confident about the game from a gameplay and marketing standpoint, then I officially commit to making the game to its completion. I take on the attitude of the game needs to be made and must be made. Motivation-wise, there's also outside pressures of having to pay bills and such but the primary fact that I believe in my game through multiple aspects keeps my motivation up throughout the entire project.

Now I may have a problem with productivity on a daily basis, but I never lose total motivation for the actual project. I usually never go more than a day or two without working on my game. Though like I said, I have had productivity problems. For instance on bad days, I may spend 5-6 hours surfing the net and only 1 hour or less working on my game.

It's not always a case of motivation, but discipline. For instance, this summer my baby daughter was just born, there was the NBA Finals, there was the World Cup, and beautiful summer days. Distractions abound. With all those things I couldn't afford to keep surfing the net for a couple of hours a day like I normally do. So just last week I used my Firewall to sever my Internet connection for 4 hours a time. This helped me stay focused on my game without checking Indiegamer or News sites every ten minutes. My productivity has shot up through the roof.

You have to understand, your motivation will never be as high as it was when you first started the project. It's natural for it to drop down to lower levels once you get into the doldrums of development. It takes self-discipline and determination to get through these periods. Not everyone is capable of doing this. As someone else pointed out rather bluntly, this is what separates the winners from the losers. To put it less bluntly, this is what separates the over-achievers from everyone else. If you've played any physical sport, you know you have to push yourself through exhaustion and have mental toughness if you want to be competitive or be the best. When you get the urge to quit, that's just when you're getting started. The people who can't do this are all those in the crowd sitting in bleachers cheering you on (or booing) from the sideline.

But still, make sure there is an underline motivation for your project. If you're getting apprehensive or avoiding your game for weeks at a time, then it means you may not be confident with the final outcome even if you do finish your game. I'm relatively a newbie programmer (I've only been coding games for the past 4 years), so every game I do I often run into things I've never done before. I just try to break it down to its simplest components and go step by step. The game will never get close to being made if I avoid doing the things I've never coded before. So avoiding the problem isn't an option. I just keep trying to find ways to achieve my goal for a particular feature or function.

[Talisman]

I haven't released a game yet, but I will once I find a good solution to this problem. I used to use To-Do lists. They helped me speed through the easy bits, but they didn't stop me taking months off before the hard bits.

I'm going to try the next-action list approach from Getting Things Done. The general idea is to break your to-do list down into simple actions that you can do without any special preparation. It's meant to cut out the time you spend staring at your To-Do list wondering how you'll start the next task listed.

For example,

make the circular movements, and spline paths, then bullet patterns. Then I can start on level creation.

Is a kind of list that you can spend a long time staring at without doing anything.

I know several of the established developers here have read GTD, maybe they could elaborate on this more authoratively.

[MrPhil]

You maybe procrastinating because you are trying to make yourself work too hard. I think you'll find it helps to have a set time to work. For example, my schedule is Monday through Thursday I work my day job and then come home and relax. Friday is chore day. Saturday is play day. And it is only on Sundays that I “make” myself work.

Don’t require yourself to spend every moment of free time working on your project(s). You need time to relax and have fun too. The other helpful thing about a work schedule is if you are blocked still “work” by calmly sitting there in the moment and wait for you subconscious to work out your block.

Sometimes procrastination comes from worrying about too many things. In moments of anxiety or confusion I’ll go sit in a comfortable chair for 30 minutes and write down everything that comes to my mind. I end up with a sort of inventory of what my mind is worried about or working on, a one or two pages list of ideas and things to do. This is usually enough to clear my head and see what the next thing I need to do is.

[MacMan45]

I'm usually pretty bad at this, so many half finished games....

But for my latest project, my lecturer suggested i use a ticket & milestone system. So, alongside the svn server, i installed trac: http://trac.edgewall.org/

I made some self dictated tasks & milestones.
It has been pushing me through, i see a milestone aproaching & i force myself to at least pick up a small task & get it done.
Ticking tasks of as done is a great feeling, you see the milestone progress & you feel like getting it completed so it can be ticked of as well.

If you don't want to install that, i'm sure you could have a simple todo list & put them down in groups & then put dates on those milestones. Its great for focus.

Oh & as i need to keep up a certain number of hours a week for my course, i also have to keep a log book of hours i have worked on the project.
Be honest with it, match it up with svn commits / local backups & it helps focus a bit more i think. (i get guilty if i don't make my hours quota for the week :P )

[princec]

I have totally lost all motivation.

Cas