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[Nuprahtor]

I have released just couple of games, but I also created bunch of prototypes, that helped me to release finished games.
I think prototyping is very good way to stay motivated to finishing games. If you feel that you cannot finish game, release it as prototype and you will get feedback, that will help you to understand good and bad sides of your game.
Dont be afraid of releasing games. Even if you think that game is sucks.
I believe that every new game released is always better than the previous, I noticed this on my experience

[xgalaxy]

There's a couple of things for me, that I find really difficult.

1) Letting go of perfection.
2) Holding on to the feeling of being inspired.
3) Motivation.

They are all inter-connected such that losing control over one domino effects into the others and the result is this downward spiral effect that ends in shelving the project.

I find looking around at other people's work can help somewhat. Seeing the progress of others will guilt trip me into working on something again, but guilt alone isn't good enough to keep a project going, and is a poor substitute for other purer forms of motivation.

[TomHunt]

It took me a long time to figure out how to Finish.

I would get attached to every single idea I got, and invest my time and energy into them, and then only realize maybe six months (or more) later that this was a much bigger project than I was equipped/able to complete. I don't do that so much anymore, because now I find greater enjoyment in not just dreaming up the ideas (which I put on a standardized paper form to go in a three-ring binder with the rest of them for later reference), but also in having a clear plan of execution for the game project. It's easier for me now to realize those things much earlier in the project and just can it if it's going to be more trouble than it's worth and move onto the next one. I've learned that it's way better to learn from a failed-early project, and maybe even reuse some of the resources, than it is to try and slog it out.

I think it's important to start small, with the intention of finishing a complete, fun game. It might seem a bit stupid at first and easy to blow it off: "why spend all that time on a small game?" Simple answer: Don't. That's the idea. There's bound to be far more work involved in your first completed game project than you might realize if you've never shipped a game or even shipped software before.

So, my advice to beginners who would like to finish their first game is to make a tiny, polished pebble of a game. It has the structure of a game such that any reasonable person could pick it up, play around with it, and say that it is, in fact, a game. this will force you to put a firm definition on what a game is exactly and how that is different from, say, a tech demo or a movie or a gameplay prototype. When you do that, and you finish that game, after all that playtesting you did with your friends, and all that feedback you incorporated, and all those refinements you spent countless hours toiling away on, now you've finished something.

Then you can work on making it bigger/faster/better/etc.

My $0.02,
-Tom

[Amanda Williams]

My problem is I feel guilty if I work on personal things rather than using all of my artistic energy for the company. So I procrastinate on my side project because I worry my main work will suffer. I've learned that I have a certain limit to how much art I can make in a week, so I'm trying to accomplish one very small task at a time on the side. I feel like I have the tools I need, and great people (these forums included) to provide feedback and a little guidance, but there's some guilt.

I'm working on that, and making a list is a great suggestion! When I'm to a point where I can share on the forums, I'm sure that will help too.

Thank you for this thread!! I'm sorry for not offering up advice. I'm mostly grumbling at myself, but maybe someone can relate.

[sublinimal]

I'm so much a perfectionist it's counter-productive. I start working on what seems like a good concept, but I refuse to move on until I can execute each step flawlessly. Usually I'm afraid to even start the actual execution process before I've got it all planned out in my head, and in the end I can't really get anything done. I know I should just brainstorm a bunch of different designs and then weed out the worst, but it's rare for me to get into that "flow" mindset.

And I'm not just talking about game design, it's part of my personality and makes creative work in general difficult. For example, I don't think I've ever finished writing a song.

[_Madk]

I'm so much a perfectionist it's counter-productive. I start working on what seems like a good concept, but I refuse to move on until I can execute each step flawlessly. Usually I'm afraid to even start the actual execution process before I've got it all planned out in my head, and in the end I can't really get anything done. I know I should just brainstorm a bunch of different designs and then weed out the worst, but it's rare for me to get into that "flow" mindset.

And I'm not just talking about game design, it's part of my personality and makes creative work in general difficult. For example, I don't think I've ever finished writing a song.

I know how you feel, I really do. I'm exactly the same way. I am such an incredible perfectionist that in many cases I give up before I start. The fun part is when you can give unattainable perfection the finger and go ahead and attain it anyway, which only happens once you've got enough practice at failing.

[bento_smile]

Jumping back a little bit...

I hate releasing games. It's my least favorite part about game development, and I don't really care what people think when it is released and don't want to know and just want to be rid of it. I dunno why. I just like working on them, that's my favorite process.

Haha, I feel the same about releasing games. :D I kinda hate it... and for the most part just shove games on to the internet and then hide from the comments. The only reason I finish games is so I don't have to think about them anymore (as if I don't finish them, they get stuck in my head like some kind of mental post-it)

[antymattar]

How does one get over this? There are a million threads like this, and this may sound selfish, but I want to address the issue for myself and for those in my shoes.

Thanks for reading.

Just release stuff, and learn from your mistakes... from what people complain about. Who cares about what other people think.

This!

[asiekierka]

There is a subculture of game developers on this forum that never finish games, that don't feel comfortable with releasing them, or are just unable to.

There's also a man here who fears making his game's version more than 0.x because he never thinks it's really complete.

[Arbitrax]

This sums up my feelings well enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EsgPB5tFP0&feature=relmfu

[vinheim3]

I've noticed a trend with games I finish and games I don't finish.

I finish a game if:
-I have a good idea of how the game will go and I like the idea.
-There is a little bit of planning to know how the core game mechanics will work.
-I constantly add to a to-do list (on Game Maker, I put all my to-do's and "things to keep in mind" in the game information which you see by pressing F1).

I don't finish a game if:
-I have an idea, but haven't expanded out on it/seen its potential for being fun.
-There is either no planning or TOO much planning. If there is too much, I am unable to get past the planning phase as I look at my plans and see that there is too much I'd have to do.
-I keep everything I need to do in my mind rather than put it in a to-do list. I get frustrated from the loss of ideas/bugs that appear because the fix was in the to-do list.

I'm currently working on another big project (last one was a platformer that took 6 weeks-2 months to do) that may take me even longer, maybe even upwards of 6 months, but I'm confident I'll finish it because I'm following the 3 things that help me finish a game.

[AndrewFM]

For me, it's short-term satisfaction versus long-term rewards. Starting over just feels good somehow, like a dopamine hit. The familiar can be very comforting, and I get a burst of confidence when I go through a part of the process where I've succeeded countless times before.

I just need to remember that it's nothing compared to the reward of a finished project. Nobody cares how well I start, and nobody cares about my goals and ambitions. But people will care about a finished product.

I think this really captures my problem when it comes to finishing games. I've done this so many times, that I've grown an imbalance in the game development process. I have 10 years worth of experience of "getting games off the ground", but only 2 years of experience of "making a prototype into an actual game".

This leads to me never being satisfied with the content I attempt to add to the game. I feel like I'm just piling garbage on top of an expertly crafted foundation.

[godatplay]

I can totally relate to this.

Want to know something simple that helped me? I brought on someone to help out and he sat in the desk directly next to me. It made a huge difference, not only in feeling a level of accountability for getting work done, but also in feeling less of a burden for completing tasks.

[Reives]

On the work ethics side, breaking the tasks down into light day-to-day chunks works wonders.

But I think a major reason is that many people here are creativity-driven, or idea-driven. So once a certain idea is solidified and is ready to be fully expanded on, the happy-juice from that is all sucked out. So it's then tempting to start another idea for some endorphin-snortin'.

Something that might help with it could be to "plan" some constructive voids in the ideas, so that as you work through them, you're essentially still able to come up with significant portions of the project on-the-go to fulfill that need. It's tricky to find a balance between that and a messy free-style project, though.

[PompiPompi]

I think what people already said before. You can decide on scope before you start working on the game. Smaller scope is better if you don't seem to be able to finish game.
Also, in order to define the scope you need a design document of the game.
You need to think up front all the basic gameplay you need to make the game "gameplay complete".
If you start work on a game and you are still not sure how the final game will play, or can't make sense of how the gameplay will work out in the final version(have loose ends), then you probably can't estimate the scope of the game.

You don't need to think of every small detail of the game upfront, but you need to think of the core gameplay and know it's gameplay compelte before you start working on it.

Maybe one of the issue is that you are trying to be very creative and try to create a completely new gameplay, or new mechanics. Instead of looking at older games and doing something similar with your own twist. Which would be easier to figure out than a completely new gameplay.

Bottom line, small scope game + knowing how the game will play and be gameplay complete upfront.

Just my thoughts.