next »

[JulianGindi]

Hey there,

I'm currently working on my first game and am having a difficult time keeping my inspiration high, and grinding through the more difficult and less-sexy aspects of making the game. I usually work on it when I get home from work, but sometimes I just don't have the motivation. Any tips on how to keep chugging through?

[Fenrir]

Well my best advice would be to do some breaks, first of all don't spend all your weekends on it, and sometime just do something else for a week or two before coming back with fresh ideas and new motivation.

Apart from that, use an iterative process in your development with playable prototypes! Each time you'll have a new prototype with new features you'll really enjoy it and it will boost your motivation to reach the next prototype.

[nox]

Flow is the key; attaining it is another matter. Personally, doing lots of drugs and listening to my favorite music always gets me in the zone.

Otherwise, I've found that having someone to work with and bounce ideas off of is a good motivator. As a programmer, I get motivated to work when an artist sends me something cool that they've done for our game, and they get motivated when I show them their art in place in the game, or maybe a cool new feature that I'll soon need graphics for.

[Jason Rohrer]

Sometimes, the hardest part is getting started back to working on something after being away from it for a while.  I find that after I jump in and just start working on something, I gain some momentum and then don't want to stop working on it.

I also find that it's important to capture the "new project" momentum while you can.  Right after you come up with an idea is the time when you're most excited about it, so you've got to jump in and start working on it right away.  Don't back-burner ideas, because the excitement will be gone by the time you get around to working on them.

This doesn't help for current projects where you feel stuck at Wednesday, but it's a good idea to push other, more exciting ideas away and not even think about them until you're done with this one.

Another trick is to go somewhere that doesn't have internet and work there...

[oodavid]

I'm in the same situation (grinding after the day job) and find that my War Board is indispensable - essentially it's a stripped back Agile framework for one - in practice it means:

You can always find low-hanging fruit when you're pushed for time
You can mix in your usual life chores too, if you have a wife/husband, that's quite useful
You get visual rewards for doing work

[JulianGindi]

Thanks for all the awesome responses. I think I'm gonna give WarBoard a try...I use agile at work and I think it could work for me too.

[Jason Rohrer]

Yeah, War Board looks like a really awesome idea.

I currently keep my todo lists for my game on sheets of 8.5x11 in a folder on my desk (and checks stuff off).  But since the lists span multiple pages and the pages were created at different times (the old list that still has one item on left it, the newer list full of to-do items), I find myself flipping back and forth a lot, scanning for items that I missed.

[JulianGindi]

I have been trying something a bit different these past few days, and it seems to be working. I created a detailed list of all the game's remaining tasks, and moving a few items to a "today" column each day. Once a todo is in the "today" column, it becomes a contract and has to be completed. I have found that some days, I only put one task there, but the "high" from completing a task usually brings me to complete another (or a few more). I might try this system in conjunction with war board moving forwards.

[nox]

I actually do a similar thing. I have a daily list, sometimes pulled from a master list, but usually from working memory in the morning before getting started, and then I contractually obligate myself to do something by crossing it out before I've actually done it.

[oodavid]

...I contractually obligate myself to do something by crossing it out before I've actually done it.

Ooh, that's a subtle but useful concept! Me likey

[JulianGindi]

...I contractually obligate myself to do something by crossing it out before I've actually done it.

Ooh, that's a subtle but useful concept! Me likey

What's funny is that I actually realized that I do the same thing. It's crazy how effective it really is.

[Jason Rohrer]

Cross it out before I start working on it....

I have to finish it today or else I'll forget to do it, now that it's crossed off!