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[Brother Android]

For me, I have trouble coming up with ideas that are both innovative enough to interest me and simple enough for my non-coding brain to work with.

When this is not the problem, it tends to be that I just don't plan things very well and so I lose motivation. Or else (with large projects) simply the prospect of *doing* the planning kills me. I just need to not think of how much work there is to do and I can do it, usually.

[Impossible]

Too many ideas.

Hmmmm... This by itself probably isn't a problem.  It sounds like you have focus problems? I would say pick the best idea and do a quick prototype of it as fast as possible. If it works out, keep working on it, otherwise move to the second best idea, or your new favorite, if you have too many ideas you probably have 100 more by the time you're actually done with the prototype :-p.

Trying to give you some advice because I have the same problem. Usually it turns out that yes, I have a lot of ideas, and yes, most of them sound good in my head, but very few of them are actually good workable concepts.  If you have a few that you know will work for sure (good prototypes) pick the one you know you can get done and that you're most excited about.

[Eric McQuiggan]

I can program well, but it weighs heavy on my mind when I do it.
When ever I'm not programming, I have more fun, but I'm sad because I feel like I should be programming.

I would rather be designing.

Also, I don't have basic drawing skills, but I have some knowledge of color theory. I like animating 3d, but I have a rough go doing 2d animation.

SOOOooo. I lack confidence and convince myself I don't have the time.

[Molten_]

motivation is always my issue. I start out with high hopes that my game will be awesome, but then I get another idea in my head and the game I'm working on suddenly feels boring and tedious compared to my new fresh idea. it's really rather annoying.

[Montoli]

Too many ideas.

Suggestion:  Keep a notebook.  Keep it with you EVERYWHERE.  Every time EVERY time you come up with a new idea, just write it down in your notebook.  Spend as much time as you need to write out all the ways you think it will be awesome.  Get it out of your system, and try to capture as much of that enthusiasm  in the notebook.

Then continue with what you were doing.  When you finish, you can look through your notebook and take your pick of all the great stuff you came up with, when you decide on your next project.

[aeiowu]

Suggestion:  Keep a notebook.  Keep it with you EVERYWHERE.  Every time EVERY time you come up with a new idea, just write it down in your notebook.  Spend as much time as you need to write out all the ways you think it will be awesome.  Get it out of your system, and try to capture as much of that enthusiasm  in the notebook.

this.

i have a horde of old notebooks from the past 7 years, full of my idea-scribbles. though, i find that simply the act of writing it down usually solidifies it in my head enough that i don't physically have to return to it to remember it. It's still huge though, since the act itself gets you to realize (at least in some scrawled form) your ideas and builds confidence in your own ability to come up with awesome shit.

[Aquin]

Yeah, I have a gigantic folder for my "Commonplace".  It has quite literally hundreds of pages of text.  I haven't deleted a damn thing since I was a little kid.  As you can imagine, a lot of these ideas are utter crud.

When I'm away from my compy, I carry around a tape recorder.  You never know when a good idea will punch you in the face.

[Molten_]

I need to go out and buy a notebook or something. a simple task, but for some reason I keep forgetting. it feels incredibly tedious to write down all my ideas in a txt files, printer paper, tissues, and so on. a notebook will always be there right next to me; I can't count the amount of times I have had an awesome idea but nowhere to write it down.

[travisdunn]

Dead tree project management++

I've always used simple hardback notebooks as my design doc, journal, sketchbook, spreadsheet, and technical spec. One notebook per game, although I treat my notebooks like a wiki (revisions are tracked by sophisticated tricks like using ink to redact the text!!!), and so they eventually contain redundant information. At the end of a project they'll be a mess, so they're definitely a living document and tool more than anything else, but that's the point.

[Alehandro]

Finding someone to code it

[Alec]

I find google docs can work pretty well. Its always around, you can view it anywhere and you can collaborate on it with anyone.

[nihilocrat]

Finding someone to code it

There's an easy way to solve this; code it yourself.

I begrudgingly do my own art, and sometimes I'm amazed how I can draw stuff that's actually passable.

[Alehandro]

Finding someone to code it

There's an easy way to solve this; code it yourself.

I begrudgingly do my own art, and sometimes I'm amazed how I can draw stuff that's actually passable.

Coding is way harder than art. You can draw anything and it will look like something, but if you don't have a handle on coding you can't, and I just don't have the mind for coding.

[rogerlevy]

Languages.  Hate them all, except Forth, but Forth has no reasonable game-programming library, so I've been slowly making one myself.

[Mr. Yes]

Wait.

I haven't posted in this thread?

• Ideas. They're usually far too complicated or ambitious, and when they're simple, they aren't very interesting.
• Graphics. I'm okay with pixel art, but I can't animate. I hate practicing sprite animation; not only is the finished product always garbage, but the process is miserable as well.
• Coding. I'm at the point where I can definitely do it, but I'm not very good at it. Very simple features take me hours to implement, and sometimes I simply give up in frustration.
• Motivation. I procrastinate. Usually I'm avoiding some tedious or challenging task.