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[Loren Schmidt]

One thing I've noticed is that working with another person can be a great motivator. If I'm working on a solo project, I tend to spend more time than I like in unproductive perfectionism. I love doing solo work, and I plan to continue to do it, but I've noticed having someone else there who's invested in the project and cares about what you make can really help with focus. I find myself more naturally working with a healthy schedule and a good set of short term goals when I'm working with someone else.

As a caveat, an unhealthy group project could be a big downer...

[AaronAardvark]

ChevyRay and David Pittman hit the nail on the head. When I said I write it down, I neglected to mention that I do it away from my work area.  My work area is where I implement ideas, not where I come up with them.

Sparky's got a good point too.  I've hit a few walls that magically disappeared after casually mentioning the gist of a problem with a coworker.  These haven't been times where I've really been thinking about the issue and asked a coworker what they thought - it's been far more casual and natural; usually just normal conversation where I happen to mention what I did the day before.

[bateleur]

When I got into game development as a profession, I was shocked that my solutions to problems were not only valid but sometimes even the accepted "correct" ways of doing things.

Also, computing changes over time. Sometimes the received wisdom concerning how to do something is actually bad because things have changed since Donald Knuth wrote the algorithm in the 70s (or whatever).

[Cymon]

I saw about the procrastination killer timer on lifehacker this week, tried it out and was pretty impressed. Of course I need more like 5 minutes break between, but it's fully adjustable and it does keep you on track.

[elierodrigue]

I saw about the procrastination killer timer on lifehacker this week, tried it out and was pretty impressed. Of course I need more like 5 minutes break between, but it's fully adjustable and it does keep you on track.

There's also the iPhone / iPod touch version of this app that is quite usefull http://procrastinationkiller.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/procrastination-killer-for-iphone-and-ipod-touch-v10/ it does saves you a lot of screen real estate!

[hatu]

I saw about the procrastination killer timer on lifehacker this week, tried it out and was pretty impressed. Of course I need more like 5 minutes break between, but it's fully adjustable and it does keep you on track.

This seems like a really interesting experiment. Are you supposed to map out what you're supposed to accomplish before starting or just go with whatever comes to mind?

[Pietepiet]

I saw about the procrastination killer timer on lifehacker this week, tried it out and was pretty impressed. Of course I need more like 5 minutes break between, but it's fully adjustable and it does keep you on track.

Gonna try this out after the weekend. Thanks!

[Cthulhu32]

One thing that makes me lose focus terribly is leaving my chat programs on. Because the ONLY time people like really want to chat with me and have me review something of theirs is when I'm totally in the zone, trying to finish up a project. I make the mistake of leaving the AIM & MSN portions of Pidgin up (cause I idle on #tigirc when pidgin's on) and that distracts the living hell out of me.

Also it really helps me to have Winamp or whatever queued up to at least 3 hours of solid tracks. One of my favorite coding sound tracks is the Minna Daisuki Katamari soundtrack. "Naaaah nah nah nah nah nuh nuuuh nah"

Something that helps me keep focus which I know does not apply to a lot of people is when my cat plops down on my lap for some pets. They've done studies to show that petting a cat/dog relaxes you, and when I pet the cat it totally chills me out and gets me in the zone. This is also subjective to whether your cat is calm enough to chill on your lap, and whether you like cats or not.

[Chris Z]

By holding MP+MK.

[J.W. Hendricks]

I hit my head against the wall. It seems to help.

[TeeGee]

I don't.

[valkrin]

My steps to getting things done. Purely from a software developers perspective.

1. Firefox OFF
2. IM OFF
3. Tv OFF
4. Headphones and music ON (Works best when you have big isolating and comfy cans)
5. Tea/Coffee made and on desk
6. Granola bars/Health snacks on desk just in case I get hungry
7. Start Coding:

A. Fire up emacs

B. Build code

C. Open Todo list in buffer and find the EASIEST thing to do. Starting easy code tasks has a low barrier to entry and helps me get into the zone, allowing me to tackle more difficult tasks.

D. Maintain a Game.Design file, documenting game ideas as they occur during coding.

E. Avoid chasing cool tech ideas/tricks. If I find myself thinking, "I bet that would be a pretty cool thing to add to my game..." purely on technically merits, I stop myself and get back to work.

F. DO NOT OPEN UP GIMP OR ANY OTHER ART PROGRAM. Its easy to get tempted into creating a sprite or background tile, but I'm a programmer, I suck at those things and nothing short of divine intervention will change that. Its a waste of time to try making shitty art that can be done better and faster by an artist.

G. Do not let the mind wander, if I find myself thinking: "Oh, I could use what I just coded up in this other game that I really want to make, which is so much cooler than the one I'm working on...." I force myself to just stop it. Don't think of any other game ideas, now is not the time.

H. Check code in as soon as it works.

I. Maintain a todo list of easy features/code polishing/refactorings that should be done. So the next time I sit down to code, I've got some entry points.

J. FAIL FAST AND OFTEN. Whenever I get an idea for something I code it up as fast as I can with total disregard for code quality/speed/design. I can do this because I have the security of knowing that if I screw things up I can do an update from the repository. Also this is the fastest way to find out if the idea is easy to implement or impossible. Writing a new feature is the best way to discover requirements for the feature. Lets me test if the feature is fun or not FAST. If it is fun and I deem it worthwhile then I can go back and clean the code up. If its too hard to complete, I bail and do an update, blowing away my code changes.

[Viper]

take a shower ( i get my best ideas in the shower), from there i stay focused for the whole day.