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[SeiferTim]

I've stopped even trying to keep track of the number of projects I've started and then abandoned for one reason or another.

I think a couple of them are buried in the Feedback section of this site...

I desperately want to obtain a foothold in game making, and I can't stop myself from thinking of innumerable concepts and ideas which rapidly evolve into a 20 page document, excitement, and then a mass of deflated hopes and shattered dreams laced with depression and despair.

So, how do I take this unending, unrelenting, and unforgiving bombardment of ideas burrowing into my head and actually produce something worthwhile?

I'm very good at getting the ideas, and putting them down in words... I have 2 or 3 documents that I've recently typed up... I guess they would be like Design Documents, but not quite as complete or as polished - but still very readable, concise, and useful.  I have skill - I'm a fairly good programmer (that's what I do for a living), which a wide range of languages that I know, plus, I'm very quick at picking up new languages.  I'm not that good of an artist... I can do some stuff that looks okay, but nothing of the quality that I would want to see in a game...

Do I just need to take a concept, break it down, and start coding - and not stop until it's 'done'?  Whenever I try this, I usually hit a series of hurdles about halfway through, and then falter, before giving up when no one seems to care about what I'm working on at all...

Do I need to find/create a Team?  I've tried this before, and it always seems to result in me sending tons of messages to other people, never getting a response, and the only things that get done are those that I work on myself, and then everything collapses under the strain from trying to hold it up by myself...

Meh, I'm not sure if I'm truly looking for, or expecting answers, or if I'm just venting/ranting... maybe I'm just having 'one of those days' today. 

[laserghost]

Maybe try something with a really, really small scope. A lot of times the most simple idea can be the most fun and rewarding to work on, plus you get it done faster.

[skaldicpoet9]

I have the same problem. I usually sit down and come up with a plethora of ideas but never get around to actually working on them. The best way I have found to remedy this is to completely focus your attention on one point. If you come up with a single idea obsess about that idea until you have something tangible at the very least. Lately, I have been reading up on C, I am really focusing my attention on this one point and trying not to get too distracted (it happens as my attention span is usually very short). I just force myself to sit down and complete at least one chapter and all of the exercises. I think the best thing for you to do is to just sit down with one of your ideas and really get into it, use your susceptibility to come up with more ideas to fuel the project even more.

[dither]

When you say you have lots of ideas, do you mean broad and vague ideas, or have you actually worked out the specifics regarding how your ideas will be implemented in terms of gameplay mechanics? Because it's very easy to come up with an idea that sounds great, but much harder to work out the nitty gritty details of the input/output structure, rules, and balance, etc. I think this latter problem is what causes most people to give up — they start before they have things figured out, and then, after they've invested lots of time, the whole thing falls apart for lack of any clear direction.

EDIT: So, I guess what I'm saying is that it's really hard to come up with an idea that is fully-formed, and interesting enough to make it worth your while to put in all the hours of work (which are many). If you have that, the work itself gets done. It just takes time.

[dmoonfire]

Lately, I've been having the same problem. I do get rather precise set of ideas, mechanics, plots, sketches, but when it comes down to actually programming the damn thing... nothing. Of course, much of this is because of the chaos going on in my life right now (starting with Iowa flooding and going right into this weekend), but there is still some blockage that simply is preventing me from finishing relatively simple projects (Baby Squid God, for example).

I do much better if I take one little thing and focus on it. Just write it enough to get the unit test through, then work on the next. Breaking things down into their smallest component (such as calculating damage from a hit) and working on it sometimes helps with moving forward. The same thing for writing, I noticed. When I find myself not writing, I just write a  scene, then another. Instead of focusing on an entire chapter.

[SeiferTim]

Thanks for the replies.

@skaldicpoet9:
I have tried that before, but not recently.  I may try it again.

@dither:
Since I have the gift/curse of a highly analytical mind, typically I end up spending hours typing up all the nitty-gritty details for a game, until I hit a point where I realize how futile it is, and then stop.
For instance, I was recently inspired to come up with an idea for a multiplayer, online card/board game, and I even made about a dozen sample cards in photoshop. I wrote out all of the rules and game mechanics, and a whole bunch of examples and sample cards.

[dither]

@dither:
Since I have the gift/curse of a highly analytical mind, typically I end up spending hours typing up all the nitty-gritty details for a game, until I hit a point where I realize how futile it is, and then stop.
For instance, I was recently inspired to come up with an idea for a multiplayer, online card/board game, and I even made about a dozen sample cards in photoshop. I wrote out all of the rules and game mechanics, and a whole bunch of examples and sample cards.

Why is it futile? Why did you give up? Did you decide the idea wasn't really interesting? Was it due to problems programming it?

[Inane]

I used to have the same problem as you.
I stopped trying to write stuff down and only think about a game in the shour or while working on it. It helps to have something in real life to obsess over, to occupy most of your brain with

[SeiferTim]

@dither:
Since I have the gift/curse of a highly analytical mind, typically I end up spending hours typing up all the nitty-gritty details for a game, until I hit a point where I realize how futile it is, and then stop.
For instance, I was recently inspired to come up with an idea for a multiplayer, online card/board game, and I even made about a dozen sample cards in photoshop. I wrote out all of the rules and game mechanics, and a whole bunch of examples and sample cards.

Why is it futile? Why did you give up? Did you decide the idea wasn't really interesting? Was it due to problems programming it?

Mostly because I knew that it would end in the same way as my other ideas...
I started getting to the point where I wanted to start putting together some conceptual code to see how it would work, and I just felt too overwhelmed to get it started.

[curby]

From my modest experience, my advice would be:

To have a massive brainstorm of current ideas and get them out on paper.  Compile them with all your other game ideas, so you have a massive list of possible games you could persue.  Then pick the ones you feel most passionate about and you would love to play.  The ones you will be interested in persuing and can carry on with even when it gets tough.  Then assess those game ideas and see which ones pose the greatest technical threats (those hurdles you will need to get over).  I then normally from that list try and pick a game with atleast some area that I'm unfamiliar with, so that I've got a new topic to look into and harness.  This not only keeps me interested, but also motivated as I'm learning new skills.  I then normally try and tackle the primary mechanic head on to see whether it's working. 

As for the lack of peer recognition, I wouldn't take it to heart.  It's ingrained in society to seek acceptance from our peers and it definitely can be a nice boost. But it really shouldn't be the start and end of your aspirations.  If you picked a project you are passionate about and you think has got legs, then keep going because that will truly make it yours and something you can be proud of.  If other people dig it along the way, then that's a nice bit on the side, but shouldn't IMO be your sole motivation.

Oh and teams are a whole other kettle of fish that I still haven't quite figured out!

Obviously everyone's methods of working and what they want from making games is different, and I admittedly have a rather idealistic view, so please take what you will from what I've written.  

HTH
 

[dither]

Again, I think the trick is finding the idea you really believe in, the game you want to play and want to make. When you get down to actually working on it, you just have to do it. The more you work on it, the more motivated you will feel. Until you do something, it is overwhelming because you have a big unknown in front of you. But if you start working on it, you will get something done each time (even if it's just a little bit) and the task in front of you becomes tangible, and achievable. Work generates the motivation to continue working.

But this only matters if you really believe in your idea. Because making a game is a lot of work, you won't be able to see it through if you're iffy about the idea. Then it just becomes a job with no pay.

EDIT: I should also have added, "In my modest experience..." I'm certainly no expert.

[brog]

Start by making something easy.  Something small in scope, that you will be able to finish and polish and release, and that will give you the confidence that you can actually complete a project and then you'll be able to take on larger ones.

I spent years starting enormously ambitious games and never getting anywhere on them.  Real time strategy games, roguelikes, RPGs.. and then one day I made a little shoot-em-up prototype and it was fun to play around with.  I added a few levels, different kinds of enemy, and finished it.  And now I know how to finish things, when I start something I can get a clear idea of how much work it'll take and decide whether I'm going to stick with it or not.

So yeah, start with something small, that doesn't need much content to be finished.  Shmups work for me, but you could do some kind of casual/puzzle game too.  Just make sure it's small.  Make it be mostly a clone of existing gameplay, so you have something to follow, but you can put it some new ideas of your own too, just not really ambitious ones.

[Ivan]

I don't think that's the trick actually. In fact I think that's one of the major reasons why people don't accomplish things. Because it changes constantly. Most of the time, by the end of a large project, you'll be so sick of it that it will be the last thing you want to make or play.

[Tobasco Panda]

Prototyping! Iteration!

Don't obsess over the nitty gritty details right away as you won't get to those for a while and you may find out what they should be through iteration.

I suggest taking a smaller part or system of your game and trying to get that up and running first. No need to figure out the shoe-lace-tying mechanic in your game before the player can put shoes on and walk around. You may find that they need to be sandals!

[Melly]

I remember brog himself once saying that the only ambitious ideas you should ever attempt are those that you have been holding with you for a good while. I'd say 2 months at least. If you're still passionate about a specific idea after that much time while having tons of others, it's a good chance you'll be able to get it through the arduous development process.

I also second quick prototyping as a way to measure how good an idea can be. It's better to quickly prototype a new idea with crappy programmer art and stock sound than it is to write 20 page design documents that will almost always be an enourmous waste of time.

[Chris Whitman]

Don't write down anything except for a 'to do' list and maybe extremely brief notes on things you think you might actually forget.

If you're making a game, hopefully you can remember well enough how it is supposed to work to implement it from memory. Any documentation you don't really need may make you feel like you're doing something, but it's just detracting from time that could be spent doing productive work. Design treatments and fully fledged design docs are a necessity if you're a large team, but really unnecessary if you're one person. Basically, if you can't fit something in a list, you don't want to write it down.

The same goes for all process, really. When coding, don't get too caught up in making some kind of all purpose, structurally sound game library just to implement one project. Do the bare minimum amount of structure you need to prevent nightmare headaches (for example, you should still never be copying and pasting chunks of code). Just keep an eye towards efficiency and what you really, actually need to get going. A lot of the more complicated and time-consuming aspects of engineering are geared towards commercial developers managing medium to large teams.

Also, stay focused and be realistic about time. Anything good and reasonably in depth is going to take one person at least a few years to hack out (especially in your spare time), so if you are planning to do an ambitious project, make sure it's something you care enough to devote a fairly large section of your life to. More specifically, try to make sure it's something really, actually good. It's very easy to overestimate the quality of one's ideas. Caring enough about something to go through with the implementation will help with that middle stage where you've put a lot of work in but things still really aren't coming together.

[Matt Thorson]

As far as negative thoughts go: I think they are something all artists have to deal with.

I know I occasionally have thoughts like "this is dumb, why am I doing this?", and more recently "No one is going to actually pay for this," etc.

Pretty much I just think about the game I'm making and how much I love the idea of the finished product in my head.  Then I think of what would happen if I quit making the game - all the wasted time/effort and regrets.

If you're planning on selling a game you're making and have doubt that you can actually make something worth money (something I struggle with a lot), just think about how sweet it would be to make indie games for a living (if you have that dream).  What kind of human being would you be if you didn't try your hardest to chase your dream job/lifestyle?  Even if it never happens for whatever reason, at least you made the games and tried your best (and probably made at least some money in the process - plus the games will look good on a resume when applying for a job in the industry, as a consolation prize if you're interested in that).

[GregWS]

Well, I'm definitely guilty of unfinished projects myself too.  I guess I'd say try making smaller games for awhile?  That's what I'm trying to do now, and yet I'm still having trouble working on just one game to completion; I've currently got numerous small projects on the go (when I've got time to work on them, which isn't often) and I've even got a file on my computer with future ideas...that file is getting a little bigger than I'd like it to be.

Then I think of what would happen if I quit making the game - all the wasted time/effort and regrets.

This is why I'd like to try and salvage some bits and pieces of my old unfinished games.  It would be nice to finish modified versions of some of them.

[Mr. Yes]

First create a game that lasts about ten seconds.
Then create a game that lasts about one minute.
Then create a game that lasts about ten minutes.
Then create a game that lasts about thirty minutes.
Then create a game that lasts about one hour.
Then create a game that lasts about three hours.

[Melly]

Nah. Some games that take a month to make can last a few seconds. Depends on what you want to make.