MOTIVATION

What do you when you are trying to find the focus and motivation to finish a really BIG project ?

I am working on my BIG project right now, It was originally going to be my 1st release but I got caught up in making all these fast mini games...

Now that I'm back to work on this massive project that I know I can't just finish in under a month it feels a little overwhelming and that makes me unmotivated... Arggghhh - I mean Ill get it together in the end, but I was wondering what do you do when you get in a rut ?

What do you do too refocus and re-inspire yourself ?

 

Totally understand, as that's the same route I took. There is a lot you can do, but this is what I do.

For the most part I will play my favorite games to remind me why I'm inspired to make it again, or have a 20-30 minute meditation session to clear my mind. Then try again, with a brand new clean slate. Also, if that fails, just do it for a few minutes, see if you can pick up on some momentum. Will help you lesson the big task mentality. If you have no need in your mind of doing a full few hours., it won't seem so demanding.

All else fails, just do something else, forget about it. Couple hours, a day, whatever works.

 

Oh gawsh, that's the hardest part, you have some amazing idea for a game, but don't want to tell anyone with the fear of someone better than you stealing your idea and have actual AWESOME results before you do, so how do you stay motivated until the game is worth showing the world?

That there my friend is the hardest part, you're alone and have nobody to tell until it's beautifully crafted for imaged or videos to be released, you feel like your trapped and it will never get done.

Well, there is really no good way to stay inspired that I've found yet.
it all depends on YOU, do as ThePositiveMoxie said, because truthfully, if you don't take little breaks, you'll get burnt out on this quick if you keep running into problems that just don't make sense at this point in time, take little breaks to clear your head. I've always found when I just plainly can't figure something out after 6 hours of messing with it, I go to sleep, I wake up and the answer is right there LOL.

 

I keep wanting to make more small games or try new things... But I can't do that anymore, or this GAME will never happen!

 

Trust me I know bro!
I went through a phase where I'd start a massive project, then have a new idea and drop it, this happened like 30 times.
But at the same time, I don't regret it, because it taught me a lot with trying new things.

So now I'm on my way to creating something remarkable .

 

There are two strategies that work for me. The first is to take the next major feature that needs to be done in the game and break it down into smaller and smaller steps until I have the will to work on them. If you're struggling to get motivated to do something, at least put in the skeleton. Does it need loops? What references do you need? What temporary variables do you need?

The second solution is to go modular! Is the big project slowing down your testing, maybe boring you and actually being a drain on your diminishing motivation? Take the feature you're trying to implement right now and just get it working in a fun and small project. Once the feature is done, transplant it back into your main project or import it directly if it is successful as a module and can just be added to one of your gameobjects as a component.

I spent all summer making small projects. And what I got out of that was...

-A great menu system
-A great system for a horror ai to react naturally to a world (with zero memory)
-Procedural seizures by using code to animate armatures with variable motion limits
-A simple way to make point & click movement in a large 3D area
-Practice in small things like bit fields and networking with RPCs

I've got everything I need to make a cheap and twitchy horror game.

 

I don't even have to tell anyone my ideas, they get stolen from my head rofl. Started joking around with my girlfriend that we shouldn't even tell each other the ideas or someone will snatch it, and do it first in a couple months. xD

 

Hahahahaha tell me about it!

So far every big idea I've done, I don't ever notice any games like it until i start making one.
Well thankfully this idea I'm working on only one person knows about but it's because of official business between me and said person to get progress on my works.

But sadly it's probably gonna be a little while before I even show a single person a photo of this game.
Which sucks! I wanna show the world now, but nothing valuable to be seen yet LOL. At least nothing that's gonna stand the game out should I say lol.

 

One way to protect your idea is to completely rip off another one

In order to keep the school's hands off of my ideas, I've introduced copyright into all of them! My IT287 project? Super mario sound track. My IT276 project? Super mario sprite sheets AND music. My Asset production class? The game world is filled with posters from 5 nights at freddy's.

You're free to steal this idea, btw

 

Thanx guys lots of great advice. I think FEAR is also a component whenever you work on something that REALLY means something to you, the pressure to succeed and the fear that it might not is also something to overcome...

 

Ya I'd say just relax. Take a step back, and think about what it is you want to work on TODAY. Don't worry about 6 months from now.

Secondly, if you actually find yourself too deep into the project, and things start frustrating you, that's when you need to take a break. This is really hard for me to do personally. But sometimes you need to actually not work on your project, and do something fun in order to regain focus and motivation.

But that being said, getting motivation and staying focused is not always easy to do. Most of the time though, I just need to stop and take a break for awhile, and then get back to it.

 

I know what you mean, except that I'm in the "smaller game" type phase right now. And I just committed to some things and have 3 weeks to complete my first game.

And when you're married and have family members who are looking at you like, "It takes so long, are you ever going to finish?" I kind of need to get this done. In addition to my day job. And just told my wife I'm using my remaining 4 days of paid time off to work on the game.

NO PRESSURE. NOOOO.... NONE AT ALL.....

 

LOL This caused me to get a divorce LOL. She couldn't stand me working on games and not spend time with her LOL.
Well I ain't got time for a woman who doesn't understand that work is important. She would have me call out of work on a day job just to spend time with her, then she'd go to my day job and stand over me the whole time because she didn't trust the females their LOL.

Needless to say, she got booted to the curb LOL.

So trust me, I know there's pressure when the wife wants you to just get it done, not 4 days from now, but now LOL.

 

I hear you. I've had a few friends run into that. Fortunately, my wife isn't that clingy and she's also hoping I can use this to get away from my sometimes-soul-draining-day-job.

 

You got a divorce? Oh noes, loneliness is cheating on me! D:

Does she enjoy play testing your games or watching you program? There's a difference between having a wife and having someone in your house that helps pay the bills.

 

Agreed. The answer is yes and no and yes and no.

She loves World of Goo and games like Apples 2 Apples or Cards Against Humanity. You will never get the Longest Road in Settlers of Cataan if she is playing. If someone has Halo, she will pick up a controller, find the nearest Warthog, and run people over for the entire match.

But otherwise... her parents were meanies that taught her to hate games... and she's slowly coming around.

 

That definitely sounds like progress for one who grew up with the "games are bad" influence, nice

 

Keep making your small games but do it in a smarter way.

EDIT: Sorry I posted this right before sleep. I meant make little games based on elements / sections of your big project. That way you get the satisfaction of completing a short term project that also provides something you need for your big project. Killing two birds with one stone so to speak. Note: no birds were killed by me creating this post. I have nothing against birds.

 

I've always found that taking breaks when you feel burnt out helps a lot. Just taking a couple days off does wonders to refresh your mind and creativity. Also, showing your game to peers and potential players is probably the most important factor in maintaining your motivation. Having an outsider's perspective on your product allows you to see things you normally overlook because you've been working on it for so long. It's important to find the right demographics though as you'll get widely differing opinions based on who you show it to. Try not to take negative feedback to seriously as most players tend to be very impatient and have problems seeing the bigger picture that you'r game is trying to achieve.
It's very difficult to interpret a player's reaction sometimes...

 

My case is that from January till September I was working like a demon (ca. 60-80h per week), extremely effective and I guess I`ve learned more then during last 3 years But after that period I kinda burned out and right now I`m just staring at forums and stupid websites not being able to do anything. I completely lack motivation...
That happened to me the past and I know that this should pass away, but today wasn't that day

As to what helps me, well that kinda helps sometimes:

Like to listen to that speech, there a 40m version of it on yt.

 

Work on it one small piece at a time. As the old saying goes the only way to eat a hippo is one bite at a time.

Take small breaks each time you feel like you are getting "Tired" of your big project. Do not just try and power through it.

That said - A Great way to get motivation is on Twitch.TV's Game dev directory. Hell even streaming your game development process can help allot.

http://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Game Development

Get Psyched about your game that you are making. That is the only way you are going to get through it.

 

I downloaded VS2013 trial almost 90 days ago and it's about to expire (thank god for the community edition!). In that time I've started programming again (after a break of around 5 years), started learning Unity, C#, and game development, none of which I have any experience in. I feel like I've learned a lot in that time even if I haven't produced as much as I would like. I have been working on a vector graphics library and designing an edu game that will use it.

I'm tempted to start a WIP soon; perhaps that will help keep motivation levels high.

What I really need to do is stop wasting so much time browsing the forums!

 

Live Stream your development process. People like to see people make things and it holds you accountable

You might also make some friends in the process

 

@Ness - That's a great video. Thanks for sharing.
Gigi

PS - @XCO - What's wrong with building small projects? Try; Improve; Repeat. You are getting your work out there, and learning. Silence is, after all, a form of feedback.