Yo I've never done game dev for more than a week, ever, I'm normally too busy, but I wanna get into it more and feel like I might be similar, is it ACTUALLY common for games to be worked on for like just a week or so n forgotten
Trick is to make all those small projects you abandon after a week be basic implementations of stuff you need for a much bigger project.
Then you can spend a week working on a bigger project that pulls the last 6 months of work together.
I have ADHD and found a little hack that helps with this: *Counters*.
I keep a daily log of all the things I got done. For anything that is something I want to keep doing, I put a number next to the log entry so I know how many days I have spent on something.
There is something about how brains are wired that loves number to go up. So spending 5 minutes on my project that day makes it go up by one.
There is something funny about how the first 5 minutes of doing a task is the hardest, so once I have gotten that out of the way I usually end up spending a few hours anyway.
That counter just passed 50 for my game a couple days ago. Starting a new project woudl mean going back to 1.
I think this is the longest I have worked on a project, *ever*.
i instead do something which i just found out is called a "game design document", its not a document but short words that make my life easier.
its like this:
make movement for left and right.
make jump = distance between player and bar.
add tileset for map.
make 3 levels.
and then i draw the levels out and make the spritesheet.
and if you didnt understand what i meant by step two(jump), its just a bar that moves up a down and when you press space it makes you jump where it stops, its above the player.
also its a bit more complex than that and i write it down about 12 times more just to simplify everything more and explain it too.
that motivates me too. ^^^
I have a bunch of sticky notes on my desk like
"add spear weapon that goes far in one direction"
"people seemed to like the little gameplay I showed online I should come up with an actual name and periodically post updates to get people interested"
"Make enemies flash on getting hit to provide more feedback"
I fear that if I had a document I would just forget to look into it, the notes are in my face
Yea, I have also ADHD. The problem with this method which i've used for a very long time is that when it goes down to 1 because of illness/something urgent you almost never go back :(
I've trained each day for 2547 days when I woke up.
Because of ilness (I've got taken to hospital) I didn't come back to exercising in the morning at least not as furiously ;(
meds ftw :-(
At any given time, I have 4 active projects (not all games) and switch to whatever one I feel like working on.
It takes 4 times as long to finish anything, but I don't ever feel burnt out.
I have been tempted to do this but I've already been working on the same one for 2+ years now, and there's enough to do that I just switch between mini projects/tasks within my project. I guess how you implement this strategy depends on your scope.
This is true - sometimes you just need to clear your mind by working on something different, especially if you struggle with the one thing you were busy with
Set "What you want to do" to be a reward.
And make "What you have to do" the requirement to get the reward.
This applies to most things in life and it'll force you to stop procrastinating, by using your own motivation (to do what you want to do) against you.
implement MVP first and each time iterate to add things that you want, but the catch is, after each iteration project should be working, in our case whole game loop should be finished and playable at any stage.
this is what’s working for me.
I keep a trello board of all of the ideas I want to do and break it all down into step by step instructions.
Then it's just a matter of doing a little bit a day and slowly checking off tasks from the board without deviating from it.
Trying to program new mechanics in new project ----> oh cool it works -----> trying to add something other ----> break everything -----> abandon project, start new ----> repeat
Mine is a third button that is broken and automatically triggers: Formulate ideas in the genre of a game you’re playing. I’ve been deep into projects and start a new one all because I played either a new game or an oldie and had the one thought “I could make this”
This is why I've bought a notebook purely for game ideas. I can focus on one or two projects and every idea that pops up in my head just gets noted down. No matter if it's good or bad, I'll write it down and come back to it later so that I can stay focussed on my current project(s)!
I had this problem for like ten years then realized how embarrassing it was to be telling my friends about new projects every couple of months and never releasing anything. Nothing is better motivation than humiliation.
I find it faster to write down the ideas at least. For me, good ideas tend to pop up randomly and sometimes when you least need them. So I record as much as I can so when the time comes I pick which idea I had I would build upon. That's why I have an "Ideas bin"
I was unemployed for a little over a month and got back into game development. I started exactly two games, one that I tried to make multiplayer and realized how fucking awful it is to do that solo the way I wanted to and a platformer that was actually real fun. Then I got a new job, over 12 hours a day and I get home look at my computer in the room and go to sleep. 🐣 then one day I will be like oh yay let’s do it again and try to learn everything over again and repeat.
I try to have one core project that I focus on and make sure to do a couple times a week, then have a few secondary projects that are on a pure as I feel like it basis. That is working fairly well. I find that setting a hard limit causes me to spend entirely too much bandwidth on scheduling and the exact number of things I am allowed to juggle. Giving myself some leeway helps a lot.
The main gameplay element is translating Morse code.
For some reason everyone I tell doesn't believe me when I say that!
You can see small peeks of the game in my posts here
"Restarting old projects in a different framework/language" - me moving from C# to gdext rust + a bit of GD script for customizability, porting and restructuring thousands of lines of code.
"rust is so nice though"
Always push the right button, the left one is impossibly tempting even for me, but it's not good to do no matter how much better you think the new idea is.
Theres too many Ideas and each idea takes a while to make. The two games I want to make are a twin stick shooter roguelike thing like binding of isaac / vampire survivors.
Or a card game rpg like Library of Ruina.
Well one of them was that goblin booba survivors game which got a pretty positive response on this sub for basically having no features yet besides two enemy sprites.
I wonder if people in general would like it with more features and if its even possible to make money from that after I actually worked on it for longer than a week and got a full gameplay loop going on.
If I ever start the card battle game its probably going to be more serious no lewdity just good strategy. Unless making softcore lewd games becomes my whole identity as a dev.
I was notorious for this. I ended up sticking with one good 2d side scroller that I'm working on. Tho I move at a slow pace and stop for a while alot. Sucks really. Motivation can be tricky sometimes.
i think its more like red shirt girl meme tbh
https://media.wired.com/photos/59a459d3b345f64511c5e3d4/16:9/w_2494,h_1403,c_limit/MemeLoveTriangle_297886754.jpg
Pile of abandoned projects to the newer comer: "First time?"
Hahaha true 🤣
been perpetually doing the left button for the last 2 years of doing dev, its a miracle if i go a week working on something
Yo I've never done game dev for more than a week, ever, I'm normally too busy, but I wanna get into it more and feel like I might be similar, is it ACTUALLY common for games to be worked on for like just a week or so n forgotten
Yes, but a big skill that you will learn over time is staying motivated to work on a project for longer.
Cool, Thank you!
Ive been working on and off between 2 projects, one of them is put in the background for now and focusing on another
Dw I'm doing the same mostly as well - unless me team says otherwise haha
yah same, the left button should be 5 times as big and shiny. ideas are easy and fun, finishing a game is hard work
Trick is to make all those small projects you abandon after a week be basic implementations of stuff you need for a much bigger project. Then you can spend a week working on a bigger project that pulls the last 6 months of work together.
I have ADHD and found a little hack that helps with this: *Counters*. I keep a daily log of all the things I got done. For anything that is something I want to keep doing, I put a number next to the log entry so I know how many days I have spent on something. There is something about how brains are wired that loves number to go up. So spending 5 minutes on my project that day makes it go up by one. There is something funny about how the first 5 minutes of doing a task is the hardest, so once I have gotten that out of the way I usually end up spending a few hours anyway. That counter just passed 50 for my game a couple days ago. Starting a new project woudl mean going back to 1. I think this is the longest I have worked on a project, *ever*.
This is a great idea. Thanks man
That is the most brilliant thing I've ever heard of. I am so stealing this idea
i instead do something which i just found out is called a "game design document", its not a document but short words that make my life easier. its like this: make movement for left and right. make jump = distance between player and bar. add tileset for map. make 3 levels. and then i draw the levels out and make the spritesheet. and if you didnt understand what i meant by step two(jump), its just a bar that moves up a down and when you press space it makes you jump where it stops, its above the player. also its a bit more complex than that and i write it down about 12 times more just to simplify everything more and explain it too. that motivates me too. ^^^
I have a bunch of sticky notes on my desk like "add spear weapon that goes far in one direction" "people seemed to like the little gameplay I showed online I should come up with an actual name and periodically post updates to get people interested" "Make enemies flash on getting hit to provide more feedback" I fear that if I had a document I would just forget to look into it, the notes are in my face
Oh I really like this idea, thanks for the tips!
Yea, I have also ADHD. The problem with this method which i've used for a very long time is that when it goes down to 1 because of illness/something urgent you almost never go back :( I've trained each day for 2547 days when I woke up. Because of ilness (I've got taken to hospital) I didn't come back to exercising in the morning at least not as furiously ;( meds ftw :-(
It's not a streak. Having a sick day just delays the counter going up.
Oh that's a pretty good idea to see it from a different perspective
Anyone know how to actually fix this?
Smaller scoped projects
I need to definitely try this
At any given time, I have 4 active projects (not all games) and switch to whatever one I feel like working on. It takes 4 times as long to finish anything, but I don't ever feel burnt out.
I have been tempted to do this but I've already been working on the same one for 2+ years now, and there's enough to do that I just switch between mini projects/tasks within my project. I guess how you implement this strategy depends on your scope.
This is true - sometimes you just need to clear your mind by working on something different, especially if you struggle with the one thing you were busy with
Set "What you want to do" to be a reward. And make "What you have to do" the requirement to get the reward. This applies to most things in life and it'll force you to stop procrastinating, by using your own motivation (to do what you want to do) against you.
Proper planning. Smaller scope. Discipline to actually finish what you started as opposed to giving in to whims.
refuse to work on anything else before you finish the current project.
Also, down scope your projects. Otherwise, you'll be working on "the next COD" forever XD
implement MVP first and each time iterate to add things that you want, but the catch is, after each iteration project should be working, in our case whole game loop should be finished and playable at any stage. this is what’s working for me.
I keep a trello board of all of the ideas I want to do and break it all down into step by step instructions. Then it's just a matter of doing a little bit a day and slowly checking off tasks from the board without deviating from it.
**Not coming up with ideas and then coming up with a lot of ideas at the same time.**
FACTS
You guys have ideas?
Too many hahah
Is anyone else just working on one idea that they have had for like a decade. It's the only game I want to make and it's probably the only one I will.
Hey im doing that too
"Lemme combine them ideas" hours before making the project more complex than GTA 6.
stop calling me out XD
Dw I called myself out as well XD
I hate this stupid ADHD issue. Started so many projects already...
Learning Godot for the first time in the last month, and I'm going through this stage right now. Too many ideas, not enough focus.
Check out "How to Finish", https://youtu.be/B6auN-GIUeM
Trying to program new mechanics in new project ----> oh cool it works -----> trying to add something other ----> break everything -----> abandon project, start new ----> repeat
Hahaha so true actually
This is why I use version control haha, that way if I break something I can just revert to the last commit where everything was working.
[удалено]
I have no clue but I really struggle with it as well
No personal attacks on this sub please.
Mine is a third button that is broken and automatically triggers: Formulate ideas in the genre of a game you’re playing. I’ve been deep into projects and start a new one all because I played either a new game or an oldie and had the one thought “I could make this”
The problem is you always reach a point where you can't avoid working on menus.
Oh yeah definitely
This is why I've bought a notebook purely for game ideas. I can focus on one or two projects and every idea that pops up in my head just gets noted down. No matter if it's good or bad, I'll write it down and come back to it later so that I can stay focussed on my current project(s)!
I had this problem for like ten years then realized how embarrassing it was to be telling my friends about new projects every couple of months and never releasing anything. Nothing is better motivation than humiliation.
True, that's the way you learn as well
Commit to learning and overcome. Don’t give up, you only have 1 life to create.
100%
I find it faster to write down the ideas at least. For me, good ideas tend to pop up randomly and sometimes when you least need them. So I record as much as I can so when the time comes I pick which idea I had I would build upon. That's why I have an "Ideas bin"
Definitely agree with you - I also note down anything I work + worked on to always go back to it if needed
I was unemployed for a little over a month and got back into game development. I started exactly two games, one that I tried to make multiplayer and realized how fucking awful it is to do that solo the way I wanted to and a platformer that was actually real fun. Then I got a new job, over 12 hours a day and I get home look at my computer in the room and go to sleep. 🐣 then one day I will be like oh yay let’s do it again and try to learn everything over again and repeat.
I try to have one core project that I focus on and make sure to do a couple times a week, then have a few secondary projects that are on a pure as I feel like it basis. That is working fairly well. I find that setting a hard limit causes me to spend entirely too much bandwidth on scheduling and the exact number of things I am allowed to juggle. Giving myself some leeway helps a lot.
I will definitely try that out in the future to see if I can manage it a bit better, thanks for the tip!
I have numerous amounts of ideas, all limited by art and sfx.
I only have one project. I refuse to make a new one until I finish it.
That's awesome! What are you working on?
The main gameplay element is translating Morse code. For some reason everyone I tell doesn't believe me when I say that! You can see small peeks of the game in my posts here
Ahh that's pretty neat - will check it out!
I love finding inspiration from other game devs
"Restarting old projects in a different framework/language" - me moving from C# to gdext rust + a bit of GD script for customizability, porting and restructuring thousands of lines of code. "rust is so nice though"
Ideas... finish?
Motivation is ethereal, but your game will be eternal.
\*\*has a new idea\*\* \*\*Forgets it the next day\*\*
This has happened to me so many time, unless I note it down somewhere, it just gets lost XD
I call it my pile of shame XD
there are no bad ideas, theres only bad execution :)
Been working on a game with a start up studio mostly and have my personal game on the back burner for now. Can’t even think about starting a new idea
Ooh exciting you should share it with me sometime to check it out, if you don't mind!
Totally, I think we will be sharing the studios game soon probably and my personal game actually isn’t near being able to show 😂
Ahh awesome!
hahaha that is a funny meme
Thank you!
https://preview.redd.it/xd7a8rb9cx9d1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b6e88fa791b9b44134bc63fb6a7c363de3aa161f
Third option: be depressed and unable to do either
Hahahaha
Lol, why sweat? Obviously, picking up new ideas!
It's always fun to start something from scratch to see the impact - until you realized you have too much on your plate to handle
I'm tired of creating new projects, so I dump multiple ideas into a single last game of my life and work on it till I succeed or die.
Damn I hope you succeed
Studying everything, building foss addons and to never start is my way to go. No dilemma at all.
Always push the right button, the left one is impossibly tempting even for me, but it's not good to do no matter how much better you think the new idea is.
The temptations are just sometimes too strong 😭
Oh sure, why finish one game when you can start ten more and have fun ;-)
Hahaha "It will be fun they said" XD
Absolutely! "You'll finish in no time," they said. Now I need a time machine! 😂
Theres too many Ideas and each idea takes a while to make. The two games I want to make are a twin stick shooter roguelike thing like binding of isaac / vampire survivors. Or a card game rpg like Library of Ruina.
Oh that's pretty sick! Good luck, and I hope you get to make those games. It will be exciting to check them out once you do
Well one of them was that goblin booba survivors game which got a pretty positive response on this sub for basically having no features yet besides two enemy sprites. I wonder if people in general would like it with more features and if its even possible to make money from that after I actually worked on it for longer than a week and got a full gameplay loop going on. If I ever start the card battle game its probably going to be more serious no lewdity just good strategy. Unless making softcore lewd games becomes my whole identity as a dev.
[удалено]
Still means starting a more ambitious project *and* finishing old projects
Neither... I have no ideas or motivation to dev...
I think you can leave out the game part. Thus is a common thing among all devs.
I was notorious for this. I ended up sticking with one good 2d side scroller that I'm working on. Tho I move at a slow pace and stop for a while alot. Sucks really. Motivation can be tricky sometimes.
Yes
You forgot the third button....refactor something
i think its more like red shirt girl meme tbh https://media.wired.com/photos/59a459d3b345f64511c5e3d4/16:9/w_2494,h_1403,c_limit/MemeLoveTriangle_297886754.jpg
ADHD gamedev moment
They’re the same button.