I've been writing small scripts/tiny algorithms or ideas, but I just can't get into anything bigger than a bomberman clone (and I couldn't even bother to finish that when I tried, though I was coding it in Flash, which I highly dislike) without losing motivation and quitting.
Lately, I can't even start anything at all. I'd write a small, fun game, but immediately I can find hundreds of issues I'd have with it that just demotivate me before I even start coding. Graphics for one. I just can't seem to make pretty graphics. Sure, one or two pieces of nice gfx here and there, but not enough to make a game. I could use placeholders, but I don't like having to rely on those.
That is, however, not even the biggest issue here. I simply can't get anything started. I have a few ideas, but every one of them is just too big to make by myself, or too complicated (I know I'd find a way to do it eventually, but the thought of spending weeks trying to figure something out really bothers me in my current state of mind; I just need to see progress).
Any advice on what to do to resolve my current situation? It's been like this for half a year (or more) now. I love coding games, but I just can't bring myself to do it lately. I suppose it's the sheer amount of unfinished stuff and the realization that most of the projects I'd want to do are just too big for one person. And I don't want to do another Tetris clone. Already did that once.
Heck, I don't even have the will to do anything really, really small.
Most of what we've done here when we've run into the same motivational snag is to start some sort of Monday project. (Search for it: we've had dozens, some even sorta successful.)
When that happens, you get a group of people willing to work on a project with you. They are waiting for YOU to finish your work, and then you can take a breather while someone else works on their own portions.
Example: Some can work on the graphics engine. Some can work on the physics engine. Some work on sounds. Somewhere in there, an artist or two contribute, then leave again. Things just start falling into place, or it falls apart.
If they fall into place, it keeps you motivated. If it falls apart, then you're no worse off, other than having lost some time. But if it's "completed enough" you can always put that into your docket of projects!
Find a new hobby that you enjoy enough to actually do.
I know this feeling quite well. Here's my take on it:
I've worked on so many games, until recently none of them really came to reality (with that I mean finished and attracting players). I have quite a few games that are more than half-way done but I'm absolutely sure I will never ever touch them again. I spent countless hours on each one, being so motivated and optimistic about every single project.
But the more I worked on each one, the less interested I became. Newer projects I had in mind became more and more interesting and the feel that the current one is less and less likely to ever come to fruition.
Reasons? Probably the main one (at least for me) is that I put so much time into a game, getting it about 30-50 percent done (guesstimate), and still have nothing!! No one played it yet, no one liked it, no one had any pleasure playing it. And then the thought: "even if I put another countless hours of work into the game to get it done... will it attract gamers?" And I don't mean a handful of people. Not MineCraft-amounts of course, but at least a decent "fan"-base.
That's one of the reasons I never aimed for a simple game. I never did pong, pac-man, breakout or any other of these entry-level games. They just don't give me anything. I want to make games that are immersive. So much that the players tell their friends about it.
That's a really high goal, I know. But aiming for less just doesn't cut it for me.
So after years of beginning and not finishing projects/games, I think I have reached a level where I can tell what works for me and what doesn't. So here are is a personal list of things I follow and would suggest to others:
Don't aim too high. A good 2D space shooter or a jump'n'run is (in my book) way below a fully blown RPG or RTS, complexity-wise, but can still be immersive. I won't fool myself into thinking I can pull off a game of this magnitude ever again.
Pick a niche: again, there are 1000s of breakout clones out there for pretty much every platform you can aim at. If you really want to make game that has been done so many times, be sure to have something that is unique. If you can't come up with something, choose another game. For example, I looked at the Android market and found that there were no good jump'n'run games out there. Most of them were dead simple and kept me entertained for less than a minute. So I went for that!
Try to set small goals, release often: I released my game when i had 4 levels finished. A few houndred people downloaded it, giving me good ratings but said they wanted more. That motivated me so much. Until now, the game has 12 levels and a few thousand downloads.
Don't think technology: if the platform you aim for (or for any other reason) requires you to learn a new language, SDK, API, whatever... LEARN IT! Don't let that first bump keep you from reaching your goals. Java and C# are so much better for game programming, btw...
That's it from me. I could probably add a few more (and will, when they come to mind). 
I'd say having even a simple breakout clone completely done would be quite educational, even if nobody plays it. It'll give you needed experience toward a "good" game.
"Completely done" includes installer (if any), setup screens, splash screens, victory screens, high scores, ability to set screen modes, sounds, etc. etc.
I'm currently experimenting with the effects on motivation from working full time as a programmer. The results from the first few months are skewed by the fact that travel times to and from work have been too long. So I can confidently say that commuting is definitely an energy killer.
But Sweden celebrates a commuters day as if it was a good thing. "Yay, we have more commuters than ever before!" Who in their right mind would think people take a job in a different city because they love public transports? Especially considering our train system is so bad you can't ever trust it to be on time.
That's one of the reasons I never aimed for a simple game. I never did pong, pac-man, breakout or any other of these entry-level games. They just don't give me anything. I want to make games that are immersive. So much that the players tell their friends about it.
That's a really high goal, I know. But aiming for less just doesn't cut it for me.
I suppose I'm the same way. I want people to play my games and enjoy doing so, and tell their friends about it. Nothing motivates me better than having people (the more the better) say good things about stuff I've released.
Don't aim too high. A good 2D space shooter or a jump'n'run is (in my book) way below a fully blown RPG or RTS, complexity-wise, but can still be immersive. I won't fool myself into thinking I can pull off a game of this magnitude ever again.
True, but it all boils down to graphics. I can't make good game graphics to save my life, and then there are sounds and music and what not. Even if I found people to do the latter, I won't find anyone to do the graphics without a working engine. And a lack of gfx doesn't really motivate well. After all, I might spend a lot of time doing something only to have to quit, because nobody would make the necessary gfx.
Pick a niche: again, there are 1000s of breakout clones out there for pretty much every platform you can aim at. If you really want to make game that has been done so many times, be sure to have something that is unique. If you can't come up with something, choose another game. For example, I looked at the Android market and found that there were no good jump'n'run games out there. Most of them were dead simple and kept me entertained for less than a minute. So I went for that!
True, I even have a couple good ideas. Unfortunately, they're all pretty complex. And simple just isn't gratifying enough for me.
Try to set small goals, release often: I released my game when i had 4 levels finished. A few houndred people downloaded it, giving me good ratings but said they wanted more. That motivated me so much. Until now, the game has 12 levels and a few thousand downloads.
The mobile market doesn't really interest me, having no Android/iPhone myself (and emulators can ever only work so well). Still, you have to have those 4 levels finished and features implemented before you can release the game. I'm having trouble motivating myself to even begin coding.
Don't think technology: if the platform you aim for (or for any other reason) requires you to learn a new language, SDK, API, whatever... LEARN IT! Don't let that first bump keep you from reaching your goals. Java and C# are so much better for game programming, btw...
I can't even begin a project in any language I already know. If I had to learn a new one to start coding, I wouldn't even try. I'm mostly using C# with XNA these days though.
I'd say having even a simple breakout clone completely done would be quite educational, even if nobody plays it. It'll give you needed experience toward a "good" game.
Probably so, but I'd still end up thinking of many new/advanced features to add, so it wouldn't be simple anymore. I just can't do simple, I suppose.
I was thinking about a generic 2D shooter with some clever shader use, or perhaps something involving sci-fi subs, but I know I couldn't make all the graphics myself. It would be best if the gfx was 3D (easiest to make and render as sprites/animate), but 3D is too complex for me to learn well enough in a relatively short amount of time (even using XNA, which makes it really simple), even if only because I've never used a physics engine in 3D and I don't know how to use it efficiently and effectively (or at all). Also, I suck at Blender. Just too many things to learn, all at once.
OK, so you're a hard case... 
True, but it all boils down to graphics.
One other thing I realized is that choosing the project/game you're going to do based on available resources. You can't draw? Use free graphics or go for the minimalist style.
I don't have much talent for making gfx myself either. But consider this: my current game has 1 bit graphics I was able to do myself. Anyone can do these with litle to no practice.
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My next game will feature freely available graphics from Danc. Yeah, I'm the most innovative game developer on the planet!
About music: once I felt my game was good enough to show to my friends, they actually started spreading the word a bit and a few weeks later, a friend of a friend contacted my via facebook and said he wanted to work on some music for free! That was great! He's really talented and has nearly completed the work. I dunno if he wants to create something for my next game, but we'll figure something out.
True, I even have a couple good ideas. Unfortunately, they're all pretty complex. And simple just isn't gratifying enough for me.
Choose a middle ground. Maybe your games are way too complex on the whole, but try to strip out non-essential elements as much as possible. Then it might be feasible to pull off but still fun to play. Once you're rolling, the motivation for putting other stuff in will come.
Still, you have to have those 4 levels finished and features implemented before you can release the game.
Yep, and I was honestly almost again doing the usual "lazy move". But shortly before I reached that point, I tried putting in the least amount of work to get it "playable". I cut corners, hacked some stuff in and released! The motivational gain from people playing this "beta"-version alone kept me going from then on.
I'm having trouble motivating myself to even begin coding.
This is a roadblock. If you can't motivate yourself to even start, it's useless. You can't make something out of nothing. Sorry! 
I've been to that point as well. Some weeks without working on/thinking about any project ignited my motivational flame again. The same might work for you!
I too suck at graphics, the key here is to download some 3D Rendering software. I happened to have TrueSpace on hand. It's awesome for creating graphics for your games, and they can look quite nice. Something as simple as a ball and paddles for a pong game for example can look really nice when rendered, and it's not difficult to create, with my software there's a sphere primitive already made, you just plop it on the screen throw in a light, set the colour of it etc... render, you're done. Same for the paddle, different shape, size & colour it, render, done. I even created the blocks for a breakout style game with it! Plopped down a cube, colour and lighting, render, done. Quick, easy and the result looks very nice.
Other nice software for 2D stuff is Tile Studio, a free 2D package (just google it, you'll find it). It has some nice features that make creating 2D tiled graphics easy, has a built in level editor as well. Play around with it a little and you'll see what I mean. I've used it to create line sets for my Deluxe Pacman game that turned out looking VERY nice (you can have it fill in from a range of colours which can give you some nice rounded looks, with just one click).
There are some basic games thare are generally recommended that new game programmers create. You don't have to release them, or even finish them 100%. The idea is they will teach you certain concepts as you program them.
Here's the order, I'll try and remember...
1) Pong - teaches basic scoring, collision detection, player movement.
2) Breakout / arkanoid - similar to pong, but can have different levels with different arrangements of blocks, simple to do.
3) Tetris
4) Pacman - introduces enemies, simple AI.
4) Super Mario Bros - introduces larger levels, enemies, side scrolling, powerups etc
I've done most of these except a mario bros style game. You could look at some of these games, or other games you have really enjoyed playing and maybe see if there's some twist you would like to add to it.
Some ideas I have had I'll throw your way... I love games where you explores HUGE worlds that have a lot to look at, lots of details, interesting locations etc... so I thought about doing up a 2D space game like that, HUGE galaxy, randomly generated with some rules about how it is created. Or perhaps something down to earth, a HUGE 2D world with forests, roads, buildings you can enter (that would perhaps load in a seperate "in house" view) etc... something really large (with various types of vehicals you could buy/steal, whatever.... the world would be randomly generated again, with certain rules set... like you generate roads, houses must be next to a road, perhaps houses prefer to be closer to lakes, the more houses you have, the greater chance for other buildings like buisnesses, churches etc... you get the picture, ruins in the game... not sure what the game would be about, but... use your imagination.
One idea I had for a space game was one where you woke up on a space craft drifting in space and you lost your memory. The objective of the game would be to find out how you ended up drifting in space, how you lost your memory, who you are etc... at the end of the story, I wanted to have time travel mixxed into the plot, the secret would be that you're a scientist who invented time travel, it has fell into the wrong hands, and using it could destroy the world as you know it, the solution at the end of the game would be that you would have to kill yourself to stop the terrible events from unfolding. Anyhow, if someone decides to make this, let me know. 
SHould actually start a game idea thread to help people out, just throw your ideas in there... hmmm...
I was actually quite good at 3D at one point, but I forgot most of it. I know about Tile Studio and I'm actually using it myself for testing maps. It's quite nice. I prefer Graphics Gale or a paletted set up of The Gimp for making graphics, however. Still, pixel art can only get you so far.
There are some basic games thare are generally recommended that new game programmers create.
Ahem, not exactly a new programmer here. Just one without motivation. I suppose collaboration would do, however. One where other people actually do stuff (as opposed to my recent experiences).
I could probably throw a couple of ideas as well, so a thread might be nice. After all, I doubt I'll ever create those games, so why not share.
Always wanted to make a really big space exploration game, but that's too huge of a project even for a small team. Would be awesome if it was in 3D.
I had an idea for a 3D space racer, with nice shaders and stuff, and interesting laps. For example, flying through the center of a small moon, asteroid belts, some sort of plasma storms, nebulae, etc. Even started it. Didn't get very far. I still don't know enough about coding 3D.
I found that motivation stays high if you start out with a ridiculously small scope, finish that (with all the polishing it might need), and only then start adding new features. With most things, you can have something working within a week (many of my projects took less than a day to arrive at a usable first version, but those were not games), and then build from there.
That is a good idea, but a major downside I can see with that approach is that building on top of existing code and adding new features can really mess up the whole code structure (especially if you just want to quickly hack together something usable), and you end up rewriting a major portion of your game. Then again, designing everything to be complex from the beginning is just as bad, because the project looks like it'll never get done. I suppose a mix of the two would be the best approach.
I'm currently trying to learn Blender a bit better, and it might not be impossible considering the fact that the new Blender interface is not as insane as the old one. If I can make fairly good looking graphics (be it as rendered sprites or models), then I could probably make a quick shooter or something using those.
find something else to do
I can't stand Blender. You can now download Truespace 7 for free. Microsoft bought out Caligari(sp?) and then release TS7 for free, which I was impressed with... up until they stopped supporting it, effectively killing my favorite renderer, still, it is out there available for free, which is nice. If you can get an older version of it I recommend Truespace 6 or earlier myself.
This could give you something to create, how about creating your own program with allegro that helps you create graphics for your games?
I'm currently experimenting with the effects on motivation from working full time as a programmer.
For me, becoming a professional coder has killed my productivity for one reason alone: as a professional I'm obsessed with best practises an doing things properly. I look back on the games I wrote as a kid with mixed emotions: I have a sort of nostalgic pity for how naive and poor my coding used to be, but I'm also slightly in awe of how much I actually got done, despite having zero appreciation for best practises (I didn't even use indents!).
Sure, the game I'm writing at the moment is beautifully written, and I'll never scrap it on the grounds of poor maintainability (like some of my previous projects), but hells teeth progress is slow.
You can achieve a lot without great skill :
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Maybe you ca /* edit n */ learn how to draw.
[EDIT]And spell.
I'm having a motivation problem at the moment. I know what I need to do, technically, it's just that the busywork in my skull is more than I can bear at the moment. I'm trying to get out of the rut by doing things I haven't done in a good while, such as watching movies, searching for programming info on the web, etc. Hopefully it won't last more than two or three days.
That is a good idea, but a major downside I can see with that approach is that building on top of existing code and adding new features can really mess up the whole code structure (especially if you just want to quickly hack together something usable), and you end up rewriting a major portion of your game.
Refactor early, refactor often. And stay open-minded when it comes to paradigms.
Just go and kill yourself. You're no more needed if you can't pull your fingers out of your arse by yourself.
Life isn't like school studies. There are no more some looking at your back. Be your own prosecutor.
Just write down a schedule for doing things, and do these damn things in time !!
What else do you want me to tell you hmmmm 
I don't have a magic wand.
Move on or keep acting like a slaughter sheep. That's all that is to say.
Just write down a schedule for doing things, and do these damn things in time !!
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That said, procrastination is not a bad thing by itself. If you always finish everything you start, and always deliver everything in time, you're inevitable doing unnecessary work.
That said, procrastination is not a bad thing by itself. If you always finish everything you start, and always deliver everything in time, you're inevitable doing unnecessary work.
So true, especially true for emotional people. Yet, "fucking around" since 8 am on daily basis is rather not likely to produce "good results", although there gotta be exceptions. The overall "correct" behaviour does lie somewhere in the middle of army discipline and what's on the comics.
1) Pong - teaches basic scoring, collision detection, player movement.
2) Breakout / arkanoid - similar to pong, but can have different levels with different arrangements of blocks, simple to do.
3) Tetris
4) Pacman - introduces enemies, simple AI.
5) Super Mario Bros - introduces larger levels, enemies, side scrolling, powerups etc
Notice you didn't give a reason for Tetris. Does it teach you anything?
Nothing.... don't bother. LMAO.... there used to be a list someone created, I just recall that was in there, I don't remember the reason why. Moving blocks, timers perhaps... <shrug> Just shut up and make the damn thing!!! 
The version I made I added a twist to it, each line you make shows a little more of a picture in the background. The level ends when you reveal the entire picture. I had various pictures I chose where you couldn't be sure what they were until most of them were created.... I also created an adult set of images for it as well.
It's fun to take these old games and try and make them yourself with your own twist on them. My tetris game isn't complete, I stopped work on it, but it does work and is playable. I think I am just missing the score or something, I have more ideas for it I was going to work on it again that could make it even more fun. I just don't call it "Tetris" as the company that owns the copyright loves to sue, or at least they did years ago (anything with "tris" in it) so mine is just called "BLOC!" I would post it for people to play but... I only have my adult image set and I don't know that people would want that posted here.
Edit: Here's a screenshot of it (note the date I last worked on it, heheh)
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It's no coincidence where that blue block ended up.
You may have been referring to this:
How do I make games?
It used to be on the former Lupine Games site, with pictures where some of the words are and I think with a black background.
That looks familiar, it has some of the same advice, which I think is good advice. Starts you out simple, and getting something done, whether it's crap or not, always feels good and can be motivating in itself.
Speedhack was good for that. Set yourself a time limit to get a game done, and then stick to it.
You reminded me of that too: I never got anything playable done for Speedhack but when the last one ended, I went back to working on my other game only to realize that I liked the grass tiles I made for the Speedhack entry WAY better. Was quite surprised to see that.
I have relatively bad habits that encourage a lack of motivation: I stay up too late, I don't eat healthy, and I j0rb full-time. 
My productivity varies, but it is noticeably better when I get enough sleep (read: go to bed at like 8pm to wake up around 7:30am). The problem with that is I have no time to actually do anything on my own time. My time is all j0rb's with that schedule. I get home around 5:15pm or 5:30pm and only have 2.5 or 2.75 hours before I'm supposed to go to bed, and included in that is eating something (and, in a fantasy world, doing the dishes). That just doesn't seem like enough time to enjoy myself and get personal projects done. So instead I don't sleep much. Which is almost as unproductive because often I'm too tired to do anything after j0rb.
I've almost given up on game programming. Not because it doesn't interest me, but because it isn't very practical. There are a lot of concepts to learn and it's unlikely to ever lead to a sustainable income. Learning about utility and business programming seems much more practical, and depending on the topic, I still enjoy it. If you develop software that serves a practical purpose in your life then it can actually make you more productive! Today I finally "started" a project that I've been wanting to do for months: write a CLI command-set for managing finances/budgets. My hope is that I'll be able to actually keep track of how much money I spend on what, figure out where I can save some more, and figure out how much (if any) I'm netting now that I'm living on my own (paying rent, telcom, food, etc.). There really isn't any useful code yet. I realized that I had better focus on the back end, and particularly the data schema, before I bothered working on the front-ends so I stopped the useless coding I was doing and began to speculate on the data schema:
https://github.com/bamccaig/ka-ching/blob/0cca9fa85300e4a9e8e76fc5e4dd27a3925e022f/SCHEMA
I honestly haven't done anything budget-like since grade 10 business class so I'm more or less just making things up right now. Advice / criticism / feature suggestions would be much appreciated. Would help to motivate me if I actually had a design that would be useful and not just made up.
In any case, the lifestyle that I keep (see above) does burn me out every few weeks or months and eventually I reach a point where I have zero energy to be on the computer and just watch a couple of hours of TV and then go to sleep really early (like 7pm or 8pm). It feels great to sleep that long though (for me), I almost always have awesome dreams when I sleep long enough (especially so if I'm not wasted), and I feel much better after doing that a couple of days in a row. Perhaps all you really need is to get some more sleep?
It also takes time to get into the zone during a particular coding session, maybe an hour before you're really rolling. A significant interruption such as a salescritter at the door or a phone call resets the timer.
Advice / criticism / feature suggestions would be much appreciated.
Spend less than you make. Works for me.
I am currently working on paying off a credit card, I am 1/3 of the way so far, which I am quite proud of. I have a set date to have it paid off by, I set a reasonable amount of time to pay it so I'm not broke and can still have some entertainment. Once paid off I plan on keeping a credit card with a SMALL limit on it just for online purchases mainly (500$ limit) and anything larger than that, I save up for or to layaway. No more debt, gonna be great. Live within your means, make it yourself etc...
I'm currently saving up for a new Furnace. Need $2400-$2600 for it. so far I have about $1000. Maybe $1100. Technically I have $1500 in cash right now, but I have yet to pay my power+water+garbage bill, and have about $400 on my creditcard. So yeah, I actually have about $1000 of actual money after including debt and paying the rest of my bills. Which is nice. I might have enough saved up by August.
Spend less than you make. Works for me.
Works for me too. It's just rather difficult to keep track of how much I spend so I'd prefer software to help me. It will help if I can project how much "extra" I have so I know how much to spend and still save.
I was actually thinking about it today and I may get rid of all credit cards once I have my big one paid off. Basically avoid anything that charges interest. I honestly feel the economy is going to crash in the near future and I want to be out of debt and have a few bucks saved before that.
switching gears back to the original topic..
I'm going to give you a parallel thought on the matter. What took me a long time to realize is that I like to write. I like to write all kinds of stuff, not just code. Writing it down, whether for publication, or for my own means of expression is by far more satisfying than writing a mere game.
It's like expressing yourself without a split system or a friend's ear to haunt bearing down on your conscience.
Sorry for the heavy reply.
In any event. Don't force your hobby to mix with your professional goals. Let it happen naturally.
Yeah, I also like to write... but I'm sure nobody here has caught on to that
Actually, I think mixing your hobby with how you make a living isn't necessarily a good thing, unless you get realllly lucky.
I'd say doing what you love best for a job is great, the second favorite thing should be your hobby. Like a major and minor in college.
hobbies and work usually require one major ingredient to be successful:
focus
life is the game
here's some somewhat OT brain food:
http://www.sirlin.net/articles/playing-to-win-part-1.html
If you're doing the "heavy lifting" of programming work at your computer, then You're Doing it Wrong ™.
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If you're doing the "heavy lifting" of programming work at your computer, then You're Doing it Wrong
Are you talking about writing code with no design ahead of time?
Are you talking about writing code with no design ahead of time?
Yes. I wish I had the ability to design, code, debug and test software all while in front of a monitor. However, I have a short attention span, and I often lose motivation while sitting at the computer.
Here's the process I usually follow:
1. Get an idea for some piece of software.
2. Do some technical research via google to make sure my idea is viable.
3. Go to a cafe with paper, pencils and index cards.
4. Work out the high-level design on paper.
5. Work out the core classes using basic UML (very informal) using index cards. Each class gets an index card.
6. Write some code.
7. Write some tests.
8. Print out troublesome source code for a paper-based code review. (For some reason, it's easier for me to find bugs, poor architecture, etc when I'm looking at code on paper.)
9. Goto step 4.
Yes. It's an infinite loop. I haven't really figured out how to finish software yet.
Yes. It's an infinite loop. I haven't really figured out how to finish software yet.
Is that why there's so much useful software yet to be written?
4. Work out the high-level design on paper.
I don't know how to design software...
Start with int main(int argc , char** argv) {} and go from there...
Example of a basic game design (broad overview) :
main intro menu run game based on state outro endmain
I don't know how to design software...
pff, don't look at me.
Where else would I do the heavy lifting?
I have to write down my thoughts as they come, I can't keep the whole design in my head.
I don't do pen and paper. I do classes, maybe UML.
My game design process is something like this:
1) Come up with idea for new game
2) Create some basic graphics for the game
3) Create a level editor for the game
4) Create a level with the editor
5) write code to load in level and basic game code
6) spend days trying to track down bugs
7) if (frustrated) goto 1
8) else polish and release game.
I usually don't make it to step 8.
About a month ago I put my project on hold to learn how to draw... I spent quite a bit of time trying to to do it and I realized I'm terrible at it. I just can't put 3d images from my head onto paper. But! someone from here suggested rendering scenes in 3d. And I found that while I'm not great at modeling it was alot easier for me to make the basic shapes for things in 3d, paint them in photoshop then take 2d pictures of them. It's a pretty quick process -> model the basic shape in Maya -> Sculpt it in Zbrush -> paint it in photoshop.
It was a very cool experiance to learn new programs like Maya and Zbrush And was enough to get me motivated to actually make the game they are for.
I've been mostly rendering using trueSpace 6, using basic shapes, texturing, lighting to suit the project then once rendered, I use a combination of Irfanview and ImageReady to crop and resize the image. ImageReady has some nice features for this, including one I use to make transparent backgrounds.
I don't know how to design software...
Here's something that works well for me.
1. Write a functional design. This means no technical details: Just describe the program as you envision it, from a user's perspective. A good functional design contains no hints at any programming languages, libraries, syntax constructs or even a programming paradigm.
2. Once you have a rough version of the functional design, write a technical design. This is where you describe how you plan to implement the functionality outlined in the functional design: which programming language to use, which libraries, how to structure the code, which classes you will have and what their properties, methods, and interactions are, etc.
3. Implement the technical design.
In practice, these happen in parallel rather than serial, that is, you start writing the functional design, and when you have enough to make for a decent prototype, you decide how to implement it and do it, and while you're doing this, new ideas will pop up, you'll scrap ideas that turn out too complicated, you refactor, etc., and all these ideas and decisions will go back into the functional and technical design.
And then there's the point where no major functional changes are going to happen, and the technical framework is more or less stable; this is the point where I let go of them both and just keep "riding the wave".
Regaining motivation sometimes works for me like this: Force myself to do absolutely nothing for a whole day. Works only on weekends, I sleep until I wake up naturally, have breakfast and then sit down in a comfortable chair and stare out the window into the sky.
Going fishing isn't nearly so boring.
True, provided the weather's any good. It's been particularly awful around here lately.
I think a good thing to try if you have no motivation is to stay away from any computer for a whole day, including phones and other gadgets.
Spend the whole day on your feet instead of your ass.
If you need motivation, playtest, even when you have almost nothing to show.
Any one person probably can't come up with all the ideas necessary to make a complete game and probably doesn't have the will power to see the whole thing through from start to finish. Have people play what you have. They'll give you so many new ideas to steal and prune to your liking and the motivation to show them something new every week or so.
Secret projects never last more than a month or so. Work in public and make sure you can see and hear the feedback.
You could start harvesting bitcoin. To get started, why don't you buy some? I'll sell you my bitcoins for $1 each.
#include <stdio.h> int main(void) { for(;;) printf("I can haz bitcoin!\n"); return 0; //keep the compiler happy }
You're lacking a newline at the end of the code