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How to Stay Motivated
Kirill Stytsenko
Member #7,782
September 2006

And what music does one code to? I personally can't code when there's music around. Between coding - sure, but not while coding. Maybe I'm listening to the wrong stuff :)

Evert
Member #794
November 2000
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Quote:

And what music does one code to?

Shostakovich (!)
But I wouldn't recommend that if you're not used to it.

Kitty Cat
Member #2,815
October 2002
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Just realize that no one's going to make the game you want, and that it won't write itself. That's a pretty good motivator for me. If only it was that simple to deal with my laziness and ineptitude... :P

--
"Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will pee on your computer." -- Bruce Graham

Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
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I usually listen to stuff that doesn't distract me, as in its not GREAT and its not TERRIBLE. Just some background noise, like something with a good beat, few-no volcals, or in a language I don't understand ;)

--
Thomas Fjellstrom - [website] - [email] - [Allegro Wiki] - [Allegro TODO]
"If you can't think of a better solution, don't try to make a better solution." -- weapon_S
"The less evidence we have for what we believe is certain, the more violently we defend beliefs against those who don't agree" -- https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/592870205409353730

Hard Rock
Member #1,547
September 2001
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Quote:

I usually listen to stuff that doesn't distract me, as in its not GREAT and its not TERRIBLE. Just some background noise, like something with a good beat, few-no volcals, or in a language I don't understand

Personally I'd reccomend a nice dose of death metal. It may be in English, but you won't understand a word they are saying, and it usually has a nice (albeit very very fast) beat.

(Well it works for me anyway)

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Hard Rock
[ Stars Dev Company ][ Twitter ][Global Warming: ARA My TINS 07 Entry][Pong Ultra Website][GifAllegS Ver 1.07]
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Arvidsson
Member #4,603
May 2004
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I suggest a search for 'motivation' on this forum. There are several threads that might hold an answer to your problem. Or at least give you some ideas.

Arthur Kalliokoski
Second in Command
February 2005
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I had a motivation problem two weeks ago, so I didn't do anything directly related to the project. Slacked off for 4-5 days. I didn't tell myself I wasn't going to finish! Then (once the irritation wore off) I found I couldn't type fast enough to try out all the fresh ideas. Now I'm getting somewhat irritated again. But now I'm into something I haven't bothered with for a couple months, so I may not have to slack off very soon.

Remember the "Star Trek Classic" episode where some aliens had taken Spock's brain? And McCoy used some hair dryer looking gadget to "teach" himself how to put it back? "It's childs play!". Later he was snapping his fingers trying to remember what came next. It almost makes me believe in biorhythms.

They all watch too much MSNBC... they get ideas.

Hard Rock
Member #1,547
September 2001
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Quote:

Slacked off for 4-5 days

4 or 5 days?

Wow thats pretty good.

Usually I go a year or two, write a few lines then don't do anything for another year. Which would explain why I haven't finished anything lately......

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Hard Rock
[ Stars Dev Company ][ Twitter ][Global Warming: ARA My TINS 07 Entry][Pong Ultra Website][GifAllegS Ver 1.07]
"Well there's also coolwebsearch but we'll let that be an IE exclusive feature" - arielb on the New Browser Plugins "What's better, HTML or Variables?"

Ceagon Xylas
Member #5,495
February 2005
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I seem to project-hop a whole lot. Every week I have really good ideas for something else. So I'm coding constantly, just never finish anything.

Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
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Quote:

Personally I'd reccomend a nice dose of death metal.

I hate the screaming. And the entire three notes they play on their instruments. Basically I want something that doesn't distract me from what I'm doing.

--
Thomas Fjellstrom - [website] - [email] - [Allegro Wiki] - [Allegro TODO]
"If you can't think of a better solution, don't try to make a better solution." -- weapon_S
"The less evidence we have for what we believe is certain, the more violently we defend beliefs against those who don't agree" -- https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/592870205409353730

Ceagon Xylas
Member #5,495
February 2005
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Regular metal uses the whole scale for lead! =D Though, the rythm seems to be just open C (B or D) most of the time. Oh well! As for screaming, I like it!

HappyMonster @Home
Member #1,607
October 2001

My tutorials might help as I do talk a little about motivation:
http://www.reflectedgames.com/create.html

Tobias Dammers
Member #2,604
August 2002
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Personally, the biggest motivation killer for me is hackish code I wrote earlier, just to make things work. Maintainable code means you spend less time producing workarounds, and more time (in the long run) doing creative stuff. It also makes debugging a lot easier. Nothing as frustrating as debugging.

---
Me make music: Triofobie
---
"We need Tobias and his awesome trombone, too." - Johan Halmén

Johan Halmén
Member #1,550
September 2001

Compos motivate me. I missed the Retro Remakes Compo, didn't finish in time and now it's been lying for two weeks. But there's another motivator. I've got a song that I included in the game. The song will be an Easter Egg thing and I'm eager to publish the song via the game. The songtrack is not sung by me, but by another a.cc member.

In a former Retro Compo I did finish a game and it had a similar motivator.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Years of thorough research have revealed that the red "x" that closes a window, really isn't red, but white on red background.

Years of thorough research have revealed that what people find beautiful about the Mandelbrot set is not the set itself, but all the rest.

Matt Smith
Member #783
November 2000

I have too many projects on the go, many which depend on each other. This means I don't see a clear way to finishing anything anytime soon. This can be very demotivating. The only way to deal with it is to get stuck in and try and crack a small part. Every step gets you closer to the goal, and that is motivating in itself.

Kibiz0r
Member #6,203
September 2005
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  • Talking to friends about how awesome it'll be

  • Day-dreaming about it during boring classes

  • Planning stuff out so you don't run into annoying problems

The biggest thing though, I've found, is to set incremental goals that carry some sort of reward. Example: Get something on the screen moving, get that thing shooting/attacking, get things to kill, make those things able to die when attacked, make them attack back etc.

I made a bunch of mistakes when I was starting out. I would create the backbone of the entire thing blindly, and then finally make something interactive and discover that I had to make a ton of changes to what I had spent a ton of time on. It's much like sculpting. You want to shape it little by little, in a way that is pleasing to you.

Neil Roy
Member #2,229
April 2002
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If I have an interesting idea for a game, I don't need motivation, heck, I barely get sleep I am so busy working on it.

What almost always stops me and ends up with a project getting cold and forgotten is I'll hit a stumbling block, some programming problem I can't seem to figure out, or something similar.

Try and stick with what you know. Maybe pushing it a little, but if you say, jump from 2D games to 3D with a huge project in mind, I'll bet it will get cold real fast when you get your masterpiece half done and realize you have to totally redesign it. :)

Which brings me to planning and organisation. Keep a journal, even if you don't do ANY programming. If you get an idea for your game, starting writing in a journal about what you want to do, put in as much detail as possible. Then every once in a while re-read your own journal. SO many times I have went back to reread it to find ideas I had forgotten about, that got me thinking and I'll figure out a way to implement it and next thing you know I'm programming. Or updating my ideas. Creating a design document is essential in my opinion. The more detailed the better. Make sketches, detail what you want done. Make notes on each section of the project then come back and fill in those notes with more detail until you almost have the game written on paper, or in my case, windows notepad. :) The better your design document, the less chances you have in running into a stumbling block you can't overcome. If it's designed, or well thought out ahead of time, the programming part will almost become secondary and inconsequential.

Also, forget about fancy graphics... don't do that title screen now, or menu... just create the game, fill in the extras LATER... do the framework and engine now.

Don't be afraid to show people your idea. Family and friends, get their opinion. Sometimes you will overlook something they can point out, even if they're computer illiterate and only play games... they know what they like and what seems too complex etc. Make something they like and you may develop a cheering section motivating you on! heh.

---
“I love you too.” - last words of Wanda Roy

Kibiz0r
Member #6,203
September 2005
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Btw, don't forget: Nothing worth doing was ever easy.

23yrold3yrold
Member #1,134
March 2001
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Now I'm demotivated. :(

--
Software Development == Church Development
Step 1. Build it.
Step 2. Pray.

Richard Phipps
Member #1,632
November 2001
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If it was easy you'd get bored after a while..

Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
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I've got one: Don't get a massive headache.

--
Thomas Fjellstrom - [website] - [email] - [Allegro Wiki] - [Allegro TODO]
"If you can't think of a better solution, don't try to make a better solution." -- weapon_S
"The less evidence we have for what we believe is certain, the more violently we defend beliefs against those who don't agree" -- https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/592870205409353730

Johan Halmén
Member #1,550
September 2001

If you can't raise your motivation for coding, try to lower your motivation for anything else that would take your time from coding.

Now, have I ever come up with anything as brilliant as that?

Another idea, a bit similar. Prevent yourself from doing other things. Matthew could implement a system on users' profile page, where the user could isolate himself from all other forums but 'Programming questions' and 'Game design'. Once set, it stays that way for two weeks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Years of thorough research have revealed that the red "x" that closes a window, really isn't red, but white on red background.

Years of thorough research have revealed that what people find beautiful about the Mandelbrot set is not the set itself, but all the rest.

William Labbett
Member #4,486
March 2004
avatar

I think perhaps the real meaning of the word (motivation) has been distorted over time. Motivation must come from motive. It seems to have been distorted into meaning having the will to do something.
I'd say if you're losing motivation perhaps your motive for game developing needs some scrutiny. With me, since I was little I've always enjoyed being creative so since I enjoyed playing computer games I naturally ending up wanting to make them.

When one doesn't do anything for a while because one chooses not to shouldn't worry anyone.

I'd say the bottom line is (and really is),
if you're losing motivation, you haven't got a motive - not necessarily lazy.

axilmar
Member #1,204
April 2001

Initially I wanted to make games, but I have been caught up in CS study...algorithms, compilers, programming languages...I no longer wish to make games...maybe some PacMan clone to play with AI...but that's about it.

The reason I was caught up in this is because I searched why programming with C/C++ was so inefficient...I discovered many languages in the way, but none stands above all after all...they all have the same amount of problems, although different ones.

Trezker
Member #1,739
December 2001
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Education is a huge production killer.

Set a rule that if you don't work on the project you have to learn something boring and useless.

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