Motivation

Started by AliveDrive, January 24, 2014, 08:29:52 pm

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AliveDrive

What helps you stay motivated when working on your game?
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

Heretic86

Me?  Challenging myself to do something I can feel proud of.

I think anyone that uses RM can create a Map with a simple ground texture.  I often try to challenge myself to make that map look better than ones I've done in the past or maps that others have done.

When I try working, I have to take it step by step.  I could take a step and generalize an entire story to get a baseline idea for the type of story I want to tell so it gives me an idea for what types of enviornments I'll need to make and the types of scripts and art assets I'll need to use to bring the world to life.  Once I have a general idea, I start taking it in stages and buiding more specific things.

I take breaks between steps.  I also go back and forth between steps.  Look at the big picture and see if the smaller part helps to complete a part of the big picture.

Mapping and Eventing are probably the biggest parts of creation that challenge me.  I try to lay out a Map that stays true to the big picture, then reference my generalized story to do the eventing for that map.  To keep my motivation, I use references to know what needs to be done.  If something is too big or too much to do at one time, I try to do it in chunks, where each chunk and step I take is something within my ability to achieve, and try to create something in that step where I can be proud of each and every step I take.

For me, the sense of accomplishment of each completed or improved step is what gives me motivation to move on to the next step.

Databasing is one of those things that we often neglect.  I cant do it all at once.  If I did, the story that unfolds would be based around a Weapon and Armor Base.  So I have to build the Database in chunks that coincide with the Story.  Is it time to upgrade the characters weapons and armor?  What would be fitting at this stage of the game?  How is my Pacing?  Does the player need to be leveled up here?  Is the player suffering from Grind Fatigue?  Should I put in a Puzzle so the player feels clever, or should I continue telling a bit more of the story here?  Does this part fit with the Big Picture?  I have some flaws here and there that need to be fixed, but are these important enough to focus on fixing them now or should I leave them for later?  Every time Im able to answer one of these questions, it gives me a goal to reach.  Once I achieve that goal, I can move on to something else, but I always strive for the sense of small accomplishments by reaching small goals to reach the ultimate goal.

Those small accomplishments keep me more motivated than only striving for the ultimate goal as my only sense of accomplishment.
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ChladBV

well I'll start with that when I lose motivation to make a new story (what I'd like to think I'm good at.)
That I most of the time just ditch my project completely. If I feel the need that I want to continue on my project, I will make a demo version.
I'll show my friends, and some other people asking for feedback, and how to make it better or if its fine I need to continue working on it. Then I take sort of a voting, negative feedback vs. positive feedback. So i don't use a really personal motivation method, but if you feel like your personal motivating methods don't work enough you can use my method, as making a demo, so if your not far enough in your project to make a demo then my method won't really work. :P

But keep in mind you shouldn't use all the suggestions that people give you, and always keep a change log and check in on peoples opinions about your project as you continue.


So I hope maybe this will help you and others able to keep motivated to continue your work.  :)



Zexion

I'll try to keep it simple. I've lost motivation several times, and it is mostly due to taking a look around and seeing that I've worked on something for so long and had little to show. While the rest of the world seems to have a nice project to show off and what not, my project sits there looking the same as always. That alone makes me lose motivation. What seems to have worked for me now, is just letting go of all of that. I will finish when I want, I will post what I want to show, and I will learn rgss/graphics at my own pace. I'll have a good project at the end and that's all that matters to me.

Hope this helps :P

Blizzard

It's easy to get work done when you're motivated. Try doing it without motivation. I think that the greatest feat of success is that you push through even through the hard times. I remember even back when I was working on CP. At times I totally wasn't up for getting anything done. But I sat down and started working. It took me over 2 hours to get rid of that "feeling of resistance", but after that everything was fine. Sure, motivation is great. But you should ask yourself if you are willing to put in more effort into your game, especially when you're not motivated. If the answer is no, you will never finish your game. Or probably any game. Especially not if you try to fill the "void of motivation" by starting another game.
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Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

PhoenixFire

I'll have to agree with Blizz on this, with one caveat. Sometimes it takes one game to spark another. I know that without The Epic Project failing so bad, I wouldn't have gotten motivation and ideas to start with Book of Leaves. Without flaws in BoL, I wouldn't have undertaken the XPAce project. Once XPA is done, I have a bunch of plans for BoL; as it stands currently, I'll probably use tomorrows release of XPA to restart BoL, and go from there :3
Quote from: Subsonic_Noise on July 01, 2011, 02:42:19 amNext off, how to create a first person shooter using microsoft excel.

Quote from: Zeriab on September 09, 2011, 02:58:58 pm<Remember when computers had turbo buttons?

Zexion

Quote from: PhoenixFire on July 31, 2014, 08:35:06 am
I'll have to agree with Blizz on this, with one caveat. Sometimes it takes one game to spark another. I know that without The Epic Project failing so bad, I wouldn't have gotten motivation and ideas to start with Book of Leaves. Without flaws in BoL, I wouldn't have undertaken the XPAce project. Once XPA is done, I have a bunch of plans for BoL; as it stands currently, I'll probably use tomorrows release of XPA to restart BoL, and go from there :3

While this might be true in the short term it's not always true in the long run. Over the years I have started many projects (as seen in the projects thread at one time), and though they did provide some kind of motivation for my main projects, the time I wasted on those other projects (months and sometimes a full year) could have been better spent doing something for the main project. In the end all the side projects failed and I stuck with the one fan game, so I have to agree with blizz on that part.

However, I think that working without motivation is near impossible unless you have some kind of structure going. You will get stuff done, sure, but you know that the content created without motivation won't compare to the content created with it. Especially if not using any rtp, etc. If your having an off day, you will waste time later on fixing and redoing stuff that you did during that time ._. unless you don't care about polish and what not

Blizzard

Quote from: Zexion on July 31, 2014, 12:46:03 pm
However, I think that working without motivation is near impossible unless you have some kind of structure going.


Well observed. But the point is obviously that you need SOME motivation. My point was that you have to push through the parts when you don't have any. You can always go back and polish things later. So yes, having a work habit / work ethic is a great thing to help you push through. The funny thing is that with a good work habit, the parts of the game created without motivation and inspiration won't be much worse than the parts with it. IMO this is true passion. When you push through even when it's hard.
Check out Daygames and our games:

King of Booze 2      King of Booze: Never Ever
Drinking Game for Android      Never have I ever for Android
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Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

Zexion

Well said blizz, that, I can agree with. In fact, this whole subject just motivated me to get back onto my project haha.

Blizzard

Lol, that's good to hear. I haven't had time to work on BE's final maps in the past few weeks and tomorrow I'm off on vacation for 10 days. I wanna at least finish the maps until my complete vacation is over on the 18th so that I can start making the cutscenes.
Check out Daygames and our games:

King of Booze 2      King of Booze: Never Ever
Drinking Game for Android      Never have I ever for Android
Drinking Game for iOS      Never have I ever for iOS


Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

ForeverZer0

Quote from: Blizzard on July 31, 2014, 01:36:14 pm
My point was that you have to push through the parts when you don't have any. You can always go back and polish things later.


I agree. I often have to do this when writing code. Sometimes specific things can get get tedious, and wasting hours trying to "make something perfect" can just lead to frustration. What I do is this: just get some basic bullshit working version of it, enough where I can continue on with other things. After continuing on doing more, the feeling of making progress and accomplishing something is motivation to go back and redo the shoddy job I did earlier, and I find usually things that were frustrating me suddenly become clear.
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