[Discussion] How do you deal with a motivation slump and self doubts?

Hi,

If you already started to develop a game, you probably know this for yourself.
At the beginning, you're inspired, full of energy and motivation to make a great make.
Then comes the work, and it starts nicely, you see it progress quickly, you're getting forward and you are happy. Then, there is this, and that, and the work piles up, more and more. As the weeks and month pass by, it seems progress is always slower and slower. Developing the game seem to transform in a never ending task that becomes always more of an effort. So you push yourself a little more, and more, until your motivation gauge seems depleted. Not only that, but finishing it still seems so far away!

Then come the self doubts. ...is the game I'm making even funny? Now that I'm playtesting it for the 100st time, I'm not so sure anymore. Will people like it? Will it be great? Or will it be played by a handful of people, then be forgotten in the ocean of average games nobody cares about? Is all this hard work wasted efforts?

Then you try all possible techniques: making a relaxing break, using a TODO list, breaking in down in small steps, and whatever you can think of. But the root of the problem remains. Your motivation gauge is empty, it doesn't seem to refill, the goal seems still far away and self-doubt is nagging more than ever before. ...it's hard to be a game developer. ;)

What's your take on this?
I guess there is no magical recipe, but how do you do to "refill" your motivation gauge?

The secret is in what you do before you hit your slump, in my opinion anyways.

Pace yourself.

By pacing yourself you are able to keep the stages of development fun and interesting. Going through grind sessions is a quick way to burn out. If you find that you have become burned out, step back and either it you are going to find yourself back at it, or you won't.

If you do not, then it is probably not for you. Some people can "refill" their gauge, others cannot. Try taking a step back and doing things that are different, if that means getting away from the computer for a while, then do it. The closer you are to the project when it comes to your spare time, the closer you are to working on something you should be taking a break from.

Try asking for help from someone , usually the idea of bouncing ideas off someone else can usually help get you motivated into doing things. I like getting help when I'm usually in a stump like you are now. Like right now i don't feel like working on my mmo pokemon game but my friend is working on it right now for me thank god for friends lol.
If you need help or need some one to talk to you can add me on skype Zeak6464

Thanks, that's probably good advice. I guess the only way to progress is, contradictorily, to let it go a little. I'll try to pace down even more, even if I'm already fairly low paced. :p

I'll also try get some more feedback from it. I guess I'd find it nice to see if someone likes it. Since my close relatives and friends have no interest for it, it's quite hard to build confidence that "someone" would like it. If you want to try it out, it's here "creatures-of-gaia.com/demo" ...who knows, perhaps you'll like it. Cheers & thanks for the support.

Btw, beautiful tileset worldslayer! Did you do it yourself?

xarn said:

Thanks, that's probably good advice. I guess the only way to progress is, contradictorily, to let it go a little. I'll try to pace down even more, even if I'm already fairly low paced. :p

I'll also try get some more feedback from it. I guess I'd find it nice to see if someone likes it. Since my close relatives and friends have no interest for it, it's quite hard to build confidence that "someone" would like it. If you want to try it out, it's here "creatures-of-gaia.com/demo" ...who knows, perhaps you'll like it. Cheers & thanks for the support.

Btw, beautiful tileset worldslayer! Did you do it yourself?

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I have been doing this since 2009, and I would like to think I have been around the block when it comes to this. Doing different parts of the project in spurts helps keep me excited. A day or two I can spend mapping something out, and the next few days I can do conceptual design and then break for a couple more days and come back to it. Maybe that is just me, although I doubt it.

Getting feedback is always a feelgood. You can post your game here so people can take a look at it. I am not sure how many people will venture away to offsite content, I would if my work did not require my computer to be running top notch.

The tileset is compiled from various works around the web and some of them have been modified :P

Like I said in my guide: For my experience, I suggest you to spend some hours making your game every week. If you stop doing this, the chance of you give up of the project greatly increase. Keep the rhythm! I believe that this is the way that the people manage to do the same job for decades, some people have the vocation to this, others don't and others even have this skill hidden (due to a bad start).

For the ones who never done a game before, I strongly suggest to start with something small and tangible. If you try to do a big/detailed game, this may take a HUGE time and the progress goes too slowly that increase the chance of you gives up, specially when you are adapting yourself to a developer role/routine. You can even plain to release a simpler game and improving it later.

xarn said:

Then come the self doubts. ...is the game I'm making even funny? Now that I'm playtesting it for the 100st time, I'm not so sure anymore. Will people like it? Will it be great? Or will it be played by a handful of people, then be forgotten in the ocean of average games nobody cares about? Is all this hard work wasted efforts?

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To test if some part is fun if you don't see fun playing the same part again and AGAIN, I know about 3 techniques: Feedback (as quoted), experience and theory (some concept and ideas just aren't innovatives/dynamic enough to maintain the player interested in keep playing).

About the number of people playing it and wasted efforts: The most important isn't the goal, but the jorney. You will become a better developer at each game that you make. Popularity/success isn't a fixed arithmetic progression. A plausible scenario: Your fist game is played by 20 people, your second by 2000 people and your third by 50000 people.

I particularly think that the best part is when your skills increase, your game advances and gets better and better and more near to be concluded. This gives me my best motivations.

One thing that you may want to consider is working at the game from a different angle - I've seen a lot of people developing their games in the order that a player would experience them, but maybe today you don't feel like working on Route 3's trainers. Instead, go ahead and work on something further along in the story. After all, it all has to get done anyhow, so really you shouldn't worry about developing everything in sequence.

Hi guys,
Sorry for the delay with my responses ...actually, I don't know what I can say/add. It still feels difficult and I'm wondering each day if it makes sense to pour time and effort in the game I'm making.

Here it is if you wanna try it out:
creatures-of-gaia.com/demo

Yet, somehow, I feel obliged to pull it through because I already put so much work in it. And I want to give it up at the same time. Not easy.

There is nothing wrong with picking up and dropping a hobby, only to come back to it weeks, months, or even years later.

I know plenty of people that do that with their hobbies.

Grinding it out is really not all that helpful.

Look at Pillars of Destiny, Pokemon Garnet, or even Phoenix Rising. These are all games that have been in the works for an extended period of time. Rome was not built in a day, but the time and effort put into it over a period of time created an empire. Ultimately, you have to decide if it is worth the effort.

Since 2009, the effort and time I have put into Pokemon: Dissension, has let it evolve into what is Pokemon: Pillars of Destiny. I would not ask for any of that time back. Ever.

This is common not just in game development but application building in general. You lose motivation because you lose track of the amount of work you've done and you underestimate yourself. You manage to convince yourself that the code you've written isn't good for its job or the graphics you've designed aren't top quality. The solution? Version tracking.

I do commercial programming and I can guarantee you that version tracking with git is the best thing I've ever done. It really makes you appreciate the amount of work you have put in because you can look back three months and say wow, look at what I've accomplished since then. Version tracking also helps you to track down bugs and things like that. I haven't tested it (but I am going to now since this thread put me in the mood), but this script will export your project into human readable format which you can then use to upload to github. I strongly recommend you start version tracking if you are serious with your project: https://github.com/rakudayo/rmxp-plugin-system.

ЩѻƦḽᶑʂḽдƴƹƦ™ said:

There is nothing wrong with picking up and dropping a hobby, only to come back to it weeks, months, or even years later.

I know plenty of people that do that with their hobbies.

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Keep in mind when there people following your project. It's a hobby but these people will become frustrated if you give up. This is an importart thing to consider, specially if several people follow your project. Put yourself at both viewpoints.

That is more of a self accountability issue. In the fan game world, the vast majority of games will never see a release, I assume that most people who watch the fan game community are also aware of this.

I had it originally typed into the message you quoted, but I removed it before posting and it was a bit about publicizing do's and don'ts that really did not pertain to the individual topic.

Best suggestion I ever read regarding that problem is the "KISS rule" (Keep It Simple Stupid)

Keep the game small. Don't aim for one as long as Final Fantasy (or Pokemon :) ). I've also found entering a competition can help, you know you've got a time limit.

An other thing that motivates me is when I get positive comments about my releases. The first ever game that I actually finished took 6 months (working on and off). After release I got a lovely personal message off a forum user. My next game was made in two months, the third: a week (i suffered that week!).

I haven't made a game, but I draw, and game making is also an art (hey, this part of the forum is under the art and creativity section). Going for a walk helps, when I walk, my brain buzzes with ideas. So go outside, keep hydrated, and maybe you'll come up with something new. Or just have your mood improve in general, haha.

I've hit a slump recently, which has hopefully now gone. Haven't done much while in the slump, a few odd things. I find that the best way out for me is to ignore the project causing the slump and focus on something else for a while, and eventually i'll get the motivation to continue at some point