Finishing my first game while working full-time
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Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time
#2My inability to finish personal projects has nothing to with project management or planning etc.
I can't finish a side project because for me it is never 'finished'. I lack the ability to say that this is fine enough for my own projects. I always keep wanting to make things better and never can say it's finished.
Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time
#3I only really agree with #3. Planning things out actually hurt my productivity as I'd get side tracked or disappointed when things took longer than expected...then I'd look at the backlog and get equally frustrated. I really just went with the flow and it all came together.
You have to have passion for it though. It's the common trap I find a lot of people in that fall out of side projects quickly. They're doing it for the wrong reasons and inevitably get tired of it/uninvested and burn out. It's more about the journey than it is reaching the end.
Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time
#4For me, after I got one project properly done, it actually became harder to abandon a project partway through than to not finish it.
To my detriment even, I've been working on a game for the past 3 years which I'm fairly sure just "doesn't work" in a way I find difficult to explain. But as much as I try, I can't stop working on it.
The other thing that plagues me is decision fatigue. I'm working through a decision right now which is tangentially related to my personal projects but is absolutely weighing me down mentally.
Edit: Reading another reply, maybe I haven't conquered my problem, and that now my projects just never finish, rather than me abandonding them. Maybe thats the case, but right now its absolutely not finished by any means, so thats a problem for later
Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time
#5I'll add to his advice not to quit your day job. Gamedev is unreasonably difficult. It's not software engineering (whatever that might mean). It's a different beast entirely.
I've advised several folks who said they want to quit their jobs to make games to do a compo, a game jam, something small and constrained. Ludum Dare has historically been good. Try but expect not to finish. You'll learn about your own weaknesses and limitations.
Even if you don't finish the first few times, you'll hopefully understand what it takes, or at least think you do.
A good next step is to timebox one or two months, in your free time, to make a game, publish it, _and earn $1_. That's it. Make a buck.
If you can pull that off, and make a buck, you've made it. You're a professional game developer.
Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time
#6> You need to focus, scope right, relentlessly break work down into bite-sized tasks, and create a rock-solid habit of getting things done.
This is my only takeaway from the article. I think it's well-written but I also found it vague. Finding implicit joy is such an abstract thing that has no set formulae to it. I am glad that the author was able to complete his game.
Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time
#7I'll add to his advice not to quit your day job. Gamedev is unreasonably difficult. It's not software engineering (whatever that might mean). It's a different beast entirely. I've advised several folks who said they want to quit their jobs to make games to do a compo, a game jam, something small and constrained. Ludum Dare has historically been good. Try but expect not to finish. You'll learn about your own weaknesse…
I'll also add, it's not the planning that helps, but having goals. If you set out to "make a game" you will never finish. You need a goal in mind. A line that you can cross.
Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time
#8Something surprising I've noticed while developing my own side project game is that I end up being a better marketer than developer. I can only work on the game while I'm at home and 'in the zone', but I can post screenshots on social media at any time of the day. The consequence is that I have a larger-than-anticipated fanbase who are starting to get confused about why the promotional material flows freely while development time appears to slog.
Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time
#9My trick is to spend 15 minutes per day minimum working on the side project.
Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time
#10havent shipped a side project, but i do keep track of my project so i can say with some certainty what things have helped me to accomplish the most. they are the following
1) the no zero days mantra - 15 minutes a day of progress is fine it helps to keep the momentum going and when you got that free sunday you just find yourself wroking more.
2) i do keep also a lot of trail of notes of ideas and concerns on how to further the project. if I have to keep a break and come back to it after some time it helps to remind my self where i was.