Indie-Resource.com

Ugh in one of those funks again. I just finished writing some code for someone elses game, Facebook implementation, I scrapped another one of my projects, and I have been back and forth on another. I have came to a dead stop and really do not know where to go. All this not completing my own project has finally peaked to a height of no oxygen. I am choking from my own device.

I have went through every game type, back and forth, back and forth, trying to decide on a final. That one project I can complete and see through to the end and be happy enough with it in the end that I will continue to host and update it. I have ruled out 3d. Just too much work for me right now. I would never see it complete. Text based I think is the way to go. I have yet to find a feature I cannot implement in a text based browser and the ideas are endless. I have about 100 I want to do. Problem is the motivation to get it done and to make it truly unique.

Where does everyone get their motivation from in times like these? What settles that argument in your head "If I build it will they come?"

I have often wanted to convert a Miniatures game like Warhammer or Hero Quest to a low graphics browser game. Not use their material or name of course. But would it have appeal? Then that thought of players being able to build quests for other players came to mind. But then that is the way Miniatures game work. Build your army, play a quest. Gain EXP and Gold, buy more miniatures. A idea that has intrigued me since day 1 of my quest through browser game development. Problem is I cannot fail again. I cannot quit my next project. I think that will be the final heart attack that stops the ticker. Its a do or die situation for me.

If I start to loose motivation, I step away from it for a while to gather my thoughts. I talk about it with my wife and a few friends to gain ideas and assistance. I talk with a co-worker on it, and get their opinions, re-gather thoughts again and go back to it.

Sorry to hear that halls.

I get that situation a lot while working on Angela. Angie is huge, complex, not something that I tend to get any feedback on (usually because I have to explain the problem it tries to solve in the first place) and debugging new code can hit the occasional snag. In that situation, I do three things:

1) Put it down for a while. Just as an athlete needs a day off to recharge, sometimes a dev/designer needs to step back for a while and recharge his juices. Do other things and enjoy life. Then, some days or weeks later, something will wallop you with inspiration and you'll be back at it.

2) Go hiking or (if your genre is fantasy) visit something from the middle ages or older (I know, tough to do in AL). I'm often inspired in the mountains and in the forest. I currently live in Germany and there is no shortage of old castles and old town quarters with an odd quirk. The same goes for other places in Europe as well (I took some fabulous photos of Bamburgh castle, in Northumbria, this past summer). I also found India inspirational when I was living there.

3) Read a good book from your genre, or some genre close to it. I'm particularly fond of Bernard Cornwell's saxon series.

A lot of my inspiration comes from academy, actually. When I feel like I need inspiration on a game, I read history (typically the older the better, but different genres can be tapped in the last 100 years as well), philosophy (Plato's Theory of the Forms or Allegory of the Cave, anyone?), science (sci-fi just flows when reading a intro college science book and thinking "what if..."), astronomy (again, sci-fi aplenty), and of course, mythology and theology. I have tossed around the idea for a while of making a game set in ancient Japan, steeped in the mythology of Amaterasu, Izanagi, Izanami, and other bits and pieces of Japanese ancient mythology. It is fascinating stuff mostly untouched in gaming outside of Okami (and even that was so loose that the material is basically unused).

I think your going through what I've heard called 'magnum opus syndrome'.

Your always shooting for this 'perfect game', or this 'truely unique game'.

Ask yourself why you have a monomaniacal need for a perfect/truely unique game? Because it is monomaniacal - your super mono focused on this. Why?

Honestly, if some corporation hired you to make a text based mmorpg in say 90 days, you'd just do what you can in that time. You would compromise.

I really think your being uncompromising and it's twisting you apart. You wont put up with anything less - and as a result your not putting up anything!. You'd compromise for a company and just make something. But you wont compromise with yourself, and it's killing your output.

*Gasp* Make something less than perfect!?

In every other craft, people start out making stuff and it's pretty rudimentry. They make tons and tons of the items, refining their skill each time. All the great scupters or painters started out making not that great stuff.

Yet your trying to skip right to the end and make that perfect, truely unique mmorpg, right now!? I mean hell, look at the number of updates WOW has had - it's basically an entirely different game from when it first came out. They refined their craft over time, with practice. And that's a team with dozens of individuals, not just one guy!

Go and write a text based mmorpg in a WEEK, that's CRAP but it is complete (though it can be updated).

Just write a crap text based mmorpg in a week, a complete one, and then you'll see the world doesn't stop turning if you make something that's not perfect and that is not unique.

I mean, I've watched you twist on this spike for awhile. I'm setting you a week to write a crappy text based mmorpg that is complete (it can have updates latter, but it must be a complete as in a game to play, right now, by your own words). I don't care if it prints 'hello world' and the only thing you can do is click a link and make a number increment by one! I'm daring you to just make it in a week and say DONES DONE on atleast one project! Let's see - at my end it's Wednesday, 6pm-ish, so the deadline is next week, same day and time. That's my dare to you!

A little rough at the end, but I figure you need a push! You can always just get annoyed with me...

i love you man
you have seriously given me an idea....


Thanks to all the posts.

Plato's Theory of the Forms or Allegory of the Cave

ever read Caverns of Socrates? Very good book based on the concept somewhat.
http://www.amazon.com/Caverns-Socrates- ... 0451454677

Actually, the shadows in the cave is part of what spurred the idea of The Matrix... anyway.

I know this is a dead thread, but I wanted to throw my thoughts in.

I think everyone has those moments of losing our motivation. That's when this becomes a job. Those are the moments when you prove you're serious about your work, and not just playing around. I know, you REALLY don't enjoy working on a game when you're not inspired. This being a creative industry, that's a big problem. But I've found that if I pause for a moment, and tell myself to "grow up and get to work", then I push through the work anyway, I actually feel more productive than when I'm just doing it because I enjoy it. Then I feel like I'm really earning something and showing my dedication and skill.

Anyway, I hope that viewpoint can help someone. Good luck with your work!

good point. I have had to do that as well. There have been a few websites, scripts, I have done for pay and I have had to push myself through it.

I have actually come out of this funk and have created a few things since then.