Motivation For Game Developers - 5 Tips To Finish A Long Term Game

Motivation for game developers isn't always easy to acquire. In this video I share 5 of my top tips for longer term motivation when you are making a game. Sometimes the things you have to do for a year or so are different then a few weeks, and I discuss that.

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[bigjiggly]

I'm not giving up on this project, I'll drag myself through it if I have to, not because I need to finish it, but because I want to prove to myself I can finish what I started.

[lh]

Had your videos on in the background while working a lot lately, good stuff man! Keep it up!

[kys]

Could, rather than burnout, TOO MUCH motivation and passion also be a stopping factor for a game dev? I recently wanted to just create one animation, but for some reason my brain goes to "overdrive' and suddenly i'm in the middle of making a lightsaber battle. Basically, wanting more from your own while being an introvert seem to contradict a lot. Great channel. You deserve more subs.

[berkza_sd]

"This world is not black and white, this world is not a one or a zero, this world is a beautiful paradox of all kind of conflicting ideas that have to work together". Wow... that's something we should always keep in mind. Really good video. Thanks.

[Gua]

When I've started my indie career I had serious problems with motivation. I've read a lot of articles on that matter. The weird thing for me, is that I had to invent my own solution and that solution goes against most common advises. So my current approach incorporates a lot of freedom, doesn't have milestones and deadlines. I almost don't have priorities for tasks. I've became full time indie 4+ years ago and shipped multiple projects, this approach still serves me well. Believe me, I know it's weird, that it worked. I know, I should write article about it, but I always have something more important to do.

[BananaKyat]

Man all your videos are like gold nuggets.

[rainingsun]

I totally understand about the whole laptop thing! My backpack is always ready for portable game deving!

[assajitjahjadi]

I'm listening to your videos while making game.. It's good to listen to motivational speech or video to keep my self strong. I burnt out several times, and I'm no longer young indie

[BlueGooGames]

Didn’t see this until now but it’s really interesting to think about. I guess I’m currently obsessed and feel i miss out if I dont work on it continuously but I guess taking time off is important. Thanks Tim!

[zacharymasterson]

Not rendering to this video specifically, but to all of your content in general. You talk about things that not many others will even touch on. Its one of the reasons I like your channel more than the others I have found

[concept]

I really enjoy your videos. Its almost as if i had a friend into the same stuff i'm into with more experience. I'm stuck in limbo. Something just yells at me not to do it the conventional way. To try on my own and learn. I stopped looking alot of stuff up and started thinking and writing my solutions down then refining it. When i feel its perfect i will translate it from paper to pc. I actually have ton's of code written in several notebooks. I wish i had a real friend like you lol.

[KevinDrongowskiSmart]

I'm taking my break right now, so watching this has helped a lot with keeping my head straight.

[MindDoctorsMakeAcid]

Great advice as usual, thx Tim.
Just wanted to share something that helps me out a lot and its just doing regular breaks every 20 to 90 min or when you finish a piece of code.

[Yeetus]

my problem with games, is i really enjoy making it, but make it too much, then when i need to sleep, i wake up with no motivation...

[chadkuffert]

You are really good at this! Love the videos you post!

[Virjoinga]

I've been trying so hard to keep on track with my project I started last year. I keep on procrastinating over and over and it kills game development for me. I think I am not good enough and I don't try to begin with or I will start learning and then I just stop. I hope I can figure out this problem some day.

[avegoosch]

I work on my game for 2-3 hours on weekdays and “oh, it’s 11 p.m. already?” On weekends.
So rule 1 and 2 is hard for me. I came here because of burnout and didn’t even know it.
Another reason is I make a part of my game then think “I should add characters, and story.” That’s usually when my project begins to fall apart. I don’t actually put it in, I just think about it and plan it.

[LinkingYellow]

We have a meeting every week on Sunday, where we grade each other on the work done in the past week, we discuss small scoped precise goals for the next week, document coding organization, and brainstorm cool ideas that we can try later on in development. The week by week nature is very important to keep up momentum even when we don't have time to do a single thing during the week. The documentation is good for keeping us on the same page with what's necessary for each script and how they interact. The brainstorming is good for motivation. We never act on the stuff we discuss there because it's important for us to focus on priorities. Nether my partner nor I do gamedev full time, so this solution is working great for us. There have been months where we weren't able to do anything because of other commitments, but we kept meeting and giving ourselves goals until we had time again, which proved to me that this system works under pressure.

[konjovi]

Thanks so much for these videos, they truly help :)

[Ratstail]

Change your environment. I'm going to my grandfather's house to code today, because I really need to #finishit.