Besides sheer force of will and kilograms of vitamin caffeine, what kinds of motivators do you draw on to keep chugging away towards your goal of finishing a game?
UE4 has empowered me in ways not previously experienced, and I also have a deep passion for the Civilization genre, so that is probably why I have kept at it. But even with those drivers, there are plenty of days where I am low on energy after dealing with a more-than-full-time job and 2 kids.
For me, it can be as simple as a song like Juke Box Hero or Eye of the Tiger popping up on Pandora to instantly raise/double my energy level while working on the project.
For me its the love to create and wanting to bring my own game dreams to reality, Id also love to make this a career I mean who wouldn’t want to make a living off building their own video games?
At first i started gamedev a bit, to make my grandma happy.
She wanted me always in a nice clean suite and working in a Bank, or doing other criminal things, without getting catched.
But my grandma is dead since a very long time now and i do not own even one nice Jacket.
I only own workwear.
Ok so i thought, making a quick game and buy a nice jacket from that cash, to impress grandma. At first my dreamgame was so bad, that i thought, when i sell that i get a jacket from jail.
Then i started improving / extending it(adding some bugs) and while i was doing that(learning basics of UE), i feeled often happy.
And for sure i am realistic enough, that i know it’s not possible to impress my grandma, with a new jacket.
I bet she would be very confused, when i would present her a modern jacket.
For Me it just what i love. But what keeps me going on the bad days. seeing what you all are doing. Trying to match it (one day.) or sure pass it. (Prayer Prayer Prayer work Work Work)
I went to be able to play my dream game one day. and have other to play it. (hopefully having fun and loving it) and Like ambershee said “Money.” would be good too.
Most of us love designing games, and for those of you close enough to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, money is also a surefire motivator.
But for those of you who are deep in the tunnel with no light yet visible at the end, where do you draw the extra strength needed to keep going? You come home from work and just want to crash on the bed or veg out with a movie or game, but somehow gather the energy to push on with your project even if you have only a single hour.
I have been doing this for 2 years now. Apart from “moments” of weakness(Borderlands 2 and Fallout 4 binges) I put every spare moment into the project. I suppose I pull my strength from pure passion, but there are days where there isn’t enough energy left in the brain for even that to matter.
Along with however many thousands of hours I have spent playing Civ, I also modded Civ 5 for the first 6 months after it’s release. Spent way more time modding it than I did playing it. There are things about Civ 5 that bring the series forward, but also many things that take an unfortunate step back.
I play civ now and then for research purposes, but try to limit gaming for fun as much as possible just so it doesn’t take up all my time.
I can see the advantages of taking on a project that can be completed in a sane amount of time, but fortunately or unfortunately that is not the route I have taken… Civ games aren’t exactly simple, but I don’t think my passion would hold with any other project in my current life situation. I can hardly imagine what the true finish line looks like at this point. I am basically planning on this project taking another 5+ years at the current rate, which I am honestly fine with. It is the little milestones that matter, and those times when I can grasp on to some spark of motivation that fuels me further forward in a few hours than the previous days of work.
I’ve been working on games since 6th grade - 6 years ago.
Countless hours spent on countless unfinished projects.
And I wouldn’t undo a second of it. I’ve always loved programming, and since I wasn’t really allowed to play many games as a kid, (strict parents op) I always dreamed of making the sort of games I never got to play…
And here I am, still making games, or at least trying to. I love it.
Basically, I’ve always done it, and I feel bored/unproductive/unimaginative when I don’t. So I do.
Given that I have made it 2 years without getting bored I don’t see that as being a problem.
When I stopped working on my Civ 5 mod it wasn’t because of boredom. It was because I had hit a wall and couldn’t really progress without access to their source which took them several years to finally release.
For me the greater danger is day to day. For instance, Paragon looks great, but I feel guilty anytime I take time away from the project to play something else.
See, I actually wish my parents had been at least somewhat strict because I spent my childhood playing games all the time and I never learned anything productive or put any effort into school. It all worked out in the end, but I wonder how things would have gone if I had learned how to program at that age instead of playing around.
It would have also helped if my school had programming classes. I see schools starting to offer programming as an alternative to a second language course and that is great. Will definitely nudge my kids in that direction.
If you already have 6 years experience by the time you leave high school you should be pretty well prepared to making programming a living if you can afford to go to college, and then maybe even if you can’t.
umm, researching hard to avoid possible trademark clash, avoiding everything that come close to trademark/copyright, even doing so before buying a small imty dimpty domain name buying domain for first time hosting building that’s the fun part thought, ensuring and reserving wanna be company name specially in YouTube (that’s my zonre) didn’t want but doing that in Facebook, instagram that’s it, Suppressing the urge to show off my game before creating brand around it, suppressing the urge to list it in greenlit before at least making five level, suppressing the urge to show off in forums and to show how cool it looks suppressing the urge to show off the logo (for exapmle :(), that how cool I made
Sometime feel lack of energy entering in Unreal Editor, but if entered, solving the problem in my own way is such a joy, then I just don’t feel to leave unreal do essential daily works unreal make me forget my fav games that I could not resist to play before since long Unreal is itself a puzzle game for me at this moment
I see it as my escape from the slavery called Work. I’ve plenty of days that I’m just snoozing and watching movies, or play games. But it’s part of the process to gain new ideas or bring them to a next level. Best ideas are coming when you go for #2 on the toilet.
The freedom of creating your own world is too addictive.
About Civ 5, Don’t know what it is about it, can’t get into it like I can with Civ 4. Will do a 2 or 3 day binge on Civ 4 every year or so.
What keeps me going: Curiosity. There is always something new to try, to learn, to explore. It keeps me feeling like I’m on the cusp or the tip of the wave of technology, even though I’m just sitting in front of a screen for hours.
I’ve actually never thought about it that way… interesting. I guess it should be a mix - my parents where so strict I never could watch tv, or pretty much any games… I think that’s just too far. But having a good limit it good cause it can let you be creative.
I wanted to be a famous comic book penciler and work at Marvel/DC.
That failed, but working on games worked out for me so I kept going… Btw: challenges are what keep me up.
If there’s no challenge, I drop it; while there’s a challenge I never stop.
I can hardly imagine what the true finish line looks like at this point. I am basically planning on this project taking another 5+ years at the current rate, which I am honestly fine with. It is the little milestones that matter, and those times when I can grasp on to some spark of motivation that fuels me further forward in a few hours than the previous days of work.
buying domain for first time hosting building that’s the fun part thought, ensuring and reserving wanna be company name specially in YouTube (that’s my zonre) didn’t want but doing that in Facebook, instagram that’s it, Suppressing the urge to show off my game before creating brand around it, suppressing the urge to list it in greenlit before at least making five level, suppressing the urge to show off in forums and to show how cool it looks