How can I make myself accountable to finish what I start?

Okay, cards on the table, I’m exhausting everyone and probably myself most of all with my relentless posting.

And especially my relentless project jumping.

This is beyond sad and there probably needs to be a disorder named after me ay this point.

I had a game ready to ship and bailed on it because there was some issues with the non-profit I was going to work with on it.

That’s where my profile pic comes from and I know I need to let it go starting with changing my pic.

But yeah, I’m 43. Have been all about game dev since my commodore 64, that Atari programming cart, and click and play.

I spent years and years with build engine, struggled with torque and ogre.

And then Unity came along and made everything so simple.

I don’t know if I give up at the slightest amount of friction, get bored, or get afraid that I got put my critiques aside and put up or shut up.

And it doubly hurts me that if I’m being honest that I have a difficult personality for this.

Most people annoy me and small talk is torture. Probably have an antisocial disorder because the only way I can engage with people on the interpersonal is if I make it a game of winning people over and deep down don’t care about people. Not like, I hate people, or don’t have people I care about. I care a lot about some people. But it takes me a long time to get there.

I’m a social snail. And I despise small talk. I like talking about things, you know? Like big things.

Not a lot of people like that in the US when 30% of people read at a 5th grade level.

Not trying to be smug, just real. Obviously that’s not the case here on the forums.

And believe me, I’m aware of the drug of delusion.

Real easy to think that just because you recognize genius doesn’t make you genius.

Just because I can recognize that the Sistine Chapel is genius doesn’t mean I can paint it. A LOT of people can’t say the same.

Put up or shut up, you know?

So I really need to put up and shut up until it’s up.

I’m going to bleed from my fingertips until I’m done.

My five year plan is to make a generic FPS in two years, then make something that is truly from my center in three.

That’s 96 weeks on one the first and 144 for the second.

I’ve decided to do the valve thing and jump around so my mind doesn’t turn to mush.

But I truly believe I can make an fps with 4 episodes and 8 stages each if I schedule it out, but more importantly, keep to it.

So that’s the plan.

Any tips or suggestions?

If it’s just a hobby then the most important thing is that you enjoy it. I tend to start and stop lots of small projects without a real plan of releasing anything. I like to work on parts that I might combine into a full game in the future e.g. MVVM for UI, motion matching, multiplayer tests. But even if I don’t release anything it doesn’t really matter as I still find it interesting and it helps me become a better programmer. I think the main issue with releasing a game is just how much skill, time and dedication it takes.

If you really want to release games then I suggest finishing the game you were about to ship first. Just getting it to the store should be a confidence boost even if it doesn’t do well. I think having a project that you’re really passionate about can help if you’re planning on taking more time on it. Planning the project in advance and making a schedule with time frame goals can help. Also avoid leaving the worst tasks for last. Spreading the types of tasks out might also help e.g. alternating between art and programming.

I feel like communication skills and working with a team is just as important as programming skills for game dev. Based on your posts your communication seems fine. I think a lot of people aren’t really comfortable talking in person but if it’s just about the project it isn’t so bad. Working in a team really helps when making a game. You can focus on a smaller part of the project and spending less time overall helps avoid getting bored.

I find getting into a routine really helps, just try to avoid any distractions like the internet. If you want to work full time on games then working at a game studio is a good option as it avoids a lot of the risks with solo indie development and you can learn a lot.

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I think I’d rather have my eye orbital get shattered in a mugging and spend the next 10 years getting reconstructive surgery than to spend one week working in a game studio.

lol.

The dream is to release a game that makes $5M net profit and never having to do a lick of work ever again.

Like, buy a house, two new cars, a killer rig with a giant drawing tablet. Put away the rest in wisdom tree stock and live off of the divid ends.

But you make some good points.

I can’t remember who said this, but I once heard something along the lines of-

Make the beginning and end of the game first.
For example- make a title screen, a short tutorial level, the last boss, and the end of the game where you win. Then you will have a super-short, tiny game. It’ll be short but it’s a complete game in the sense that it has challenge and is winnable and lose-able. The next step is to build a level in between the tutorial and the boss.

Use the same strategy to build the level. Make the beginning of the level and the goal of the level right next to each other at first, so you can just walk right to the end. Move the level goal out more and more as you build the level, but always make it reachable from the beginning. Once you finish the level then you’ll have a finished game that only has one level.

Make as many levels as you want, but if you develop in this order, then you’ll always have a finished game at every step of the way. That means it doesn’t matter if you get bored and give-up. You can stop at any time and you’ll have a short game instead of an unfinished project.

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This works for story writing in general, too. If anything, having an ending is more important than a beginning. Though 2nd most important I’d say is an interesting premise or hook.

Though if you at least have a good ending in mind, you always have something to work towards. Or, you can start with the end and work backwards to the begining. Or go from both ends and meet in the middle.

Though I guess this all depends on the type of game one might be making.

I mean I can only think of two people who have attained anything close to this: ConcernedApe and TobyFox.

The changes of pulling off the same are pretty slim. In ConcernedApe’s case, he poured his heart and soul into a game and thankfully got picked up a publisher that gave him the advertising for the game to take off. TobyFox was already very popular before Undertale.

Maybe worth lowering your expectations…