I seem to sometimes suffer from what I call programmer’s block. Kind of like writer’s block I suppose. I want to work on my game, I know what needs to be done, but I sit down and there’s just nothing there mentally. I don’t feel like it’s a lock of motivation - I’m very excited about my current project - my brain just won’t produce sometimes. I pretty much watch TV or read or become very unproductive for a week or two until it passes.
Anyone else suffer from this? What do you do to get past it?
Exercising daily helps me mostly defeat this.
Take walks everyday as a break. Run, bicycle, swim, lift, etc.
Any physical activity seems to clear the mind.
Inebriation helps me with writer’s block. Probably not the best way to code though. 
Good advice and something I definitely don’t do enough of. I did do a 10 day 90 mile backpacking trip in Yellowstone last summer, but I’m sure the benefits of that have worn off through the winter.
Hmmm… probably worth some experimentation.
I’m suffering from this right now.
Usually it revolves around knowing generally what I need to do, but being unsure about the specifics. Right now I need to set up the character types so you can hire dudes and stuff, but I’m not sure exactly what the classes should be or how the system should work. So I’m not sure exactly what code to write.
This kind of ‘uncertainty’ moment is usually what kills my productivity the most. It also happens to be the moments when I usually need to make some kind of compromise I’m not thrilled with.
Huh, I get the opposite. When things are uncertain is when they are exciting. I get to try new things. Its once the shape of things is mostly determined and I just have to write out the code that I loose interest and motivation.
I don’t actually have a valid strategy to beat it. Since game programming is just a hobby for me I can afford long stretches with no productivity. I just go do one of my other hobbies.
It is called procrastination, not programmer’s block.
Make a regime and stick with it. Break your grand plan for making your magnum opus into small tasks, and work on small tasks. Just keep working, pretty much, even if your brain start trying to convince you that you should take a break, that you should try tomorrow, etc, because those are lies.
However, in the unlikely event when you literally can’t think, it may be indication of mental overwork. In which case you’ll need a break for a day or two. Since it has been going for weeks, though, I’d wager it is procrastination, not overwork.
It’s indeed procrastination as neginfinity says.
The question is why do we do it?
you’re just burned out? … having a plain uncontrollable desire for instant gratification? …fear of failing?
We often don’t know what goes on exactly in our own subconscious, nevermind other people’s subconscious. But I guess the first step is try to understand exactly why do you sabotage yourself.
In the meantime, try to at least power through your block. Make a regime. Have a long term & short term task list. If you can’t resist procrastinating, always work FIRST, even if it’s just one thing. Become good at gaining momentum.
Let me guess, you work alone? I usually just take a vocation, sometimes it hard to get back to work but it is better then power through, maybe I am just lazy.
This is why I’m browsing the forums now instead of finishing the asset. I don’t have a mind block, I’m just procrastinating lol. It happens when I get stuck usually. Its usually a bug (or ten) I I’m having trouble fixing. 
Just two more threads, and I’ll get back to work… for realziez.
Not a coder - but I’ve had this similar ‘thing’ in the past when creating art content.
My personal solution - I’m a list writing fool. I write lists upon lists because it helps me - move on to the next thing in line. And not procrastinate as much.
I update my lists in the evening/early morning hours - after I’m finished for the night, and I write up what is ToDo tomorrow, and how much I think I can get done.
I usually do not get done with the amount of stuff I write the prior evening - because things come up that need to be sorted out - and sometimes things take longer to get looking correct than I estimate.
And I’m sure to update the list - if I have to revisit something or if I have to do several other things that I didn’t list in order to move on to the next thing. This actually helps with knowing I’m getting stuff done.
If I look at the list at the end of the day - and there are 1- 2 things checked off when I’d planned to get 6 things done - it’s discouraging to know I’m falling behind. But if I update the list when I run into obstacles or unplanned steps - it helps to know I’m getting more stuff done than what was originally on the list. I look at it at the end of the day and there are 6 things marked off instead of 1-2. And the list is updated with tomorrows workload.
I also tend to sketch a little, 10 minutes or so - before getting started on dev stuff. It helps get the creative circulation flowing as it should be.
Is there a comparable, simple mindless ‘thing’ a coder/programmer can do that is similar to sketching for an artist?
@Kiwasi I also find the design / engineering problem solving part to be the most enjoyable. Once things are figured out and it becomes a matter of typing it all in… well that I see as just a necessary evil. Although I do enjoy refactoring, cleaning and otherwise improving code.
I definitely need to take breaks from game dev. I think a big part of it is due to being on the computer all day for my job. Some times I am just “burnt out” by the end of the day but the biggest factor I think is just feeling like I’ve had enough of working on the computer for one day. Time to do something different. I also enjoy being outside a lot. Just getting out of the house and doing something. So as can be seen on my game development log it is pretty common for me to take a day completely off from game dev. In the past 20 days I have taken 5 days off. I actually think that is not bad at all. However, it’s pretty common for me to only put in one hour or less on the evenings I do work. There are exceptions of course.
Yeah, lists are the only reason I stay on target at all. The list for my work in progress has 695 completed items on it (that’s over the course of 1.5 years), and a hundred or so todo items currently.
As far as mindless, sometimes I’ll try to do more mundane parts of the project, like the menu system or whatever. That helps.
I am currently working solo (on the game, not in my real job) but plan to at least find an artist to help once most of the prototype features are nearer to completion.
I feel like this might be at least part of it. But like @Kiwasi I sometimes get very energized in this situation and make huge amounts of progress, currently not. I guess brains are weird.
Thanks everyone for your input so far. It’s helpful to see that others deal with this and work through it in various ways.
Me too, I enjoy making lists. Well not lists really, I find ToDo lists boring, I use XMind to make mindmaps as ToDo lists. Its so fun using it I just want to add more things to it. lol
I can’t sketch, when I start drawing I get carried away and it ends up being 4AM and that wasn’t very helpful…
I recently started just bouncing ideas of off someone and the feedback helps. It’s amazing what another person’s perspective on something can contribute to your own. You aren’t blocked or stuck, you’re uninterested on a deeper level. The thinking part of your brain knows you want to do this, but the emotional part of your brain calls b.s. Emotion always wins in the end.
Definitely!
If I find that I’m like this I spend a bit of time planning rather than building. For me this mostly happens when I know what to do, but haven’t figured out how to do it. So sometimes the planning that I do as a result isn’t about things to built but, moreso, experiments to perform.
Also, items on my current task list shouldn’t just be specific, they should also be small enough that they’re easily digestible. “Implement an inventory” is a huge task. “Allow the player to have a list of collected objects”… not so much. “Display them in a grid”, also pretty easy. “Give each object a sprite”. Bam, done! And so on. Basically, I make sure that I don’t have to switch levels of abstraction while I’m working.
This seems like it might be a cause of decision burden. With 100 items do you find that it takes time to select which one to work on now? Do you notice any trends in the items you select?
If you haven’t already, I’d give them all priorities or deadlines, and use those as the basis of selection. Applying a policy like that saves your brain a lot of effort, because deciding between things not only means thinking about the things, but also thinking about how to compare the things. Putting a policy in place nails both of those. It reduces required thinking down to “X has the next highest priority/nearest deadline, so I start on that.”
Maintaining and updating the priorities/deadlines is a task in and of itself, probably best done in “project management” time rather than “dev time”. (Keep those separate if you’re not already.)
This, too.
LOL, I’m not even able to start on looking at anybody else’s code til I put everything in namespaces and line up beginning of lines how I like and but // control type /function/class at the end of every control block.
I am another avid task list writer. I write extremely detailed task lists for myself to help me keep focused through the extremely boring middle of long projects. My task lists are usually the only fuel I have left after the initial euphoria of the early project stage wears off.
If I get stuck on a specific task item, I will break it down into even smaller subtask items, and then work on those subtasks.
“I tried to participate in Ludum Dare this weekend, but I’ve got the worst writer’s block ever.”
Even notch gets it