Best environment for indie coding?

My day job's just sent me on a project abroad, so now from Monday to Friday I'm leaving out a suitcase i a hotel.

But the weird thing is, I'm getting loads of Blitz coding done in the evenings, cuase I've got nothing else to do, I've lamost finished a full game already and it's only been a week. It's not too bad a game either, check out the showcase later tonight.


What's every one's best situation for coding?

Being doused in petrol and having someone nearby holding a match - saying 'Code you bitch! Code!'.

Zigarettes, Coffee, no phone, a tv on the left side of my screen and no woman in the next 30 miles around!

bye

Everything on an even keel.

Peace and quiet, with plenty of Regal kingsize!

Very rare the first part at the moment, but I'm just managing to squeek a bit of coding in! :)

Peace, Quiet (except for music you've listened to a hundred times or TV programmes you've seen before) and no games installed on your computer.

Nights/evenings when i havent got a little man saying "daddydaddydaddy" and a girlfriend saying "Are you actually coming to bed tonight then?" or tempting me with programs and films that are "just starting" on the telly

Sat in the bedroom, listening to chip tunes and chugging coke. It helps if I haven't been coding at work all day.

That too.

Winning the lottory so I can give up the day job and not feeling so knacked that I can't think straight.

Oh and plenty of beer and a bag of peanuts

It's not only the enviroment, but also the motivation in general. I like coffee with a half a spoon of forest honey, it's like speed. I need a healthy enviroment to feel good: no smoke or stinking hairspray etc. around. No bad music from neighbours. So I often put those ear protection plugs in, just to beam myself to an other universe. What motivates me mostly is playing other games from top publishers. Then I get this "I can do that too!" feeling that sometimes lasts for weeks, until a project is complete.

Alcohol is a bad coding compagnion since it makes me tired after the first hour of drinking. Other substances may help, but you should never destroy your body or your mind, nor should you risk to get punished for illegal activities.

Normally afternoon in my home office when I can put music on and none bothers me. Tempting to unplug the phone to, but I never do. Another good time, if I'm not too tired, is the middle of the night with headphones on.

I like puki's environment the best.

A computer with no internet access.

Best for me is coding at my summer place. Being surrounded by nature and clean air really boosts my creativity.

Pretty accurate, cept I dont have a kid or watch telly.

So it's pretty much just the GF that bothers me.

Anyway, I need a clean open office space, corner of the front room, facing away from the telly preferably. I am still planning my office area since my laptop is on its last legs. Ran for a year solid and finally started collapsing.

I'll second that comment of having no games on your computer.

I'm using my work laptop which is pretty rubbish and hasn't got anything beside my own blitz creations on it right now. Couple that with the lack of the xbox and I'm in a virtually game free zone.

I'm not that interested in released games. well, not unless they are somehow innovative, so I am usually game free anyway.

What exactly are you referring to?

In my tomb in dead of night.

When all good folk are safely in bed and the only noise is my pet zombie, shuffling gently, looking for brains.

I don't know you but I can't code while my room is messed up.
Everything must be tidied before I seriously start coding.

No alcohol, no smoke, no tv or any sound should be distracting me.
I play some indie games like jfk said to get that motivation
to compete with them.

Yeah, indie games get me motivated too. I sometimes just download something from here to inspire me to what one person can acheive. Playing a big studi game normally brings me down as I think I could never make something that big on my own.

and looking at the dozzen or so credits pages neither could they ;)

Interestingly I had no Internet this morning, so instead of my usual trawling, I just got on with some really good code instead...

Dam, Lineof7's beat me to it. No internet is the best. I have the blitz forum page on quick link. Any time i'm thinking for a few minutes, i click to see whats happening on the forums...

Make yourself as comfortable as possible. I often think something along the lines of 'I am cold' or 'I need a cup of tea'. I used to feel guilty about going and doing this type of thing and stopping working. But I found that I then just procrastinated and couldn't get my mind right to keep working. If it takes less than 2 mins to set up and get then just do it.

tbh Ross, I'm surprised it got as far as me before it got mentioned.

With the World Of Potential Knowledge that is the internet, I'm usually spending more time *learning* about coding and design than I am actually *doing* it. The best chunk of Blitz coding I ever did was on a 486/66 in the corner of the room that had no internet connection and was (at the time) too crap to do much else *but* code. Got a lot of stuff done on that thing... 'til it ate it. Meh - live and learn. :o)

The best enviroment for coding is on a desert island with a generator and nobody else around.

That is interesting LineOf7s, thinking back my best coding 'run' was on an old p133 which was at my nan's house, and I was quite productive on it for a similar reason. Maybe I should get myself an old PC off the bay...

I keep thinkign this. The lack of a good internet connection and a descent graphics card are definitely the reasons I'm not being drawn into games.

It's also nice developing on an old computer as you know everyone will be able to run your code.

I code best when I have a looming deadline. But best of all when at home in my home office with the television Comedy Central in the corner.

Not having a job or a girlfriend helps immensely.

Got to pay the bill's somehow

Which is probably why it's a good idea to start before you have any serious financial commitments.

lost your job Flamey?

What's a 'job'?

My guess is it's one of those things where you go and do stuff for the day and then they give you money.

Hmm. A novel concept.

not really.. it's fairly old.. :p

Interesting.