Motivation

I lack it. I have a great idea for a 2d puzzle game (actually I've had the idea for over a year). It's innovative and would do really well. It's like a payday just out of reach. And I can't find the motivation to work on it.

Anyone else suffering from this?

Yep, been there.

Great ideas don't always = motivation. Is there anything you'd really like to make at the moment?

Well I'd actually like to play the 2d puzzle game than code it. Might sound funny but...

Heh, no... that's understandable :)

mine is lack of time at the moment 7 12+ hour days in a row

now ive got today off (and it being a bankholiday too) ive got a huge list of things i couldnt get done over the week to try and cram into the next 48 hours (well less now) before i do my next 7 12 hour days

so sadly blitz coding takes last place

yet when they finally get round to a split shift and i get to go home at 2pm im not too sure if ill ever have the enthusiasm to get back into the newbies forum and start afresh from page one of krylars book etc

Ginger Tea, Jake wrote about this in his Grey Alien Blog. You need to quit your job.

I've always had the same problem with my jobs - all of them were energy drainers, no matter if I had to work only four or twelve hours a day in them. Whenever I got home, I could not work on my own interests anymore.

They only answer to that is quitting the good damn job.

As for the motivation problem: Yeah, it's hard to create than to consume. I have a few unfinished writing projects (novels) on my hard disk that I would love to read, too. ;-) But I also have many finished things on my hard disk as well, so at least I know that I can get there over time.

Maybe you should start working on another project. So when you do not have the drive to work on one, you can still do something for the other. It never really worked for me, though - when I have a vision, it wants out and occupies my mind almost exclusively until it is done.

I think it's worst if you have a game completed to 99% and you realize you are bored with it and you have no free time...I hate the final details!

Take it step by step. Prototype it first and see if it actually is fun in reality. Lack of motivation is usually due to lack of belief. Part of you thinks the game would be a success but other part feels that it's a waste of time or doesn't want to be proven wrong. If you never complete the game and put it out there it can live on as a success in your mind.

I think it often depends on your track record. If you finish that consistently achieve your primary goals then you are likely to stay motivated. I think the biggest demotivator definately has to be failure. Especially if you struggle on something for a lengthy ammount of time and feel that your getting little reward for your work.

How to overcome that kind of failure... It's hard and usualy motivation is cyclic. Any game dev project has it's highs and lows. The real choice is whether to continue being a developer, give up, or take a break and see if the motivation comes back.

Plus sometimes, you just burn yourself out, especially if your not good at scheduling your workload and time management. Plus holding together a team without some kind of financial incentive is never going to be easy.

aint quitting me job quite like it really
and all other jobs are either high skilled sciences or burger flipping and retail ;)

got called in today bout 10 mins after writing that post so did 12:00 - 18:30 over time which is better and worse than doing 06:00 - 18:30 as i got a lie in but id rather have 12 than 6 hours of bank holiday over time :D

i used to write alot
that kinda petered out since moving down here, first off id be in a quiet pub or some coffee shop with 5mm square note paper writing down ideas, but never having a pc to type it all up on
then ideas started drying up as i started to knit scenes together (some written years apart but placed the day before or after) took a creative writing course for inspiration but in the end the only writing i did was in the class room

i got the impression that 'the one book' i had in me was all but finished bar the odd bit here and there all that is needed is to type up all the pages of hand written notes, which i REALLY dont want to do, id rather type this drivel out than copy out 3 year old pages of text that i still enjoy reading