As the title says, I managed to actually finish a project I was working on and learned some lessons along the way. Partly this post is just to selfishly vent some of the frustrations I experienced over the last 4 weeks, but hopefully by splooging everything useful I learned over this forum it could actually help some of you out there who are making their first game, or stuck in a cycle of working on a project for a few days only to abandon it forever.
I started simple (but not simple enough)
I had failed to follow through and finish several other projects prior to this game. One of the main reasons was the complexity of the projects, although simple on paper, they involved extensive artwork, music, sound and many different game mechanics. I decided to strip away everything and try to create one tight, compelling gameplay loop using nothing but the unity stock assets. I estimated this would take me 2 weeks to complete.
It will always take longer than expected
I came into this project with a basic knowledge of unity and a passable level of programming. The best example of how my time was wasted during production of this game can best be summed up in the making of that green laser aiming line. To get that line half working (It still clips through the walls) took me four days. Four days for a line. With each day spent working on it my frustration grew. I became trapped in a cycle of spending the entire day working on it, only to scrap all the code I had wrote because I felt no closer to the end goal. My solution was just to progress with other aspects of the game, only returning to tackle the dreaded aiming line when I was at my freshest and most focused state.
Motivation/Consistency
Whenever I was stuck working on something I didn’t enjoy whether it was college or a job I always had the thought “I wish I could just spend all this time working on game idea X”. When I actually got this opportunity to spend every waking moment working on this small game idea I found myself struggling with motivation. One day I would productive and work for 12 hours the next I’d work 2. The lack of consistency frustrated me. The advice I came up with is based on what worked for me so maybe it’ll work for you:
1. Put your phone far far away.
2. Get rid of that dull headache by going outside and slurping on some fresh air.
3. Force yourself into a routine whether its 16:00 – 5:00 or 7:00 to 22:00.
4. If you’re having a bad day and aren’t in the mood blare some of your favourite music nice and loud.
That’s my rant over I hope some of my ramblings will prove useful to some of you lovely people. For anyone interested you can play little game in all of its stock asset glory here.
Leave a comment telling me what you like/dislike, it would be a massive help going forward with future projects.
