Have I burn't out?

#1 Yes... I did. Now you need to find something else to distract you. If you are seriously interested in creating games and game content, you will find your way back to it as I did.

- Brett

#2 For me, I love to model and I love writing code but the problem is I am not as good at them as I wish I were, and I get discouraged, slow down or not do it at all for a while. This is where a team would be great to have, as long as the team is committed and fun to work/play with. They keep you motivated with their ideas and designs.

Yes I know how you feel, I have had the engine since '02' yet havent really made anything. But then again I bought it mainly for a learning tool and that it has been.

#3 Im having this same problem right now. I WANT to love games and game development, I really really do. I want to love them again so much.

#4 I haven't had a chance to love making games yet. Between a full-time job (and I do mean FULL) and being married I rarely have the drive to keep learning Torque for more than a few hours a week.

#5 Yea =( i want to love games, but my computer is burning out, and it sux =(

#6 I feel the same way sometimes, but the truth to it is that as much as you love game design and development sometimes it is gonna feel like work. There are times where I don't feel like coding or modelling cause it feels redundant, but you just gotta push your way through it. Then again I'm a workaholic.

#7 I have my ups and downs when it comes to game development and playing games as well. I try to force myself to work at least 6 hours a week at modeling, texturing, coding, and such. Some days I work more than six hours in one setting, while some weeks it's hard to get my minimum six hours in. Right now I'm in a modeling stage, where the only thing I want to do as far as game development goes is make models. A while back, I really got into the scripting thing. As long as I do something, I feel like I'm making headway.

#8 Yep same here.... I took a couple of months off, did some other things, and eventually found my way back. Taking some time off is really good, I'm 10 times more creative and effecient now.

Quote:This is where a team would be great to have,

Not always true, having a slow working team (working over the net is just slow, its really hard to have it at the same speed of a local team), was one of the reasons of my "burn-out". It just became too frustrating at some point.

#9 I find if I'm working on the same thing for too long it becomes drudge work. At that point I go and do something else.

I've found that the Game in a Day thing we've been running on IRC has been an invaluable motivator. There is nothing quite like the intensity of a GID, where everyone is working almost non stop on cool games, posting screenshots every now and then, whooping for joy every time they overcome an obstacle, and swearing like you wouldn't want your momma to hear every time something goes badly wrong. It's all the agony and elation of the entire gamedev process compressed into 24 hours with an unbelievable high at the end of it when you get a chance to sit back and look at your creation. I love it.

We are re-running the previous GID this weekend for those that missed the last one due to fathers day. www.gameinaday.com for details. I've not had time to update it since the previous GID, but you should be able to get the general gist.

Drop by the #gameinaday channel, doing a GID may just be the dynamite up your backside that you need to get interested in gamedev again.

Tom.

#10 What mark said really rings true for me. sometimes it just is gonna feel like work. really cool work, but work nonetheless. you just have to get through it and on to the next task at hand.

also, i find that when i take a break and do something else, it gives me time to digest what youve done. and whether im taking a walk or going to a movie or whatever, i see things that remind me why i do this to begin with.

real life is a great source of inspiration for digital life.

#11 I think the reason for my burn out was that I spent a couple of weeks spending around 3 hours a day on my last game (yes that long, I was working so hard to get stuff done) and when I released the demo and screetshots to my community they told me it was SH*T... that was really motivating :P.

Thanx for your comments guys, I feel quite motivated and I think I am gonna do some other things but I guess in a week or so I will be bacl again modelling and coding :D, that GID sounds fun too, I might just drop by and give it a go!

#12 Joshua,

I had exactly the same you described. I've been working on and with games since 10 years now and one year ago I felt burned out like you described. I've been working in the industry on a commercial game engine (gxEngine from LightCube), for companies that wanted games and also for my personal sake on games in private virtual company indies@work.com.

One day I decided to take a full half year off of game development (I didn't know before that it would be half a year). I felt I have to stop developing until I reach the point where I say that I want really to code again. One day after nearly half a year I've seen somewhere in the web some screenshots of a game and that images kicked me in again - that day I started developing a game again (Subsonic).

But things changed a bit. I'm now more relaxed with my development on Subsonic. I think really a lot more now before I code any line - think, how much does this really affect any gameplay - is this change really worth coding it - how would like this feature x or y. Is it because I'm getting older? :-)

I found out that my game develops now better than ever! Yes, I managed to write more code before that "half year off", but now, instead of that "mass coding" (which I enjoyed too), I enjoy it much much more now to write a line because I know that line brings the game forward.

Maybe those lines help you, you're not alone! :-)

Best,
Martin

#13 Joshua - have you actually had a goal to achieve? Or have you just been puttering around?

If it's the latter, that's the easiest. When you are doing stuff with no purpose, and don't have much to show for it but some screenshots when you are done, as soon as the novelty wears off its no longer fun.

If its the former - you have some problems. How solid was your goal? Was it too lofty, impossible to meet? Why did you set it in the first place? If your goal was just weakly designed and overly ambitious, it's time to create a new goal. But if it was clear, reasonable, and you had a nice payoff at the end (a released game!), but you still can't stand the thought of finishing it... well, then you've got other problems.

If you just need a break for a couple of weeks, do that. I get in that mode where I really need to take a day or two off from working on the game before I go insane. After a couple of days I'm ready for more punishment.

#14 "...and when I released the demo..."

At least you created a demo to release Josh! That's got to count for something. How many coders have a game "in development" and never get anything out? Too many, of that I'm sure. Give yourself kudos, or a beer, or whatever works for you...

and take a break. Just do something else for awhile. I usually breakout my acoustic guitar and rip on some blues or learn new classical fingerings for awhile, weeks if need be, until the code bug gets me again. 8^)

The secret is to do something that is as far away from coding as possible, IMO.

#15 Lol, I attacherly have got out my guitar :P it seems we share something in common, well thanx guys, you have been loads of help!

#16 Here's what works for me: Units of work! Seriously, make a list of bugs/features to implement. Its important in any sort of workplace to have a sense of accomplishment. Its much harder to skip around. Make a list and check those SOBs off :) Give yourself rewards (beer, smoke, whatever) when you are done w/ X number... That and take a small vacation :)

-s

#17 Three things get you through burnout:

- task it out (plan more -- use accomplishment as fuel)

- set smaller goals (many times you want to build a game within a month or the like -- start smaller short and long term as you accomplish smaller you get more hopeful and learn more with detailed focus -- be realistic)

- I once heard that professionals are the ones who can work to a steady level even in times where they would like to be anywhere else but working -- keep going

#18 Burn out is a VERY common thing. About every 5 days of work I feel a bit discouraged, and not because things aren't going well, just fed up. You have to pace yourself, have something else to do. Nobody can do the same thing forever, no matter how much they love it.

My tricks are: have other things to do, like drawing or painting or building.. and if you are tired but still working on the game, work on WHATEVER interests you. Normally, work is prioritized on the basis of importance to the game's first cut, but include your own interest as part of that priority, for example, if there is a stage-II feature that you really find neat and you find you work on, go ahead and work on it.

Sometimes, I think the quality that's been most important to me as an indie game developer (and I've not produced a single game yet and have been working under 1 year so far, for context) is how well one deals with discouragement. Can you feel stupid, useless, and a failure and STILL keep coming back? I dunno if it's different for others, but in the start, that was very much the biggest challenge: Not the code, not the design, not the 3d work, was in sticking to it through every failure and setback until something finally CLICKED and then things began to snowball and happen.

Hope that helped. As they said: Keep going. FIND a way to keep going, and keep going.

#19 I have been able to but up with critisim over the years, its something I have grown to have. But it is still hard when a gameplayer buts your game down, when they don't know how much effort you put into it!

I have been working on a small car physics demo on the side as well as my project to take my mind of things when I need to.

I chose car physics because I do grass track racing, and I love driving cars at high speed :D

#20 Andrew has a good point. Never stop moving forward. Even if it means working on something that isn't high on the priority list, but instead is fun to work on and distracting. Hell, I even bounce between projects when I get tired of one. (Though I always try to limit how much time I spend on the side project, so I don't get entirely side tracked.)

Also, get a white board. A cheapie one can be had at places like CostCo or WalMart or local equiv. Write down a series of objectives. Write down EVERYTHING. Then tick them off once you are finished.

Trust me, there's nothing like seeing a whiteboard filled from end to end, top to bottom with your scrawl, and a solid line marking off each item. :) It's a real sense of accomplishment. (Plus, makes a handy changelog!)