[POLL] DEALING WITH THE LURE OF THE NEW

Poll

How do you deal with the temptation of a new idea for a project when you already have one or more projects in development? - Results

Ardent master mono-tasker. You work on one thing until it's done before even thinking about tinkering with the next thing. This is also the option to pick if you've only had ONE project, ever.
7
17%
Main squeeze. You might futz around with a side project for a few days to blow-off steam, but you know that the main project is priority one.
11
28%
Struggling multi-tasker. You're juggling development of a few different projects, and occasionally the shine of a new idea sends an old game to the land of "hiatus". Maybe forever.
9
23%
Perfectionist. You're more likely to scrap a project and start a new one when you realize your skills have grown far beyond the work you've already done.
1
2%
Doomed Omnitasker. New project ideas assail you all the time, glistening with novelty. You START new projects constantly, but haven't FINISHED anything in years.
11
28%

Posts

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Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
To all of you makers out there, I think all of us have experienced this: just as motivation drain is really grinding you down on a project you're trying to haul towards completion, a bolt of inspiration strikes you for a new game, maybe in the form of some new graphics that became available, a new mechanic you want to try out, or just a yen to work on a game with a different setting/theme.

Suddenly, the prospect of starting the new game makes you feel like a kid on Christmas morning, and the prospect of continuing your current project seems like doing homework in your least favorite subject.

How often do you have this happen and how do you handle it?
Honestly, I AM the last option. Okay, I have been like, one year with VX Ace, but everytime I work on a project, after a certain period of time, a new idea appears and I end up abandoning the project I was working on. And this is quite a problem for me, because my games aren't exactly short...

Now I'm working on another project, but this time, I'll try to finish it for real. And when I finish it, I may return to the other games I abandoned...

I just hope that temptation doesn't attack again... :(
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
This happens to me often. In fact just today I had one of those new-game bolts of inspiration.

I'm currently dealing with it by juggling several projects at once, and making sure most of the projects I start are short ones. I find that if I tire of working on a certain project, it's good for my creative drive to shift focus for a little bit and tackle something else. Then when I come back to the original project, I've had time to think on it and new drive to work on it.

EDIT: A great thing to do with those bolts of inspiration, if you can't drop everything and make a new game, is to write them down somewhere to reference later. It may seem obvious, but some people don't think to do it.
Corfaisus
"It's frustrating because - as much as Corf is otherwise an irredeemable person - his 2k/3 mapping is on point." ~ psy_wombats
7874
I've been pushing for more of the first option recently because I only have a few games I really want to pursue making and I also want to see them actually get finished.
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
I almost hit "perfectionist" but honestly I'm a mix of that and "struggling multi-tasker." I deem something unworthy because it's not as cool as often as I say "I can execute this new idea way better." Sometimes I release something, sometimes I don't. Let's see if this project can last until Christmas.
The same here. I'm both the perfectionist and the multi-tasker. It's irritating. I can never keep on the same projects for too long, and I simply don't know how to make short games. D:
I can't inject a feeling of satisfaction on them. In fact, I basically don't know what a short game *is*.
I don't have this at all. I stick to my main project until it's done and finished. While I do get ideas for other games or sequels from time to time I don't feel tempted to start up a new project while my current one is still unfinished.
Not option 3. I'm very unpredictable and prone to violent mood swings when it comes to game design.
I would say that I'm somewhere between option 1 and 2. I believe that to finish something, you can't have too many distractions. New ideas are fine, new ideas that take a year and a new game to do is not.

Do people that are below those two options really finish games? If I would pursue all the new ideas I get all the time I doubt I would.
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
author=SnowOwl
Do people that are below those two options really finish games? If I would pursue all the new ideas I get all the time I doubt I would.

I used to, man. Not lately. I'm trying! I've always been a doomed omnitasker, I'd say. When I was younger I could hold it together long enough to finish a game...sometimes. But even back then for every Iron Gaia there was a The Tower and for every Backstage there was an Eldritch. Although in a manner of speaking I'm coming back and trying to finish The Tower (2002) now, so there's that.

It also doesn't help that my last...two or three game projects that generated any buzz at all also generated MASSIVE controversy that made me think no one would play them even if they got finished. Fingers crossed for this not happening to Lionheart. But even if no one ever says anything less-than-nice about it, there's still the fact that I'm an incurable neophile.

@Craze, when I think of Option 4 it's you and Lou I think of more than anyone else. You even have multiple iterations of the same project started over because you felt you got better. The Edifice ones are the most obvious but I think there's some others too.
The struggling multi-tasker.

Right now I have many (small) projects, I guess simply because I can't work on just one thing. I get bored/stuck with one idea, so I switch for a period of time to a different game. I have notepad files for all my game ideas, and a monthly file thing that I write general ideas in so basically nothing is thrown away/forgotten, and over time I'll realise "this is fucking stupid" or "going in this direction now" and throw away/grow the idea accordingly.

I got inspiration for a new game the other week, but went with it despite working on other stuff. I'm keeping it within the restraints of a small game, so that the chance of it and my other stuff being completed is better. I hope.

Haven't actually programmed anything yet, so that's a huge hurdle.
I took the second option. My smaller projects are normally one hour or less, but my true dedication lies in the longer 'epic-length' pieces and just working on project whose world and characters I adore.

I suppose I'm also one of those devs who actually never has enough new ideas floating around to be distracted enough by it to make a game project. I tend to stick with the tried-and-tested fantasy JRPG formula and give it a twist, because I'm far more likely to play to my strengths and minimise my weaknesses ( which explains the lack of puzzles and over-complicated battle mechanics in my games, I'm just no good at them ).
Despite having complete a RPG epic (and now discussing remaking it) I still find it difficult to focus on one project. If I get the sense that the project is not going in a good direction I'll halt progress. While it's good to reevaluate before you're too far down the rabbit hole it can also kill a project.

At the moment, I'm juggling a few game ideas but I'm trying to focus on one project. I find it's much easier to work on smaller projects since I can usually finish them before the initial lure is gone and they're small enough that I don't get anxious that I'm making a 12-month plus commitment to something I might regret working on later.

Based on my experience, if you have a flash of insight for a game idea, it's good to write it down but not act on it immediately. You could have a few projects floating around but stay focused on one at a time. I've noticed that if I focus too much attention on a side project then it becomes that much more difficult to continue working on my main one.

I'm blaming the holiday for my lack of focus but afterwards I really need to get production started on my new game. My plan is to start working on it as soon as I wake up each morning before anything can distract me with other thoughts. If I'm thinking about or discussing another project all morning chances are I won't have the willpower to work on my current project in the afternoon.
I'd go with "Main Squeeze". I used to be a doomed omnitasker (anyone who remembers me as Lennon will agree) but now I'm trying to really buckle down and get somewhere with game development.

Honestly I think that it's the right place for me. I could never get away from coming up with new stuff and getting distracted by it, cause I think it's important to take those few days and explore a different concept every once in a while.
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
I am really surprised how many people have self-identified as Doomed Omnitasker. I really thought that level of creative scatterbrain was a uniquely me thing. I am equally surprised how many people went with the FIRST option.

Option 2 is what I assumed was most people's Modus Operandi and sure enough it has the most votes right now. (I have never been able to reliably prevent the "mistress" game from supplanting the "wife" game.)
author=Max McGee
I really thought that level of creative scatterbrain was a uniquely me thing.


It's mostly a uniquely RM kind of thing in my experience.
Well, I'm definitively a "Doomed Omnitasker". While in theory I'm a "Main squeeze-r", as I only have one project that I try to actively work on. I also have so many ideas that I'd like to see translated into games that just thinking about them is enough to distract me and zap away all my 'creative' energy for long periods of time. Hence why I haven't finished anything in years. -_-

One way I try to mitigate this is by merging ideas that are similar in structure/gameplay. For example, one idea I had was about two siblings escaping the invasion of Poland at the beginning of WW2, with some magical elements thrown in. And another one was about a married couple defending their home planet with the help of some technological McGuffin. So which one is better? To explore a fraternal relationship or a romantic one? A historical setting or a fictional one? Magic or Technology? ...It's not an easy answer really, because I've grown fond of both stories. But I hope for my sanity that I can find a compromise someday.

Something else I've found works is to just get those stories out of my system by putting them into game format in the most mediocre, or bare-bones way possible. xD I've benefited from this when joining community projects or contests, and forcing myself to work under their limitations, as opposed to working at my own leisure and aiming high. And even if by the end I'm still not satisfied with the result, I can always build upon it until I reach a point in which I can just "let go", and focus on other projects.

Edit: Maybe you're onto something there... xD
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
One way I try to mitigate this is by merging ideas that are similar in structure/gameplay. For example, one idea I had was about two siblings escaping the invasion of Poland at the beginning of WW2, with some magical elements thrown in. And another one was about a married couple defending their home planet with the help of some technological McGuffin. So which one is better? To explore a fraternal relationship or a romantic one? A historical setting or a fictional one? Magic or Technology? ...It's not an easy answer really, because I've grown fond of both stories. But I hope for my sanity that I can find a compromise someday.


clearly the answer is INCEST MARRIAGE IN MAGICAL SPACE POLAND

I wish life gave me the opportunity to say things like that more.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I guess I'm a Main Squeeze rather than the Struggling Multi-tasker that I actually voted for. I mean, I have a "main project", but, man, I've set my "main project" to a newer game on many an occasion. Yet, the "old main project" looms over my head, and the desire to just get it done, and out of the way, regardless of the quality of what's left to make, is certainly present.
I'm one of the main squeezers. I have an overall big project I focus on, but I take breaks and do shorter projects to vent out other ideas, short things I want to do that are less polished but fun to make.
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