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LANGUISHING PROJECTS
Posts
kentona
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CloseHave you ever had a project where it just sits on the sideburner...and sits and sits and sits and sits, languishing and lingering on? Do you ever come back to it? Do you think about it? Why is it sitting there, unfinished and un-worked on?
I was just thinking about this because I have several project ideas on the go, but in practice I only ever make time for 1.5 projects (as in, one actively worked on, and one kinda on the side that I work on sporadically).
When is it finally time to stop working on a project and come out and cancel it outright? Or do you just leave it in development hell?
For me, let my projects linger for far longer than I should before cancelling them. It is kind of cruel to anyone who followed the project to let them hold out hope for so long, but on the other hand I have a real hard time letting go of a project and admit that it is never going to get done.
Also, it has me wondering why I let a project wither and die. Is the idea just that unsalvageable? Has the project become to unwieldly or tedious to work on? Did a new idea come along that was just too cool to pass up?
On the flipside, do you ever revive languishing projects and finish them? What is your motivation?
I was just thinking about this because I have several project ideas on the go, but in practice I only ever make time for 1.5 projects (as in, one actively worked on, and one kinda on the side that I work on sporadically).
When is it finally time to stop working on a project and come out and cancel it outright? Or do you just leave it in development hell?
For me, let my projects linger for far longer than I should before cancelling them. It is kind of cruel to anyone who followed the project to let them hold out hope for so long, but on the other hand I have a real hard time letting go of a project and admit that it is never going to get done.
Also, it has me wondering why I let a project wither and die. Is the idea just that unsalvageable? Has the project become to unwieldly or tedious to work on? Did a new idea come along that was just too cool to pass up?
On the flipside, do you ever revive languishing projects and finish them? What is your motivation?
Rowan
131
This is one of the reasons why I work on one project and only one. Creating additional projects while in the process of creating another only hurts development time and dedication. If the dev just cannot let go, they should analyze their projects, see if there are any salvageable ideas and/or elements, and try to figure out a way to implement them in their most active project (if time permits).
In comparison, instead of creating a new project for every leet idea, the dev should write it down somewhere for later use.
In comparison, instead of creating a new project for every leet idea, the dev should write it down somewhere for later use.
catmitts
4862
Most of my plans never get beyond vague ideas, usually based around whatever music I'm listening to at the time. I wouldn't say I cancel them since I'm the gamemaking equivalent of the little old lady who saves up old pieces of string just in case but it's basically like a constantly shifting set of priorities between imaginary releases. One of the reasons I like small games is because it gets frustrating overthinking everything. I have a bunch of text documents on my computer where I dump this stuff and in general the likelihood of a game to be made or even started upon is in inverse relation to the amount of stuff I've already written about it. I do have a pet project which I can never seem to get rid of that I'm actually tinkering with right now to take advantage of the good weather, I've been picking at it in one form or another since I started AGS so we'll see! Could this be....the one...........
Actually I only have one project that was cancelled after I already did a fair amount of work on it but I'm still too embarrassed to talk about it because now it's a big ole monument to WHY I SUCK: THE GAME OF THE FILM so.
Actually I only have one project that was cancelled after I already did a fair amount of work on it but I'm still too embarrassed to talk about it because now it's a big ole monument to WHY I SUCK: THE GAME OF THE FILM so.
NicoB
3071
Basically what Rowan said. I find working on one project at a time helps keep me focused. Otherwise, I will just move on to something else and forget about previous project.
Shinan
4314
I guess it's a lot like what catmitts said in my case. Occasionally I have projects I get fairly far at (eSF-RPG) but then abandon for a long time only to pick it up later and essentially restart it (only to abandon it again later).
It's always vague ideas though. Stuff that would get implemented eventually somewhere. There's rarely any physical files or things like that around. And in the cases that those exist when I repick up an abandoned project I often just look at the old stuff for inspiration and never actually work from what I had. (I might pick pieces here and there)
I have dozens of ideas that are on the backburner for forever. Whenever I'm out of inspiration it's easy to just pick one and play around with it for a while. (these are just ideas so no actual work is required either)
When I had rm2k I did have a bunch of lingering project files all over the place. But they never actually WERE anything. I do have a bunch of AGS project files lying around too but they are rarely much either (except one that became a tutorial)
It's always vague ideas though. Stuff that would get implemented eventually somewhere. There's rarely any physical files or things like that around. And in the cases that those exist when I repick up an abandoned project I often just look at the old stuff for inspiration and never actually work from what I had. (I might pick pieces here and there)
I have dozens of ideas that are on the backburner for forever. Whenever I'm out of inspiration it's easy to just pick one and play around with it for a while. (these are just ideas so no actual work is required either)
When I had rm2k I did have a bunch of lingering project files all over the place. But they never actually WERE anything. I do have a bunch of AGS project files lying around too but they are rarely much either (except one that became a tutorial)
I actually take advantage of this sort of thing. At any given time, I have one ambitious project and one tiny get 'er done project. I tend to jump between projects a lot, at that - I'll get tired of one game's spreadsheet, close it, and load up another.
Dratio
0
I've had lots of cancelled projects, but I never let them sit there for long. It's like they haunt me, telling me "finish me off, come on you failure of a developer..."
So I delete them all shortly after losing all interest. I've lost many cool things I did over the years because of my compulsive "delete all" behavior. But hey, that's just how I am. Nothing to regret.
So I delete them all shortly after losing all interest. I've lost many cool things I did over the years because of my compulsive "delete all" behavior. But hey, that's just how I am. Nothing to regret.
Drakonais
2787
I was making a long project for several years and halfway through, I looked back and realized that I had gotten much better at telling stories as I grew. It pained me to watch the beginning. So I trashed that old one and made a fairly cohesive one in a year's time.
Sad to see the old one go, but it was definitely useful in helping me become a better developer.
Sad to see the old one go, but it was definitely useful in helping me become a better developer.
TDS
1453
This is happening to me right now... Because of a completely weird reason.
The project is nearly done and I just need to revise the events and make sure the scripts work, but... I don't want to finish it...
I've had so much fun making the scripts and features that I don't want to finish it, so I let it sit there without touching it... Almost done and I can't bring myself to complete it.
The project is nearly done and I just need to revise the events and make sure the scripts work, but... I don't want to finish it...
I've had so much fun making the scripts and features that I don't want to finish it, so I let it sit there without touching it... Almost done and I can't bring myself to complete it.
post=143560
Most of my plans never get beyond vague ideas, usually based around whatever music I'm listening to at the time.
music is like where 99% of my ideas come from.
psy_wombats
13315
Yeah, I'm another adherent to the "one project at a time" thing. Most of concepts start life as random ideas which then translate to giant wall-o-text topics. The most I'll let a side project grow is into one of those planning topics.
Another thing that helps is having multiple people involved on the same project. It's much harder to let something languish when it's being actively worked on by other members.
But as for projects that are in limbo, there's a difference between projects abandoned because they're bad and because the developer lost interest (though one is often related to the other...) Bad things are just canceled, but if there's something other reason for a project being suspended, I'll just let it run. Sometimes I get back to them.
Another thing that helps is having multiple people involved on the same project. It's much harder to let something languish when it's being actively worked on by other members.
But as for projects that are in limbo, there's a difference between projects abandoned because they're bad and because the developer lost interest (though one is often related to the other...) Bad things are just canceled, but if there's something other reason for a project being suspended, I'll just let it run. Sometimes I get back to them.
Delesky
15
post=143608
The project is nearly done and I just need to revise the events and make sure the scripts work, but... I don't want to finish it...
This is happening to me, too. I have the infrastructure for the content in place, and I have the beginning and endings completed, but I just don't want to go in and add the rest of the content to my current project. It didn't help that I started working on something else, either...
post=143623
Harbinger.
Huh? It's being actively pre-developed, which is very important given how 70% of the game's story is pure worldbuilding (and the other 40% are character stories)*. It's not tangible yet, but...
*There is 110% story since Harbinger is basically the anti-Crazegame.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Ugh, this happened to Vindication after I had a hard drive crash and lost about two months worth of work on it. I just could not bring myself to redo all that crap.
Three or four years later I came back and finished it. Mostly due to one of my friends who was getting into RPG Maker and trying to make a game. He got me to start talking to him about his, and then he got me to start making maps for his, and then I decided to finish my own old game also.
Realistically it is rare for me to restart an old project like that, but very common for my projects to take upwards of two years to finish. So as a result, doing only one at a time is something I would not consider.
Aside from that one time with the hard drive crash, when I abandon projects, it's usually due to being frustrated with other team members. I work on a MUD (a text-based MMORPG), and having to run every change by the other admins can be tiresome - especially since one or two of them haven't actually done anything except argue about other people's ideas for over three years. Though that's still better than them quitting entirely. And it's kept me from using a lot of admittedly really awful ideas. But that doesn't make it any less annoying. I like being my own boss sometimes.
Three or four years later I came back and finished it. Mostly due to one of my friends who was getting into RPG Maker and trying to make a game. He got me to start talking to him about his, and then he got me to start making maps for his, and then I decided to finish my own old game also.
Realistically it is rare for me to restart an old project like that, but very common for my projects to take upwards of two years to finish. So as a result, doing only one at a time is something I would not consider.
Aside from that one time with the hard drive crash, when I abandon projects, it's usually due to being frustrated with other team members. I work on a MUD (a text-based MMORPG), and having to run every change by the other admins can be tiresome - especially since one or two of them haven't actually done anything except argue about other people's ideas for over three years. Though that's still better than them quitting entirely. And it's kept me from using a lot of admittedly really awful ideas. But that doesn't make it any less annoying. I like being my own boss sometimes.
psy_wombats
13315
post=143685
Ugh, this happened to Vindication after I had a hard drive crash and lost about two months worth of work on it. I just could not bring myself to redo all that crap.
Aside from that one time with the hard drive crash, when I abandon projects, it's usually due to being frustrated with other team members. I work on a MUD, the Unofficial Squaresoft MUD, and having to run every change by the other admins can be tiresome - especially since one or two of them haven't actually done anything except argue about other people's ideas for over three years. Though that's still better than quitting entirely. And it's kept me from using a lot of admittedly really awful ideas. But that doesn't make it any less annoying. I like being my own boss sometimes.
You make a lot of good points. Having to redo stuff is almost always a project killer, or at least inspires a hiatus.
Working on a team sucks when no one's in charge. There really needs to be a lead developer/manager type. It's nice to be on a team, be told what work you have to do, finish it, and then see everything else come together.
Well, my project's definitely languishing, but I haven't forgotten about it and it's far from canceled. It's hard to work up the motivation most of the time. There are always other things I can be doing (both more and less productive), and it's so easy to put it on the back burner for just a little longer.
One of thesedays weeks months I'll knuckle down and really hammer away at it, but until then, it'll rot in development hell with the rest of 'em.
One of these
Otabo
1758
The project is nearly done and I just need to revise the events and make sure the scripts work, but... I don't want to finish it...
Exactly where my Wings of Time Deluxe project is at currently. I actually do want to finish it, but I either don't have the time to work on it, or when I DO get time, I don't have the motivation to finish it off. Part of it is laziness, however.
No idea when I'll get around to finishing it. I've been working on this game since like 2004. Could be next year or five years from now, who knows. But I do know it will get finished - it's come too far for me to outright cancel it now.
AznChipmunk
4613
post=143642
Another thing that helps is having multiple people involved on the same project. It's much harder to let something languish when it's being actively worked on by other members.
This is as much an advantage as it is a disadvantage. When you have a project that relies on the whole team to finish, if some people fall behind, the whole project staggers. Also, some team members work faster than others, or some might just have a part that takes longer, and then, it will end up just as one or two working actively.
