I always hit this point in development when...

**burge4150** · 08-30-2014, 02:44 AM

Everything is going great, I get a good chunk of work done... I have 6 fully scriped but needing some detailing maps done and the atmosphere - in my opinion - is coming out excellent.

But motivation starts to slip away. I literally get bored of my game from testing it so much and running through the same things over and over again making small tweaks.

How do you guys do it? I've had this problem forever, since I used to make Doom levels when I was like 10 years old all the way through Counter-Strike, RPG Maker, and now this.

I open my game, stare at it, glide around the level in the editor for a while, add one or two things and then before I know it 40 minutes have passed.

Help meeeeeeeeeeee

**Mudbill** · 08-30-2014, 03:12 AM

Know that feel bro .-.

**PutraenusAlivius** · 08-30-2014, 04:22 AM

Yeeah that happens a lot.

**MsHannerBananer** · 08-30-2014, 06:02 AM

I try to think of how good it'll feel to accomplish something. As someone who regrettably quits halfway in or never finishes anything worthwhile, the determination to actually complete something keeps me going.

I also feel that, while also nerve-racking, it'll feel amazing to have someone, even if just one person, interested in what I'm doing and wanting to play it when I'm finished. Despite how boredom creeps in when I'm editing levels or play testing the same thing to find bugs, if someone shows interest, I find enough motivation to deliver what I promised.

I write a lot. I'm obsessive compulsive enough that after each chapter, I have to go back to read everything from page one. Over and over again I read pages I've read hundreds of times before to watch out for any loose ends. I find that it helps if I stop writing for a few days and come back later when I'm refreshed and don't remember as much.

If you're becoming bored, maybe take a step back and just stop working for a few days to a week. Relax, go about your daily routine without touching the engine or editing levels or scripting, and just really do nothing. Just a few days and you should be able to come back with a fresher perspective than before, and it might help as far as development is concerned. Smile

**Radical Batz** · 08-30-2014, 07:45 AM

Hmmm watch other game levels, that's where I get my ideas, or movies, books, real life structures etc... Just finished this yesterday.

[Image: lOyGUDY.jpg]

I love mapping and mostly detailing myself, I could help you out with detailing if that keeps you from motivation, I helped lots of people with their maps. Big Grin

**Streetboat** · 08-30-2014, 08:45 AM

yeah when that happens the best thing to do is take a break and do other things. that'll give you ideas for new areas, and when you go back, it'll be all fresh and new. it's a bad idea to try to edit when you aren't motivated.

**AGP** · 08-30-2014, 09:13 AM

Yes, taking a break is a great idea. Step back, gather some ideas, and look for places to improve.

Currently, I'm working on a fairly large map, so what I'm doing is kind of jumping around from room to room, just putting in what I know for sure is essential (a fireplace, bookcase, table, etc.), then I focus on one room.

If I start to get bored with that room or feel like I've run out of ideas for it, I simply move on to the next room and so far that process has been working out really well for me.

**Newsman Waterpaper** · 08-30-2014, 11:29 AM

(08-30-2014, 02:44 AM)burge4150 Wrote: Everything is going great, I get a good chunk of work done... I have 6 fully scriped but needing some detailing maps done and the atmosphere - in my opinion - is coming out excellent.

But motivation starts to slip away. I literally get bored of my game from testing it so much and running through the same things over and over again making small tweaks.

How do you guys do it? I've had this problem forever, since I used to make Doom levels when I was like 10 years old all the way through Counter-Strike, RPG Maker, and now this.

I open my game, stare at it, glide around the level in the editor for a while, add one or two things and then before I know it 40 minutes have passed.

Help meeeeeeeeeeee

I definitely know how your feeling, I have experience this with My mod: The Streets of London. As most people said above, taking a break is the best option, play a game, have a orange.

**FlawlessHappiness** · 08-30-2014, 01:22 PM

You need to figure out what you want your mod to be.
What is it? What is your concept? Do you like your concept? Are you hooked on your concept?

Ok, this is maybe just one part of it, but I'm just really in for concepts and I get hooked by concepts.

I came up with my Monsters a long time ago, but now I figured out how to create it. And I love it! I've been working on this for, 2 weeks now, i think, and it's because i love the concept and I want to keep making it better.

So when it's about a custom story, know your concept. Know your story. You need to be hooked on your story!

If you don't feel hooked, save your work, close the program, and start thinking.
Think about what you could do to make you hooked on the story.

What does it need? What is it you want to create?

When you know what it is you want to create, do it!

Thinking can be done in many ways.

I get ideas:
- After I've watched a movie.
- By random daydreaming.
- By playing other's custom stories.
- By watching CS-playthroughs on youtube.
- Randomly by living life and doing stuff that has nothing to do with Level Editting, Scripting and Story writing.

**MrBehemoth** · 08-30-2014, 01:37 PM

I was talking to my other half about this kind of thing recently. I think the problem is that making games, whether you're modding or doing it from scratch, is a craft involving very long term projects. Painters paint a painting and it's done. Musicians create a piece and then they can get on with performing or distributing it. Game developers (and writers and filmmakers) can spend months making adjustments just to see a tiny bit of progress. There's a danger it might start to feel like work! Nooooooo! We're creative, imaginative people, and we go through a cycle of imagine > create, imagine > create, etc..While we're stuck on the creation part, the imagination gets bored and wants to imagine something new.

Call it Delayed Imagination Fatigue. I think it's something that happens more to people on solo projects, because other people's input can be unexpected and give you a fresh perspective. Two things I do to help keep the imagination happy while it waits for the creative process to catch up:

1) Have two very different projects on the go, and spend a week or a month on one or the other. Make them stylistically or thematically different. Maybe learn how to mod a different engine, so that you've got some vastly different assets to play with. (But make sure you come back!)

2) Break your project into modules, a bit like what AGP said, but I like to do it on a larger scale. Do have a overview of the whole project, but don't plan out every aspect of your game/story. Just work on one module at a time. If you get bored, move onto a different module for a while, but resist the temptation to plan it out completely. I like to break the a story into chunks. I'll create the beginning and sometimes the end to give myself a target to work towards, but I don't know exactly what happens in the middle because I haven't planned it fully. Then, there's a motivation to work towards the day when you get to find out what happens, you reveal the missing pieces of the puzzle to yourself. Create the narrative in a way that lets you experience it yourself as you go along, otherwise your imagination will want to move on to something else long before you finish creating.

Edit: 3) Oh, and play games. Lot's of different genres and styles, not just the genre and style that you like to create. Play them analytically and learn from them. Ask yourself, "what can my Amnesia CS learn from Mario Kart?" You'll come back to your mod with some fresh ideas to get excited about.