The Daily Grind

(No pun intended)

 

The following sections are a few things I've learnt from around 10 years of "Developing". It pretty much translates to life in general as well when faced with anything that seems insurmountable...

Scope Creep

I’ll be the first to admit it: I’ve failed to deliver on projects I was incredibly excited about. In the past, I’ve been hit hard by "Scope Creep" and mental exhaustion. If you’re not familiar, Scope Creep is the tendency to constantly add "just one more idea" until the finish line becomes invisible.

To combat this, I’ve started categorizing every single thought into four specific buckets to keep my projects on track:

CORE, BLOCKERS, FROZEN, POLISH

  1. CORE are features that contribute directly to your game loop. These are required for a launch.
  2. BLOCKERS are things that are preventing your game from launching, like bugs.
  3. FROZEN are features that would be nice to have but will take a long time to implement, like multiplayer support, or console porting.
  4. POLISH is something that is annoying you but not essential to the release, though it would be nice to do it at the end if possible.

Defining these daily is the only way I can see measurable progress. It keeps me from getting distracted by "multiplayer support" for a game that doesn't even have a finished coffee brewer yet!

Mental Exhaustion

Game development is a marathon. In the past, I’ve tried to sprint and ended up exhausted. If you don’t enjoy the finer, slower details of the process, this path will be tough. You have to accept that some days are spent on things players will never even notice—and that’s just part of the craft.

Here is my golden rule for staying sane: Your mental health is the most important tool in your toolkit.

Don't force yourself to develop for 8 hours a day just because you feel like you "should." That's called a job and people don't like jobs! If you need to skip a day to relax and actually enjoy your life, count that as a win. Life isn't just about a progress bar; don't be so hard on yourself. Nothing truly great was ever built in a single afternoon. Take that afternoon to relax over you forcing yourself to work on a project. You will resent that project very quickly let me tell you! If it's something you want to work on, you will naturally come back to it when you are happier, and your progress and commitments will be extremely consistent.

I highly recommend that you try the Pomodoro technique for development or anything which requires focus and lots of time!

Reflection

If there’s one thing I want you to take away from this rant of mine, it’s that perfection isn't the goal—persistence is. I’ve faced the scope creep, the exhaustion, and the failed starts, and I’m still here, still creating, and still learning.

Game development has been a blessing in my life, and I hope my transparency gives you the confidence to start your own "impossible" project. We don't have to have it all figured out to make something awesome. Let’s keep moving forward, even if we’re just walking.