I have recently become a member of BGDF and another game designers forum.
At the moment I am struggling with finding the time to make anything with the designs I have going at the moment, so why would I have time to read about other designers projects and thoughts?
The answer I am clinging to at the moment is the title of this post: I am searching for motivation.
Being motivated is easy, but becoming motivated when you know you want to be is really not. There is nothing I would rather do during the slow hours of the evening after the children have fallen asleep when my significant other is busy doing nothing than to pull out pen and paper or maybe the computer or maybe even home made components and get to work; but I don't, usually.
There is always something else that needs to be done and then I'd have to clean up the mess afterwards and I REALLY need that extra half hour of sleep, so that would leave me a handful of minutes being "productive". I am not the type of person who can be creative on schedule, in between other chores, so instead I bide my time and wait for a better opportunity, when I have more time to spare. Had I been more motivated I would had seized the opportunity, I try to tell myself.
Then there are the times when I have more time to spare and use it for doing other things, because I don't "feel like" building a custom deck or sketching game economies. I chalk that up to lack of motivation too.
The times I really feel motivated to continue my designs are often not when I have an opportunity to do so.
Sometimes hobbies suck; and yet we love them!
The moments of clarity, when the Idea, with a capital I, enters your consciousness and you frantically start toying with it because it feels like just the part your design needs to be fun and you then forget to write it down and forget the details and you curse yourself for the entire day until you remember it again and can document it; these are the moments for which I design games, but I would ALSO like to build working, decent looking prototypes to play and that (the "last 80%" of the work) is where I am lacking in motivation.
Maybe I shouldn't be too harsh on myself for not feeling like working late at night when I have been working at my day job the entire day and doing chores at home all afternoon.
I think I'll just let time tell whether any of my designs reaches maturity.
Keep on doing whatever you do and don't forget WHY you do it!
Comments
In my experience, in every
In my experience, in every aspect of life, the idea of motivation is a myth.
There's no magical formula.
Last year, I wrote 2 books in 6 weeks (about 80,000 words total). I had a deadline, and I had a deep desire to get the work finished. But there were only a handful of days during that entire time that I actually felt like writing. Most days, I had very little desire to sit down and type.
The old saying is true: "Writers don't like to write. They like to have written."
And the same is true of game design. We like to have designed a great game. We want to see it in all its beauty sitting on people's tables being played and enjoyed.
But getting there is a grind.
The flurry of ideas and writing down notes and brainstorming and all the excitement of the initial design is actually about 1% of the work. It's cheap. It's easy.
But that next 99% requires us to be dedicated and painstaking. It requires hours of playtesting and redesigning. And it's hard.
PLEASE don't get down on yourself. You're experiencing something that probably everyone here can relate to.
And I'll give you the same advice I have to give myself every single day: JUST START.
Just begin. Just start creating cards. Just start organizing components. Just start designing a board.
Do anything.
The laws of the universe will help you with the rest. Objects in motion stay in motion.
Just get the thing in motion.
I find that if I can just find a way to write a paragraph, I'll get in a groove and be able to write a chapter.
If I can just find a way to start creating a prototype, I'll get in a groove and be able to put the whole thing together.
Don't be discouraged. You're running into the natural resistance that attacks all creative endeavors.
Fight the resistance, and simply begin.
And when you hit a wall, consult this chart:
https://i2.wp.com/john.do/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/emotional-journey-o...
Yes, I believe you are right
Yes, I believe you are right in what you say.
That is also what I usually tell myself, but these last weeks I guess I have been down there somewhere below the bridge.
Thanks for the encouragement!
PS.
My end goal is to have a working PnP that I have printed and play myself. Having my game on every persons table when I them to play games would be a bit like having to read my own book in every book club I join. :)
DS.
Habit is more powerful than
Habit is more powerful than motivation.
I highly recommend setting a schedule that includes your "Game Making Hour". Every single day (Or week if you have less time) sit down and force yourself to work.
The good news is that often once you start working, the motivation comes for the entire work session. Even if it doesn't, you've made progress.
The really neat thing is that as you repeat the process, it becomes internalized. When I'm bored, lazy, or whatnot... my habitual activity is to work on a game. No motivation, no hard work, no reason at all.
It just happens to be the first thing that pops into my head.