The Burnout
Well, it happened. Probably not to the full extent as it can, but it still had a pretty strong effect.
It has been almost half a year since I last really worked on NecroBouncer, or anything hobby related for that matter. Combining some stressful situations at work, with worrying about finishing the game, really took a toll in the creative energy department. The more I worried about working on the game, the less motivation I had for it.
Not only did I stop developing, I also stopped drawing, I stopped hanging with friends, stopped playing games with them and probably something that at some point worried me the most – I stopped playing piano. Music was always something I could fall back to if I was feeling down or had no energy for other things. But at this time, I had the longest break from it since I can ever remember. Realising this was probably what really nudged me on the right path, or at least got me thinking straight, so I could make the right moves forward and get out of this slump.
Workspace and Deadlines
Something that really helped me get back on track was setting myself some deadlines in form of smaller tasks. I laid out a rough plan for NecroBouncer and with it, I tried separating this big project into a lot of smaller tasks like “Attack animation – corrupted paladin”. I made a bunch of these in neat little folders that encapsulated bigger tasks, which were also inside even bigger task folders. I also laid out a work plan for the next 2 months, and I will do my best to actually stick to it.
Another major change in my life was the work setup. I used to do all my development work from home after or before a full-time job. This made me think about development all the time and it also made me feel bad if I didn’t work on it, since I “could” at any given moment. To fix this, I asked my parents, if I could move one computer back home to my room and they kindly agreed without a second thought.
Now I work there a couple times a week for a few hours, which greatly increased the amount of work I put into it and the effectiveness of that time. I am happy with how much I accomplish in that time, and after, when I go back home, I can feel ok just doing some work around the house or simply relax. Looking at things in the personal life like that also made a big difference. Instead of postponing things and weighing my mind with everything that has to be done, I try to DO things, instead of thinking about them. Funny thing is, the former is much less tiring and time consuming.
Time tracking and Goals
I also started to track my time. The idea actually came from reading a blog post from a fellow game developer Slothwerks. He created the Meteorfall games and in that post, he talked about his ups and downs and about the whole process of making the latest game in the series – Krumit’s Tale. He had a nice graph of how much he worked on the game and it instantly caught my interest, so I tried doing the same.
Having some insight on how much you work is really working wonders. First of all, I can look at the data and calm myself that I had a successful week of game development. And secondly, I can set myself some goal, like “5 hours a week” and go ahead achieving it, which also acts as a morale boost. I also completely busted this goal the first two weeks, so I just raised it to 10 hours a week, which for now seems like a great habit to keep and nurture.
Final Thoughts
All of these changes helped me greatly increase my output, it lifted my spirits, got me talking to friends again and got me back on my piano chair and I wasn’t having this much fun just trying new things on it for a long time. Work also got much easier since, because I can just be happy that it gives me stability and security, and since I am working on my game for a good amount of time every week, I also have more energy to just do my job well.
I also have to thank my girlfriend Nina a lot. She helped me put things in my private life on the right path and helped me realise that things were off for a while. She was also just a great comfort in the most stressful of times and I found out that even if my musical fall back fails, I have another even stronger backup ready at all times.
Now let me make a public commitment to finish NecroBouncer in the first half of the upcoming year, because I already have some other amazing ideas brewing in the Alchemy Sheep’s cauldron and I can’t wait to show them off. But more on that later! For now, I urge you to check out the newly created Steam page for NecroBouncer and if you like it, a Wishlist would go a long way of making this a success.
Take care of yourselves everybody! ♥
