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Bored...

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 3:44 am
by BruceTheGoose
I'm very bored.... Any suggestions on something I can make(Using Love2D)? Please I would appreciate any idea. I'm struggling because my brain ran out of creativity juice.

Re: Bored...

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 7:19 am
by Doctory
this: http://www.squidi.net/three/
you will find lots of ideas there
also this happends way too often to me

Re: Bored...

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 9:00 am
by Jasoco
My problem is that I'll have a vision for a genre I'll start working on and I'll put a lot of work into it but then get tired of it and wish I could move onto another genre and will shelf the current project thinking I'll go back to it when I can remove my block and finish the new project. A lot of the time I won't go back to the old project and when I do I end up starting it over.

I've currently got two huge projects I've put a lot of work into that I'm working with. A 3D RPG and a 2D platformer. The RPG is on a shelf right now. I hope I never forget to take it back down.

Every day however I think of a smaller side project I really wish I could start making but I don't because I know if I stop working on my current project I'll never go back to it.

Re: Bored...

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 9:08 am
by Jeeper
Jasoco wrote:My problem is that I'll have a vision for a genre I'll start working on and I'll put a lot of work into it but then get tired of it and wish I could move onto another genre and will shelf the current project thinking I'll go back to it when I can remove my block and finish the new project. A lot of the time I won't go back to the old project and when I do I end up starting it over.

I've currently got two huge projects I've put a lot of work into that I'm working with. A 3D RPG and a 2D platformer. The RPG is on a shelf right now. I hope I never forget to take it back down.

Every day however I think of a smaller side project I really wish I could start making but I don't because I know if I stop working on my current project I'll never go back to it.
It is difficult, specially when you have come so far that there is no longer a lot of "instant progress" that can motivate you. All that remains is doing tedious things that you put off for later, bug fixing and such.

Things that help me power through:
* Use a list, like workflowy or a piece of paper. Write everything down on it and cross it off when you are done. That way you feel a sense of progress even when the things that you are doing can barley be noticed in game.
* Only focus on the next thing, do not think of everything that has to be done or you will feel overwhelmed.
* Set milestone goals, X done by Y, that way you feel like there is a reason to continue (self added pressure to keep self-imposed deadline).

Re: Bored...

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 1:59 pm
by nfey
Jeeper wrote: * Only focus on the next thing, do not think of everything that has to be done or you will feel overwhelmed.
Oh God, this is so frustrating for me. I'm doing the check list thing and the break down stuff into really small parts thing, but I've come at a point where every feature can be broken down infinitely into a gazillion pieces. It's starting to feel like debugging a recursive method, it just never ends :|

As for what "you can make" - it depends on what your end goal is. If you just want to work on something for the hell of it and the extra XP, pick your favorite small-ish game and start implementing something similar, just to play around with things. If you're trying to come up with an interesting idea to build on and create the next big thing in gaming history, asking on a forum isn't really going to help :P

Re: Bored...

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 3:33 pm
by undef
If you're looking for challenges, I once posted some suggestions here a while ago. Hope you'll find something interesting to do.

Re: Bored...

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 3:39 pm
by undef
If you're looking for challenges, I once posted some suggestions here a while ago. Hope you'll find something interesting to do.

@Jasoco
I know the feeling, ideas are not the hard part, but sticking with it and actually finishing the game is.
Jeeper wrote: Things that help me power through:
* Use a list, like workflowy or a piece of paper. Write everything down on it and cross it off when you are done. That way you feel a sense of progress even when the things that you are doing can barley be noticed in game.
* Only focus on the next thing, do not think of everything that has to be done or you will feel overwhelmed.
* Set milestone goals, X done by Y, that way you feel like there is a reason to continue (self added pressure to keep self-imposed deadline).
I've started doing those a while back as well, and it helps my productivity got way better!
I also think a to-do-list is important, because I often have nice ideas for my current project but when im not motivated I can't remember them :/

Edit: I was trying to edit my post

Re: Bored...

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 4:54 pm
by Doctory
um, i think you were trying to edit your post...

Re: Bored...

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 11:31 pm
by BruceTheGoose
This is what always happens to me....

Re: Bored...

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 9:14 am
by Muris
I think that trying to give ideas is generally not a good idea. The problem is that people have different stuff of interests, like someone might be really into driving games, others not. More likely the person that is into driving games wants to make something about driving games. If you like music, then making something that involves music might be nice.

Ok for example lets say that I like music, I've been thinking that having 2 thumbsticks on gamepads could make something interesting. Well music can be used for rhytm stuffs, and 2 thumbstick to control 2 things at the same time. Now I could just then combine them and have some system where one has to move thumb sticks in certain speed for some reason.

Maybe you like soccer and AI, you could make football manager. Maybe you like me would be interested in time warp, then thinking about some time things. Maybe you like space, then doing something that has space in them. And then maybe combo these stuff, and you could have intergalactic soccer game.

I guess coming up with an idea isn't that hard, but coming up with something that truly works is a lot harder. I still personally think that using stuffs that you're truly interested in is the way to go, because if you don't like your game, how on earth can you convince anyone else to do so? If you're not working with stuff that you're not interested in, most likely you really do not even want to put any effort into it to begin with.

So you could pick a paper pick one topic, make a mind map, pick another topic, make another mind map, see how things mix up, cross ideas together. Maybe pick more topics, think what they associate with, see how these ideas can fit together and boom you might have enough elements for the core game play. Then make a quick prototype out of the idea you've picked, see how it works, how could it be improved, what kind of problems does it have, is it working. If not then back to step 1. Now you might make another prototype on different idea, and maybe it doesn't work well either. But maybe combining your first prototype to second one creates something really good.

Hopefully this helps you with making up ideas.