How productive are you?

[rocket]

I've seen from poking around the forums that folks generally use 1,000 words = 5 minutes of gameplay as a rule of thumb.

Which is great for estimating that if I want a 30 minute story experience I need about 6,000 words. Now the question is how long does it take me to make 6,000 words?

From one brief test session this morning I found I could write about 250 words in 30 minutes. This was dialog and narration for a scene that I had generally plotted. I knew who was there and what the outcome would be, though I did invent a few new events as I was writing.

So for me I can estimate 2 hours for 15 minutes of unpolished dialog. Extend that to 12 hours for the whole story in rough shape.

Not counting of course editing, polishing, adding the actors and their actions, adding effects, music etc.

Nor counting the actual production of backgrounds, actors, sound effects and music.

And of course that's one bout of writing - hard a useful sample.

So...

What are your rules of thumb for project planning?

Strangely I find I'm much more motivated and productive if I know how much I should be producing for a set time investment... is that weird?

[monele]

What are your rules of thumb for project planning?

"Don't panic."

Actually, I don't think I really have any rule of thumb... It's hard to find *the* project method that works for you... especially since it depends on the game type ^^;

[DaFool]

That's about right. For me, a full chapter is around 2500 words, and takes about 4 hours to write.

And people tend to read quicker... so I know use 1K = 3 min.

[rocket]

And people tend to read quicker... so I know use 1K = 3 min.

I am really going to need to be nice to my writer... (;_;)

[PrettySammy09]

I write quickly, but I often have to go back and edit profusely, so it all makes up for itself in the end.

When it comes to art, I'm also pretty average in that department. One character usually takes around 3-4 hours. And that's not including sketching. Sketching can take only ten to fifteen minutes.

My projects are just hobbies, so I don't really rush them. Whenever I have time. :3

[Raikiri]

Not productive enough, that's for sure.

I've done a fair bit of research for my new project lately so I've been stuck on reading classics like Grimoirium Verum, Black Pullet and The Greater Key of Salomon. If you can figure out what the theme of my game will be, I'll give you a cookie.

[Nafai]

Depends on the scene I'm writing. If its an everyday scene, or a comedic scene where I can be free to let my characters banter, then I can write 1,000+ an hour I think. (Never really timed myself, but I've done 8,000 in a day and I doubt I spent more than 8 hours writing that day).

Action, atmospheric (setting the mood of a place), subtle and really important scenes take much longer for me to write. I can spend an hour staring at the screen, then typing a sentence, then stopping for another hour.

[F.I.A]

My own rules of thumb - "Estimation"

By estimation, you know how many arts you need to work on.

By estimation, you can work around unnecessary artworks(By explaining with texts, etc).

By estimation, your team can be sure if it is a workable project, or a dead burden with a long working period.

Unfortunately, I can hardly write that much in an hour or so. Most of my writings are drafts to say much.

[Laveil Kurtis]

I've done a fair bit of research for my new project lately so I've been stuck on reading classics like Grimoirium Verum, Black Pullet and The Greater Key of Salomon. If you can figure out what the theme of my game will be, I'll give you a cookie.

Demonology

And for the topic, I rely more on pages rather than words, but only because I write on paper XD. I always make a Prologue and the Ending on the first place. Then, I'll come with some ideas and write them as I am progressing with the script/novel. And eventually, I fill the "space" between the prologue and the ending with the events.

But I say that I'm not very productive and I rely exclusively on my current creativity (and now my creativity is dead XD). I can write like 3.000 words in few days, or I can write 10 words in three months.

[papillon]

Productivity is easier when you can just let characters talk as much as they want and not have to worry about pacing to a chapter/episode format...

(says I, writing and rewriting a section not because the dialog isn't working but because I need to stick a puzzle in here somewhere and I don't yet know how...)

[Vatina]

I have no idea how fast I write... I think I write pretty fast, especially when I'm in the right mood - but I also rewrite stuff a lot, I never really get satisfied.

And as Nafai said, it also depends on the scene.

About artwork... some sprites are done fast, both sketches and lineart. Colouring is more troublesome.... and cg's.... argh.

In the end when it comes to VN's and not just writing, I don't really know yet, since I haven't come that close to finishing my first project at this time ^^;

[Ignosco]

For writing my game: I'm not really making any progress with it - I'm terrible at creative writing, and I'll probably be putting it on hold for the next 4 months or so (but I will finish it)...

Reviews: It depends on how well I know the game, but they usually take a few hours to do.

Composition (for VN's): I guess it takes about 1 hour to write 1 minute of music... of course that depends a lot on the complexity of the piece - coming up with the ideas can take a lot longer.

Composition (for study related and personal stuff): Sometimes it take hours for 10 seconds of music...

[n9261andvari]

I can write a lot within an hour...but then I would have to go through it and check for errors and stuff cause I'm kinda like a grammar and spelling nazi, lol. I can't really say I'm that productive but if the Renai flame is burning within me then I could probably do a lot in a day. But the Renai flame doesn't appear much so meh...I'll just do it when I have the time. That way it'll help me reduce the amounts of errors I do and I'm also learning in the process since I'm new to this.

[royal66]

I'm still "evolving" my technique, but right now my style is very erratic, dependent on my mood.

I measure my productivity by how much time I'm actually doing something with my game (searching for a bgm, typing code, reviewing what I've already done, making corrections, etc.) and not goofing off. At my best the longest I've worked straight on a game is two hours (including bathroom and water breaks, provided I go back to work right away).

The way I do things is I start off from the very porous (basically a one-paragraph description of the game events, by chapter) script outline I created, then coming up with the material as I go along. Now I think I know another reason why most bishoujo games are driven by ecchi scenes.

The quote on a shirt of mine really helps too: "Got ideas? Incubate 'em." I try to keep my brain busy by thinking about what to do on my next VN work session every spare moment I get, even at work.

[Fawkes - Feathered Melody]

It usually depends on how much free time I have. Noctua's actual script took a whole semester to finish. On the other hand, I've found that having too much free time like now during the summer can lead to not really having any motivation to do much work on my projects.