Lemma Soft Forums

Everyone loves it when they make significant progress with their visual novels.
But at times, we want to make even more progress, leading us to push ourselves too hard...

Right now, I want to be enlightened with the following they're probably not connected but hey I want answers :
a) How do you become productive without overworking yourself? (Both for having lots of free time, and not having enough time)
b) When unmotivated to do things, do you have any back-up plan to actually make something even if it's 'little'?
c) If ever, do you have a schedule on what you're going to implement to your VN in a day or do you just go with the flow?

That aside, hope ya all be doing some nice progress on your VNs while resting well. UwU

a) I try to set an amount of time/amount of progress I will get done each day. (e.g. I work for an hour after work or write 2,000 words)

b) I typically force myself to keep my scheduled even if I'm pretty unmotivated. There are exceptions for literally having no time (e.g. I don't even have enough time to read/watch tv/play video games), being sick, etc. But other than that I work even if I really don't want to.

c) I typically have a pretty strict schedule. Of course, things change. (I ended up spending a day implementing some new functionality vs. animating a few scenes. It happens!) But I do my best to hit it as otherwise it really is far too easy for me to blow things off.

To avoid overworking it's really important to be well rested and fed and not just live on caffeine. Listen to your body and know when it needs to rest and when it's just trying to procrastinate. And avoid crunch time as much as possible, since it can really drain you.

For being productive, to me the most important part is just allocating a block to do your work at 100% power. No planning, no distractions, no phone, maybe some music if it helps you get in the zone, just do what you have to do nonstop. Once you get the ball running even with such a small timeframe the productivity will skyrocket. Just one hour a day like this can bring huge results in the long run, but of course if you can put more time in you should.

Motivation is a tricky one. Of course, there is going to be a point in the project where you aren't going to be in love with it anymore. Here the most important part is discipline and keeping progress up, but most importantly remembering yourself that you're moving forward. Keeping a journal/blog of your progress is immensely useful, since it tracks the progress you're making. I find that i get the most unmotivated when I work hard and long hours and don't see a return. That's normal psychology, when you think about it: no one wants to put time and money in a bad investment. You just have to remind yourself that it's actually working out, slowly.

I keep a schedule. It's hard to follow at times, especially since I tend to overwhelm myself. But I'm not that rigid if I don't respect it, if I know that I've been working hard.

Hope this was useful

a) How do you become productive without overworking yourself? (Both for having lots of free time, and not having enough time)

I've found that having multiple projects works for me. Two or three at the same time is good and manageable. If I get "stuck" or feel unmotivated about one project, I can switch to another project. It's like when you have to fill out a form or something, and you don't want to, do you procrastinate by folding clothes or something instead.

b) When unmotivated to do things, do you have any back-up plan to actually make something even if it's 'little'?

If I'm in an unmotivated lull in a project, I'll try to just work on things a little. Even if it's just a tiny amount of progress, at least it stops you from breaking the habit of working on it. Which is important, because not working on a project for a long time makes it so much harder to go back to it once you're feeling more motivated.

c) If ever, do you have a schedule on what you're going to implement to your VN in a day or do you just go with the flow?

I come up with checklists, and I spend a certain amount of free time to finish as many as I can. It's less about "How many things should I get done?", and more "How much time today do I have to work on these things?"

If you want to be productive find someone that can talk with you about your creation. Such talk (phone, in person, email) will cause you to think of things that need to be done. many of these things you will make a note to do. Soon you will have a list of stuff that will motivate you to do some of the work. As you are doing this you will think of other things to do. Make notes of all these little things. As you get them attended to cross them out. You will be amazed at how much progress you make. So often it is that you have only BIG things to do and you do not want to do that. Small things are easy.