Ways to stay focused on developing your game?

[Lumella]

In the midst of making my game, I came across numerous obstacles that led me to make a production pipeline. I mainly used it to minimize my OCD to make countless revisions when I'm supposed to be concentrating on finishing the entire game & also to avoid confusion what to do next once I finish the ones I needed to fulfill. So far, this draft I made had been very helpful most of the time for me.


Do you use a production pipeline or do you have other methods to stay on track on your game?
How is it effective for you and why did you decided to stick on that kind of system?
I'm interested to know what helps other members

[Lesleigh63]

I expect it will be different if you're a solo project or if you have a team.
I'm solo. I write all the story out first and then do the art.
I did a small kinetic novel first. My current project is a medium sized VN with branching. My third future project will be larger.
Getting into the habit of working on your project regularly will keep you going as you'll see results.
You may need to make time to work on it (get up an hour earlier each day) rather than wait for time to work on it.

[Lumella]

I expect it will be different if you're a solo project or if you have a team.
I'm solo. I write all the story out first and then do the art.
I did a small kinetic novel first. My current project is a medium sized VN with branching. My third future project will be larger.
Getting into the habit of working on your project regularly will keep you going as you'll see results.
You may need to make time to work on it (get up an hour earlier each day) rather than wait for time to work on it.

True, I think staying on track as a habit is more difficult but very rewarding in the end. Did it improve your discipline as you went through it?

[Ran08]

Hmm, I think making it a habit is important. I actually don't use stuff like that, haha, but I try to constantly update my dev blog. Actually, I always post updates whenever I gain some kind of progress, and I made it my habit to do so. Now, it makes me feel guilty or embarrassed whenever I'm unable to post updates after long periods of time, so I end up doing something-- anything-- just for the sake of updating! I just clean up my work afterwards, hahaha. =)

[Lesleigh63]

True, I think staying on track as a habit is more difficult but very rewarding in the end. Did it improve your discipline as you went through it?

I think I'd already learned the discipline from studying, so it wasn't too hard to apply it to this which is way more enjoyable plus getting the art work completed for each section of the kinetic novel and putting it in place was really rewarding.

[sasquatchii]

Lumella, thanks for providing those charts! I'm a lot less analytical so I don't really think about things that way, but it was really nice to see someone else's processes plotted out in such an organized way.

Camille from Cyanide Tea recently wrote a pretty awesome blog post on parts of her process when she creates games, which I really liked. She was kind enough to share the task progress tracker, a spreadsheet people use to break down tasks into 15 minute increments. I tried it and actually really liked using it, but I'm not very organized and fell out of using it.

For me, I just force myself to work on my project, even if I'm having a crappy day. As long as I get a little done each day I'm making great progress, even if I only work on it for 10 minutes. And sometimes I don't feel like working but I just do anyways and I get into the zone and the time flies by without me really realizing it!

[breadslam]

I try to make a specific time (each day, each week, each month, what have you) that I devote to working on creative projects. I've found that once I've established that pattern, it's harder to blow off my project or not get anything done.