3 Tips To Fuel Your Motivation
Without external motivation is easy to give-up, but taking some advice could support your journey
Hello my fellow gamedevs and players!
My substack is mostly covering a technical approach to gamedev, specially PICO-8, but I also share post about mindset and state of the industry, at the end if you really want to do solo gamedev, you will need to wear so many hats during your journey.
At this article I also wanted to come with a realistic approach, as I shared on previous post and even on my introduction…I’m not a professional game developer working on the industry, but I actually have a taste for design (look at that pixel art at the post :D) technical skills, but way more important than that, management skills.
As a manager, I know how motivation and energy have a tremendous impact at what we do and I can tell you, how short-term, mid-term and long-term outcomes are connected to those words.
This will be about what drives us, what keep us working no matter what. You that decided to subscribe to Gamedevpills because you felt the need of increasing your knowledge — or at least inspiration from my lines.
Thank you for that and let’s go through this exciting topic.
Be realistic, We are not John Romero
Well, maybe it hurts a little bit when the realistic slap hit our face, but that’s the authentic way to reach our goals, John Romero was able to see design when the term was extensively in use like this days, a genius, innate skills.
That doesn’t mean you can’t deliver a succesfull videogame, maybe the author of the next GOTY indie title is reading this lines — I would be really proud of that — but this advice is actually more about, self-awareness and structure, look at yourself to know your strenghts, look at your structure to have your own map, anytime, anywhere.
I really like creating structures of work (make sense right? management smelling) and I created this template for myself when I want to kick-off a project, don’t take value from it reading each question, but actually thinking about the structure.
Left to right thinking, like russian dolls.
All the elements are for a pre-production stage
Pillars. Being all the fields where contributions are required to finish your project, those are the core elements.
Vision. The highest level description that describe your idea on that pillar
Conceptual. Your concepts, you can prototype here after your reflections from previous columns.
Concrete. You already played, changed and probably came with new ideas after the conceptual stage, let’s define your goals
Actionable. Create your tasks and plan them on your calendar!
Planning Structure
Short-term tasks and outcomes. space for a weekly basis.
Mid-term releases, set of tasks that fullfill a milestone. Bi-weekly
To give you an example: Character 2D Movement (No physics yet)
Long-term, the release of a demo for playtesting. Monthly
Example: After 2 milestones you have Character 2D Movement and Gravity, start the playtesting with family and friends. Is the movement of the character good?
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Create a Community and engage
You have a plan, you’ve been working hard on the breakdown of ideas to start your first prototype, you are totally engaged during the first few weeks or maybe months because you also used your discipline, but suddenly one week, other priorities suddenly show-up like Pikachu at the Viridian Forest (it had 5% ratio) and then you stop what you’ve been doing because you don’t believe anymore on yourself…
But imagine if someone told you there is a Mewtwo just outside the Viridian Forest of course Pikachu will be TOTALLY ignored, the community is your Mewtwo.
But wait Jose… then should I just focus on the community? No, but the community you can build around your idea, project and ultimately game is the one that ignite your motivation to move forward, is the one that within many different perspectives can inspire your next steps and drive you to complete your next task.
They are ultimately and potentially, your customers.
Charge Your Energy, It Is a Must
I will apply some demographics assumptions here 🥸
We have 24 hours per day, from which 7-8 should be for sleeping.
We have 16 hours remaining.
Monday to Friday. I assume:
Most of you have a full-time job (8h) - 8 hours left
Never quit your full-job for gamedev, I will speak about that topic another day.
Some may have family activities and responsibilities (5h) - 3 hours left
Another group could have other passions/hobbies (1.5h) - 1.5 hours left
Numbers doesn’t lie, we have just 1.5 hours remaining for gamedev and depending on the complexity of your next task, it could fall short…
But do not let your passion and ambition break your routine with your family, the good habits (Going to gym, cooking something healthy…) and of course, never break your sleep times.
Because all those habits are currently charging your brain energy and ultimately your creativity and capacity to come with new ideas, fix issues and move forward with your project.
Your environment contribute a lot to your motivation and success.
Thank you for reading, I hope you can reflect after reading my humble advice.
Good luck on your journey mate, no one said it was easy.