Burning out?
by Charles Marshall · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 10/05/2010 (2:51 pm) · 7 replies
Hi All,
I've been on projects that've failed for a number of reasons in the past. Mismanagement, lack of team commitment and shortage of assets, for example. Recently, however, I was doing a solo project that was small in scale and didn't demand a lot of assets, so those challenges were not applicable.
After developing, and play testing, and developing, and play testing, and bug fixing, and play testing, and developing, and play testing and so on, the game was not fun anymore. My son would play it and have fun, but I couldn't bring myself to work on it because I already got bored with playing it.
Maybe this goes back to commitment, or maybe has more to do with inspiration, but I've always felt I should want to play the game I create. Perhaps the repetition of play testing is a good thing, and that if a game could keep my interest throughout the dev process then it is solid. Likewise, if I get bored then it simply doesn't cut it.
Just looking for people to weigh in with their "burn out" experiences, and maybe if/how you worked through it.
I've been on projects that've failed for a number of reasons in the past. Mismanagement, lack of team commitment and shortage of assets, for example. Recently, however, I was doing a solo project that was small in scale and didn't demand a lot of assets, so those challenges were not applicable.
After developing, and play testing, and developing, and play testing, and bug fixing, and play testing, and developing, and play testing and so on, the game was not fun anymore. My son would play it and have fun, but I couldn't bring myself to work on it because I already got bored with playing it.
Maybe this goes back to commitment, or maybe has more to do with inspiration, but I've always felt I should want to play the game I create. Perhaps the repetition of play testing is a good thing, and that if a game could keep my interest throughout the dev process then it is solid. Likewise, if I get bored then it simply doesn't cut it.
Just looking for people to weigh in with their "burn out" experiences, and maybe if/how you worked through it.
About the author
#2
Clearly LMF. What you need is a swift constitutional, stiff upper lip and to pull yourself together.
;o)
Alcoholism aside ... Familiarity may breed contempt, and as a designer you'll be intimately familiar with what you've created.
I still reckon this sort of stuff is down to a loss of wider perspective. If you're making a game for other people to play, then you've always got to keep an outsider's view in mind. You might know every in and out of what you've created, but gameplay will be fresh to the uninitiated.
Also focus on how it plays in comparison to others of the same genre/gameplay type, rather than just what you know about it (which is really the same thing about perspective).
Perspective helps prevent focus from dwelling on problems, thus keeping morale up.
Plus of course ... if you think that over familiarity is a problem, you could try making a game of a type that you normally wouldn't bother with.
Personally I try to just work through mental fatigue, it might be a slower pace of work, but it's still pushing ahead - running the ball one yard at a time, it's a marathon not a sprint, and other cliches, etc.
10/05/2010 (3:36 pm)
caution: joke aheadClearly LMF. What you need is a swift constitutional, stiff upper lip and to pull yourself together.
;o)
Quote:
Just looking for people to weigh in with their "burn out" experiences, and maybe if/how you worked through it.
Alcoholism aside ... Familiarity may breed contempt, and as a designer you'll be intimately familiar with what you've created.
I still reckon this sort of stuff is down to a loss of wider perspective. If you're making a game for other people to play, then you've always got to keep an outsider's view in mind. You might know every in and out of what you've created, but gameplay will be fresh to the uninitiated.
Also focus on how it plays in comparison to others of the same genre/gameplay type, rather than just what you know about it (which is really the same thing about perspective).
Perspective helps prevent focus from dwelling on problems, thus keeping morale up.
Plus of course ... if you think that over familiarity is a problem, you could try making a game of a type that you normally wouldn't bother with.
Personally I try to just work through mental fatigue, it might be a slower pace of work, but it's still pushing ahead - running the ball one yard at a time, it's a marathon not a sprint, and other cliches, etc.
#3
10/05/2010 (5:10 pm)
I have porting syndrome... once I've done it once, twice, three or even four times is acceptable, but more than this is getting tedius, deja vu sets in and there are only so many times you can improve on things, or forget things that were in a previous build that you forgot to make a note of as they were only really tests that eventually remained as core components (often ports and upgrades are better the second time round) but going beyond this would start to etch away at the boredom of having to do it all again. I guess its the woes of using an engine that is in BETA. But my drive is the end goal, the completion, the launch.. then add to what you've got afterwards if it is really required. Be determined in your mind to meet that end goal and see the finishing line, then you'll be much closer to it.
#4
@Matt, that's funny I sometimes do the same thing. I let the cat out of the bag, though once I have something playable because I like to guage friends' response when they try it out.
@Steve, lol, I think a lot has to do with familiarity. Some of the larger completed projects of my youth (dos days in gw-basic) had a lot of randomly generated content, including maps/levels, but this goes back to burnout-as-a-litmus-test.
I will try shifting perspective, though. Play similar games, and see how mine measures up. If I can see clearly that it has something to offer it may rekindle some inspiration. I think a contributing factor to this kind of burnout is the concern that I continue to put energy into something that I'm not sure is fun.
@Julian, I've only done a few ports, and none for this game. Every port I've done has been of a cross-platform nature on very old code (in some cases 20yo C code), win->unix or vice-versa and has been a pain!
I did spend some time refactoring, which is generally straight forward as long as you do it periodically and things don't get out of hand (it happens!) But the refactoring, though tedious, gives me peace of mind.
I hear you about keeping your eye on the prize, and I agree. As my goal is to create a fun game, not necessarily this game, the question becomes "do I abandon this project because it doesn't play as fun as it designed?"
@Thread, as I was responding it became more and more apparent that the "burnout" is related more to the product than to the work. That is, I designed a game that seemed like it would be fun, but maybe the truth is that some game ideas sound better than they play...
10/06/2010 (2:11 pm)
This is great feedback and great advice.@Matt, that's funny I sometimes do the same thing. I let the cat out of the bag, though once I have something playable because I like to guage friends' response when they try it out.
@Steve, lol, I think a lot has to do with familiarity. Some of the larger completed projects of my youth (dos days in gw-basic) had a lot of randomly generated content, including maps/levels, but this goes back to burnout-as-a-litmus-test.
I will try shifting perspective, though. Play similar games, and see how mine measures up. If I can see clearly that it has something to offer it may rekindle some inspiration. I think a contributing factor to this kind of burnout is the concern that I continue to put energy into something that I'm not sure is fun.
@Julian, I've only done a few ports, and none for this game. Every port I've done has been of a cross-platform nature on very old code (in some cases 20yo C code), win->unix or vice-versa and has been a pain!
I did spend some time refactoring, which is generally straight forward as long as you do it periodically and things don't get out of hand (it happens!) But the refactoring, though tedious, gives me peace of mind.
I hear you about keeping your eye on the prize, and I agree. As my goal is to create a fun game, not necessarily this game, the question becomes "do I abandon this project because it doesn't play as fun as it designed?"
@Thread, as I was responding it became more and more apparent that the "burnout" is related more to the product than to the work. That is, I designed a game that seemed like it would be fun, but maybe the truth is that some game ideas sound better than they play...
#5
i try to remind myself how lucky i am as a games developer to be
1. be doing a job that most people would regard as fun
(i could be a chilean miner or a sewage engineer hell theres a lot worse jobs than making games)
2. be able to legitmately play my and other games and call it work / research
3. be creative everyday and maybe become successful from that and not need to hurt or lie to anyone along the way (good karma kinda thing)
as for assesing your project well you simply should not do that, a game development is going to take longer than the boredom tolerance for playing it. if you cannot see it from the perspective of a new player. get someone else to play and listen to what they say. i imagine the guy who made tetris probably got pretty bored testing it. but imagine if he gave up.
10/08/2010 (3:05 am)
yeh burnout, im getting pretty long in the tooth now and ive burnt a bit in my time :P ive found that a good balanced approach makes it easier to go the long distance, everyone is always pushing for fast track rapid iteration sprints. and so often they dont make it. keep balanced, do other things to clear your head. i try to remind myself how lucky i am as a games developer to be
1. be doing a job that most people would regard as fun
(i could be a chilean miner or a sewage engineer hell theres a lot worse jobs than making games)
2. be able to legitmately play my and other games and call it work / research
3. be creative everyday and maybe become successful from that and not need to hurt or lie to anyone along the way (good karma kinda thing)
as for assesing your project well you simply should not do that, a game development is going to take longer than the boredom tolerance for playing it. if you cannot see it from the perspective of a new player. get someone else to play and listen to what they say. i imagine the guy who made tetris probably got pretty bored testing it. but imagine if he gave up.
#6
That won't always work either (especially when you run a month-plus of 7am-2am days, which usually end with wearing down and getting the cold I'm currently getting rid of), but then again, I find myself telling all the kids and teenagers who ask that making games isn't the same kind of fun as playing them. Then again, I do try to keep a small group of neurons in the "player" camp for when I test things, and I can say that I do enjoy some of the stuff I'm making (that 2D game isn't among them, but other people seemed to like it, so it's going to get put on sale for $0.50 at some point).
Sometimes I see a game ad on TV and think, "I wonder how many people know how much work goes into making these things?". And the answer to that, like that about the ingredients of a really good hot-dog, is: Maybe they shouldn't ;)
10/09/2010 (4:58 am)
I made a little 2D game that I thought sucked before I was even done, and then I gave it to my sister, and she played it for 20 minutes before she noticed the win-game GUI wasn't popping up. When you work on games, there's always a good chance you'll lose site of the forest for the trees, but that's when you need to step back, close your eyes, and then refocus as a player. Don't code as a player, but code for them. Then don't play as a coder, but as a customer of one. That won't always work either (especially when you run a month-plus of 7am-2am days, which usually end with wearing down and getting the cold I'm currently getting rid of), but then again, I find myself telling all the kids and teenagers who ask that making games isn't the same kind of fun as playing them. Then again, I do try to keep a small group of neurons in the "player" camp for when I test things, and I can say that I do enjoy some of the stuff I'm making (that 2D game isn't among them, but other people seemed to like it, so it's going to get put on sale for $0.50 at some point).
Sometimes I see a game ad on TV and think, "I wonder how many people know how much work goes into making these things?". And the answer to that, like that about the ingredients of a really good hot-dog, is: Maybe they shouldn't ;)
#7
I think everyone has different motivations for working on games. You have to figure out what got you interested in the first place. Sometimes, if you're being frank with yourself, you'll recognize that those motivations are unsustainable. For example, if you're just here because you like to play or learn, and you have no real passion for the medium, you'll probably wind up in trouble. To be sure, it's good for developers to enjoy playing and learning, but developing can definitely be boring and tedious at times. You need a higher goal than self gratification.
Since I started working on games, my zeal for hardcore gaming has really diminished. But that's okay. My biggest motivator is my passion for creating experiences for others. No matter how crappy or tedious the day's work may be, if it's enabling something I believe will engage a bunch of people, I can usually motivate myself to continue pretty quickly. In the short term, engaging a gaming community and creating a little fan base is a great source of motivation. Staying aware of where I fit into the whole gaming scene and staying connected to the community fire me up.
I'm fortunate because I have a pretty robust passion. In my experience, engineers have had the most difficult time with burnout - particularly guys that have freelanced their whole lives and then suddenly step into a studio setting. Their big motivation is typically learning and mastering their craft. This does not translate well to doing the weeks of tedious stuff that actually make the game work.
Figure out what naturally motivates you. Then either change your perspective, your environment, or both, to recharge. If that's not feasible, recognize that what has motivated you in the past has failed you and find something else about the project to get jazzed about!
10/09/2010 (6:39 pm)
Great thread. The majority of projects I've worked on (and led) have failed. Fortunately only a couple had monetary ramifications. Staving off burnout can be difficult.I think everyone has different motivations for working on games. You have to figure out what got you interested in the first place. Sometimes, if you're being frank with yourself, you'll recognize that those motivations are unsustainable. For example, if you're just here because you like to play or learn, and you have no real passion for the medium, you'll probably wind up in trouble. To be sure, it's good for developers to enjoy playing and learning, but developing can definitely be boring and tedious at times. You need a higher goal than self gratification.
Since I started working on games, my zeal for hardcore gaming has really diminished. But that's okay. My biggest motivator is my passion for creating experiences for others. No matter how crappy or tedious the day's work may be, if it's enabling something I believe will engage a bunch of people, I can usually motivate myself to continue pretty quickly. In the short term, engaging a gaming community and creating a little fan base is a great source of motivation. Staying aware of where I fit into the whole gaming scene and staying connected to the community fire me up.
I'm fortunate because I have a pretty robust passion. In my experience, engineers have had the most difficult time with burnout - particularly guys that have freelanced their whole lives and then suddenly step into a studio setting. Their big motivation is typically learning and mastering their craft. This does not translate well to doing the weeks of tedious stuff that actually make the game work.
Figure out what naturally motivates you. Then either change your perspective, your environment, or both, to recharge. If that's not feasible, recognize that what has motivated you in the past has failed you and find something else about the project to get jazzed about!
Torque 3D Owner Matt Huston
Atomic Banzai Games
One thing I have found myself is that I tell no one of my game inspires me to continue to work on it. Then the only pressure is coming from yourself. Whenever I have told others about my game, made a website or tried to promote my games, I got burnt out.