I find that feeling like you're not making any progress is the biggest motivation killer. Followed by the feeling of being overwhelmed.

You sit in front of the screen thrying to think your way around a problem.. all of the solutions to a seemingly innocent problem all of a sudden mean a weeks additional coding. That kind-of puts a wet sponge on the fire for me.

So what I do is step away, do something else to do with the project. I let my brain work on the problem in the background and get on with something else, like graphics, music or SFX.. maybe scripting.

Then I revisit the problem and see if I can come up with a better way around it. More often than not, I've reprioritised the problem and decided I can do it better another way, or.. not have to do it at all.


Right now I've got a problem.. I need to make destuctible buildings that work within the Torque engine .. EY!! Back off with those pitch forks fellas!!.. There are several approaches I can take, all involving a massive investment in terms of coding/scripting and art.. some more than others, but there's an element of each in every solution I've come up with. I've got to give it a lot of thought 'cos each solution has got additional issues of performance (network traffic, rendering) and gameplay issues. So I think about it for a while... then, I do something else like work on weapon scripting or modelling, then revisit it.. still no solution.. OK work on the UI.. and so on. There are enough small tasks I can complete to feel like I'm making progress.

Keeps me motivated because I'm always busy and always making progress. Not getting stuck in a hole fighting to get out.


I learned this lesson the hard way on a few other failed projects where I'd coded myself into a hole with a half thought out solution which became a mill stone around my neck.