Thread by @uheartbeast

Here is my experience (a thread) with feeling discouraged while working on my indie game, Demonlocke, and what I did about it.

After Caleb left, Demonlocke took a pretty hard hit.

This was caused by cascading events:

First, I decided to scale the game's scope based on feedback from the alpha testers. This isn't inherently a bad thing, you should scale risk as you get a positive response, but I scaled too much.

One particular feature I wanted to add was HD UI.

This feature was hard to add in our original project and I thought this justified starting fresh. Honestly, I now believe that as a small indie team, 99.9% you should try to solve the problem without starting over.

Starting over comes with its own set of problems.

Regardless, I decided to start over. I also decided to add 3D (cause it would look cool). As you can see, these choices weren't the best.

At first things went pretty well. I was having fun on the new 3D version but it didn't take long before things started to get tough.

Once I got the initial battle system working in 3D, it was time to start adding features that were already in the older version of the project.

I hated it. Re-implementing previous features was NOT exciting to me. I started to think that this game wasn't for me after all.

I was also working on the project alone now, Caleb was still fairly new to gamedev but he had been extremely helpful despite that. Working solo, during this pandemic, only added to my discouragement.

As I looked at the new project (and the new flaws it was presenting) I started to look back at the old version and began to wish I had just stuck with it. I could have solved a lot of the problems with it without starting over and I'd be so much closer to finishing the game.

Seeing how much work was still ahead of me felt overwhelming. At this point, I wanted to give up and "make something smaller". I'm sure many of you know how this feels.

Despite this, I decided to try to finish. I realized that all projects have moments of discouragement.

How I felt then didn't mean I would always feel that way.

For some reason, I kept working on the new 3D version instead of the old one (probably sunk cost fallacy, oh well).

I knew that in order to finish it I would need a plan. So here is the one I came up with:

I started by making a new user account on my computer (I use windows).

I gave this user account a simple pin password so that it would be easy to switch to, but not too easy.

I gave it a purple background (to match the game) and installed only the programs I would need to work on the game.

I themed Godot (my engine of choice) differently on that user than my main user account. I wanted it to feel like a completely different environment.

I installed a browser (in case I needed to look something up) but added a site blocker plugin to block social media sites.

Next, I knew I would need to form a habit of working on the game every day (finishing an indie game as a small team is a marathon not a sprint).

I knew this habit would need to be easy or I wouldn't keep doing it. I decided that my habit would be "Log into the new user, put on my headphones, play some programming music, and run the game".

That was it. I didn't even have to work on it.

Most of the time of course, I ended up putting some work into it. Sometimes, though, that was all I did. Just to prove to myself that it wasn't a trick.

After taking these steps, I started to gain momentum.

At first, progress wasn't quick, but at least it was steady. I tried to do my habit once or twice a day. As I got better and better at the habit I started doing it three to four times a day.

An important thing to note here, is that if I ever felt like I was having a hard time or pushing myself too much, I eased up. I'd just do the bare minimum for my habit.

I think that is important, because finishing isn't about how much you do in any one day, it's about being consistent and what your overall trajectory looks like. If you push yourself, you'll hate it and burn out. You need to avoid burnout.

After implementing this plan it became easier and easier to work on the game and make progress. I started adding features more quickly (while also being steady and consistent).

I still have a long ways to go on my game, but I'm no longer discouraged. I'm confident and enjoying the process. I don't know if this will work in the long run, I think it will, but only time will tell. It helped in the short term for sure.

If you have made it this far, I appreciate you taking the time to read my thoughts and experience. I hope you find them helpful. Have a wonderful day!