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Hey there, Gamers and Game Makers! So, I'm back in full swing between game dev and computer science and my days are pretty full. So much so that I thought it might be worth outlining what my typical day is like as it might help people see how I schedule and fit everything in. Ok, let's go! 6amI get up at 6am and hop in the shower, grab some breakfast and the usual human stuff. I also use this time to quickly catch up on some emails and even go over some design notes and tweak ideas from the day before. 7.30amI get the bus for college. Again I make use of this time by doing some design work on paper, emails and any work I can actually do that doesn't require a computer. 8.10amBy this point, I've arrived at the institute. I usually have about an hour free here where I can do some programming either on my laptop or on a PC in the library. Depending on my workload for that particular week, I usually use this hour for my own project still. 9amThis kicks off my day as a mature student and it's generally a full on day of lectures and lab work. Depending on what times I'm free for lunch on each day, I tend to grab a quick lunch and do some of my own design work. Some days, I'll just take the hour for my mind to actually recharge and play some pool with friends. 5.10pmI grab the bus home. Yup,you guessed it. I use this time to once again check emails and so on. 6pmI'm usually home around this time which I pretty much straight away jump on the treadmill for a run before having something to eat. 7pmFrom this point on, I'm pretty much in full game dev mode. Trying to get as much done on my game as I can before I need to sleep. I always have a task list set out of each little task I need to complete in that week. This way I can keep on track of knowing what needs to be done and seeing each task getting ticked off keeps me motivated. If I'm programming, I'll have music on in the background but if I'm doing something like level design or asset development, I'll tend to have a show TV show on in the background.Gotta keep up with my shows! 11pmPrecious sleep......Then, next thing you know it's 6am again! WeekendsMy weekends are more mixed. I spend a large portion of the weekend on game dev and college work but I also make it a point to spend a good amount of the weekend just relaxing and doing something fun. Otherwise I'd just burnout.
Until next time! Hey there, Gamers and Game Makers!
In this week's blog, I'm going to be talking about how I use Gamification in my daily routine in order to stay motivated. For those of you who don't know what gamification is, it's the way in which we apply certain aspects of gameplay to everyday life. It's used a lot in marketing and learning in order to keep people engaged through the use of game like rewards. I find having a routine to be a great way of keeping organized as well as using a scrum like structure to track tasks. However, routine and tasks can become boring at times. Even when you're working on something you enjoy, the repetition of certain tasks can make it difficult to stay motivated at times. This is were gamification comes in. Say for example, I have a bunch of bug fixes to complete within the current sprint. Rather than force myself to do them all at once which could result in a poorer quality of work as the task is already rather boring, I'll set out a goal of completing 3 of the bug fixes at which point I can reward myself with maybe an hour break to catch up on a show.. Our brains are accustomed to seeking rewards as doing so gives us that little dopamine boost. By setting out your tasks with clear reward milestones, even if they're small, it motivates you to work better. Because just like a quest in a game, you know once you complete it, you'll be rewarded. Try applying some basic gamification to the everyday tasks you find boring and see how it can increase your productivity. Until next time! Hey there, Gamers and Game Makers!
I've been hearing a lot about peoples views on online communities in general and the pros and cons. So, I decided I'd share my thoughts and experiences on the game dev side of communities. I'm a solo indie developer for the most part and what that means is that I do pretty much all of the development on the game with exceptions dependent on the project. Now it would be foolish to say I can do all this without any input from others. For a lot of indie devs, they rely on a game dev community for feedback and other supports. Now, my thing with game dev communities and just communities in general is, they don't always serve your best interests. If you are in a game dev group of a few thousand developers, you're going to get mixed responses to a post you may put up looking for feedback. You'll get the feedback from people who a genuine in their thoughts and have experience with the type of game you are trying to make and they'll do their best to help guide you. Then you'll have the obvious noise that comes from the inevitable trolls that always find their way into large groups. Thankfully, these are easy to spot and ignore. Now, the problem comes when you have people that may not even play the type of game you're making who will give you feedback that may not be correct since they don't have any experience in these games as either a dev or a player. They can be genuine in their attempt to help but it can sometimes set you on the wrong track. The other downside to groups and communities of any kind is the political agenda that will always exist among a certain number of people within the group. This results in favoritism towards some in the group and exclusion of others. I've seen this happen time and time again from the big online groups right down to the local scene in Ireland. When it comes to communities that will benefit your game and help it grow, I think that community is the one built out of the people who are actually fans of the type of game you are making and that are playing your games. They play your work for a reason. It's what they like and they like your style of game development. They'll be in the best position to give feedback on what your making because they already know what you do well and what you don't. With that said, don't get me wrong, I think there are some great communities out there for game dev. I personally found the Unity forums and Unreal forums to always be very helpful.It's also worth pointing out that while a community as a whole may not always be the best, you'll find a subset of folks from that community that are very talented and generous with their time when it comes to helping out other devs. In the end, I think you have to experience a few communities before you find the one that suits you and helps you as much as you help them. Until next time! Hey there, Gamers and Game Makers! I often talk about things I'm working on and things I plan on doing. While I have my own schedule of tasks and when I hope to complete them, I rarely put my long term goals out there for others to see. So, I thought it might be a good idea to post what I hope to achieve over the course of next year. This way, it might act as an extra motivation to stay on top of these goals. #1 Reach Alpha/Early Beta On The New GameThe current game I'm working on is a much larger project than normal and as result is going to take some time. My main goal with the game over the next 12 months is to get it to a late alpha, maybe even very early beta stage.  #2 Announce The GameActually getting to the point where there is enough of the game there to finally announce it is a major goal. It's difficult working on something for a long period of time and not being able to talk about it. So, all going to plan on the development of this game would mean I could actually announce it by the end of 2019! You guys can wait, right?  #3 Make More Small Games!Working on a long term game project tends to mean not releasing anything else in that time. That doesn't sit well with me for a couple of reasons. The main one being that if you don't work on something else, it can drain you creatively. I also have a bunch of small ideas that I think would make fun little games. So, I aim to take the occasional weekend to make some game jam style games in order to keep that creative energy going!  #4 Read MoreI've gotten back into a good habit of reading more and despite how busy I'm going to be over the next year, I'm hoping to maintain that habit and read a lot more books in the next 12 months.  #5 Complete Year 2 Of CollegeOne of the most obvious goals for me as a mature student going into the coming year is to come out the other end having successfully completed the second year of my computer science degree.  Until next time! Hey there, Gamers and Game Makers!
As some of you already know, I'm working on a game at the moment that's going to take much longer to make than my past games. As in a few years rather than a few months. While this is scary in a number of ways. Such as the risk of spending so much time on something and not knowing if it'll be any good and staying motivated for so long. I have noticed a surprising upside to this. Despite it being a much larger project, I feel more relaxed working on it. I've been so used to forcing myself to ridiculous deadlines in order to complete some games. I also think my project management skills have come a long way over the years and I'm now better able to manage my time on this project. I'm currently coming off of the pre-production phase of the game and moving onto actual development beyond that of prototyping aspects of the game. This comes at the same time that I'm returning as a mature student to college for my computer science degree. Juggling those two things is a challenge all by its self. That said, I think the other reason I'm enjoying working on this game so much is that it also is very different from my past games. I think even if we love making a particular style of game, we can end up placing ourselves in a creative rut of sorts. Staying close to the familiar formulas that worked before. I think it's important to break the mould from time to time. It keeps us creative and keeps us excited about actually making things. Until next time! |
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