How do you organise your workflow?

[Dark_Ansem]

So, how do you guys organise your workload?

While making is a hobby for me, it's an important one, thanks to the fact that MZ feels a bit like a game in itself.

But I'm still squashed by the amount of preparatory work, and thankfully this is just assembling assets as opposed to making them from scratch. Tilesets are especially hard to combine in intuitive ways, and map making natural exteriors appears to be much harder than I thought - or I just have no aesthetic sense.

 

[RCXGaming]

I make word documents for different aspects of the game - one for story beats, another for gameplay mechanics, one to store away any future concepts I currently don't have any place for, and an active to-do list.

The to-do-list in particular is a driving force that helps me actually get stuff done, since marking off completed bullet points helps give my brain enough dopamine to keep working.

Any knowledge that I accumulate I put into a separate "successes" document so I don't need to waste time re-learning what a script does, what RPG Maker VX Ace can do by default, and what I've already done mechanics-wise.

 

[Dark_Ansem]

I already do some of these, but yours are excellent suggestions, the script list is especially great!

 

[SGHarlekin]

Personally I just jump into the engine and make the thing. No documents or anything. It's all in my head.

 

[TheAM-Dol]

Generally speaking, I wouldn't stress too much about organization if you are working by yourself on this project. Does organization help? Oh yes, absolutely. But, as a single person working on a project, you can pretty easily keep track of stuff inside your own head. And anything you are afraid of forgetting, just slap that info into a notepad or memo or something.

Now, if you were working with a team, on the other hand, I would not advise that since obviously your team members are not living inside your head, so it would be impossible for them to know what exactly the plan is.

As RCX already mentioned, a To-Do list helps keep momentum going if you ever feel like you are losing steam, this is a great way to keep track of what to do next. I actually use To-Do lists a lot in my own daily life, but ironically, for my own game, I hardly ever use them.
I basically have a folder that contains all things related to this game. Most of it contains a variety of art, organized by animations, CG art, character sprites, weapons, UI; along with store page assets, unused assets (assets I've found online but haven't implemented yet), and probably some others I am forgetting. I also have a text document folder in there somewhere too. In there I have separate text documents for story beats, important things, and all manner of junk. Plus a handful of notes I have kept on my phone whenever inspiration struck randomly while I wasn't at home, I just jot them down in a memo on my phone (S-Pen lyfe)

 

[Dark_Ansem]

I just feel a bit overwhelmed by so much to do, in all aspects, and can't focus.

 

[TheAM-Dol]

I just feel a bit overwhelmed by so much to do, in all aspects, and can't focus.

Take it one step at a time. Think about it in small chunks, don't think about it as the full beast that it is. You know the old saying; slow but steady.

 

[Dark_Ansem]

I'm so impatient haha

 

[TeiRaven]

My favorite organizational tool is Microsoft OneNote (specifically the desktop version, but the app works too). To me, it's the best of both physical and digital note-taking worlds: you have all the tools of a text editor, but you can easily move pages and sections around like you would in a 3-ring binder. You can hop from your plot ideas to your mechanics ideas without having multiple documents open or having to scroll through a long text file. The movable pages and sections are my favorite part, but the ability to insert a check list that you can actually check off is another of my favorite features.

One thing I definitely recommend is keeping a running credits list in your design doc. As soon as you import something into your project, make sure that creator's name is on your credits list, and if it isn't, add it immediately. It'll save you so much time rooting through your resources later wondering which chairs you recolored for the castle six months ago.

One thing I definitely do not recommend is getting so far into the weeds organizing your plans that you never actually do them. I look at the "planner" section in the craft store I used to work at and wonder how anyone can make their planner that fancy, and have time to do the things they've written in it XD

And as AM-Dol said, think about it in small pieces if you're feeling overwhelmed. There's nothing more intimidating to me than a blank page--just start something, one piece, and the rest will follow. If one tileset is a lot to wrap your head around, start with one piece on it. Then the next.

 

[Dark_Ansem]

ne thing I definitely recommend is keeping a running credits list in your design doc.

I was already doing that hehe.

Interesting points about OneNote - what about Google Docs?