So I can't seem to finish anything I start...

[Traveling Bard]

Once upon a time, I picked up a rpg game maker engine... bright eyed and bushy tailed... full of dreams of making a few small games, having minor success, and eventually doing this game making thing for a living being my own boss. Well, that was roughly 2006... it's been 10 years and I still have nothing to show for it but an archive full of ideas, jotted down notes, and partially developed games that I've been working on for years. My first idea was Goshiki, a game about a monk that could swap between different kata forms seemlessly & battles with bandits and his own martial artist peers (since he wasn't supposed to learn the art in the first place... he's a farmer). My second idea was from a school project I finished back in 2007 where the three adventurers were supposed to take a package of unknown contents to a village on the other side of a forest while being hunted by several very interested parties. It was literally "game about getting from point A to point B with... idk a package?" That game was called Journey to Westshire and the development post is actually in this forum somewhere... also unfinished. 


At this point, you must be asking "why are you sharing all these slightly depressing facts?" I guess I wanted to share in hopes that others don't fall into the same traps I started noticing that I let myself fall into and finding my own answers on how to solve my problem. I am a bit long winded, so instead of subjecting your browser to a massive text dump... here are spoilers to help out:


Pitfall #1 Scope Creep

Spoiler

This is where I take something simple and make it infinitely more complicated. What starts as a single character game in the same vein as dragon warrior somehow manages to become an epic with complicated game play, multiple characters that join the MC's party from time to time, and a story about embracing discovery, change, and hard work to better one's self. It sounds nice, but it certainly wasn't what I had in mind back in 2006 when I downloaded rpg maker xp. I had a single act play in 2006. Now I have a game that would likely take a team to complete in any reasonable amount of time (not to mention I don't have the programming skills nor the art skills to fully realize what the game has become either). What's the lesson here? Stop yourself from making things unnecessarily complicated. Ask yourself what's the value other than "that would be cool" or "that would make it unique"? Because I've found that by piling on all these "unique" aspects, I still haven't come close to actually finishing Goshiki.

Pitfall #2 Trying to do too much too quickly & getting discouraged and/or overwhelmed

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 It's saying "ok, I need to make 15 maps, 20 unique skills that balance well in combat, 20 unique enemies with custom AI so players don't think I'm lazy and are actually both challenging & fun, and figuring out how this game will fit into the universe of my other partially created games so I didn't actually waste time developing them while also saying something meaningful"... see how that snowballs out of control? One of my favorite past times these days is going to tsukihime's or yanfly's scripts & plugins pages and just going through the list picking & choosing features I felt would fit with whatever idea I was working on. Always keeping an eye out for solutions to problems from other partially created games as well. It's like grocery shopping for pitfall #1 and then falling into pitfall #2 trying to throw it all together. What's the lesson here? Stop. Take a breath. Pick ONE THING you want to accomplish this work session and do that. Don't go reaching out to the internet and adding more complexity until you need it to solve that ONE THING. Don't worry about all the maps you need to do or balancing all the skills. That stuff comes later and making some progress is better than not making any progress.

Pitfall #3 The allure of a new idea and the vicious cycle it creates

Spoiler

 As a self-proclaimed game designer/story writer, I am constantly bombarded by "cool ideas" from everything from tv shows, anime, manga, books I read, games, traveling, walking down the street, the baristas at starbucks, etc etc And my god, do I take notes. Which is good. I think exploring an idea while it's on the top of your head is nice... but if you already have a game "in-queue" that you are making, I must issue a warning here... in the form a personal example. So I'm working on Journey to Westshire, a game that is the closest out of all my projects to actually be done... which is pretty sad since I can't even release a demo of it yet... I'll be working on it for a few months and then I'll have a really cool D&D session. "Man, that was really fun... I wonder if I could make a game about that D&D session... yes! using 5e skills translated into rpg maker skills. Oooo, I can use this script and that script... I'll keep it simple by only having two of the characters... the story pretty much writes itself! Let's make it more gritty & personal..." and then 48 hours later, I had a full script & design of skills, enemy encounters, descriptions of all the maps I'd need, and then I'm staring real hard at that "new project" button. But now I'm putting off the game I've been working on since 2007 once again... I'll work on this new game until I get stuck or discouraged on something... and then yanfly will release a new script that is absolutely PERFECT for Goshiki, plus there is a resurrection jam going on in the forum so it's a perfect time to resurrect that project from 2006! So I port the idea to rpg maker mv (from VX ACE, which has had it ported to it from XP...starting to see the cycle?) and get to work, but I get stuck and/or discouraged... and then I don't meet the deadline which makes me question my commitment, and finally... I go back to Journey to Westshire because it's the closest game I have to being finished. I have done this for 10 years. The lesson? Ignore everything else, work on one game/doodle/whatever... and finish what you start. Don't chase the new idea or the new feature or the new script or the new engine... chase the finish line of your game. When you get new ideas, see new scripts, see new features, or a new engine... by all means write them down, ear mark them for later, etc. Just don't let it keep you from your goal. Our goal is finishing.

 Pitfall #4 The constant chasing of inspiration

Spoiler

 I can't work unless I go to Starbucks or the library or Colorado...specifically Estes Park, Colorado... while overlooking the Rockies...and setting aside specific vacation time to do so. I'm kidding, but I think you get the idea. Inspiration, I've found, is super fleeting. When it comes, it's like a random number generator finally gave us the buff we need to get 100% more xp for the next 4 hours. Or like the star from Mario. But once it's gone, I feel like I am constantly searching for it again before being able to actually work on something. I'll do weird things... Like drive from Houston, Texas to Estes Park, Colorado in a rental car with nothing but a bag of clothes & my laptop. Or I'll hit up that hipster coffee shop because the burlap sacks of coffee they have on display for some reason make me think I'll be able to bang out some code and/or story scenario. Is it wrong to try new things to attempt to shake loose an inspiration buff? Not at all! But in the desperate search for it I came to the realization that inspiration is merely the honeymoon stage for an idea. It's the first sip of coffee in your life that gives you the focus of a thousand men.  But you will not be able to work like that all the time... or even most of the time. In fact, you might not even be able to focus for more than 30 minutes to an hour a day. And that's ok. This is where the lesson comes in... Remember that ONE THING you need to do today? You have a list of those, right? When inspiration hits you, plow through your project like the madman you are blessing it with your vigor & elven focus... but when you don't have that, just go to your list, pick ONE THING, and do that. It might not be as fun, it might be hard to focus, but it's still progress and that's ok. Game making is hard, long, and some times tedious. It's also really fun when you start seeing that hard work pay off and that skill you've been working on for a few hours is FINALLY working the way you want it to.

Final Thoughts

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 After a good amount of soul searching, speaking with my peers, reading books & articles on the subject... and writing this post... I have come to the conclusion that what I ultimately need is discipline to finish what I start and to appreciate the small victories so I don't get discouraged. This whole game making thing is hard, but I've heard that the things worth doing in life typically are. So, I'm resolved to keep at it. Keep doodling away and prove that I can finish something. Not to the community, my friends, my peers, my family... but to myself. I hope this brain dump is helpful to some. Feel free to comment on your own experiences and/or helpful advice for those who also have similar issues. Thanks for reading.


'Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.' -Stephen King

 

[Milennin]

I know exactly how it feels. That's the way it went with my main project that's currently on hiatus, and has been so for quite some time now. Pitfall #1 and #2, especially, are very easy for me to fall into, when there are so many good ideas and you want to try a bit of everything, but then end up creating more work for yourself and the project expands beyond a scope you can deal with.


That's the reason why I challenged myself to make something small and simple. Set a bunch of rules and limits, and no matter what, stay within those boundaries. No fancy animations or graphics. No custom assets. No custom battle system. No items (Fox only, Final Destination). One town. One dungeon. Each map must fit exactly on one screen, no exceptions. Each character only has a total of 4 skills, no exceptions. The game must be short enough that it can be played through in less than an hour (30 minutes or less was the more stricter goal).


By setting rules and limits, it's a lot easier to keep yourself from continuously expanding your game. At least, that's what worked for me, personally. I could recommend it to other people who are struggling to finish a game.

 

[wintyrbarnes]

What lead me to "finishing" a (very simple, very basic) game for the first time was forcing myself to have a linear path, with no NPCs, few scripted events, no detours, and a friend who would tell me "that's nice, maybe think about adding it later" whenever I got excited about something I could add outside of the main plot. I wanted a couple different endings, so there were all of two or three items you could pick up over the course of the game that lead to 2.5 very simple endings (technically three, but two of them are the same except for a minor detail). I made all the obstacles relatively self-contained and small--like if you go the wrong way at a fork in the road, you're taken to a bit of road that just endlessly loops until you go back to the fork instead of a Deadly Sewer Dungeon or something. It was literally just "get home from city, through small forest, and don't get eaten by wolves." It was a serious struggle to keep it simple, but, in the end, that's what did it. 


Something else that helped me was banning myself from working on the maps for the next area before I finished all the events and anything game-related in one area. I often get caught up in map-making and peter out when I realize I have to fill those maps with more than guards on patrol, some flavor text, and flickering lamps. 


I get #1 the worst, and forcing myself to keep things simple is probably the most difficult thing I've ever had to do in project creation.

 

[Traveling Bard]

@Milennin, I've read somewhere that limitations can greatly drive creativity. Just think about all the games that were made in the 80s & 90s before we had semi-realistic graphics. I like your idea of putting limits on yourself, it's like saying "this is what I have to work with, now what can I do with what I've got?" I hope it helps you finish your game and give you the willpower & confidence to finish your main one! I look forward to giving both of those projects a spin when you're done 


@wintyrbarnes, that's awesome that you were able to power through and finish a project! Grats! I also get stuck up on the polish of a certain section of development. For me it's the encounter building which inevitably leads to complex solutions to make an encounter work how I want it to...either the skills or events during the fight or the AI of the enemies... before I know it, I've spent two full weeks on one boss battle and implementing all that complexity messed up the rest of my encounters. I think the best takeaway from your experience goes back to discipline and learning to tell yourself "No, I'm not going to worry about that right now...let's make a comment on the event, skill, or map & move on." My last few work sessions on this game, after 10 years of working on games, I finally started to see some of my shortcomings and learning to tell myself no helped me stay on track and finish the ONE THING I was working on at the time.


Thanks for sharing your experiences   

 

[wolfpak692]

i am having the same problem, only haven't been doing this as long as you... i have 4 projects i started and none are over 5% completed...  i think it has to do with being overly ambitious for my first game and running into a wall trying to figure it all out... not to mention the long hours i have spent going over the tuts and learning all i can there....

 

[Vox Novus]

You make a number of good reasons for why this occurs to a lot of developers. I'd say #1 and #2 are probably the most common reasons. Finishing is definitely a game development skill you need to learn and hone, just like learning and figuring out any other part of the engine you are using.


Although you aren't new to rpg maker, I would give you the same advice I'd give to new users. Set the scope of your game small and make a game about some random idea or story you just think of on the spot. Have it be short 1-3hrs and finish it up. Releasing a few games like this let's you get some good practice in with the maker, let's you say you got a game done and let's you hone that important skill of finishing. Here's a good blog article from the official blog about short games (there are a lot of good articles to read on the blog): http://blog.rpgmakerweb.com/advice/learning-rpg-maker-starting-small/


As for the other pitfalls you put you will probably find that as you get better at finishing you become less distracted with other ideas. If you have an idea, write it down (on paper or in some word document on your comp) and come back to it for a future project (like in a game jam). Mentioning game jams, they are great for trying to get something small out; they force you to use time management skills and to keep focused on what the end goal of your game development is for your project. Some might even have other limitations or even theme's to fill so they promote creativity.

 

[Milennin]

@Milennin, I've read somewhere that limitations can greatly drive creativity. Just think about all the games that were made in the 80s & 90s before we had semi-realistic graphics. I like your idea of putting limits on yourself, it's like saying "this is what I have to work with, now what can I do with what I've got?" I hope it helps you finish your game and give you the willpower & confidence to finish your main one! I look forward to giving both of those projects a spin when you're done 

Yeah, that's right. And it's also fun to work with limitations because it feels more satisfying to get the things working you really want when you have these limits to take into account. Well, the game with link in my signature is the one I finished with the bunch of limitations I set for myself, you can finish it in 30 minutes or less, so it won't take up a lot of time if you decide to try it out.   It still took like 3 months of hard work to make, so even though it was supposed to be a small game, it still required a good amount of time and effort to finish. That only makes me more cautious to work on bigger projects, lol.

 

[Kes]

I think you have made some excellent points, clearly expressed.  The only thing I would add is "know your limits".  For example, I know that no matter what I do I will never rise to a decent level of scripting.  So I do not spend my time trying.  I have learned enough to be able to configure a script (read plugin if you're using MV) and do a few minor tweaks.  For anything else, I am not ashamed to ask for help - that's what so good about this community, people are willing to help one another.  Everyone has limits.  Part of the art of completing a project is knowing where they are so that you don't either over- or under- extend yourself.

 

[richter_h]

Definitely what I got months ago.


Rushed things, lack of preparations as well as fundamental things when building a project, some constant craving for inspirations and overthinking the possibilites the project would be, some friends that supposed to support the project but in reality they didn't, and personal issues on top of it... boom! What I've created, unfinished.


It took me months to reflect what were wrong, and after several throwbacks, my lack of discipline is the real culprit of the problem in my previous project. My surrounding also gave major impact; when working with some guys who prefer procrastinating than actually doing something cool, you'll get nothing more than ideas floating in mind.


Friendly advice: relax, take a break, set believable schedule and start working on your project. Either small or big in scale, if you're stubborn and resilient enough, you'll eventually finish it no matter what. Don't get tempted easily for new ideas, too.