For many of you this is not an issue but I suspect some are in the same boat I am: working on your game(s) as a side project while you try to maintain life and a day job. Some days are harder than others.
There are quite a few good take-aways from the answers to this question on Quora:
http://www.quora.com/Productivity/How-can-I-increase-my-productivity-on-my-side-projects-at-the-end-of-the-day-when-Im-tired-from-work
I usually only read Quora’s weekly summaries with random nerd questions about Star Trek and stuff… but this time the above question jumped out at me. If you are trying to balance a side project then you might get at least one or two new productivity ideas.
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This was a good read… I’ve often had trouble with motivation to do side project. especially with working with JME since i code with java at work. It’s a blessing and a curse, knowledge from one helps the other and vice versa, but sometimes the last thing i want to do when i get home from work is to debug more code…
My main problem is not adressed and I think it’s difficult to adress:
When you go to university and have to write an exam in a few days you will start to learn for this. After learning some hours you can decide: “Do I need a rest? - No, I’m fit enough to program. - But why don’t you continue learning then?” and so it breaks the developement for a few days for every exam. (For learning and for doing other stuff you didn’t do while learning.)
I remember reading about gaining momentum again in one of your posts @pspeed and that’s what is difficult then.
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Make it simple start early enough learnign and make a plan on what to learn wich day. As soon as you reach that limit, switch to programming. (Actually im very productive mostly in exams time, since programming is possible in 2 hours till sleep, most games I like not)
since programming is possible in 2 hours till sleep, most games I like not
The problem is that I rediscovered Counter Strike with Bots... Thats possible in that time.
In generel your advice is a good one but I have to train myself for that a bit more. In school I could motivate myself for learning only one day before the exam. It's better now but it still works best when time is rare^^
I also am a big supporter of the “just doing it” thing. With creative stuffs its even more problematic. If you don’t have the “vibe” you won’t be creative but if you at least sat down with the guitar and the recorder and tried you can say “well inspiration, I was there but you weren’t, I did my job”. If you are not at it then obviously nothing will happen. Even 10 minutes of coding can trigger your brain to solve some more issues on the project later during the day even without actually “spending the time on it”.
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Even 10 minutes of coding can trigger your brain to solve some more issues on the project later during the day even without actually “spending the time on it”.
Signed!
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Same applies here. Now I need to know how I can increase my side-project reading productivity so that I find the time to read this article…
ven 10 minutes of coding can trigger your brain to solve some more issues on the project later during the day even without actually “spending the time on it”.
As my knowledge of how the brain works goes, this is very true.. So you two pointed something very important out that was not present in my mind. I will try to at least read some of my code every day now.