How To Overcome Laziness In Game Development

Thanks for your honesty. Sometimes that is a hard thing to do.

Loved this!

Whats interesting to me is, how we all can successed baking eggs, but procastinate making game. Must be the proportions of a project.

so ive made my first game and i like how it turned out but i followed a series for help with the code and i dont know a lot about code, i need places to learn it for game development, i wanna continue to making my first 3d game and ive looked at unity and unity tutorials and ive looked at unreal but idk where to start. and also that game was hard coded using eclipse it was a 2D game.

Just want to take a second to say that this is a high-quality channel, Tim. I like the laid back, casual conversation chat style you're implementing and the content you talk about. Keep up the good work!

I'll argue that what manifests as laziness during the gamedev process is actually procrastination fueled by perfectionism. I'm not citing that as a virtue of course, and there are days when we indeed feel lazy. But for me and my friends who dabble with development, it's always the fact that we're trying desperately to figure out a solution to a problem, then we figure out a more complex one, it doesn't work, we get frustrated and leave it to the next day. I'll give you a current example to better illustrate my point: I'm making a 'restaurant simulator' (buy supplies, cook orders etc.) and I want a system to both organize my food inventory and spawn their prefabs. I spent the last 3 days looking for the most programmatistically elegant way to implement this, while many simple solutions flew in front of my eyes.

So another tip I'd like to add: just make it work. Leave the elegance for when you're able to do it, or else procrastination will ruin your game.

Hey man I love the videos. I just found your channel and subscribed. I usually don't comment on videos but I had to cause I like the fact you just say whatever and keep it real. No "churching" up (the language) necessary. That's how I am. So anyways keep up the awesome videos and I'll keep coming back for inspiring words cause I too have laziness. Mines mostly do to the fear of not knowing how to complete something and failing in the attempt.

My tip (from a professional bam who actually gets things done) - try to progress different aspects of your game. If for example you're animating a character and feel tired and unmotivated for today, try doodling some other parts like spaceships or write to high level code. It'll help putting things in perspective and trying different branches.

Thank you for the nice video ! its nice to hear that you are lazy too sometimes

Been making my game 17 days, 10 hours per day and I feel great. Somedays I might get stuck on some problem, but what matters is that I put everything I've got. Also reading "War of art" helps a lot.

meth

Something that has worked really well for me lately has been not just breaking things down into smaller tasks like you said, but just keeping a little text file next to the design document. The contents of the file is every single step I've completed (added each time I finish something like "First iteration of equipping weapons" or "solved issue where projectile misses the cross hair"). The name of the text document is the number of hours spent with the project open.

If I have a bad day where I get stuck on a frustrating bug (or 10), or just feel like I'm not making any progress then at the end of the day I look at that file and notice it's coming along much faster than it seems, which keeps me motivated to do more.

good music and good environment cause if you don't have either the depressing lazy sluginess kicks in also if you feel tired and slugish get dressed like your going out idk why but when im all dressed and ready to go soemwhere i just have more energy and productiveness then if im just in chillign attire

I try to add a little bit of creativity in boring task. For exemple, I had to do a list of every weapons in my game with their stat and description, that was pretty boring. To help me I invented some fun and cool descriptions, or some cool name for different level of difficulty. That way I had to exploit the creative part of my brain which gives some dopamine when used.

Havent stopped rewatching these videos during my breaks haha. For me at least, creating good daily habits helped combat laziness such as waking up early, making a list of things that went very good during the day and what can I improve for next time

For new developers I have an advise:
Create a *.txt file and name it "<MyProjectName> changelog.txt". Then every day implement new features in your game and add this information in your changelog file. It will look like this:
(01.02.2018)
Pre-alpha 1
* "gamespeed" changed from 30 to 60 fps
+ Added groups for different sprites and objects
+ Added default macros script
+ Created Player object
+ Created simple sprite for Player object
+ Created some variables for Player object
+ Created Base Collision box object
+ Created Collision box object
+ Created simple sprite for Collision box object
+ Added logic for input
+ Added logic for gravity, horizontal and vertical collisions and movement for Player object
+ Created simple room (level) for testing
+ Added logic for acceleration and deceleration for Player object

(02.02.2018)
Pre-alpha 2
+ Added Viewport 0 with default Camera
+ Created Camera object with custom logic
+ Added some simple tileset
+ Added some simple trees on background
+ Added some simple mountains on background
+ Created parallax scrolling effect in Camera object

(03.02.2018)
Pre-alpha 3
* Changed room size from (3200 x 1600) to (6400 x 1600)
+ Created new tileset with tiles (64 x 64) instead of (32 x 32)
* Changed room layout to more look like first game level
* Changed sprite for Collision box object for less visibility (in editor)
+ Created animation system for Player object (idle, jump, run, flip horizontal)
* Some code optimisation in Player object

Dooood! You're a total badass! This video legit called me out lol

Yes, pomodoro is indeed very usefull tecnique to get things done. I used it. Another usefull approach is "Attacking the pain" as Andrew Price said (aka Blender Guru). Find the thing that bothers you the most (that is probably also the thing that is holding you back from starting in the first place), the one thing that you prefer doing THE LEAST and just attack it. Just do it. Do that. It feels great when you get it done. And as always, you realize soon it wasn't as hard as it seemed beforehand.

You mentioned "The Expanse." Dude, we can hang.

I'VE FOUND LISTENING TO INITAL D MUSIC HELPS XD
=)

Mate, this is both brutally honest and incredibly useful. I'm subbing from this episode alone. I'm just starting out but this episode applies to many different areas of our lives. Thank you.

The result of a large project is typically depression. I have felt that before

why am I watching this video instead of what I should be doing...

Great video.

I have 1 tip that really helped me. Streaming. By streaming parts of your wrk flow regularly like level design or character design, you force yourself to work and not be afk. You get that feeling of being watched which motivates yourself even more. And when people stick around in your channel it makes you feel even better about your work.
My productivity increased tenfold when I started streaming my level design

and i'm lazy to finish off watching this video😂

As someone with ADHD, I find large tasks daunting. Splintering the large tasks into 'action items' sounds like it'll really help me in particular. People with ADHD have fewer dopamine receptors than people without ADHD, so the bursts of dopamine you describe sounds like a great motivator.

sorry but this video is too long, coudn't watch it all without going to other ''random'' video

You have tips for everything. I like your channel.

I avoid work by watching videos like this. 😂😥

It is the drag of overwhelming challenges. Most ppl can't handle this ugly feeling and it can trigger a person's insecurity. It is dangerous.

How to fix laziness in 2 steps: listen to Jordan Peterson and implement what he says. He's got plenty of material on the subject.

If you are not lazy, then why you so fat?

Still good videos!

Holy crap. Tim's a mindreader!

I just subscribed 10 minutes ago and I am loving Your content

I think its a matter of finding one's motivation for any specific task. You have to be your own hype man especially once the initial burst of enthusiasm waxes and wanes. Motivation is like a fire. You have to tend it and consistently feed it to keep it burning. It can be a chore to rekindle a fire when trying to use wood thats already been burned up. So find what generates a passion for your craft within your heart and mind, then fixate yourself on gunning for success. Perspective is th philosopher's stone, you can transmute any situation or circumstances to suit your needs if you are capable of altering your perspective positively.

It doesn't help that so many of the pieces of your game are interconnected and dependent on each other in order to play it or get a proof of concept going. It's challenging to motivate yourself when you realize you wont be getting meaningful feedback for a long time. For example building a collision resolver for how to handle hurt boxes and boxes. Lots of stuff going on there before you can get a full picture. I think this is why checklists, milestones, goals are super critical to success. Crossing tasks off and marking them as done feels good and gets you to the vertical slice and proof of concept phases. This also applies to new territory you might not be familiar with like animations or UI design, shaders, etc... It can be really hard to bring yourself to learn new skills from scratch because you know it's going to take a long time and you wont have much to show on day 1, day 2. But eventually it's worth it if you keep hacking away. You'll have something to show for it and a deep sense of fulfillment you can't get anywhere else.

Starting is always the hardest thing

Thank you.

Why does this guy look like the captain from Wall-E

this is the third time I'm watching this video x'D I'm just in full circles

Just simply i dont how to do the thing i need to do

Everytime when reaching the starting point in the morning I feel like Tobey Maguire in the screaming train scene from Spiderman 2

good tips friend!

Thanks dude! I've been having a real hard time getting started on my projects this is what I needed :)

I wanted to reach out and say thank you. Iv been dreaming of becoming a game developer and your words inspired me to stop being lazy and to start learning and develop a game and have been slowly accomplishing my dream. So thank you so much. Your words even inspired me to do other things beyond game development as they still apply to the real world rather it’s house chores or even work. Thanks again