I've been a full-timer for about a month now, and I'm worried whether I'm using my time in an efficient manner. So far, I've managed to created a map editor that is incomplete, a 2d engine that is incomplete. After a month, I expected much more progress. Am I being hard on myself or am I going too slow? I wanted to get something out by end of July at least, but that looks like it's not happening.

I'm using Visual C++ Professional, PaintShopPro7.0, and DirectX.

I don't think I'm slacking although there have been a couple of days where I couldn't do anything and took those days off. I've had a few periods of fantastic productivity, but most of the time, it's been slow.

I admit my mind has not been always focused. I have the net on, the tv going, and the radio in the background. Blame it on these dexterity forums! j/k hehe

I think you are going great! I actually took 3 months to finish my first project. It was simple and I did it part time, but I did it using Blitz3D which allows for fast prototypes. Using Visual C++ is bound to take longer, especially if you are starting from scratch.

I'll let you know in a couple months when I go full time :) But I would suggest turning the TV off, at least.

As far as whether you're going fast enough, only you can really answer that question. Are you going to be able to complete your game and get it up for sale before you run out of money?

I've seen a couple people go full time before they even have the semblance of a game, and I personally think it's not such a good idea. You end up wasting tons of your working capital trying to build something instead of spending it trying to make money. But I guess, what's done is done. Figure out how much time is left before you run out of cash, and try to estimate how long it will take to finish your game based on your current progress. If the time left is less than the time it will take to make your game and get it up for sale so that it's bringing in enough income to support you, you're going too slow ;)

I think that you should start with reading (or re-reading) Dexteritys articles and don´t just read them, do something useful with your new knowledge.

If you haven´t done this already then split up your work in small parts, that will make it alot easier to get started and you will feel that you´re getting somewhere.

It´s better to work 4 effective hours a day, than trying to work 8-10 hours and only be effective 1 or 2 hours

Time management, planning, goals... :)

I think only you can tell if you are going to slow or not. Different people have different level's of ability, different levels of expirence so the time it takes two different people to accomplish the same feature list may be very different.

Thus, all you can really change is how well you manage your time while working on your various to-do's. Only you can say if you are making good use of your time or not. Chances are if you started this thread, you have a suspicion that your not making good use of your time day to day. How you make use of your time day to day is far more important then "what you got done in one month". If you focus on making good use of your time on a daily basis, you will find yourself achieveing more and more in a given month.

If you have the slight feeling that you are going too slow, somewhere your reasoning process says that you could still optimize yourself and turn out better and faster work...

If you were working at your full drop-dead burn out pace, you wouldn't be thinking of your slow pace....

I spent 20 days to make a working dx engine few years ago, and 2 months to make a complete game. Now it is 3 months, and I am still working on the engine core with all those parcers, tracers, resource management, memory management etc. It strongly depends what is the complexity of your engine. Usually simple wrappers are easy to write, but it does not have the reusability and flexebility of more complex systems.

Do not take it hard on yourself, the 1000 miles long way starts with a first step. :) Most important is to keep going.

TV and internet can waste a lot of time that you could spend being productive instead. Just looking at a forum and a news page will take away a lot of time even if they just take a few minutes to check. Each time you do that you distract yourself and break your concentration and it always takes a little while before you can get back to whatever you were doing.

At least that's the case for me. I live with my parents at the moment which is also a cause for distraction. People talking in the other room, people asking me question. To stop them from breaking my concentration I've began listening to music through headphones which blocks them out quite effeciently. Music without lyrics is preferred else that might also become a distraction.

Originally posted by dreeze
Just looking at a forum and a news page will take away a lot of time even if they just take a few minutes to check.
Yeah, I know what you mean. In a way, I've been a bit saddened that this forum has gotten as popular as it is. I used to be able to read every post in every thread, and everything felt very personal. Now, with the forums taking off as much as they have, and me not being the fastest reader in the world, I find I often have to skim a bunch of messages just to keep from spending all day here. It has made me feel a bit detached from some of the conversations here. I guess that's the price I have to pay to have a wealth of knowledge here available on this board, yet still get things done and find ways to apply that knowledge.

Originally posted by LordKronos
Yeah, I know what you mean. In a way, I've been a bit saddened that this forum has gotten as popular as it is. I used to be able to read every post in every thread, and everything felt very personal.

Yeah I agree with you Ron. Keeping up with all the active threads on this message board has become a fulltime job. I can't keep up with all of them anymore either. :( But on the upside, two heads are better than one, and two hundred better than two. Though personally I've always preferred to have one head myself. :)

too slow?
there isn't such thing as too slow.
everyone should go at his own pace, there are days where
i write 10 lines of code, and there are those wacky days where
i get the inspiration of wriiting 700 of them.

and hey, my tv is open 24-7 and when it isnt, the radio is.
it actually help me concentrating, i need the backround noise
to keep me through the code i sont really like to do.

actually, i learned this method in my uni studies. I HATE the
math courses (pun intended). so i just sit infront of the TV
or open up the radio and use them to keep me awake through
reading the homework.

same for code. i keep the icq open, participate in several news
groups, TV open while "multitasking" with code-writing and
uni studies. worked great so far.

so dont completely shut yourself up. sure, you need to put
yourself next to the keyboard, but it doesn't mean you need to
punish yourself.

Have fun.

I'm the exact opposite to that Gilzu. I can never concentrate when a television is on in the room - even if it's something I don't want to watch it's just too attention grabbing.

Jih, my advice would be to keep a good record of all the work you do. That way when you think you're slacking, you can look at the record and think "Whoa! Look how much I've already got done." That should motivate you to keep going at a good pace.

And turn off your TV! :)

Originally posted by jih
I've been a full-timer for about a month now, and I'm worried whether I'm using my time in an efficient manner. So far, I've managed to created a map editor that is incomplete, a 2d engine that is incomplete. After a month, I expected much more progress.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. I used to freak out when a project looked like it was going to take longer that the time I planned. But what's the big deal? So what if the game takes one or two months longer to produce, as long as you end up with a great product.

Worrying about it only causes stress, burn out, and eventually delays the product even more. In fact, whenever I feel the stress coming on ("oh no, it's going to take too long"), I take the week off to do something completely different (like, go outside ;)). No product is worth burning out over, and in the long run the extra time doesn't matter anyway.

As far as having an map editor and 2d engine that are incomplete, what exactly does "incomplete" mean? Didn't you feel like working on them anymore, and temporarily abandoned them so you could move on with something that was more fun? If that is the case, you are indeed using your time inefficiently.

There is nothing wrong with pieces of your code being incomplete. After all, something will always be incomplete until your game finally ships. Maybe it is not a very smart idea to first write a complete map editor, then write a complete 2d engine, then write the full game logic, etc.

I would do a little bit of everything at a time, and let all the different components grow along with the game. This way, you'll have something tangible (and something to play with) at the end of every week. Not only does this show real progress, but it is also great for keeping up morale (and for making sure your game will actually turn out to be fun!)

Originally posted by jih
I've been a full-timer for about a month now, and I'm worried whether I'm using my time in an efficient manner. So far, I've managed to created a map editor that is incomplete, a 2d engine that is incomplete. After a month, I expected much more progress.


Fully agree with Mattijs.

A spirit of tinkering is necessary when you are exploring your game concept. Do several prototypes of the entire game before fleshing out the details. Dont aim for the moon in version 1. Get what is absolutely required and gauge feedback. Are people enjoying your game? Are they writing to you (or posting in forums) asking for features? If not, you can get out and try another idea. Programming is demanding; if you develop things upfront and your game is not fun, you will be terribly demoralised and think game development is not for you and go back to 9 to 5. Get your game out the door. Quick. Map editors can wait until version 3 ;)

Many are also fanatic about the design of their code. They will object orient everything thinking they can reuse/extend when working on future versions. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee you will get to work on one. What if your game isnt fun? You wont extend it so all the upfront design is a waste. Just let go. Keep it messy. Dont get attached to code. Rip out and rewrite until you run out of time. What matters is what goes up on screen not behind the scenes. Behind the scenes is always messy. Keep it that way.


and hey, my tv is open 24-7 and when it isnt, the radio is.
it actually help me concentrating, i need the backround noise
to keep me through the code i sont really like to do.


You dont like to develop your game then? I think you are able to have tv/radio while working. Good for you. I would turn on the music when I am doing some trivial code or got bored of the silence of coding but when I am doing something core, I would like to hear nothing but me pecking the keyboard.

Originally posted by jaggu
You dont like to develop your game then? I think you are able to have tv/radio while working. Good for you. I would turn on the music when I am doing some trivial code or got bored of the silence of coding but when I am doing something core, I would like to hear nothing but me pecking the keyboard.

actually, developing my game is the (second ;) ) most enjoyable
thing in my life. the fact that i hear music when i'm doing it doesnt
mean i dislike doing it.

Does the fact that artists hear music when they work mean that
they don't enjoy their work? When youre having a nice
conversation with a girl, putting some quiet music means you
don't like talking to her?

look at it from my perspective. I'm using music to enhance my
experience. it make me feel even better by making me fell more
comfy. Whats the difference between that and putting a vase of flowers on your table or turning the air condition?. both affect
each of the sences, but in a way that makes you feel better and
more productive. thats what music does to me.