I recently graduated from a “Computer Games Development” degree; Unfortunately, I liked the partying a little too much and only bagged myself a 2.2 – I knew this wasn’t going to get me a job in games. Anyway, since graduating I have managed to get a job as a build and release engineer for a large organisation in my local area. I am enjoying this job tremendously and although there is no c++ programming, the problem solving is keeping me challenged and happy in my job. I’m working 7.5 hours a day, going to the gym for 1.5 hours and then by the time I have tea and spend some time with my fiancé I only really get 2 hours an evening to myself. I find it difficult to get motivated about programming but I don’t just want to forget it either. Do you guys have any tips? Have any of you gone through something similar?

"I liked the partying a little too much"
"I am enjoying this job tremendously"
"spend some time with my fiancé"

I'm eaten by envy alive!

What i do is come up with a list of very small things that need doing for my project so that i don't sit down and get overwhelmed with doing a massive task in the little time i have. This usually amounts to a collection of bug fixes and then any work with real meat is done at the weekend if i have time then.

Dave, thats a neat suggestion. I have a project I want to work on, I could do something similar like list all of the functionality that I want in the game and work through them one at a time. When the weekend comes then I could work on getting these different elements to work together.

I think one thing that is also important, is spend one or two of these short programming sessions a week just using your project and create a list of bugs based off your playtesting.

I write big chunks of code when I have an afternoon or weekend with nothing planned; which isn't two often, but I can usually have a 5-6 hour session two or three times a month (shouldn't be too hard to find that amount of time - you just have to "make" time for it sometimes.)

After I've written the large chunks in marathon sessions, every day I'll at least open up VStudio and look through my code, and spend about 20 minutes fixing small things. This keeps me familiar with what my code does - which is important when maintaining 30+ source files on a project. It also keeps me thinking about it, even when I'm not coding.

I keep a notebook handy at work, and jot down things as they come to me. Maybe I see something in an app, or am working on code at work that gives me an idea I could use in a project. Then when I go home, and spend my 20 minutes going through code, I look through my notes and prioritize; breaking changes I postpone until I know I have several hours to work through it.

If you have to "get motivated" to do something, then you are probably doing something wrong.


Games are entertainment. If you have a game programming job, then you can call some of it 'work' time. It is quite likely that you have re-prioritized your life, and discovered that you don't want to devote 20+ hours every week to entertainment by games. That's okay.

You are probably correct to be spending those entertainment hours with your betrothed. You might want to schedule an hour or two every week just to keep your pulse on the industry, but otherwise, you probably don't need games as entertainment right now.

If you need to 'get motivated' to play games, then your reasons for doing it probably don't align with your real life goals.




The same is likely true for the programming that you don't have time for.

Why are you programming? Are you doing it for educational purposes, even though you already have your degree? Are you doing it for entertainment, even though you are probably getting more than enough already? Are you doing it for a hobby game that you don't really care about currently?

Whatever your reason, make sure it fits in with your real life goals.

Quote: Original post by LionMX
going to the gym for 1.5 hours and then by the time I have tea and spend some time with my fiancé

duh, lose the fiancée and stop going to the gym. In no time at all you'll be an unfit loner and then you will become awesome at all things gaming.

[grin]

Quote: Original post by frob
If you have to "get motivated" to do something, then you are probably doing something wrong.


Games are entertainment. If you have a game programming job, then you can call some of it 'work' time. It is quite likely that you have re-prioritized your life, and discovered that you don't want to devote 20+ hours every week to entertainment by games. That's okay.

You are probably correct to be spending those entertainment hours with your betrothed. You might want to schedule an hour or two every week just to keep your pulse on the industry, but otherwise, you probably don't need games as entertainment right now.

If you need to 'get motivated' to play games, then your reasons for doing it probably don't align with your real life goals.




The same is likely true for the programming that you don't have time for.

Why are you programming? Are you doing it for educational purposes, even though you already have your degree? Are you doing it for entertainment, even though you are probably getting more than enough already? Are you doing it for a hobby game that you don't really care about currently?

Whatever your reason, make sure it fits in with your real life goals.

Yup, I tried to ask that too. I guess the irony (but the feeling is truth) didn't go trough.

I should have probably made it clearer in the original post that I was referring to game development.

Quote: If you have to "get motivated" to do something, then you are probably doing something wrong.

I partly agree with this but let me give you my reasoning. As I’m sure you know yourself the I.T industry is constantly changing and to be competitive in the job market you have to stay current with technology. I read this fantastic book called “Landing the tech job you love”, and in this book the author says that you should be aiming to add something new to your CV (resume to all you peeps over the pond) every 3 month. If you are not fortunate to be getting new challenges via projects at work then you need to consider taking night courses or working on personal projects. I actually agree with this, it’s so easy to become lethargic in employment and you can soon be left behind.

I guess some of you are asking why game development? Well the truth is I find developing games more rewarding than developing software applications.