In general, if you can't see the next step from here to there then 'there' is too big of a goal. Take little steps and things work better.

Avoiding C++ so you can focus on the design instead of the gory details will help. Modding existing games or map making is probably the quickest and easiest way to take 'little' game design steps.

Another thing you might consider is looking into user experience or UI designer sort of stuff. That involves a lot of 'why do users like X/Y?' and a lot of the psychology will cross over, while providing you more opportunities for conventional work/education.

I agree with your C++ comment, although it is the language he has prior ability in and he hasn't mentioned any technical hangups at this point.

That said, I think the modding comment simply isn't true anymore. Learning how to mod most games is almost a fulltime job in itself. You could get up and running in Unity faster than you could figure out how to make a Source mod for example. It used to be the case, but modding complexity has increased, and the barrier to entry on game engines has decreased.

The part where you "care" about coding comes when you actually complete something that's close to what you had in mind and you realize you have it in you to make something better.

If you can't get excited about making Pong, make something else. Get something up on the screen. Control it with the keyboard and mouse. Have it collide or otherwise interact with other things you put on the screen.

I am reminded of Andy Schatz's (how do 's's work with words that end in z?) development philosophy behind monaco. Always be doing something that is fun to develop. I think that was in one of his GDC presentations last year. The majority of the features he added were quick and fun to implement for him, and the resulting game was better because he was able to keep his morale high and himself interested. I think he said he was putting in 10-12 hour days, but he wasn't getting super exhausted because he was enjoying everything he was doing.

Not 100% sure on the accuracy of that summary, but the gist of that was what I gathered from that piece of his presentation.

I am reminded of Andy Schatz's (how do 's's work with words that end in z?) development philosophy behind monaco. Always be doing something that is fun to develop. I think that was in one of his GDC presentations last year. The majority of the features he added were quick and fun to implement for him, and the resulting game was better because he was able to keep his morale high and himself interested. I think he said he was putting in 10-12 hour days, but he wasn't getting super exhausted because he was enjoying everything he was doing.

Not 100% sure on the accuracy of that summary, but the gist of that was what I gathered from that piece of his presentation.

You, with your name, should not be in this thread. ;)

I saw an E-Mail that said "way2lazy2care" posted on my forum.

Thought i was dreamin'

[quote name='way2lazy2care' timestamp='1318878847' post='4873588']
I am reminded of Andy Schatz's (how do 's's work with words that end in z?) development philosophy behind monaco. Always be doing something that is fun to develop. I think that was in one of his GDC presentations last year. The majority of the features he added were quick and fun to implement for him, and the resulting game was better because he was able to keep his morale high and himself interested. I think he said he was putting in 10-12 hour days, but he wasn't getting super exhausted because he was enjoying everything he was doing.

Not 100% sure on the accuracy of that summary, but the gist of that was what I gathered from that piece of his presentation.

You, with your name, should not be in this thread. ;)
[/quote]

It's just the screen name I've been using since 8th grade; it's too good for me to want to get rid of it

I was like this when I started programming. I thought it was just a chore that had to be done so I could get on with the fun stuff of making a game. Hell, I even took it to the point of forcing myself to make games I had no interest in and spent months 'not getting it'! My greatest nemesis was Tetris; damn those accursed coloured blocks and their logic!*

After a while, and after multiple stupid beginner tactics (including changing languages on a regular basis), I eventually, and finally, got it! The "it" behind why I couldn't enjoy programming; it was for two reasons - first and foremost: because I could never focus on what I wanted to do but instead focused way too much on what I 'had to' do!
Second: I realized that it was hard to enjoy the journey when I was so focused on getting to the destination. While I was so focused on getting games made it became that much harder to not getting agitated when the learning process got in the way. There was also a third, minor, reason that also was quite frustrating: the amount of structure in the learning process; there was far too little freedom in just doing whatever I wanted and far too much focused on stuff I 'had to' learn for making a game.

The solutions were rather simple.

First, I stopped working on any project which didn't interest me. This was an instant helper. Of course, I thought this was going to slow down my learning quite a bit, so I had to identify projects on every step of road that I wanted to make - from the really simple games to the super-complex. After a while, I was getting back on track and learning not only more but also faster and I had a lot more fun - I realized, above all, motivation is key!
The second issue was hard, it's never easy to put things on hold when you know that might spell doom for your dreams. Eventually though, while working so hard to get to the "fun part" (hah!), I realized that it was actually way too much fun doing what I already was doing. I attribute this to point three; I had started a lot more hacking stuff together instead of neatly structuring. For sure, the results were often horrible code-wise, but I got visible progress way faster and programming started becoming fun for real.

Later on, when the "beginner stress" had settled down, I went back and re-learnt many of those 'proper' programming methodologies. To this day I still don't consider myself properly reared in programming though; maybe one day in the future I'll get there

TL;DR: don't stress things, you'll get where you want eventually. Choose fun projects and have fun tinkering with them. Find your niche in programming, whatever that may be. Learn the way you want to learn, don't let any structured old geezer tell you otherwise.

Best of luck!

* I feel I should mention, I could actually make a fairly complex 2d game at this point; I made a complete 2d top-down shooter with levels and everything. But STILL I couldn't beast Tetris - something with my brain and grids didn't quite fit back then

Re: Confirm4Crit

Hello!

Write a small game using command-line. This will allow you to spend time with your chosen language without distraction, and apply your design skills much sooner.

Re: Confirm4Crit

Hello!

Write a small game using command-line. This will allow you to spend time with your chosen language without distraction, and apply your design skills much sooner.

I've been doing this along side C++, and plan on doing that eventually. http://www.freewebs.com/campelmxna/tutorials.htm.

Along with the Pong thing, >.> Promise xD

I recently picked up two books Learn C++ in 24 Hours, and Beginning Guide to C++ Game Programming (http://www.amazon.co...rd_i=0672315165 / http://www.amazon.co...18866006&sr=8-2)

I'm going though the lessons at a steady pace, but I just don't "see" a result.

I'm sorry, but upon reading this, I couldn't help but have this instantly pop into my head. I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "see a result," but it'll take a really long time before you get any kind of result that anyone would pay money for. That doesn't mean that you can't achieve the end goal, but you do have to evaluate how much you want it. If the work of learning itself isn't enjoyable, I'd suggest finding a different line of work that would be more enjoyable.

If you like the logic of programming but just don't want to get into the details of C++, you can try other languages. If the logic is appealing but sitting down and programming in any language just doesn't sound fun, perhaps you may enjoy game design more, or some other related field.

But you're young, so don't stress too much. Test the waters. Find what you love. And do what you love. Don't waste your life doing something you don't love.

That's my two cents.