I'm currently working towards my PhD in Mathematics. So I have classes that I am taking, classes that I am teaching, tutoring and grading responsiblities, and reading texts on functional analysis on which I give presentations to my mentor. I'm absolutely loving it so far.

I just went to a seminar on how Grad Students in Mathematics need some sort of personal grand project that is enjoyable, but that also practices analytical skills. I thought that working on one of my big computer game ideas would fit.

However I am finding that I tend to get worn out. Previously I would relax by programming some hobby game projects. Problem is now I just can't get myself to code anything, I feel like my brain is too worn out to work on anything.

I had worked in the professional video game industry for the period of time before going back to school. I've decided that it probably not for me, as it seemed to suck up all my time and leave me hating the game development process.

I've put a little bit more work into some of my recent projects in C#/XNA, and Unity (I haven't used C++ much for my own projects for a while, too much debugging). However I always run into UI programming, which after all of my schoolwork just isn't appealing at all. This tends to lead to me just adding new pieces to my project in a scattered fashion to random components that can't even be tested properly until later.

Should I try to team up with other like minded people over the internet who can help pick up the slack when I am exhausted? Should I find a framework or engine that takes care of everything I don't want to personally mess with?

I'm currently working towards my PhD in Mathematics. So I have classes that I am taking, classes that I am teaching, tutoring and grading responsiblities, and reading texts on functional analysis on which I give presentations to my mentor. I'm absolutely loving it so far.

I just went to a seminar on how Grad Students in Mathematics need some sort of personal grand project that is enjoyable, but that also practices analytical skills. I thought that working on one of my big computer game ideas would fit.

However I am finding that I tend to get worn out. Previously I would relax by programming some hobby game projects. Problem is now I just can't get myself to code anything, I feel like my brain is too worn out to work on anything.

I had worked in the professional video game industry for the period of time before going back to school. I've decided that it probably not for me, as it seemed to suck up all my time and leave me hating the game development process.

I've put a little bit more work into some of my recent projects in C#/XNA, and Unity (I haven't used C++ much for my own projects for a while, too much debugging). However I always run into UI programming, which after all of my schoolwork just isn't appealing at all. This tends to lead to me just adding new pieces to my project in a scattered fashion to random components that can't even be tested properly until later.

Should I try to team up with other like minded people over the internet who can help pick up the slack when I am exhausted? Should I find a framework or engine that takes care of everything I don't want to personally mess with?

I've felt the same lately. Don't expect it to be easy to get others to work on your project. Everyone who has any skill will have their own project and it will be nearly impossible to steer them away from their work long enough to do anything productive. A frame work or library will likely be a better choice but don't expect it to be easy even then. Honestly, when it comes down to it your only real option is to suck it up and get to work or give up.

I've put a little bit more work into some of my recent projects in C#/XNA, and Unity (I haven't used C++ much for my own projects for a while, too much debugging). However I always run into UI programming, which after all of my schoolwork just isn't appealing at all. This tends to lead to me just adding new pieces to my project in a scattered fashion to random components that can't even be tested properly until later.

Sure you can. Unless it's graphics related, anything can be tested without a GUI framework, even the GUI framework itself.

Should I try to team up with other like minded people over the internet who can help pick up the slack when I am exhausted?
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No. Bad idea.

Should I find a framework or engine that takes care of everything I don't want to personally mess with?
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This is probably the best option, if you can find a good GUI engine that fits well with the rest of your code. This is probably something that you wanted to consider when you started the project, not halfway through.

Stop chasing arbitrary goals you dont really believe in yourself, like 'creating a game'. Creating games is a drag. Parts of it can be really cool. Nobody is paying you to do this, so you might as well pick and choose what you occupy yourself with.

Thank you all for the advice.

I've decided to both cut back the scope of my project, and see if there are any UI frameworks I can use. Most of my code is modular and doesn't care how it's plugged into things. I don't have the time or mental fortitude at the moment to work on aspects that hold no interest to me. If I get a working prototype just to test my ideas it should still be really neat. At the moment however I think I'm going to not worry too much about it, I have other hobbies such as board game design that I may spend my time on instead. I just don't want to feel like I am wasting my free time when I have so little of it.