Devs, what are some things that cause you to burnout when developing your game?

[Mimir's Lab]

As an aspiring dev myself, I want to know some of the things to watch out for when it comes to burnout so I don't run into those pitfalls myself.

As for the rest of you non-devs, what are some things you think are responsible for devs burning out and potentially abandoning their games?

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

Other (Post below) -> Writing in english, by a far marging. Using multiple translators, looking for idioms, nuance, tone, appropiate slang... Thinking text has a good flow then reading it again with disdain the day after. Very tiresome, even more if you sit on tons of renders .

 

[JuiceShooters]

Not taking care of myself good enough. Just working 40 hours a week, taking care of other responsibilities and also work on the game after requires some good mental and physical health. Sometimes the other things just drain me already before I can work on the game.. which in turn sometimes makes me not WANTING to work on the game, but just sleep or something.

It's fun, but I just suck at managing my energy at normal working days

 

[hgameartman]

Well, my dog dying at the start of September sorta put a dent in things.

Other than that, my last burnout was, amusingly enough, due to not sticking to my release schedule.
I delayed release "until it was ready" rather than on my self-imposed goals, and the end result was a release 2 weeks late, still not "ready" but my motivation was at an all-time low. I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere and it sucked.

 

[Adabelitoo]

What causes me to burnout? High workload. How many of that boxes I check while I'm the process to eventually burnout? All of them except High Opportunity Cost and Not Paid Enough.

There must be a balance between working on the game, feeling like I did some progress and having enough time for myself. I haven't found it yet.

 

[K.T.L.]

I've never actually completed one so all the devs who have come up with a game have my respect - it's not as easy as it looks!

One of my biggest problems is something that plagues politicians as well - function creep. I have all these ideas set out in a coherent plan then, when I start actually writing the code, I end up shooting off in all sorts of directions as new ideas completely unconnected with the original plan occur to me. I find it really hard to stay on track.

 

[Dark Naughtylus]

Other: Don't have enough time to spend on developing the game. Spend 8 hours on a daily job. Sleeps for 6 hours. Eat, do other stuff, gaming combined about 4 hours more or less. So, the total time left I can get is around 6 hours a day. That is if nothing comes up and bothers me.

Quitting the job means I lose my income soooooooo................ Yeah.

 

[Onedge]

There's just not enough time in the day

 

[recreation]

repetitiveness is the biggest for me, I need to do other stuff every now and then or I'll go crazy.
general workload isn't something to underestimate though.

 

[Sinaxxr]

The lack of consistent positive feedback can be extraordinarily crushing, especially in the beginning of development. You release update after update hoping to achieve some recognition but any recognition you get can be fleeting and fall flat, and the negative feedback digs deep. Don't really know what to tell you when it comes to handling this well. I've just been telling myself to keep pushing forward. That it'll all be worth the trouble and hard work in the end. Keep moving forward.

 

[mistwolf_2k]

Not being a game developer I cannot make a full comparison myself. That aside, I can empathize with developers, having created content in the past.

First and foremost, you need THICK skin. It is more common for folks to dig deep to expose what they feel are shortcomings rather than build on the positives. If you let it get under your skin it will tear you apart.

Go into your project with a clear end goal. You will run into creep and if left unchecked it will tank your project. To many branching paths? Not enough player agency? All of these need to be considered. You will not make everyone happy, so don't even try to.

Come to the table with more than a proof of concept. Ultimately, you are looking for backers as well as a player base. Just because it looks good in your head does not mean the idea comes across cleanly with 25 renders and 10 minutes of playtime.

You are going to be affected by piracy....you are on a pirate site. Use the resources to do your best to influence your potential backers. Whether you like it or not, the work you spent potentially months creating for patrons will be leaked within the hour you release it in most cases.

At the end of the day, have fun with what you do. If it starts consuming ALL of your time, it becomes another job. You always need to leave time for you or those around you. The older you get, the more you realize you missed by focusing on the what's and not the who's.

These are just a few suggestions found after sitting at the grindstone for 30+ years. Some of the time in a professional environment, others spent in creative ventures.

All the best in your journey of creations. Stay true to yourself and your ideals. You will be accosted by many opposing sides. Some will be exceptionally, incredibly, annoyingly, childishly vocal. Others will just be negative and destructive. Amongst all the chaff, you will find some rare gems. Embrace them.

 

[WIRProductions]

From the writing side of things, getting very little to zero feedback/fan mail. Making a buck is a secondary objective. It is free to write a comment on a story or to send some fan mail if a person has enjoyed it, and does wonders to keep a writer's drive and muse going. If no one comments, then the writer has to make the choice of 'do I spend 5-10 hours writing and editing this next chapter and get zero response...or enjoy Game X?...or go to the gym...or watch Netflix...or literally anything else that gives a positive boost.'

So being able to cope with the lack of messages/positive messages mixed with all the negative/trolling messages about your game is going to take its toll.

 

[rk-47]

lack of motivation and greed after seeing how much money patreons bring in icstor im lookin at you

 

[AmazonessKing]

Mostly the workload. I tend to switch between my games whenever something feels overwhelming, though.

 

[Story Anon]

Other (Post below) -> Writing in english, by a far marging. Using multiple translators, looking for idioms, nuance, tone, appropiate slang... Thinking text has a good flow then reading it again with disdain the day after. Very tiresome, even more if you sit on tons of renders .

Having to wear too many hats and collaborate with unmotivated devs on the same project.

Scaling down the scope of a project in order to be able to handle the vast majority of it yourself comfortably is some of the best advice I can give any dev.

 

[Crimson Delight Games]

Mostly our regular jobs, to be honest.

Three of us are working on our first game, and that's all cool and fun, but we also work 9-5 jobs... Getting home at 6 PM after an entire day at the office, and then having to find the energy to draw/write/script for another 2-3 hours... it gets pretty exhausting sometimes. Weekends are our saving grace.

It'd be nice to be independently wealthy and dedicate 100% of the day to gamedev, but alas...

Still, the joy of getting a scene working more than makes up for it!

 

[Carnal Games]

Mostly our regular jobs, to be honest.

Three of us are working on our first game, and that's all cool and fun, but we also work 9-5 jobs... Getting home at 6 PM after an entire day at the office, and then having to find the energy to draw/write/script for another 2-3 hours... it gets pretty exhausting sometimes. Weekends are our saving grace.

It'd be nice to be independently wealthy and dedicate 100% of the day to gamedev, but alas...

Still, the joy of getting a scene working more than makes up for it!

I'd second this - game design is easier than daily life!

 

[DS23G]

Mostly our regular jobs, to be honest.

Three of us are working on our first game, and that's all cool and fun, but we also work 9-5 jobs... Getting home at 6 PM after an entire day at the office, and then having to find the energy to draw/write/script for another 2-3 hours... it gets pretty exhausting sometimes. Weekends are our saving grace.

It'd be nice to be independently wealthy and dedicate 100% of the day to gamedev, but alas...

Still, the joy of getting a scene working more than makes up for it!

Yeah, motivating yourself to work on your game after a day of regular work can be a pain in the ass. I wouldn't really say I've really experienced burnout situations yet, but there are little annoyances that can sour my mood. For example: It's the fifth render of the day, you're not super attentive anymore when setting the scene up after a day of work. Fast forward, the render is nearly finished, you check the render and you notice something you didn't notice before: A finger is clipping into a characters body, an object is slightly standing in the air; little, but noticeable, mistakes like that. Now you have to throw the whole thing out and redo it. Several situations like that over a month can get pretty annoying.

Aside from that, the most demotivating thing is probably lack of feedback. I'd take "lul, ur gaem suks!!!xd" level comments over no feedback at all tbh.

 

[MaxCarna]

The workload, I consider that I made a huge mistake when I decided to create one image per phrase. I create around 200 images per month, but users consumes them in just some minutes, and they feel that the update was too short.

I see some Renpy games out there here using one single images, devs put tons of text, alternating with some good animations, users like it, the cost/benefit is definitely much better, but I can't change the pattern until the game is done.

I wish I could have more time to study new tools that I bought like facegen, anisound, anilips... But the monthly workload just make it impossible

 

[Adabelitoo]

The workload, I consider that I made a huge mistake when I decided to create one image per phrase. I create around 200 images per month, but users consumes them in just some minutes, and they feel that the update was too short.

I see some Renpy games out there here using one single images, devs put tons of text, alternating with some good animations, users like it, the cost/benefit is definitely much better, but I can't change the pattern until the game is done.

I wish I could have more time to study new tools that I bought like facegen, anisound, anilips... But the monthly workload just make it impossible

As a player, I love when devs do that. It totally show the dedication and how much effort the dev is proyecting in his game. I'll literally play your game only for knowing that.

As a dev, yeah, players usually don't notice those things and it feels so empty/frustrating/etc. I guess you alreade made your decision but IMO changing is better for the long run.