Developing a game takes many months and in some cases even years to complete. What are some ways you guys keep the enthusiasm alive for a game through all the challenges? I find my self that at the start I will be really excited and put ALL my time into developing a game and then a week or so into it I kind of get bored with the project and never complete it. With this project I want it to be different I want to complete it so if you guys could give me any pointers that would be great! Thanks!

Keep your targets lower to start with. If you've never finished anything it's a sign that maybe your expectations are too large.

The other main thing I'd recommend is get something like Todolist and plan out your various components you'll need for your project. Todolist lets you split tasks down into smaller managable chunks and you can check off your progress as you do it.

Having smaller continous rewards from completing subtasks helps you to be focused and to keep going. It also helps to control additional feature creep which can be the death of many projects.

Here's another thread with some more thoughts on that subject.

Daily Objective + Got It Done = Candy!

A project that cost me nothing other than my time is much easier to forget about.

A project that cost me money out of my own pocket becomes something I need to finish.

Kris Steele:

A project that cost me nothing other than my time is much easier to forget about.

A project that cost me money out of my own pocket becomes something I need to finish.

that's because you are greedy ( joking )

No I don't really understand the question. If you are giving up during the creation of your project it just means you are not mature enough to finish the type of game you were doing. So either try something basic or just ask yoursefl if you are meant to do video game which need a lot of time and dedication. It's not because you love video game that you need to one.

also I recommend not read too much paper on graphics techniques and such ( it just makes you add new features ). Don't try to learn while creating it's the worst way of ever finishing your game if you aren't truly motivated ( it's my method but I've been doing that for a year and half and I still motivated.  Create a demo as fast as you can to get some feedback from the community and it will encourage you to finish the game if you have people wanting it.

A bowl full of doritos with a glass of coke can help you focusing

black reaper:

Kris Steele:

A project that cost me nothing other than my time is much easier to forget about.

A project that cost me money out of my own pocket becomes something I need to finish.

that's because you are greedy ( joking )

Well... maybe. Definately cheap though.

I have a pretty set schedule where I work on my game for a few hours every other night. It's become part of my daily routine and helps me keep on task. Just sitting down and playing my game can ussually get me in the mood to work on it more, and showing it to others who enjoy it (or at least humor me) also gives me motivation to finish the game.

For my next project, I want to do something smaller in scope though, as it has been hard maintaining focus for this long... I really like how my game has turned out, I just don't like that I've spent eight months on it.

Eight months! 

FOFT took me 2.5 YEARS!

It does take a certain type of person to actually finish a game without external stimuli, like a Software Development Barsteward yelling at you every day.

The things that always help me are.

1) Lists
      There is real satisfaction in crossing something of a list, job done, move onto the next.

2) A time exploitation
      Everyone has their A time, the time of day when they are more focused, alert, and clear headed.
      Be aware of when yours is and do the hard jobs in that period, don't start a difficult task outside this period as you often end up junking the code and starting again.
      This can be really demoralising.

3) Beer
      The cause of, and solution to, all of lifes problems.

4) Demonstration
      This is a bit of a dangerous one, it can back fire, but in general showing your game to someone else can be like a double expresso washed down by a litre of Jolt cola.

What Stainless said.

Typically, I choose one semi-big but doable task I want to do that day. I break that down into smaller and smaller subtasks until I have a sizeable list of easily completed tasks. Then, I start at the top (organizing them beforehand based on dependencies, of course), and start slogging through them. If I get them all done in the time I have, woo-hoo! Give yourself a treat, go play a game of Supreme Commander, whatever you do for fun. If you're getting disinterested halfway through your list, focus on that end goal: "If I can just finish this class, I can go nuke some armies of robots in SupCom!".

Some times, especially later in the dev cycle, you just won't feel like doing anything. That's OK. Take a break that day. Pushing yourself too hard for too long will only make you even less interested in the project, and more apt to give it up. Note that if you're having those days early on and for long periods, it could be a sign that you need to pick a different project (or hobby).

Be realistic with your goals. You can't honestly expect to get 10 hours of work done in 2 (well, when it's crunch time and you have lots and lots of caffinated beverages you might, but you can't keep that up very long).

You can't honestly expect to get 10 hours of work done in 2 (well, when it's crunch time and you have lots and lots of caffinated beverages you might, but you can't keep that up very long).

:>

One company that I worked for, which better stay nameless for reasons that will become apparent, we had white packet syndrome.

If you got close to the end of a project, the deadline fast approaching, and the SDB* thought you were behind schedule. You would arrive at work to find a small packet of white powder on your keyboard.

This was the sign that you would not be going home that night, you should close your office door, order flat food, and use the supplied "stimulants" to keep you going through the night.

SDB Software Development BarSteward.

Stainless:

If you got close to the end of a project, the deadline fast approaching, and the SDB* thought you were behind schedule. You would arrive at work to find a small packet of white powder on your keyboard.

This was the sign that you would not be going home that night, you should close your office door, order flat food, and use the supplied "stimulants" to keep you going through the night.

O_O Seriously? And you left why?

MajorPest:

Stainless:

If you got close to the end of a project, the deadline fast approaching, and the SDB* thought you were behind schedule. You would arrive at work to find a small packet of white powder on your keyboard.

This was the sign that you would not be going home that night, you should close your office door, order flat food, and use the supplied "stimulants" to keep you going through the night.

O_O Seriously? And you left why?

If it had been me I would have gone to the police about it very first time I found it on my desk. If I knew what company it was I would advise every one I knew not to buy products from them!

Comic books and Caffeine.

I don't dev every day, sometimes I don't code and just player Combat Arms. :D
That way, if I ever get stressed out over not being able to do some something, I just log in to CA, and pwn all the newbs.

However, on the days I DO code, I always set a reachable goal for myself.

JamesProctor:

Developing a game takes many months and in some cases even years to complete. What are some ways you guys keep the enthusiasm alive for a game through all the challenges? I find my self that at the start I will be really excited and put ALL my time into developing a game and then a week or so into it I kind of get bored with the project and never complete it. With this project I want it to be different I want to complete it so if you guys could give me any pointers that would be great! Thanks!

That sounds like burnout. You need to pace yourself.

Also, get away from your computer. I've found that sitting in this chair all day is actually the least likely way to actually get any work done up. I solve most of my programming and design problems while I'm away from the computer.

I came up with a kind of buffer that my one of my game's logic uses while playing Tony Hawk. I was just roaming around trying to do some random tricks, and I bailed, and then suddenly I had the image of a special kind of buffer and the functions I needed to manipulate it in my head.

I invented a very specialized form of ray/sphere collision detection (before I even knew anything about that stuff) while I was in the shower.

This reminds me of "Doc" Emit Brown telling Marty that he came up with the flux capacitor after slipping and hitting his head on the toilet!

I have dreamt up interface designs before.

I get lots of my other creative inspiration the same way. The better stuff seems to come while I'm wandering around going for my daily walks at either 5:30 in the morning, or after dark, with something like Abbey Road on my MP3 player. All kinds of random, unrelated, thoughts will go through my head, and then I will just stumble on to something that I would have never thought up behind the keyboard, even though I was thinking about something completely unrelated.

Then when it comes time to act on those thoughts, they are fresh and exciting, because I haven't been sitting at the computer the whole time, slaving away at my code base. That way of working seems to produce a program that has been tweaked 100 times too many, and not always for the better! What was supposed to be a quick game project ended up some over-engineered, reusable, framework...

Work a project that is fun for you so that it's a labor of love. Act on an idea that comes up constantly, and not something you came up with on a whim. Also make sure it's a GOOD idea and that it's actually fun.

Program the functionality you need for your game and nothing more. Don't fall into the trap of trying to code some kind of reusable framework under your game. Something has to be used before you can re-use it, and your most likely just going to burn yourself out before you ever use that needless monstrosity for anything. Besides, you don't even know what the requirements for any future project to use that framework would be anyways. Actually, you probably don't even know what the requirements for the project you are currently working on are, until you cross that bridge. This is a trap that seems to catch about 95% of programming projects.

Work on your game in short bursts and then go outside and find something else to do. go for walks, talk to people etc... You'll stumble upon plenty of stuff to keep you inspired.

I agree, I always end up writing a whole new gui for every game.

I see all these gui frameworks and such out there, spend a day looking at them and deciding that none of them do EXACTLY what I want, so I end up writing a new one.

You can fall in the trap of thinking it would be "cool" to have this or that as an extensible framework, spending all your time on it, forgetting what the original idea was, and another game fades away into the electronic ether.

Humor!

Reminds me of a time when I was having a lot of troubles with coding, and I was using test variables to see if the code I had written was even used properly.
And im used to giving funny names to my testing variables.

then at some point, late at night, I was feeling so depressed because my code just wouldnt work, when I got errors like:

"yourMom is declared, but its value is never used."

or

"floppyPenis does not exist in the current context"

which made me laugh so hard I felt instantly refreshed and could continue working on for a couple of days.

Never take yourself to serieus, your making a game for crying out loud ;)

Natrion:

...

"yourMom is declared, but its value is never used."

or

"floppyPenis does not exist in the current context"
...

Epic win.

I come from an artistic background, but I think a lot of productivity tips are universal. Some of these were recommended to me, some of them might seem weird but they totally work for me.

1. Separate work and play space. I spend a lot of time on my PC playing games, so when I feel like doing some programming, I go sit on my couch with my laptop and code away. I find the slight distraction of the television helps me (I'm weird, I find it easier to work when I'm not concentrating too hard). If I try working on my home PC, I just end up playing games or browsing the net and listening to music.

2. Music. Pick something that works for you. Repetetive stuff works for me. I listen to Trance when I'm working, though I usually hate Trance. I find that listening to it helps lull me into a quasi-relaxed frame of mind where I find it easier to solve problems without overthinking things, or freaking out when I don't immediately find the answer. Some people swear by Classical, and some by Heavy Metal. Find something you can listen to that doesn't distract. You can also try Binaural Beats.

3. Binaural Beats. These are simple waveforms with a slight pitch variation from ear to ear. They (apparently) 'short-circuit' your brain into a forced Alpha, Beta or Theta state depending on the beat you choose. They're most effective with headphones. Some people say they don't work, but they work amazingly well for me (placebo effect?). If I'm stressed out and unable to focus, I listen to a 20 minute beat and by the end of it I feel like I've just woken up from a wonderful snooze, feeling clear and relaxed. They're great combined with public transport (yeah, I'm weird, getting to that...)

4. Nothing motivates like boredom. I use this trick for inspiration versus motivation, but the result for me is the same. Catch public transport. Don't take a book. Sometimes I leave my iPod behind. Just catching the bus for a 30 minute round trip will leave me itching to be productive. I find the forced inactivity results in my brain going crazy with ideas, and often if I have trouble solving a problem I go jump on the train for half an hour and almost every time I have the solution by the time I get off.

5. Surround yourself with like minded people. If you have friends who are into the same things as you, get them interested in your idea. Talk it up. Affirmations help you to subconsciously quiet the inner critic, and are a great way to view the big picture without freaking out about how much work is left to go. At the very least, you'll shame yourself into producing something to back up your bragging.

If I think of any more Yes-I'm-An-Artist-And-We're-Weird-Deal-With-It tips, I'll post them :P

Humor!

Unix was great for that, most coders have typed in things like.

"whois god"

answer

"'god' does not exist"

Stainless:

Unix was great for that, most coders have typed in things like.
"whois god"
answer
"'god' does not exist"

Well, until you need the manual page for mounting a drive, then it's slightly creepy. :)

Something that hasn't been mentioned yet :

Set Goals That Achieve Visible Results.

It's really easy, in the starting phases of a project, to quickly prototype functionality and see an idea up and running, but when it comes time to make things work smoothly and consistently, you spend time refactoring or working on under-the-hood infrastructure with zero visible difference to the game itself. This can easily lead to a lack of perceived progress, especially if you're already getting burned out or bored with the project. My solution is to work on something with visible changes, and it almost doesn't matter how extensive those changes are. Sure, you're going to have periods where you have to work on infrastructure, but as best as you can, chop things up into small tasks, and try to align those tasks on visible, testable things. The constant feedback of tangible progress is a very positive one.

i know it's not always an option, but having a partner/team can really help motivate.  For one thing, you don't want to let each other down, and that's key.  also, if you can form a team where the members compliment each other, it can make a huge difference.  for example, about a quarter through my game's development, i got an artist and a musician (both of which are amazing, btw).  every couple days i would update my svn and see an amazing new addition to the game, and i would get excited about the project again.

also, constant feedback from your team is a big help too.

as long as you have the right people in your team.

I have had the horrible expierience of having a man with zero knowledge put in charge of the team, the result was I ended up throwing a computer at him and leaving.

I put a testers head through a wall when I discovered he had been playing pirated games on my machine at night, infecting a disk I was about to cover mount on 1 million magazines with a very nasty virus.

Luckily for him it was a plaster board wall, though I didn't know that at the time.

The right people can make the job go a lot faster, the wrong ones can destroy a project.

Music can help the time fly by. Once I get listening to the songs, I just start typing to the beat and forget everything.
Also, play a game similar to the one your making. It will give you a clear image of what you want to do. 
One last thing, if you can't keep on track, remember: not every game gets finished, and each game you make ( finished or not ), is a learning experience.