Old Workflow

My Old Workflow

Here's a little mind map I made of all the pros and cons of my old workflow.

And naturally, the cons heavily outweigh the pros.

What was it?

My old workflow was what I call the ADHD special. It consists of 3 main steps, which always occur chronologically.

1. Have an amazing super cool idea!
2. Start working on it immediately, until you burn out.
3. Realize you're burnt out, scrap the project, and be a lil sad cus you don't have the discipline to do anything right.

I have gone through this process tens of times this year alone, every single time I get over hyped about a big project idea and I go around telling my friends how "It's gonna work this time!" and then it never does. Today I've come to the conclusion that I need to make major changes to my process, but is this really any different from all those other times? To tell you the truth, I have no idea, but I have a hunch that this process may actually be fruitful, as long as I can keep my head level.

Of course, that's easier said than done.

Pros

I want to start by highlighting my strengths, before we dive into the ocean of my weaknesses.

• I can come up with idea's very quickly, and easily adapt them into game-play
• As long as I'm interested, I can learn new things very quickly
• I can also work very quickly under pressure
• I am passionate about my vision and ideals, and I don't compromise them for what is popular
• I'm a hands on learner

Not too shabby, I'm somewhat of a jack of all trades when it comes to creating games, so I am definitely confident in my practical abilities. I learn fast, and I work faster. When my mind is locked on to something it won't let go, sometimes I go into rabbit holes I can barely see the way out of. Usually I end up falling out the other side of the earth, that's how deep my rabbit holes get. But after emerging from the ground, I am an expert at whatever I was researching. I can gain skill sets in moments, where some people need to practice for months, I can do it in a week, maybe a night if I'm so inclined. This is my ultimate strength, but also my greatest weakness.

Cons

How is being able to learn so quickly a weakness. Well when one has many idea's at a constant rate, it makes it very difficult to stick to just one idea. Most days I find myself debating which idea I even want to act on, and once I decide I immediate second guess myself. So many great idea's, too many, it makes it very difficult to stick with any one thing. My solution to having so many ideas isn't exactly well thought out. Essentially my reaction to an idea is to just start it immediately, the longer it takes to complete the idea, the more likelihood there is that a new idea will emerge; so in turn I need to finish it asap. Now that works fine for something making a little craft, or testing out some new software. But for games, it doesn't work. Games need planning, structure, and focus, all of which my old strategy is completely lacking. Lets look at the cons for my old system, cus there are many.

• Most projects I start end up discarded
• I easily lose track of my original idea, or get sidetracked entirely, sometimes redesigning a game mid development
• No planning, no roadmaps, no end product or destination
• Messy code with no comments, code is written spontaneously, and rarely optimized the more burned out I get
• CRUNCH, BURNOUR, AHHHH FUCK!
• It's depressing having to throw away all your cool projects
• Not once did I write down or visualize any information

Ok that's pretty bad, but I am in design school now, and I'm learning so much about how project creation works, and how documentation works, and now I must figure out how I can use these new tools effectively. This is why I want to redesign this system, because I see a way in which I can get the best of both worlds, which I didn't see before.

Games are insanely expansive, comprised of thousands of idea's. Well guess what I have more than I need of, IDEA'S! I need to train myself to think of idea's in the terms of a project, and not in the terms of a broad game concept. I need to pick a concept, stick with it, and direct my brainpower towards generating a factory of idea's for this game. More important than that I need to learn how to write these idea's down so that I can properly understand them myself before jumping into the deep end of development. I want Planter to be that project, and hopefully it might be the first one I finish.

I'll discuss the new workflow process on it's respective page.