The Shining Source

Seeing as I'm still in a bratwurstmy mood (I dreamt about YoB bratwurst last night :shock:) I thought I'd ask a smashing question: What are the biggest barriers to completing you Shining project?

I'll go first:

 * Perceived lack of time -- I actually have quite a lot of spare time, but I seem to be better at devoting it to playing games and dossing instead of working on something constructive.
 * Perfectionism -- My biggest problem, which manifests itself in many ways. For example, instead of slapping together a quick map maker, I have to write a full GUI system under the guise that it will "save time later". It clearly won't.
 * Lack of concentration -- I'll work on a project intensely for a few hours, and then I'll forget about it for weeks. I'm guessing most of us have this particular problem.
 * Lack of confidence -- Let's talk about feelings I haven't completed a demo for what seems like an age, and even though I think I'm a better programmer I seem to be producing a lot less. Almost certainly related to my perfectionist tendencies.

Possible solutions:
 * Better time management -- Something I'm constantly working on, but it still has a long way to go. Scheduling some TSS / Shining Online time into my timetable might help.
 * Agile Methodology -- I've never written software using agile techniques, and I think it might work quite nicely. Instead of trying to create one perfect demo, I'd release lots of smaller ones on a regular basis. This would probably help with most of the problems I face, and would certainly help with my lack of concentration, confidence and my perfectionism.
 * More public updates -- Perhaps making myself more accountable would help, even if it's just the the handful of people that visit Blah.

Even after all these years I'm still determined to finish Shining Online, even if it's not as grand as I imagined it would be when I was younger. From looking over my long term goals, it's also nice to see that TSS has quite a big place in them.

My longest post ever

For me it's quite simple really. I lost interest in the coding and graphics side of the project, and I have very little spare time these days.

I mostly need that time to recover from the rest of my life really

You have no idea how right you are, especially about what the problems are exactly.  I go through the same thing every day for multiple projects and it just gets frustrating after a while, and I go into the 'I don't care anymore' mode, and its onto videogames and web browsing for days without even looking at the things I should be working on.

I also have the perfectionist problem.  With Shining Forever especially.  Its a solo project 2 years in the making and Im not were near done because I dont want any help, mainly because I fear someone will just have me cleaning up their messes and giving me more work in the long run.  The same applies for anything I try to run or work on, really. -_-

For me its my job/career which has nothing to do with game development. So each day I've got to decide - do I spend time working on my game, or something more 'job-related'.

Also,  when I spend a lot of time working on my game, I start to think I'm spending my whole life in front of a computer. Which then makes me not want to work on it for a couple weeks.

I made a quick, fun, multiplayer shining game and only 2 people from here came to play it.  
The only barrier to that one was interest in seeing it go further, which there was none, and now I am past waiting for the interest.

Secondly, programming some miniscule pieces for SSCS so I can release Lycadell Campaign.  Devlyns complete lack of motivation generally equals no chance of that ever happening, so I've given up on that too.

In all fairness Elv, this place isn't as big or as busy as it used to be. I'll take responsibility for that, as I think the stagnant front-end is something that hurt the site. Having said that, it is something I want to rectify in the not-so-distant future.

It would be a big shame if you let lack of interest stop your project, because it was pretty nifty, and the furthest any of us have got. It definitely showed that playing Shining Force online is as fun as expected, and I think with more regular visitors it could quickly gain popularity and matches could become a regular fixture.

A string of releases would help with player feedback and perhaps even generate ideas if you are open to them.

They would also reduce my feening for it! *twitch* hehehe.

I can only just stand by you guys and hope that it helps