ID:118394
 
Keywords: codename, rpg
So I sat down, and I wrote a couple of lines of programming, specifically:

UL/New()

..()
Game_Version = "0.0.1"
Game_Hub = "http://www.byond.com/games/ElWookie/RPG"
Game_Forum = "http://www.byond.com/members/ElWookie/forum"
Game_Creator = "El Wookie"
Game_Name = "RPG"

Update_Log ={"
11/09/2011- 00:24 Version 0.0.0:
<hr>
Started Project!<br>
Codename: RPG<br>
"}


spawn(1)Credits ={"
[Log.Game_Creator]- Creating the game!, El Wookie- Update Log Library"}


Now this is a direct relation to my Update Log Library, which means it took me not much more than 5 minutes to write out, and then:
I lost it. The motivation, I think that's some kind of record, to write 'I start the project' and then lose it.
I sat down and wowed to myself. Am I really this bad a programmer? I don't like to think I am, but if a programmer can't find motivation in his programs, what kind of programmer is he? Not one, in my books.
I had a few words with a few friends of mine, few of their few words having much of an impact, and settled to this conclusion:
My motivation for finishing this project will not be that I want to make a game, it will be pure, unadulterated 'GO DO IT, I DON'T CARE IF I DON'T WANT TO DO IT, I'M FREAKING WELL DOING IT'.


Two hours later, my update log looked like this:
Update_Log          ={"
11/09/2011- 02:10 Version 0.0.1:
<hr>
Wrote Saving and Loading.dm<br>
Wrote Battle Controller.dm<br>
Wrote Attack Handler.dm<br>
<hr>
11/09/2011- 00:24 Version 0.0.0:
<hr>
Started Project!<br>
Codename: RPG<br>
"}


In two hours I had written a battle system that handles every kind of stat, two-to thirty two possible combatants and of course the simpler features. Along with that I had written out the functions and multiplications for no less than sixty three different attacks. All of this before I'd even made a single sprite, which is generally against what I do.

I don't think of myself as the greatest programmer in the world, but this system is some of the best programming I'd ever written, and I'm incredibly pleased. It's now 10:17am, minus a ~8 hour break after I finished Battle System.dm, I've now finished the leveling system, with four different stats, and another thirty techniques. And suddenly, all of my motivation has returned. Everything I love about programming and game making, all my inspiration and hope has come flooding back, just because I was able to push myself to an extent where I created a personal best, and now I'm sharing this with the rest of BYOND because I think it's a key factor in developing.

If you need motivation, stick with 'My motivation is not that I want to make a game, rather I just want to make something', and maybe the same will happen to you.



Maybe one day you'll all see Codename: RPG, 53594 fans.
Cool
Good advice, I'll be programming tonight.