Can somebody tell me the following?

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I need someone say/ask the following to/of me, for when self doubt kicks in, I get weird:

Tell me that nothing is easy, nothing is for granted, and nothing is earned without blood, sweat, and tears.

Ask me to swear, that no matter what obstacles I encounter, to stick with and to finish everything I set out to do, no matter how frustrated I get.

Tell to get to work and to stop complaining.

Finally, ask me to focus. Tell me to focus, and that a good life is what matters, and to achieve that, I need to (metaphorically) kill myself with work, and my blood, sweat, and tears will grant me success in the end.

Sorry, but if I was told this by someone besides me, it would make me accountable, and prevent me from giving up.

I am done with indecisiveness. I need to complete my tasks, no matter what. I need to focus and shut up, and I need someone outside of myself to say this.

Thanks.

Yep....we all have to get better in this area.

NT's included.

It's all about focus, and listening to your gut. Not self doubting ramblings in your head, but the sense of certainty that is unquestionable. With both, everything else becomes background noise.

Tell us, in the posts that follow this one, what you managed to do, however small and insignificant it seems at the time! List the things you have done, not the things you are planning to do!

Okay.

I HAVE managed to plan out my entire design concept.

I HAVE all the software and assets to complete the task.

I HAVE began learning the in's and out's of said software.

I HAVE the support of (most) the folks in the gaming section who know about the plan.

I HAVE the intellect to complete said task.

That is all I can think of, and I just realized where you are taking this.

What I don't have is someone who understands all the technicalities of the project and could keep me in line, in check, and focused.

I was hoping someone here could help with that, as everyone almost everyone I know of doesn't understand what the eh I am talking about when I try to ask them to do this, or even if I just verbally barrage them with what sounds to them like gibberish. Hopefully someone here can help with that. If no one can, that is fine.

I would just take that much longer to complete the eh-ing development of the game.

Anyone here willing to make me accountable, or to at least let me send progress reports to them so I feel like i am making progress in a positive way? If you can, thanks.

Sorry if I sound weird.

Ah no - you are the one that will be taking this somewhere, I have no intention of managing your project for you!

And your request is certainly not "weird" - professional coders use code reviews by other programmers as a crucial tool in the development process.

I'm a coder too - not of games, but that's not so important - and there are quite a few others of us here. So yes, why not "barrage" us a little bit - I love talking about code, data structures, interfaces etc. It doesn't need to be all at once, because you can't write the code all in one go anyway. For example...

What is the first/next module/function/class that you feel is needed?
Which features of the programming platform do you need to learn to create this one part of the design?
How are you going to test that this piece does what you expect without needing the rest of the unwritten code?
How will you make the code easy to re-factor or extend later on without breaking anything?

I find that trying to describe these things in abstract terms, regardless of the specific language, is a great way to keep focus on my coding - trying to make it understandable to someone else, in the plainest English I can muster, is often the best way for me to be sure that I have everything clear in my own mind. If not here, then maybe on whatever forums there are for the platform that you're using, or even just in your own notes and code comments (at some point, you will come back to some code you wrote a week before and not understand it - this is perfectly normal!)

It's very easy to get hung up on how many lines of code have been written, and that can be a dangerous trap to fall into. Writing the minimum of code that gets a simple job done at each step, then testing the hell out of it, is much better than writing 100's of lines that then need to be completely re-written later on. If you can't describe an individual module/function/method without needing a fellow programmer to understand the whole of the project, then this often indicates a "brittle" design that will be hard to test and debug, so it is a very good discipline to develop that you can take with you to any other programming language or platform.

Hmm...

Are there any folks here willing to allow me to send progress reports to them? Maybe through PM or Email, maybe a dedicated thread in the computer/technology subforum? I think that would be beneficial, as it would make me feel like I am making progress in a positive manner, and it would allow me to give myself a standard amount of progress to accomplish within an allotted time period. That would be great!

If there is anyone here willing to do that, I would be grateful.

Read up on my conceptual progress on the thread in games/video games, if you are interested. It is mostly concept so far, so don't go being expectant of anything genius yet. Thanks.

Wrong Planet is awesome, on a side note.

I'd certainly follow your project and help out where I can. I've always enjoyed peeking over other coder's shoulders to see what they're up to, and game programming is one kind that I've never tried before, so I'd probably learn as much a you do!

A dedicated thread would probably be the best way - the more people looking over things, the better, in my opinion. If sharing code becomes useful, it's simple enough to do through a Git repository, or even just a DropBox folder, and I can always find room on my HDD for another IDE!

Just took a look at your other thread - sounds like your ideas are shaping up nicely. Had a peek at the Unreal engine that you're using too - that's looks really cool, I could imagine myself having a lot of fun with that, I'll definitely get that downloaded. And a C++ based API too, which is my main programming language these days, so I reckon I could feel at home with it pretty quickly - certainly enough to do a bit of code reviewing for you.

Thanks!

Okay, so this will be the last post in this-here thread, so any final suggestions will have to go to my other post.

Here is my plan...

Around 6:30 PM today, I will begin binge-dev-ing the game. I will not allow myself to do anything but that and basic life/family functions. I will not be on wrong planet from then until Sunday at 6:30 PM, at which time I will present the proposed thread and a summary of everything I have done, along with some examples.

That will begin a series of weekly summaries every Sunday at around 6:30 PM.

At this time, I will spend all free time between now and then finalizing the concepts, so if you see anything important or flawed between now and 6:25 PM, now is the time to speak up on said thread.

At this point, the game will be a formation based turn-based strategy/visual novel with a B-Movie feel, as suggested/explained in the other thread.

Again, after that point I will take no more conceptual suggestions, only that of design concern. At that time, the game's concept will be mostly finalized, and the binge-dev-ing will commence.

Wish me luck, and please do not post after this-here post, as this thread is now obsolete.

Again, thank you wrong planet for being so supportive. It has helped tremendously.

Before I begin this, I am stating that I WILL NOT GIVE UP.

However, in the past six hours, I have achieved little more than a HUD. A HUD . I realized I may have taken myself beyond my limits with the current idea.

Though, I am NOT giving up. I am merely setting aside the plan for now so I can increase my skill through a simpler, less grandiose idea, so that I may learn my craft better.

I am NOT discarding anything from the current project. “Wolf’s War For The Cosmos” will be my goal, my masterpiece, and that is impossible to do on your first game.

I am going to give myself the next 4 hours to plan and prepare a more entry-level design.

Sorry if this makes anyone angry.

To troggludite and the others who are willing to review my progress, I am still on course to design a good amount by Sunday at 6:30 PM. That is still the objective, as this is the beginning of my dream.

A much simpler amount, however. I refuse to give up, and I will not let any future defeats stop me from pursuing said dream, as long as they are at-all surmountable.

I will bring down the ante a notch, however, so that I may learn so that I can create my masterpiece, one day.

I am not giving up, and I will not give up.

Thanks for understanding, if you are not angry.

This is a temporary setback, so don't give up on me. I know I keep saying this, but it is important.

I WILL NOT GIVE UP.

I feel really bad, however, but thats my fault, so I will learn from my mistakes to not repeat them.

Everything is still on track. I will do this, as much as I will be able to get done.

Thanks for the support, and sorry.