Inspiration?

It has been almost 10 years since my last kinda-finished game Dubiduh. I did some smaller things since then, like the Pico-8-Solitaire Kuso, but Dubiduh was not a clone of something existing.

Usually there is a repeating pattern with the stuff I start. I’m inspired by a game/game-idea/new tech/engine, and I start a thing. Sometimes the motivation goes on for some weeks, sometimes it’s gone after a few days, sometimes I close the editor within the first hour, and wonder “why am I doing this?”.

At this point I doubt that I’ll manage to finish anything ever again. The only projects that have a chance of seeing a polished version are so small in scope, that I can finish them before the novelty wears off.

I don’t see the point of polishing clones of games, like the Qt-project I did. The MacOS-upgrade broke the compilation of the project, and I can’t be bothered to fix that. I got a good impression of Qt, and that’s it.

I also feel that it’s getting harder for me to even start things. I’m catching myself wondering if the thing is even worth it, when I’ll be cancelling it in a few days anyways.

We went to a games-festival last weekend, and there were some great folks showing their hobby-projects. One of them has been working on her game for THREE YEARS. I think I would love to have the motivation to keep working on a thing for that long. I don’t know if I just haven’t found the right project, or I’m just not built for sticking with something for such a long time.

Or maybe those long-haul-projects just require more free mental space than I currently have.