One project, or many designs in tandem?

#1

Hi!

This question is more about how you organize yourselves to design games. I’m trying to put back to work those muscles again, in the little spare time I have. I’ve always had the issue of abandoning projects when a new idea comes to my mind, and this time I’m trying to be more strict and actually finish what I start. But, of course, my mind comes up with new ideas for games and I’m tempted to start working on them instead of finishing the current project.

Hot do you organize your design time? Do you work in many projects at once, or focus in one? When new ideas come to you while working in something else, do you jot them down, or you discard them? Do you freeze a project until inspiration strikes again, or once you start you commit to it?

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#2

I can usually manage enough obsession on a single idea to get it to the point where it could be playtested, but after that there’s a very good chance of me getting sidetracked by another idea I’d like to take to a playtestable stage. I struggle with the mostly thankless effort of moving an idea from, like, a google doc into layout.

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#3

I would do what keeps you most engaged. For some that’s focusing on one project until it’s complete and avoiding distraction.

For me: I have to allow myself to be distracted in productive ways to stay engaged, otherwise I fall off the horse. The advantage of this: my various projects inspire one another and lead to a more complete final outcome. The disadvantage: they take more time.

One way I’ve found to combat that last bit is to work on smaller side projects. That way they get completed quickly, I learn something, and the lessons get applied to my major projects right away.

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#4

For me, working on multiple projects at once is a good choice. They can rise and fall in intensity and interest, and I can shelve stuff that isn’t working, and I can add new ideas to the mix as I go. But as other posters have said, do what works for you. There’s no right way.

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#5

It really depends on how you work. I like to juggle different projects across different media and shift focus from time to time when something bumps them in the right direction. Recently I read a tweet from Avery Alder, the author of A quiet year and Monsterhearts, where she says that her job is to «My process involves holding idea fragments in my head for months, until finally they collapse into a workable game concept». It describes perfectly how my brain tends to work.

BUT BUT BUT: my day job as a UX designer taught me one thing: figure out what is your minimum viable game and aim for that first, if you have trouble with going too wide or never finishing something. Is there a one page version of this game? What does it look like? Is there a 200 words version? It’s still very very hard but I find these question useful in my practice.

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#6

I can only get a limited amount of game work done in any given week due to work and home commitments. When I get a chance to work on a game I can usually focus on that game.

When I don’t have a main project on the go picking the next one can be tough.

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#7

I sort of do both. I have one “big” game I work on at a time. The past year that’s meant alternating between two “big” projects, because once I get a version out for playtesting I need a few months of playtesting experiences before I am ready to revise it. So during that lull, I switch to the other big project.

At the same time, so far for 2019 I make one small, experimental game each month in addition to whatever I’m doing. That seems to be working well because it gives me a break from the big project when I really need it, but the scope of those games is necessarily limited due to the time constraints.

I actually started those small, quick games as part of gamejams because I was feeling burned out on game design. I doubt I’ll always be doing them, but there is something about a constant feeling of accomplishment from these small things that keeps me motivated to work on the big project. They’ve also been pushing me to create a wider range of games, which feeds back into improving the big project because it’s teaching me new design skills. (And teaches me to get better at just making a decision and making it work).

I will say: unless I am burned out, I don’t tend to freeze on a project more than a week or two. I might spend time working on it in a different way (art, diagrams, talking it thru with someone) or take a break to play a bunch of other games to feel inspired/get ideas, but I find for myself, if I stop for an extended period it tends to stagnate.

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#8

I have a ton of projects living side by side, with ideas and work going here and there. Typically, one or two of them gets accelerated by some sort of an external reason (like funding or a collaboration), at which point I’ll focus on that until completion.

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