8 replies to this topic

[LuciferX]

My frankenstien of a project is going DOA. I need a good lightning storm, so I can not comb my hair and scream, "IT"S ALIVE! AAAALLIVE!@!"

I have been working on this project since around Feburuary of 2003. However recently the progress has slowed to nill, and my last team members is not sending back emails [i'm sure he's busy :unsure: ]

My question is, what can I do? Is it too early for a post-mortem? Is there such a thing as a pre-mortum?

I dont want to stop the project, we have warehouses full of ideas, but only a few crumbs in the bottom of the last box of motivation.

I'm sure you guys have faced this, but how did you beat it?

[NomadRock]

Last time that happened to me, I moved on to other things, but I still have nostalgic thoughts about what could have been.

[LuciferX]

Awwwwwwwwwww..... I didn't want to hear that. >:|

[NeZbiE]

Well, I arrived at a roadblock once, I just wasn't motivated enough to continue. I decided to halt work on it, and had an inactive period of about 3 months. However, when I picked it up again, I was really energized, and I pretty much had the most productive month of my life =) Of course, diving back into a project after a pause is no easy task. Thank God I had created a Doxygen template for the project, so I could get a feel for it rather quickly ^_^ .

[bladder]

Something that works on me is playing the soudtracks to some of my favourite games, especially if you're into RPGs, then the music of certain situations can be very memorable. Then I remember what it's all about and what Im doing all this for.

[NomadRock]

It helps if you dont have anyone to depend on, and you are working alone. Then it is easier to get back to it as the other's have mentioned. The project I spoke of was a team mod. I was the lead programmer, but I was just that, a programmer. When everyone else left, there was little I could do without levels, models, textures, dialogue, and publicity.

With my personal projects, they go on and off. NeZbiE makes an interesting point, always document while you are still familiar with the stuff. (hopefully at the time of authoring) then going back to it is much less frightening.

I still have a project that breaks my heart to throw away, but just thinking about going through that code gives me nightmares. There are pages of code that do things I am not sure I knew about when I was writing them.

[Ryu-24]

NomadRock said:

always document while you are still familiar with the stuff

This is a must.. Most of my projects have ended in road blocks. But never the less i know they will evenutally get dug up again and see the light once again. It is not all that bad to halt a project for even years given that you MUST document what were the plans changes and progression of the project so that one day it will once again be worked on. I even took a break of programming for the longest time having no motivation in programming at all.. but the thing is after that break my mind cleared up and since then my progression in coding has been faster then ever! ..anyway just document it like its been said twice now heh heh and grab a kit-kat.

[NeZbiE]

Seriously guys, document doxygen style and use .dot mkay?
-Grandpa Nez

[Polar Sleuth]

How far along are you?

The answer is relatively simple: "Go back to the source."

If you cannot complete it by yourself, go back to where you found the first set of people to help you. Problem: you better have a good presentation, and a good design document - people want to know what they are getting into. If you can't explain the project to someone else, let it go for now.

Even the big guys and their commercial products run into "turn over." The real trick to managing it affectively, is to let the previous members of your team know you are moving forward AND when they are ready to rejoin they are welcome.

By the way, the best way to get backmotivation is to never let it go. Find out what your members find motivating and rewarding - DO IT. Be sure to find a means to recognize your team for their accomplishments - past and present. Websites can be great things for both - plus it will let your team know about the game's progress.

If it hasn't hit you yet, the above is about MANAGEMENT. Unfortunately that is the evil lurking in the heart of any group project. If no one does it, there is no project.