As we all know, I am a hobbyist-level IF author, I work in Inform7 (I7) as my main hobby because writing is probably my most creative strong suit, and being able to *play* my writing is even better. I feel almost like a creative... god writing in I7, I can add whatever I want to anything a potential player might try to do, and after fixing whatever problems it has, it bends to my command with no questions asked. It keeps me sane in a world where chaos thrives and threatens to drive me truly mad and I wouldn't trade it for anything at all.
But as much as I live to see the day I produce a fully-working, %100 completable game of *some* kind, I have a horrible problem staying motivated. My therapist has recommended me to treat myself by writing in my journal, or a notebook, which I've been doing. Sometimes I like to write entries as though they were IT'S being played on paper, I save them as ideas I might come back to later, and most of the time for short, minute-long games I have saved somewhere they end up becoming walkthroughs.
Maddog's antics are definitely an obstacle, their intermittent and periodic on-and-off nature get in the way, and the mental effect they have on me when I'm the target is even more of a roadblock. What I have neglected to tell you guys about Maddog is that while his bipolar/schizophrenia turns this on and off at random and becomes an even bigger obstacle, he still comes around and does tell me he loves me, and I can tell he means it; it has however inspired me to write out small testing-oriented IF's with minor references to it, I don't release them, they are private. What I'm getting at is, I think it's created somewhat of a mental block. Despite my vast volume of creativity, I have encountered the dreaded "writer's block"; I load up I7 either on my computer, when I have access to it (no power cord), I see that blank screen and blinking cursor, I see "Untitled by Tyler" at the beginning, and I start to think of a starting location; nothing. Cricket noises.
Sometimes I will try to force it; some articles I read about beating writers block say that one trick you can use is to pretend you're on a deadline and have to work to finish before it's up and I try to be generous with this trick, like I'll pretend I have to get it done in a month or so. Even then I end up flashing back to when I was in school and all those demanding teachers threatened to diminish my grade with a zero should I fail to meet the deadline with whatever project I needed to drum up, I think that's the cause of it.
I don't want to burn out like this anymore...
But as much as I live to see the day I produce a fully-working, %100 completable game of *some* kind, I have a horrible problem staying motivated. My therapist has recommended me to treat myself by writing in my journal, or a notebook, which I've been doing. Sometimes I like to write entries as though they were IT'S being played on paper, I save them as ideas I might come back to later, and most of the time for short, minute-long games I have saved somewhere they end up becoming walkthroughs.
Maddog's antics are definitely an obstacle, their intermittent and periodic on-and-off nature get in the way, and the mental effect they have on me when I'm the target is even more of a roadblock. What I have neglected to tell you guys about Maddog is that while his bipolar/schizophrenia turns this on and off at random and becomes an even bigger obstacle, he still comes around and does tell me he loves me, and I can tell he means it; it has however inspired me to write out small testing-oriented IF's with minor references to it, I don't release them, they are private. What I'm getting at is, I think it's created somewhat of a mental block. Despite my vast volume of creativity, I have encountered the dreaded "writer's block"; I load up I7 either on my computer, when I have access to it (no power cord), I see that blank screen and blinking cursor, I see "Untitled by Tyler" at the beginning, and I start to think of a starting location; nothing. Cricket noises.
Sometimes I will try to force it; some articles I read about beating writers block say that one trick you can use is to pretend you're on a deadline and have to work to finish before it's up and I try to be generous with this trick, like I'll pretend I have to get it done in a month or so. Even then I end up flashing back to when I was in school and all those demanding teachers threatened to diminish my grade with a zero should I fail to meet the deadline with whatever project I needed to drum up, I think that's the cause of it.
I don't want to burn out like this anymore...
