Writers block generally comes up because of any of the following OR MORE:
a. Unsure: You no longer want to code, not because you’re a bad developer, but you just for some reason feel like you don’t want to code (Even though you aren’t burnt out, etc.)
b. Perfectionism: You’re trying to be perfect and your perfectionism is holding you back
c. Time of code: There are times when we code that things just move along so slow, and then there are those charged and wired times where you are coding so fast its as if your hands are possessed and going at light speed! This could be simply just waiting for the right time (Some people develop better in the wee hours of the morning).
d. Fear: You’re afraid to touch your code and make a mistake which could cause more things to break, so you’re not really coding at your full potential.
e. Lack of Ideas: You just cant come up with a great coding idea so you don’t take action.
f. Overwhelm: You’ve made a behemoth of code and its now gotten out of hand so much that you cant make heads or tails of it.
g. Too Many Ideas: You have so many ideas and so many ways to do something, but you haven’t decided which code path to take and are being held back because you don’t want to make a mistake (Ex. You code this now, but in the future it may need to be re-coded, so now you’re unsure whether to even start coding it).
h. Outside Skillset: You have enough to get through most of the actual code but THIS specific part of the code may be outside of your skillset and so you give up on it or get “stuck” waiting for a solution or looking for alternatives.
i. Too Far, Too Deep: You’ve coded for so long and realized you’re just digging a deeper rabbit hole, so you keep continuing HOPING that it will magically fix itself and all just work. You aren’t really developing at your peak, you’re just developing in the HOPES that something will work out (You become a mindless automaton at this point, hoping something happens to change the code).
j. Boredom: You no longer are excited about the idea anymore and you’re just going along with it because you want to complete it.
k. Criticism/Intimidation: You keep thinking about all the people who will say your code or game or app sucks and so it paralyzes you to literally stop your code. You may have seen similar games or apps and got intimidated (Ex. Look at that game/app, they already do it so well, why even bother trying to create that game/app even though I’m halfway through my game/app now, etc.)
l. Started Cool: The game/app in your head was totally awesome and then when you finally started coding it, it actually was not as great or cool as you believed and thus you slow down or stop. The above are just SOME of the many writers block forms that happen to developers in our Game/App industry.
Writers Block for Developers – With 7 Tips To Help You Overcome It!
January 27, 2021
Game Development
No Comments
Nav from Academy Of Games
This is one topic that we hardly talk about as developers but it will definitely come up.
As we are constantly writing code daily we get into times where we just cant go forward. It’s generally due to an issue that comes out in the book writing/authoring industry when writers are constantly trying to write out ideas and finally just get “stuck” or “blocked”. If you’re new to code, you will learn about this more as you start developing longer, but for those who have been coding for a long time, at one time or another you have or you definitely will run into this. The challenge is OVERCOMING this using helpful techniques. Unfortunately in our development industry we have not come up with great techniques for this and thus many a developer either gives up on great projects or literally leaves their own companies thinking they are just no longer good at code or have reached their peak.
REFERENCES
HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU HAVE WRITERS BLOCK AS A DEVELOPER?
1. GO FOR A WALK
2. SIDE PROJECT
3. CHANGE YOUR ENVIRONMENT
4. USE THE POMODORO TIMED METHOD
5. CHUNKING / BREAKDOWN
6. DAILY CODE PROBLEMS
7. MIND-MAPPING
CONCLUSION