There are many stereotypes surrounding indie developers: we're pretentious, we can't handle criticism, we use the term "retro" to excuse our lack of art skills and so on. Though it might hurt to hear, we have to acknowledge that this reputation we have is well-deserved. It's even better to actively fight it, not just for the medium but to better ourselves as people. The stereotype I really want to tackle in this blogpost, however, is this: we drag our feet through the mud like a cow walking through the streets of Mumbai. How often have you seen this story play out: a few months into development, an indie developer announces their new game. The passion is thriving on both the developer and the community's side at first, and then the game takes somewhere between three to ten years to come out, if it comes out at all. Seeing a developer who's working on a game you're looking forward to break out the word 'canceled' will never not sting. But for the developer, it stings even harder.

If you're anything as insane as me, then being creative isn't just something you do for fun in your free time, but something you need to let outside of you to survive, and suffering from block can be the source of much guilt, stress or even depression. That's why we (me and my friend DJ Coco) want to share some of the tricks we've picked up over the years in the hopes of helping out others who are in a similar situation.

From the start, you definitely need to have a plan. Some developers swear by game design documents, some don't, but at the very least I can say that just writing code or making assets without any plan in mind is a great way for your motivation to fizzle out quickly. I've never used a GDD myself, but I always write down ideas and draw concept art to solidify what I want the game to look and play like. The finer details of your plan depend on what you need, but what I definitely recommend is keeping it low scope but flexible. A lot of indie developers like to plan out big games with lots of content; don't do that. What I don't mean is that you can't make a big game, but that you shouldn't plan for it. You can't predict the future. In the chance that you get bored or burned out, an early exit strategy is valuable. By keeping your plan flexible, you can design your game in such a way that you can easily keep on creating more content if you want to or cut content that can't be finished on time without harming the overall game's quality too much, which is a much easier way of producing a big game.

Depending on the kind of game you're making this could be easy or hard, but there's plenty of ways to handle it well. You could plan out the beginning and end from the start and improvise whatever comes in-between, like how Conker's Bad Fur Day did it. You could structure your game like a TV show by segregating the plot into episodes or mini-arcs, like in Mass Effect 1 or Saints Row 2. There's definitive benefits to keeping your plan flexible so it's definitely worth experimenting with.

Now that a plan is in place, the best way to tackle it is to break it down into milestones. Even a small game can be a large beast to handle, so by using milestones you'll get a much more consistent sense of progress rather than a feeling of endless despair at how much longer development will take. The feeling of seeing the game take shape in front of your eyes is the best motivator to keep yourself going, but don't make the mistake of showing everyone your progress too early. It's understandable to want to show others what you've made, but it can dull the excitement of making progress for yourself and it can be disappointing and stressful if development happens to hit a speedbump.

Of course, there will always be moments where you simply don't feel like working. That happens to everyone, and giving yourself a break sometimes can be good for the creative process. What I've seen happen to a lot of indie developers is that, while they're losing their motivation during development, they get an idea for a new game that they suddenly want to work on instead. The motivation behind working on a new game is hard not to give in to, so it helps to think about what causes you to feel this way. Is there a problem with the game or with you? Is it not coming out as you wanted it to, or are you just stuck on something tedious? If it's the former, it's worth evaluating if the game has issues that prevent you from working on it. If it's the latter, it's worth keeping in mind that every game has its tedious parts during development. Be sure to write those ideas down so they don't fade away. If you still think they're good later, you can come back to them. If you don't, no big loss. Either way, what's most important is getting out of that rut. What always helps me get out of it is forcing myself to work on something. That sounds counter-intuitive, but by slowly adjusting yourself to get used to the process again it can really help you get back in the creative mood.

These tricks might not work for everyone, mind. This is just what helped us and figuring out what does and doesn't work takes some trial and error, but it's worth it to find out what works best for you. Now if you'll excuse me, I've been meaning to finish drawing some assets I've been putting off for weeks now.