Finish It! Motivation & Processes For Video Game Development

• Introducing the Course Workbook.
• How to copy / download your own copy of the Workbook.

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• The first big question / challenge of the course - what is your project?
• The important outcome of this lecture is knowing exactly what it is that you are aiming to achieve as a good outcome.

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• A quick side note video!
• The project is for you, its represents your goals and dreams and progress. Don't let other people's opinions prevent you from finishing it.

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• Why are you working on this project? Why Finish it?
• We look at what your perfect day looks like and how this project fits into that story.

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• As the saying goes, "what is the why that makes you cry"?  
• Rick does a bit of "walking the talk" by showing you precisely why he HAS to finish his projects.

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• Why are you working on your project - is it a "should", a "want" or a "must"?
• What is your "I absolutely MUST finish this project" reason?

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Details on where the best places are to ask questions and share about your project while progressing through the course.

• Who is a role model that inspires you, and who you would like to be like?
• What are the qualities of that person that stand out to you?

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• Procrastination versus logistics.
• What logistics are setting you back and need to be addressed?
• Time and place, tools and tech, people and processes.

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• What are the things you need to change in your physical environment?
• Are there any things you need to get in order to be more productive?
• Other things you absolutely need to change.

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• "When will you get it done by"?
• We are often sneaky with how we answer this question and give ourselves ways to wriggle out of it.
• Intention vs. Commitment.
• Honouring your word.

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We introduce these two important distinctions and look at the importance of only giving your word to things you will absolutely get done.

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• When do you do your best work and when will you finish your project?

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We'll be investing a lot of time and effort into the workbook, this video gives some extra context to how we'll be using it in the future.

• This section will focus on helping you get unstuck and unblocked.

• Dont know what to do.
• Dont know how to do it.
• Dont want to do it.

• Clear your cache.
• Take on one very specific task right now that you have been putting off.

• Identify your current skill and knowledge gaps.
• What specific actions can you take to address those gaps?

• Understanding the exact steps that have lead up to your procrastination will help you see the pattern and remove them.
• What exactly did you do when you were being productive?

• The VNT (Very Next Thing) technique is a very practical and powerful way to ensure you aren't blocked.
• Its critical that you are specific and not vague.

• A quick reminder to make sure you are enjoying your project and having fun working on it.

• What are you worried about happening with your project - what could go wrong?

• Examining the ugliest upcoming tasks you are faced with - what do you really want to avoid and / or put off?

• One of the most important topics we'll cover - who is it you can ask for help when you are stuck.

Your workflow is totally up to you, but make sure you have some bases covered:

• Some way to write down all the little details and tasks that pop into your head
• Some way to write down the larger ideas that pop into your head
• Some way to highlight the exact task you are working on at the moment

So often we find ourselves doing "sort of" work. That is, sitting at our computer during work time, but not driving the project forward. This off-the-cuff video is a quick discussion about how to address this situation.

It's guaranteed that you've been in the state of Flow before, but you may not know how to quickly return to that state. Now that we've removed distractions (which knock you out of flow) we'll talk about how to get into Flow.

A key part of figuring out the "what" of this week's priorities is your Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) which we discuss in this video.

Throughout this course we'll be touching on Agile project management methodologies. In this video we discuss what Agile is and cover the main terms related to it.

Writing your daily actions as user stories will help provide clarity on what exactly needs to be completed.

Welcome to the fourth section of the course.

We've discussed the idea of onion design and focusing on the core features, now lets get specific with what exactly your minimum viable product is.

There are many tools to help you manage your backlog and priorities. We'll take a look at using Trello to set up your backlog.

One of the most powerful techniques to give you a strong "why" is the Event-Based Milestone.

We look at Beeminder as a tool to keep you accountable to daily inputs.

Its super important that you share you project with people other than yourself and your close friends. In this video we look at 3 objections people have to sharing.

In this video we cover the "what" and the "who" of sharing your project with other people.

We discuss the process for sharing projects through social media and take a look at some example shares from an indie facebook developers group.

Its important that you don't make negative feedback about your project mean something about yourself.

We often take far longer on our project than we need to because we are chasing the cool ideas or implementation. Its important to understand the difference between iteration and Zig Zag and protecting yourself from lost time.

Scope Creep is not always bad, but it must be managed and not allowed to happen accidentally.

We often get stuck in the world of analysis paralysis. We discuss 6 tips for smashing through this blockage.

To wrap up this section which has focused on the next 30 days, we are going to get super concrete on your commitments and actions and when things will get done.

If you can get momentum by focusing on the week and build habits by focusing on the 30 days, then you're set up to get results with a 90 day outlook.

A quick note that some folks find the video after this one a bit confronting and asked me to make a note of this.

This "What If" visualisation exercise will give you some powerful ammunition to help stay focused and motivated.

Jim Rohn, the leadership and self-development guru asks us four Whys. In this video we discuss those and relate them to our own projects.

The Left Side / Right Side technique is a powerful way to know who you should be asking for help.

One of my favourite philosophies is that "if you work hard its not a matter of IF you'll succeed its a matter of WHEN".

We cover the 3 most important aspects of managing your physiology and what the impacts are that they can have on your life.

The thought of our product not selling well is often a big barrier to finishing our project. We discuss some very quick tips for helping to market your product.

Its okay to stop working on a project, so long as its for the right reasons.

All the effort you put into your workbook should not be lost. Continue to look at it and use it to help you moving forward.

We discuss the distinction between being Motivated and Driven.

It helps if you change your state when you are working and dress in a way that supports that.