Over the speed bumps

One of the worse parts about writing a codebase from scratch for aspecific game is the staggering amount of foundation work that has to happen before you can really start making visible progress. Database layers, object representation and manipulation, account management, exits, and a basic set of global commands are all necessary before much of anything ‘visible’ can happen. Plus, these are only just going to get you started in breaking ground on your world.

I know right now that my project (Dawn of the Titans) lacks such basics as a communication system, a full set of builder commands, the ability to IP ban and flood control, and a sane way to handle color. Furthermore, I have yet to dig room 1 of my world, or start writing the fun stuff like combat and space flight systems.

It’s easy to look at my mile-long to-do list and get intimidated/psyched out, and at times, I have. In particular, the tasks that are either extremely uninteresting, tedious, or require a lot of re-arranging tend to really make me cringe. I end up putting these off, and further progress slows or comes to a halt.

Speed Bumps

There are probably much better terms for this, but I call issues on a to-do list that I dread the most “Speed Bumps”. Sometimes this is due to complexity, other times due to being very uninteresting or tedious. More often than not, these items are required for progress to continue. Unfortunately, these are also the most likely to go neglected.

By putting off these “Speed Bumps”, our progress is slowed, morale may drop, and motivation might go with it. Development momentum slows, and we may even come to a complete stop for periods. This is not good, given that you probably have at least a year’s worth of work to get a 100% custom MUD in playable shape.

Flying through the Speed Bumps

I have found that the best way to get past my cringeworthy tasks is to try to find something really simple and quick that I can do to at the start of a development session. It could be fixing a spelling error or writing a paragraph or two of documentation. It lets me get a commit under my belt, and I feel rewarded for making progress.

From there, the most “dreaded” of my tasks is where I start. After thinking, doodling, and writing a line or two of code, I lose the concrete shoes and I’m off to the races. The hardest part of getting past speed bumps is getting motivated enough to start working.

Attack the things you’re dreading; try to find some way to get excited about them. If it’s a particularly boring task, try to make it interesting by thinking of what you’ll be able to do down the road with what you’re working on.

Also…

For those masochistic enough to write an entire codebase for their particular game in mind, keep one very important thing in mind: You knew going into this that it was going to be a very long road. Don’t be discouraged by this, and instead be happy that you’ve got a great project to poke at when you feel like it over a year or two, or five. If it makes it out the door to live players, wonderful. If it doesn’t, hopefully you at least enjoyed working on it.