Should You Juggle Multiple Projects? - My Experience 

This is exactly what I am doing right now, I always bounce around and never finish anything so this is the year I finally focus and finish a project. Instead of bouncing between multiple projects I am trying to use learning youtube and building a channel to promote myself is a great way to not get burnt out. Whenever I get burnt out from the game I work on making a youtube video and learning that and vice versa. Not to mention learning all of this marketing stuff early which your channel has been helping me a ton. Appreciate all the work you put in to this.

My only feedback for anyone who wants to juggle. Be sure the projects are different in mood, design, or medium. Ex: (If you are working on a serious, dark puzzle game, your other project should be funny, bright, and fast-paced.) And if you are working on a project with due dates and milestones, be sure another project is loose and free of any binding deadlines. Last tip: Give yourself at least 1 day a week to remove yourself from game dev or work altogether. Slack off, spoil yourself, and SLEEP for godsakes. This method is proven best for me. I have overcome burnout and I have never been more productive. Have fun devs.

Welcome back man

We missed you. I hope you continue to make more videos. You’re my favorite RU-vidr

I really like the idea of achieving work through iterative passes. I've been doing that with my current job but haven't explicitly approached game development with the same perspective. It opens the gates to say "this will do for now, push on and get the rest done" so that things still get made and upon returning to them later the entire suite is there to be improved upon with another sweep. Whether art or modules of game mechanics or a custom engine, I think I'll approach things like this with that model from now on. Cheers.

I find for me, side projects prevent burnout, and also cause me actually try finish the original project rather than getting into that infinite polish stage that I sometimes get stuck on. It's just sometimes good to step back and gain some perspective.

Great to see you back on it Tim! Absolutely agree with you, you definately need the discipline of releasing your first game before thinking about doing the switching multiple projects thing.. Doing a big game all on your own, is hard hard work! Thumbs up from me 👍

Great to see you back Tim! What works for me while continuing to work on a single project for already 4 years is this: When you have a new idea that sounds awesome, just write it down somewhere and stop thinking about it. So far I have 36+ new game ideas thanks to this If I feel that coding is too tiresome I switch to something else in the same project that uses different part of the brain - like world building / enemy creation etc. And of course 5 minute rule. At least 5 minutes of work every day no matter what. First thing you do when you start the PC is open Unity and start.

Hey Tim! Great to hear from you! Been binging a lot of your vids lately. Just a week ago, I *finally took the step* to download Unity, complete some tutorials (make game demos, essentially), and learn coding in C#. *Being a writer myself,* I recognize the value of switching projects when stuck. Right now, I consider a screenwriting project to be my priority. However, being much inspired by fantasy/RPGs, it makes sense for me to do game dev too. There's a lot of stories that work better for games than novels or movies! Hope to see you regularly! 👍

Happy to see you back and refreshed dude!! Thanks for the insight. Looking forward to your card game!

heck yeah!! Missed you Tim! It's insane how big of a hole you leave behind in my youtube gamedev feed when you're not around. Awesome to see you return, with a great video as always!

Making me think about my process. I'm getting burned out on my current big project too. Been struggling a lot lately but I also started switching to other projects. Got a game idea kicking around that I played around with a bit, and I even want back to my previous project (currently on Steam) and started putting together some updates. So far it's been helping a ton, but I'm also trying to keep my eye on the prize as I do these side projects, so the big project stays open and I jump on it here and there. As a solo dev, I also find switching off a task to something else on the same project can help. If you're burning out on mechanics, switch over to some art or sound effects. Definitely helped me my current project up to the point where I was burned out on ML-Agents and just needed a break.

My man!!! I missed you! good to see you on RU-vid again :)

Welcome back tim hope your back for good missed you terribly

Great to see you back...

This is exactly what I've ran into, but I've also got other obligations so that's made it really tough too. Got work full time, in college still, and the startup group is getting back together after about 2 months off for the web app. Been outlining a previous project that flopped and how I want to approach it this time since the story idea I really love but the mechanics have been kinda weak. Anyways, thanks again Tim for the advice, good to see you again!

Man you always make a video of my question before i even ask the question. I have been going through your ENTIRE video history and learning so much

I get ya man. I am over a year into a project and it is pretty much necessary to play with some small side projects just to keep sane.

Back again! Love to see it

Nice to see you're back. I really wished I understood burnout better. It's been two months that I decided to take a little break from my project, and I just have this hesitation to launch Unity and go back to work that I don't understand. It's not like I'm tired of programming or anything, and I usually get back in the developing mood pretty easy, it's just the transition from "not working" to "working" that is a challenge for me and I really don't know why. I did the Kindred game jam to see if I would get back in the programming mood but that didn't make any difference.

Balanced advise isn't always the sexiest advise but I think it's usually the best. Thanks for being so honest about personal stuff. I think speaking honestly about motivation, burnout and depression is very important.

Welcome back Tim :D we missed you!

Thank you for your advice magical geny god and welcome back :D

"I could just tell you a little bit about *my* experience and then you can use that data to make decisions for yourself." This guy gets it. Many devs online, usually well-meaning, will give you absolute advice on specific, clear-cut paths you *must* follow if you want to achieve your goals. It took me 4 years to realize that everyone's clock ticks a little bit differently. Listen to what other people have to offer, especially if they know what they're talking about, but keep in mind that what works for a veteran AAA developer doesn't necessarily translate well to you. In the end, you should also listen to *your own voice* , compile the data, and craft a path that works for you.

Hope your doing ok and great to have you back on youtube :) I'm doing the same thing now with the art for my game taking more time and iterations and it's really paying off. Great Video

Good to have you back!

I highly recommend people should get into game jams. Believe me, if you have been working on a game for as long as I have (eight years in my case) and haven't been in a game jam before, you will be redefining the meaning of the words "good enough." It's actually a good feeling. I've been watching Bob Ross paint and even he said you've got to know when to stop.

I have 3 projects. I needed to create a folder for each because if I didnt done that the ideias of the 2 games that I am not making would hunt me and hurt the process of the one I am making. Instead, some of the ideias of one project became useful for my first one. Now I have enough focus and don't lose ideias.

So good to hear you back in the mix...

Hey man! Welcome back!

Super good thoughts. Thanks for sharing.

This video came at the perfect time. Thank you, Tim! 💖

Nice to see you back Tim. Hope you're well.

*RUSWICK RETURNS!!*

Welcome Back!

Perfectionism has definitely been an obstacle, but also I needed to acknowledge where my strengths are. I'm extroverted and would love to be an executive on a project that I'm excited about, putting the right team together, and helping along the way. I'm no introvert who can actually sit back in a quiet room and code for hours at a time. Knowing what you bring to a team is important, because while another person may be able to build a "perfect" game, it wouldn't sell if there's no one to sell it.

good to see you back

Working on multiple games, projects and videos at once, not regretting it! Take care everyone!

Bruhhh I'm gonna try this, thanks!!

Frosty we missed you 🤗

He's Aliiiiive!

YOU ARE BEING USED! The magical genie god tells you what subjects to make videos on, because they are exactly what I need to make my dream game...😈 seriously. Thanks for this, its right on time.

Before I watch the video: I cannot do only one project. Always having several games going, too many ideas too worthy to be abadonned

I think my problem is that my Side projects are even more commissions lol

nice ;D

YOU MISS ME BRO

Are you working on a new game? :)

An artist never works on one painting at a time. A musician never works on one song at a time.

Beard and mustache fits you makes you look wizer.

back from the grave I see.

only a game developer with a girlfriend

Side projects work only if you make some bad game/decent games for fast money and having multiple passion projects is not healthy

I think that you should focus on one thing at a time when you start out and slowly you'll get more comfortable with more projects as you gain discipline and experience. Still don't know if I could ever do more than 2 at a time though. Right now I'm doing 1 month of a larger game, then a side project in 1 month, then back to the big one etc and it's been going pretty well.