   Gamer / Gamedev... striking a balance.
  I dont know about you guys but i stuggle to find the time to be a gamer and learn games devlopment.It seems to be a feast or a famine. I either spend all my time learning new games development stuff like MDX9, C++, SDL, OGL and get bugger all studying done and even less game play time.Or I shelve my games development and play way too many games and have to re-learn everything when i pick it back up 6 months later.I feel too detached from gaming when im programing games because I wouldn't have played one in months.And I feel too overwelmed by the sheer quality/production-values of comercial games while playing them to be inspired to code games (feeling "OMG I'll never be that good").Right now im a piss-poor student and dont have the money to go out and have a social life (I can just about aford a budget game here and there as its less than a snack and a few pints...and considerably less than a night out).The Mrs understands this and doesn't try to monopolise my time or expect to be going out every night.... when I get a job that is out the window! my spare time will be rarer than rockinghourse shit and then the balance will be even harder to strike.So how do you guys do it?Keep your hand in learning games development while finding the time to keep abreast of gamings cutting edge? (and possibly have a life as well).   
  You could try to limit your game playing time; if you just play an hour a day (or a figure more suited to your schedule) you should be able to do it. Then you just have to make yourself stop playing and start coding when that time is up.I have the same problem, except that the internet is another contender for my time, and it usually does better than either games or programming.   ;  I've tried this but limiting play to 1 hour or so also seems to dictate the games i play. I dont feel inclined to play indepth games when all I get is an hour on them.Some times I will think "Well if im timing my self its harldy relaxing so why bother" and end up not bothering to play games.Its just hard to couple temperance with leasure... becuase if your clock watching its not leasurely.And this is my problem... maybe I should aprouch game playing as a form of research and force my self to do it in short stints then maybe it will become more natural to play in bursts???... maybe.   ;  You could try doing it the other way round; set yourself a fixed time for working on creating games. Give yourself a couple of hours a day for game dev, set yourself a target for the day (i.e. "by the end of the day I will have to complete X and Y"), and force yourself to stick to it until it is complete. Then you can play whatever games (or do whatever other fun activity) you like for the rest of the day.I'm pretty terrible at setting myself targets too, so I'll have to work on this myself!   ;  Your probably right TZ.And I may be underestimating my biggest stumbling block... the fact im a correspondence student.. so my day of study really has no end, if i manage to get anything finished there is alway more work on the pile or winging its way to me in the email or snailmail or available for download so I can never get that"I've finished my work for the day " felling.. there is always more grind to occupy me and i think that eats into more time than i realise.   ;  Label gaming as research and your problem is solved :D   ;  I'm sort of the same way; I'm a postgraduate student, so for the most part I set my own study goals, and there's always more that I could be doing. But you can try the same thing for your study ("by the end of today I will finish this pile of papers, or have learnt about X, or I'll study as hard as I can for X hours, then move on to game dev").For me, my main time drain is procrastinating by viewing web sites (like this one!), because while I'm working I'm always connected to the Internet. And these days, the looming Christmas holidays is really distracting. I only wish I had enough self-control to actually stick to those deadlines that I keep making for myself!Actually, thinking about it the best boost for my work was forcing myself to complete a game for the "One Week One Button" competition. Maybe if you set yourself a similar sort of deadline (maybe the end of the year to complete a small game demo?) it could be some help to get you fired up about game development?   ;  I did enter 1W1B... thanks for noticing [oh]It was an amazing boost... unfortunatley it swung every thing in the other direction. Zero studying, Zero gaming, All games dev... i loved it (and it made me want to do it for a living sooo badly)... but like i say it took things way too far the other direction.I'll try and set my self "end of the day" goals... as soon as i've sat my exam on Thrusday and the preause lets off a little. [smile]   ;Quote:Original post by JDUKI did enter 1W1B... thanks for noticing [oh]It was an amazing boost... unfortunatley it swung every thing in the other direction. Zero studying, Zero gaming, All games dev... i loved it (and it made me want to do it for a living sooo badly)... but like i say it took things way too far the other direction.I'll try and set my self "end of the day" goals... as soon as i've sat my exam on Thrusday and the preause lets off a little. [smile]Whoops, sorry [embarrass]; I was typing while I was thinking and didn't really notice that you were one of the contestants! However I was suprised at how focused I could be if I really put my heart into making a deadline; that's why I'm also trying to think of a new project that I can complete before Christmas (the next natural deadline available to me).I fully understand your current predicament then; I'm exactly the same way! I'm still feeling worn out after a week or two of crunch time in November (combined with the end of the year, I guess). My creativity is completely down the tubes for the last fortnight.I don't see a lack of game playing to be too much of a problem; I've read interviews with many leading game devs who say they don't play that many games. In fact, I'd consider it more of a problem when I am spending my free time playing games rather than making them. But you are right in that there has to be a bit of a balance.Even when I'm working, I like to occasionally play a quick game as a break. However only certain types of games are good for this; action games (platformers/arcade/FPS) that can be played in 15 minutes bursts are good, strategy or RPG games are bad. But I guess I too tend to swing from full-on game development to very little. It's only a big problem once it starts cutting into work or study as well.Anyway, best of luck with figuring out a good work plan! I'm planning on using the new year as a marker to help set some better work practices for myself as well.   