Constantly making a new hack then getting burnt out - SMW Hacking Discussion

So this has been uh happening lately ive been constantly changing to do another hack idea over and over ive been mainly making sprites and stuff but for hacks gaah.. i want to do like a smb3 hack continue my hammer bro hack and 2 other hacks i want to do all of it but i constantly come up with a new idea a few days later which i start doing then i get burnt out from it then i come up with another idea like i just want to do all of these hacks but i cant do all of it at the same time atleast what should i do?

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Well, a good piece of advice from me is to stick to one thing only. Once you get that thing over with, pass on to the next one.

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Originally posted by AnasMario130

Well, a good piece of advice from me is to stick to one thing only. Once you get that thing over with, pass on to the next one.

This is a good post.

I cant say for you.
But what ive noticed with myself is i usually get burned-out/uninterested when the ideas are too shallow. Once i develop some depth its easier to stay focused.

So i would suggest you that.. just try to develop the ideas further. Its easy to get distracted by shallow ideas

I always wondered how you managed to work on so many hacks at once!

My friend, you suffer from what is known as Overactive Imagination. I get that it can be hard to overcome an urge to really start something that is festering in your mind. Commit yourself to one thing at a time like AnasMario said, but take notes as things pop into your mind for those other works to keep on the backburner.

It may help you keep active interest in your current project if you try and think about the world your characters are living in. Really immerse yourself mentally as though you're watching them go about their journeys, take in the atmosphere you visualize them in, and think about the details of each major encounter and what that provides for the future of the project. Set these thoughts to fitting music. That might help you keep your focus on it. If you can't get into something you started at all anymore, maybe there are good parts you can salvage for a hack you're enjoying making. You may even find that the load of ideas you have are interconnected in some way and want to merge these hacks, smooth out the edges, and get behind the character that most enthuses you to star in the one.

The good thing about this too, if you see one to completion before getting too into another, is you can learn plenty from working on and getting feedback from your first completed projects that will help you refine your ideas and hone your skills in the other hacks rather than possibly having all these hacks show the same issues. Therefore, I think you should actually try to finish your oldest hack or the one you are least emotionally invested in first as your "starting out" project to grow from, and keep your most ambitious idea for later, since at this rate you will likely end up returning to whatever one it is you hold most dearly and revamping it as intensely as a Sicari or TSRP remaster with what you learn. Make it less work on yourself by going into it strong later on, I'd say.

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Originally posted by AnasMario130

Well, a good piece of advice from me is to stick to one thing only. Once you get that thing over with, pass on to the next one.

I feel like if I try working on something against my own will, it will stop being fun for me and it starts to transpire on the actual product.
I dunno if it's the same for the original poster, but this approach just doesn't works for me.

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Originally posted by Samuel Zuccati

I feel like if I try working on something against my own will, it will stop being fun for me and it starts to transpire on the actual product.

It varies from people to people.
If you start not to enjoy working on a hack you've envisioned from the start, the best thing to do is to either throw the towel or take a break. I mean, nobody's willing to release a rushed product that turns out to be unfun just because you forced yourself to.

Probably not really the type of enjoyment you guys are talking about.
But i believe theres a point where you get numb to your own ideas. And i think this kinda inevitable.. its almost impossible to surprise your own.. yes, there can be lots of eureka moments.. but for the most part creation is an ocean of numbness..
But i feel its like going to the gym.. the less you go, the less you want to go.. but the opposite is also true.. so a bit of 'bruteforce' can be a positive thing

Honestly I pretty much have the same problem as codfish. I get involved in one thing, lose interest after a while and move on to something else and rinse and repeat. Sometimes I might even work on two projects in one day! So yeah.

Maybe instead of making a hack, just make level or two if you want, then if you get burned out take a break, then come back to make few levels, making a hack isn't easy, it's a long process, besides because of those breaks, the level may be more unique, making the hack more fun to play

Making a level sometime takes me couple hours, and other times takes me couple weeks. That happens when my ideas get burned, and I loss inspiration (and I end up deleting everything). I personally don’t force myself to make levels so quickly, I usually take a break of making the hack by several days, so when I come back to LM, the ideas also come back to my head.

It's no rush but work at your own pace when you have inspiration or ideas sometime it will take awhile but slow and steady.

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A similar thing has been happening to me this year, but I think that, in my case, it's likely exhaustion from having practically done the same thing for almost a decade.

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Instead of making a new hack, make a new level. Work that one level until you feel satisfied with it. Then, repeat the process, one level at a time. When you feel inspiration dry up and you can't coax another new level out of your brain, congratulations. You have just successfully completed a hack, you just need to polish what you've already made.

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Chapter Two: Land of No Shame

Originally posted by Ondore's Lies

Instead of making a new hack, make a new level. Work that one level until you feel satisfied with it. Then, repeat the process, one level at a time. When you feel inspiration dry up and you can't coax another new level out of your brain, congratulations. You have just successfully completed a hack, you just need to polish what you've already made.

honestly this.

instead of focusing on "making a proper game" remember that this is an amateur medium and there shouldn't be any qualm in making level collections of any sort of length or consistency tied together with a overworld and final level (optionally a few bosses if you can code and are feeling motivated enough to do so, koopalings+big boo+reznor+bowser are absolutely fine and much preferrable to a lot of custom bosses). that's honestly how im planning to make my hack which is why i'm expecting development to go by at a glacial pace, but i don't mind.

i was personally inspired by the vips and other collabs' development method which is just "claim levels, fill them up, start a deadline near the end, fill them up even further until you reach a deadline, then make the final multiperson and storehouse levels in the space between normal level submission end and release"

it's even better for me as an asmer because if i want to make a boss or gimmick, i can just put whatever and try to work out the gimmick to its utmost in one level and just keep it to one or two levels. don't have to worry about plot consistency or revisiting gimmicks for the most part.

i still have to be careful so it's not too much of a tech demo of course, for that i'm just thinking of following the four stage level design method from later marios. planning out a level according to a method and redoing parts as i come up with more setups and spins on a gimmick instead of playing it entirely by ear feels more "sensible" to me.

tl;dr: just make levels instead of full games

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What Lion said, likewise, it might actually help for you to keep everything in one rom, assuming each of your ideas do not require different physics/abilities. You could separate your Ideas into separate worlds in your work so that each world has a different theme based on the idea it is embodying.

Over all, don't take hacking this game super seriously, not everybody has the patience to stick with one project for however long it takes to complete one. So if you find yourself jumping between ideas, remember it is your time and your work, so you should allow yourself to jump between ideas as you please. As long as you're having fun, that's what counts in the end.

This is why I'm just making levels at my leisure and when I have enough I'll compile them into a playable hack.
Rom hacking isn't serious. It's a hobby and something that should be done on your free time so you can have fun with it when your creative juices are flowing.

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Stop hacking for an indefinite amount of time. Look into other projects done by other people and when you feel comfortable with what you have, try designing something based on that idea.

Not sure if you're into Japanese hacks like the VIP, Hyper or SIG series, but play those and you'll find pretty cool ideas for level design.