Time Pressures and Results

Phil on 2006/08/15 03:52 of The World Dissolved

Some of you may be familiar with NaNoWriMo. The idea behind that particular form of insanity is to write a novel in thirty days. Having started (and never finished) a rather loathsome number of novels in my life, I decided to try NaNo two years ago. I managed to write a 110,000-word novel. A first draft, but still.

Last year, I wrote two (shorter) novels.

In both cases, the feeling was ... almost indescribable. To be able to look at a finished work, unpolished (or crap) though it may be, and say, "Hey. I did this. This is from me." ... Something about the creative process, the completion of the creative process, makes something primal in my brain do the brainial equivalent of rockin' out. (I'd say that maybe it's just me, but looking at the list of repeat offenders in the entries both here and at NaNo I have to believe that at least a few others have experienced this.)

I've also been starting (and never finishing) videogames ever since I was 6 and received an Apple //c for Christmas.

Perhaps the pressure of PyWeek will be the motivation to get off my butt and finish one for real.

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Comments

Cthulhu32 on 2006/08/15 07:55:

wow thats a lot of writing!

I can definitely relate to that feeling of completion when doing projects, like that little voice in the back of your head that says "Finally, all that work and here you go. Kick ass!"

I still have yet to have that feeling on any games I've started so far. I did a computational intelligence project w/ a partner that almost gave me that same feeling, until the teacher decided he didn't like the fact that you can't see any mathematical formulas, you can just see a bunch of genetic monsters running around spawning and killing each other (still got an A- in the class!)

CS457 Final
and I'm sure you'll need Net Packages

I've always found your work pretty inspiring, the engines you've come up with really make me try to get my sheet together when I code. I always see these massive ideas in my head that always trail off, but this past year I've had my head together just enough to get back into the game full boar.

Now I gotta get a play list going for my "code till my eyeballs fall out and my boss wonders if I'm starting a drug addiction."

Scissor sistors [x]
Aphex Twin [x]
Death Cab for Cutie [x]
Crystal Method [x]
Dj-Jackalope [x]
various OST's [x]

Good Luck Phil and everyone else!

Phil on 2006/08/15 11:40:

Alas, you probably have me confused with the awesome philhassey, who has completed many a game.

Now that you bring up schoolwork, I suppose that technically I have finished a game. For my senior project in college, where I was getting a Computer Engineering degree, I did a software project. (I switched from Computer Science to Computer Engineering at my university because the CS department was, uh, awful. I wasn't really a fan of Computer Engineering, but I wanted a real education.) I wanted to write a game engine for three or four different games--an implementation of puzzle mode in Tetris Attack, an implementation of that NES game Fire 'n Ice.

The teacher said, "Oh, and you have to make it graphical. And you have to do checkers with AI."

Gulp!
I ended up programming for almost twenty hours straight on the last day or two to get it all finished, but I did have a working game engine with the other games I proposed ... and checkers with AI. The AI wasn't brilliant, but it wasn't bad either. (I got an A on the project, so that was all I needed, I suppose.)

That said, it felt much more like a school project than something fun, a game for people to play. That's what this is for.

Cthulhu32 on 2006/08/15 18:47:

ahh ok, whoops sorry for the mix up!

yeah I was originally Computer Engineering but then switched to Computer Science cause the CE major was crap at my school! Basically they didn't treat CE majors any different than CS or EE, so it was this weird "YOU HAVE TO KNOW BOTH" sort of limbo things, so I said F that and went pure CS.

yeah i've had some insane stuff asked of me in my AI classes, we had to have a tic tac toe game that uses a Min Max algorithm, which basically turned into everyone using the wrong method, and I found a guy's solution that I studied and explained to the class.

I would have really liked to have made my AI project more of a fun thing than a little demo like "KILL MONSTERS" button or something, but with time restraints and other school work comes lack of playability.

anyway, I'm stoked for pyweek!

Hectigo on 2006/09/10 13:48:

Hmm, I didn't think there was another NaNoWriMo participant in here. My novel fell a bit short (10000 words, if I recall correctly) the first and only time I tried it last year, but it was an interesting experience nevertheless. Perhaps I'll try it again this year.

atiaxi on 2006/09/10 15:04:

Actually, yes, PyWeek did have the feel of NaNoWriMo for me too. During November every night I'm heading towards my quota, and ignoring everyone else in the house. Pyweek was a lot like that.

It was also handy in that, while I've been writing games for a long time, there's very very few (if any) that I'd call 'complete'. The game I wrote this time might actually fall into that category :)

richard on 2006/09/10 22:17:

NaNoWriMo was part of my inspiration in setting up the concept for PyWeek. I wrote my novel during November a few years back :)

Phil on 2006/09/10 23:02:

If any of you want to NaNo again this November, let me know. A lot of us NaNo vets hang out in an IRC channel. It's a lot of fun, and there's great moral support (just like there is with Pyweek)! They're both really amazing experiences.

fydo on 2006/09/11 05:22:

I realize this is a little off-topic for this thread, but I thought I'd mention to Cthulhu32 that I started listening to Aphex Twin shortly after reading his post here. So, thanks! I really enjoy their music. :)

richard on 2006/09/11 06:06:

I'm done with NaNo - I wrote my one (terrible) novel :)

Aphex Twin are good, aren't they.

donal.h on 2006/09/11 12:48:

Hmmm, I bookmarked NaNoWriMo...

If I finished, then I'd be able to check "write novel" off of my master todo list.

Actually, I don't have a master todo list, but if I did, "write novel" would definitely be on it. Maybe I should keep a master todo list. I'll start it now with:

Make master todo list
Add "write novel" to master todo list

Aphex Twin is very good, but sometimes the videos are a smidge disturbing. Pretty girls with what-his-face's head, eek!

Phil on 2006/09/11 17:16:

Yeah, good ol' Chris Cunningham videos.

DrPetter on 2006/09/11 23:37:

Dammit. I might have to try NaNoWaschoMoMite too... I've had the urge to write some kind of fiction for a long time but never even begun to actually try it. I can usually muster unhealthy amounts of spare time too, so reaching the word count on rambling alone shouldn't be a problem. If I make up my mind initially that nobody will be allowed to read it then I might be able to get through without completely buckling under the insight of what terrible cheese I will no doubt produce ;)