Modders: What keeps you going?

[legobrick100]

I've been asking this question for a long time; none of my projects ever see the light of day. Not just mod projects, but pretty much any creative endeavor I bother trying - but I'll try and keep the context limited to modding.

As someone who has a desire to create new experiences and let others have those experiences, create a well-known mod or series of mods that I can continue to build and expand upon, and create something to say I've done something - I haven't managed to create anything.

I've started half a dozen modding projects alone. Many times it's a small or average-sized mod(though, unfortunately, as a dreamer with too much creativity, it tends to grow too large for me to handle), and for whatever reason my interest and drive to work on it dies near-instantly. I have collected around a thousand different ideas - ranging from entire concepts to smaller details, and I can't use any of them because my drive to work on a project like a mod stops there. It's a bit depressing, honestly... my family knows I'm creative and speculates that I spend so much time in my room working on these different ideas and projects, and while that's true - for the near ten years that I've spent, I have nothing to show for it - I tend to discard any of my projects that become older than a month.

So what keeps you going? How do you approach modding? How do you press forward and keep working on it? I hope to one day succeed and create something.

Edited April 23, 2017 by legobrick100

[DoctorKaizeld]

multi-task rotation. i get several projects (usually 9 for whatever reason) of the same type and work on them individually and move to the next one when i get stuck on something and cant solve an issue, i get a block (writers block for written stuff), not sure if im missing something, i feel over whelmed, and so on. i just keep going in a circle till things get done. it is time consuming and wont work for everything but i use it for hobby stuff.

 

for example my current rotation is:

1) iron long sword (this one has been kinda exhausting as my larger forge is currently 'broken')

2) comic book

3) novel

4) mod port

5) Skyrim item overhaul mod

6) Fallout 4 weapon overhaul

7) learn to code

8 ) work on learning Russian

9) port Better Followers to Skyrim SE *completed, technically looking to replace this one*

 

i wont say it's perfect but it allows me to look at something with fresh eyes and keeps me from quiting.

Edited April 23, 2017 by qwertyzeldar

[AGreatWeight]

It's easy to get burnt out or feel your passion fading (for a multitude of reasons) regardless of whether your making mods or other pursuits. As Qwertyzeldar said above, sometimes having several different projects to bounce around is a good idea. I started doing this as a way to combat the fatigue that cropped up whilst working on one mod in particular that was becoming a timesink and less enjoyable to make due to the amount of content it contains (it's still not finished, seven-ish months later!) - so now I split my modding time between continuing work on the timesink mod, and also working on several (thankfully) much smaller mods.

If I get bored/frustrated with one, I put it down and in the back of my mind, and refocus my energy on another, or try to learn more about the CK or Nifskope. When I don't feel like working on any mods, I don't. I've found that putting myself under pressure to work on something makes me even less motivated. Sometimes, you have to put everything down in order to recharge and come back refreshed.

You shouldn't look at unfinished work as some sort of failure, instead see it from the perspective that all the projects you have that are unfinished, are merely stepping stones to increasing your knowledge and understanding that you apply to any future project/s, otherwise they'll just weight you down.

If you don't think you'll finish them any time soon, put them all in a seperate folder, and move on to something that you want to tackle now. Perhaps in the future, you can revisit that 'old' folder, and maybe find something in there that doesn't require a lot of time/energy to finally finish off.

Simply put - don't be too hard on yourself...

As an alternative, have you ever considered working collaboratively with other modders on your projects? Just a thought.

I'd recommend reading 'The War of Art' by Steven Pressfield, his ideas regarding what he refers to as 'resistance' are something that I think a most people engaged in creative pursuits can relate to.

[gandalftw]

My advice would be to start SIMPLY,you don't need to change the world or receive instant adoration, and see it through to completion.Very few are going to praise your name with your first release but you will have,at least,your first success.If you allow yourself one success,however simple,who knows where that initial success might lead.

Edited April 27, 2017 by gandalftw

[soupdragon1234]

Hmm. When I get the bit between my teeth I don't like to let it go. Call it sheer bloody mindedness if you will but I refuse to be beaten. My one big mod spent getting on for 3 years working on that. I don't regret doing it but the sheer amount of time and commitment means that I'm unlikely to spend that amount of time on a single project again.

 

Currently its small projects and by that I mean ones that I can turn around in a week or less I currently have a couple of small Skyrim projects finished or nearly complete one is a mini-shout that quickly removes followers etc from blocking doorways but without scattering clutter to the four winds like the regular unrelenting force does so you can safely use it inside your house etc. The second is mod that lets you skip selling your soul to Nocturnal for completing the Thieves Guild quests Karliah does it instead.

 

The first is finished the second nearly done just a bit of tidying up to do. I'm undecided on whether I'll release them I'm not sure the interest is there with the public to justify the extra work to make them release worthy and user friendly.

 

Basically I make mods for me, my motivation is seeing stuff in the game and thinking "holy s**t thats dumb, why did they do that!" and wanting to fix it. For the TG one I hate being railroaded into something. Give me a choice, not a you-must-do-this-or-else scenario. Because there are always solutions to problems and I don't mean turning your back and walking away from it, because thats not a solution at all.

 

I'm not really that creative in the artistic sense and I have diddly squat artistic skill I guess you could say I'm a fixer. I see a problem I like to fix it, for example I fix/build my own PC's, yesterday my PC wouldn't boot at all, well its roll up the sleeves, off with the sides of the case and 20 minutes later its working again. I guess I'm much the same with games, lift the lid on it tinker with the internals "ah so thats how quests work!" and hey presto a mod is born.

 

n.b. I don't mean to sound rude but ideas are ten a penny, its the ability to carry those ideas through that count and sometimes that means getting your hands dirty, and no its not easy nothing worthwhile in life ever is. Think of it like scaling a mountain if you stand back daunted at the sheer size of it and think "I'll never be able to conquer that!" and walk away you never will. That doesn't mean you have to conquer the mountain in a single leap rather its an awful lot of small, sometimes painful, steps that'll get you there. But once you reach that summit, ah what a feeling! It doesn't require skills, at least not initially, just the desire and the determination to see it through to the end.

Edited April 29, 2017 by soupdragon1234

[PoorlyAged]

I'm old. My wife is convinced that I need a mental challenge or I will curl into a fetal position and start drooling. So she keeps me at the keyboard day and night. She is a slave driver, that one.

 

Okay, serious. I wrote software for well over a half century and I enjoyed the challenges in turning ideas into executable code. Mentally, making mods is not that different. It is just a different set of tools. Papyrus instead of REXX. Creation Kit instead of ISPF. C# instead of Assembler Language. Learn the tools and the rest is easy. And I enjoy the creative process. So I keep at it because for me, it's fun.

 

Now, let me paraphrase an old saw. "The act of creation is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. If one is not willing to put in the effort, one's failure is guaranteed." But don't be discouraged. As Robert Heinlein said, "Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something."

Edited May 6, 2017 by PoorlyAged