One of the very first bits of advice I was given on this blog was a snarky remark based off of a recent advice post which basically said, "If you announce what you're working on, you're going to be robbed of the motivation to do it."

I scoffed at that on the grounds that I couldn't see that as being all that concrete. However, as of late, motivation flagging, I'm thinking perhaps there's something to it after all. In taking it seriously, the brain cogs started turning, I decided that it probably has to do with the idea that caged birds shouldn't sing.

When I'm creating a game in BYOND, I'm not devising to get paid for it. What I have instead is a "labor of love" - something I create because I'm aspiring to create something great just for the joy of creating it.

Yet, when I announce I'm doing something, I've set pressures and limitations on myself that weren't there before. At this point, it no longer has that "labor of love" feeling.

It's problematic because, as I've said a couple of times in this entry so far, we don't expect a caged bird to sing (that's why, when one does, we find that inspiring). The inner muse - that creation engine which sought to create something great - is now caged. It becomes silent, the game goes nowhere.

I've basically created my own little micro simulation of what happens when an upcoming deadline crushes the spirit out of a development team. All that's left is to create another boring clone just to justify my paycheck. Except, you know, I'm not getting paid for this so that doesn't work. ;)

After nearly a month of trying to create my "game inspired by M.U.L.E." I've decided that what I was going to end up with was a game that wasn't personal feeling enough to the player, and actually had a surprisingly lot to do with the average real time strategy game.

I'm going to try starting from scratch, and no more announcing exactly what I'm going to do ahead of time.