productivity - Neverending game development: how do I finish my game?

I have started developing my first iPhone game with Cocos2D in May 2012 after quitting my job as Bioinformatician in an important research center. Before quitting I spent six months studying some basics of Objective-C and Cocos2d. I moved back to my parents place leaving an important relationship in a different country and leaving all my friends and "social life" there.

Since then I stayed "locked" (trying of course to build some social life and to have healthy daily walks) in my room developing a game for iPhone. Has been more than a year now and I haven't finished yet. I spent a big big sum of money in graphics and music and involved lot of people that are now waiting for the release. They keep asking "when will you finish?" and I say "I am nearly there". The reality is that I "think" I am nearly there but then I have bugs to solve and thing I thought would take a week to develop take 2 weeks or more (the Pi greek rule..).

The reality is that I am fed up with coding. If I was coding with 100% of focus and motivation I could probably finish it in little time but I see that my performance are quiet weak in this period.

I start to feel depressed as soon as I start coding. I have been away from keyboard for two weeks and I felt like getting back to real life. Now that I am back coding with only my screen on the horizon I feel like that I really have to finish and that to do so I have a neverending mountain still to climb. Bugs to solve and more importantly some bits of the game structure still to implement.

It feels like being on top of the Everest, with no oxygen and a small invisible path to follow.

My questions:

• Anyone there that felt the same?


• Any advice (apart of "keep calm and carry on")?

Answer

Have people play it. The last little bit of the game's development can leave even a skilled developer feel helpless, as they scavenge over and over to get the last bits of the game done. Take a deep breath, get something working, organize a to-do list of remaining elements, and get it to "good-enough" condition. Then release it.

If there's anything you missed on your checklist, you'll find it and (hopefully) patch it quickly. Having solid feedback that (a) yes, you got something done, and (b) you still needed work here, here and here, is a good way to get yourself motivated to keep working, and out of the blue funk of the prerelease.

Also, imagining a slow drum beat helps the psychological torment of "neverending" development. Relax. Keep rhythm. Cruise. Don't look towards the end. You'll get there eventually, if you just keep moving.