Discuss: What do you do if you're Burned out?

Hi all. What do you do in the unfortunate event that you become BURNED OUT on your current project? I think I might be there right now and I'd love to hear some advice or personal stories. If you share your own similar stories, don't worry: No judgement here. No shame. :)

Maybe your tips or stories might inspire someone else!

Do you keep another project to work on?

Do you just walk away and rest? (I can't do this, I've got to work on something or else I go crazy)

Do you switch to something else entirely?

This ought to be good.

Hum a manga who simply the girl abandon and left me alone with it

I got to the balancing and stats part of the game development and couldn't face doing any more on it.  Basically I had finished the main story, so it felt "complete" to me as that was what I was aiming to get done (it was meant to be more of a tech demo for me to learn with).

So I have spent a good 1 - 2 months not doing any game dev, and now am ready to get into my second game - this one will get finished properly too.

I always find a good break works, especially if I have a load of games I can sit down and play instead of working on one of my own.

I do something else, have fun, hang out with friends, listen to music, then the burn goes away quite fast lol

Do you keep another project to work on?

Sometimes but it's quite counter-effective IMO it means you have several projects to manage. Ideally focusing on one at a time is better.

Do you just walk away and rest? (I can't do this, I've got to work on something or else I go crazy)

Do you switch to something else entirely?

See above

Abandon completely my projects, my scripts, RPG Maker, or even game developing things. I pick random anime title and watch it for entire week. Well, I admit I have many anime titles in my HD which not watched yet. And I watch them ONLY if I don't have anything to do. Burned out also one of the reasons

haha me to...or I rewatch anime!

but I work on a lot of project for just keep me active ;3

I personally may switch to dealing with RMVXA scripts, playing other RMVXA games, or just putting down all RMVXA stuffs for a while. If I choose the 3rd option I'll probably switch to some other games. Portal 2 is my 1st choice here as it's an excellent puzzle game that can sometimes inspire me about puzzle design in RMVXA. If I'm really tired, I might even end up sleeping for a while. Usually my "brunt out period" for RMVXA projects lasts for days but sometimes it can be weeks :)

I watch stuff, or play games religiously until I'm not burned out anymore.

Two solutions : 
- I work on my Doom 2 wads. 

- I play some games until I want to come back making my own thing. 

Way cool. I'll try to take that into consideration!

Do you just walk away and rest? (I can't do this, I've got to work on something or else I go crazy)

I set My Alarm For 10 minutes Hav e A quick Nap and get a good hot cup 'o Tea Something to eat and then get straight back to it.

(FYI Cup Of Tea's Are My Muse)

I do one of several things:

1.  I switch to looking at scripts --- fixing bugs in them, or creating new ones.

2. I go back and re-read some of my favorite books.

3. I play with my cats.

@whitesphere : Cats...:3

Do you keep another project to work on?

Yes, because I'm crazy like that and can't help it. However, I never use the alternate game as a way to deal with burn out because it doesn't work. If I switched projects due to burnout I'd just keep switching projects and never finish anything. I use the alternative game as a way of doing something different to mix things up and keep it interesting as a way to avoid burning out in the first place.  It works best if the two projects aren't similar.  I also pick one to be my main focus, otherwise I'll never finish either of them.

Do you just walk away and rest?

Yes, it's really the only way to deal with burnout.  Resting isn't just "I'm not doing this thing" though, I also recharge my creative batteries by taking in things that inspire me.  If you feel that you'll go crazy if you can't work on something, good!  That feeling is what's going to help you hit the ground running when you come back to it.  Resting doesn't work as well with artists block or getting bored with the project though, so if that's the problem you'll need to find other solutions.

Do you switch to something else entirely?

No.  Burnout does not mean it's time to quit, it just means I'm burned out.  If you're wondering about quitting you should try to figure out why you wanted to do the project in the first place and what you're trying to accomplish by making a game.  Remembering your motivation can help you redirect your game towards something more satisfying.

Do you keep another project to work on?

Yes, but for silly stuff. My second project is mainly to just see if I can do something in RPG Maker, and to go crazy with. Though, I did once use a second project to test how my combat system worked for low level characters. It had no plot, and 5 RTP created dungeons (as in, I created a 60 x 60 map, right clicked, selected generate dungeon, added an entrance and exit, and random fights. That was it). So maybe your second project could be to just put in one part of the game, by itself, and see how it holds up?

Do you just walk away and rest?

More like, I play a game for 2 - 3 hours, or put on a movie. Sometimes ideas come to me during that time, and sometimes, I just needed the break. Though, when writing a book I once took a one week break to start and finish a new game, then came back to it when that was done.

Do you switch to something else entirely?

As in new project? I only would do an entirely new project if I was stopping the current one. Though I will admit I did scrap my initial project 10 days into it, and started over. But then again, I did start my project with no clue how to use RPG Maker, so those first 10 days were more learning how to use the system than anything.

Simple. I take a break and continue with my life. These are things I enjoy to do and I want to do them for my enjoyment. If I'm burnt out forcing myself will not be much fun at all. Sometimes people try too hard. They think and worry too much. And they further exacerbate the stress. Instead, they should remove themselves from that situation for awhile. Even if you love your job you'll need a vacation and a change of scenery. The drive will be there again. You'll go about your day and maybe it will be conversation with a friend or a good movie you saw out in the theater. Just because you put something on the back burner doesn't mean it won't still simmer.

Ms. Littlefish makes a good point here.

When we are making games, no matter what our specific strengths are, we are being creative.  And, the funny thing is that creativity flows from the subconscious. 

Even many great scientists had their most inspired breakthroughs because of a daydream.  In other words, when they let their constant stream of thoughts go.  Such as whoever discovered the structure of the benzene molecule.  It was a great puzzle of the day, but the discoverer saw a snake dancing, while he was watching the fire.  When the snake grabbed its tail in its mouth, the ring formation was the solution.

But he never would have found it if he didn't STOP chasing his thoughts and let his mind drift.

Maybe burnout is precisely that.  Your conscious mind has slurped all it can from the well of your unconscious, so you need to do other things that fill you up with joy, and give your conscious mind a rest, so your subconscious can refill the well of inspiration.

I just read an article last night about the same concept. Basically, when we concentrate on something we load the problem into our prefrontal cortex and logically use the information we've put there to sort it out.  It can't hold all the information because it's only a small section of the brain.  It's great for logic problems but terrible for creative ones.  When we stop concentrating the problem drifts around with the rest of the information in the brain and we can be a lot more creative.  It's terrible for logic but the free association helps us come up with new ideas instead of just putting together old ones.