Questions tagged [time-management]

Time management relates to how people spend time on a project, and is a key part of project management. It has nothing to do with in-game mechanics (you might be thinking of the time-travel tag) or timing issues (see the timing tag).

Time management relates to how people spend time on a project, and is a key part of project management.

Time management is not about:

  • Time travel: slowing down, rewinding time, etc. If you're thinking of this, you're after the tag.
  • Timing issues. You might be thinking of (for making things happen at the right time) or .
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How can I effectively manage a hobby game project?

How can I successfully finish a hobby game project in my free time? How do I motivate myself to keep it up and drive right through to the finish without losing interest or motivation along the way?
Michael Klement
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Coming up with manageable game ideas as a hobbyist game developer

I'm trying to come up with ideas for games to develop - as per the advice on this question I've started jotting down and brainstorming my ideas as I get them, and it has worked relatively well - I now have a growing collection of ideas that I think…
Justin
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How to deal with "level design creep?"

Level Design Creep is what I've started to call what happens when you build a series of levels and notice that every level is a little bit better looking or designed than the last, or when working together with several people with different skill…
jzx
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Can I use feature creep to my advantage?

Can I use feature creep to my advantage? Every time I prototype a game, features are inadvertently added. This happens either through coincidence, or it happens to be easy to add based on existing content. If I know the genre of the game, can I just…
Evorlor
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Getting It Done vs Solid Software Design?

With barely enough time at our hands to complete the games we craft, how can you strike a good balance between solid software architecture and making good progress to get it all done? My personal challenge: How about being effective today and…
jmp97
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How do you prepare for feature creep?

How can I prepare for feature creep during preproduction? Feature creep is when you are in the production phase and decide "It would be cool if this were a feature!" That adds n hours to the development time which were not accounted for, and unless…
Evorlor
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Wondering if there is a more efficient way to store level data in my game?

I am trying to remake Super Mario Bros. in JavaScript and I am trying to figure out if there is a more efficient way to create and store the level data. I have created 1-1 and here's what the code looks like: const repeatBlock = (block, start, end,…
Jake Miahn
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Should game data be encoded in configuration files, given that it will almost always contain logic?

Question inspired by the accepted answer to another question: Wondering if there is a more efficient way to store level data in my game? The answer, by @Evorlor, says: You should have the data for your level in an external source, such as an XML,…
gaazkam
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How to create a reasonably sized urban area manually but efficiently

I have a game concept that only really works in an urban area that is of reasonable scale and diversity. In terms of what it should look like, think GTA, in terms of the size think more like a small neighbourhood with residents and a few local…
Overv
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XNA GameTime TotalGameTime slower than real time

I have set-up an empty test project consisting of a System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch and this in the draw method: spriteBatch.DrawString(font, gameTime.TotalGameTime.TotalSeconds.ToString(), new Vector2(100, 100), Color.White);…
robasaurus
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Where is the time spent?

Game development is a large process. In your experience, how are the total hours for releasing a game divided over the following major areas. I believe this is useful because few people (none?) are really good at all the areas, so this helps me…
Sam Harwell
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Finding average input value over time in seconds

I'd like to find the average input value from a controller over the last n seconds (say the last 0.1 seconds) and do this every frame. I can see how to do this for the past n frames by storing a list of values for the last n frames and averaging…
Sea Scout
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How to make real-time pvp game where both players perceive in-game time normally while actual relative time-flow speed between them is different?

I was thinking about making a real-time (not tour-like) PvP game where both players among other attributes would have 'speed' attribute that would define their movement and attack speed. But because the speed can be very fast (for example 50 attacks…
Amae Saeki
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Realistically, how long would it take for 1 person to create a 2D isometric RPG?

Something I have been looking into for a while is developing my own PC game. I'm very into CRPGs like Fallout 1 and 2, UnderRail, Wasteland 2, etc. I have long desired to create my own game like this, with an emphasis on plot. While I don't have any…
TCassa
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What is the hardest thing in game development process?

I am new to the game-dev area, although I have professional experience in programming and some other qualities like making graphics in Photoshop or 3D modelling. Currently I am learning one widely used game engine connected with another free 3D…
GKozinski
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