Organising Yourself

[SuperBiasedMan]

I get the sense that most people here, like me, are largely working by themselves or with a small amount of assistance on their games. I'm currently thinking through how to expand out a tiny prototype to flesh it out more. One thing I know I need to sort out is how I'm going to organise the list of what to do, what order of importance it should have and how to keep track of progress along with them.

 

Do any of you guys have systems and ideas that you're already working with? A magic bullet piece of software that solves everything is a nice pipe dream, but realistically I'm just wondering what approach you all take to come at this problem, even if it's just a notebook you scribble in or something.

[Joewintergreen]

Mostly I end up just keeping it all in my head unless I'm full tilt on a particular project. When I am, Trello is really good. I used to use Pivotal Tracker but then they made it cost money I think.

[Au-heppa]

Yeah, I still just use Notepad / .txt file on my desktop to write down all my tasks and ideas and bug reports. Using a bug tracker / issue manager is good at the phase when you have a lot of playtesters coming in, but at the starting phase it just feels like talking to yourself and making it needlessly complicated and slow.

[shammack]

I just make hierarchical lists on Workflowy. I don't really have a formalized system and it changes a little on every project, but usually I break it down by milestones, then tag each list item by priority (1 to 3), whether I'm blocked on it by something else that isn't done yet, etc. When something's status changes I update the tags, or cross it off the list if it's done.

 

If I'm really in trouble, sometimes I make a list of what needs to get done each day, and then at the end of the day before I go home, I go through the list and move each thing that didn't get done onto the next day's list, which is a good way of keeping track of just how screwed I am and whether I need to raise a white flag to the producers.

[itsamoose]

Man I wish there was a piece of software that could be used to manage an entire game project, but there are a few things you can piece together.  While none of these are a one size fits all solution each has some great benefits and are things I use both in personal and professional project

 

Atlassian - This isn't one program but rather a few programs that plug together nicely for bug tracking, task management, wiki creation, etc.  This is likely the most expensive thing on this list

Articy:Draft - A program you can purchase on steam that allows you to create level blueprints, dialogue trees, character storyboards, game entity definitions, etc.  I haven't used it much, but it seems like a great tool for anything with narrative complexity.  Last I checked it costs around 100 USD for the standard version

Trello - Good for task and bug tracking, free

Bugzilla - Free bug tracking software, you will need somewhere to host the client for this but otherwise it's free

Google Drive - Great for brainstorming, creating previz images, spreadsheets, etc, free

Xmind - Used to create "mind maps" which are just a series of connected lines and blurbs for brainstorming ideas, free version available

[Dinosaursssssss]

I try to use Trello but mostly I forget or am lazy, and end up just writing down the first thing I want to do the next day on a piece of paper.
 

In a more professional context I've also used Trac, TestTrack Pro, Jira, and Hansoft. TestTrack was specifically for bugs, the other three could all be used for bugs or tasks. Of those, I liked Jira the most, though they're all pretty heavy duty for solo/small team development.

[unc0nnected]

We use box.com for all of our content management and couldn't recommend it enough for collaborating. 

Mindomo is a great tool for mindmaps that allows for multi-user real time collaboration

Rescuetime probably changed my life more than most other (http://ryanwiancko.com/2013/03/24/rescuetime-a-graphical-representation-of-how-this-one-app-has-dramatically-changed-my-life/)

Evernote is another fantastic tool for jotting down your thoughts on a moments notice, and has some collaborative functionality.

[root]

Rescuetime probably changed my life more than most other (http://ryanwiancko.com/2013/03/24/rescuetime-a-graphical-representation-of-how-this-one-app-has-dramatically-changed-my-life/)

 

I have hella time management/self-discipline issues, so I am going to try this out and see if it can help me. D:

[unc0nnected]

As I mentioned in that article, espresso and changing my environment was also a big help.  Getting out of the house, working in a cafe on the laptop meant that I couldnt' go to youtube or anywhere else out of respect for the limited bandwidth of the cafe and because I don't like people watching me surf facebook/youtube over my shoulder.  

 

I use scrumboards to organize just about everything else in life including projects which is a huge help

[dibs]

But you said you were wasting time playing video games. Video games are fun!

[elvaq]

Trello is my pick for task management, really helps with the not forgetting anything on a project long term. I'd probably use Pivotal Tracker if I was on a larger project/team but Trello scales really well from personal use to small groups

 

But day to day I can forget to use it so a combination of txt files and pen&paper lists help me keep focus and priority while working.

 

Rescue Time is indeed very cool and is extremely interesting, if not potentially life-changing.

 

 

Google Docs & Sheets for any big hairy project design & documentation. Keep is good for not forgetting random stuff when away from desk but I 'keep' forgetting to flush it regularly

[root]

As I mentioned in that article, espresso and changing my environment was also a big help.  Getting out of the house, working in a cafe on the laptop meant that I couldnt' go to youtube or anywhere else out of respect for the limited bandwidth of the cafe and because I don't like people watching me surf facebook/youtube over my shoulder.  

 

The thing I do to mitigate the internet temptation currently is I have my wife take the power brick for the modem with her to work when she leaves every morning.  It is much harder to dick around on Twitter for half the day when the internet is not an option.

[pbrand]

Trello, a notebook, note cards, and an immaculately organized Dropbox folder system for me.

I also organize my browser bookmarks, with the largest folder titled "ideas" -- because I'm an idea charlatan. I guess that comes with the turf of worldbuilding a vaguely-fantasy setting; if Tolkien can cannibalize myths, so can I!

[TeamQuiggan]

For daily tasks, if I have a lot of little things to get done, I find it satisfying to print out my txt document of tasks and bump them off the list with a sharpie. Feels good, man.

 

For my own long term stuff, I used to use Google Wave, but they killed that, and I lost a pile of ideas

Now Google keep, which is nice to create lists, and delete stuff from it.

For professional stuff, I've used Jira, Basecamp and Trello. I like Jira's nesting, but I prefer Trello's collaborative organization, I just wish things were nested.
 

[unc0nnected]

 I can't believe I forgot about www.box.com

 

We did a 6 month evaluation of all cloud storage solutions and at the end of it Box was ahead of the competition by such a huge margin it wasn't even funny.  If you are collaborating with others this tool is invaluable and it forms the backbone of our entire company now both for content management and 90% of our communications.  Couldn't live with it

[Gaizokubanou]

I'm really wishing for another designer or critic to talk with (for hours) right now.  Solo brainstorming in middle of caffeine withdrawal is very saddening and ruining any semblance of organized labor on my end.

[root]

A time management tool that has become invaluable to me, both for keeping myself accountable and for tracking billable hours spent on projects, is Neil Cicierega's work timer.  You tell it which applications are your 'work' applications and the timer tracks the total time you spend actually being active in those applications, and the moment you tab out or idle out it turns red and judges you.

[darthbator]

I've used all kinds of stuff in the past but the system that generally works for me is this.

Personal

Evernote - I put basically all my thoughts and things I intend to "long term file" inside of evernote

Wuderlist - I like tasks lists and checking stuff off. They happened to be the one I liked most when I looked at todo list apps.

Pocket - I pocket articles that I want to read sometime later (never). When I read one of those and it strikes me as something I might want to refer back to I clip it into evernote.

My Work

Docs - Unless I'm sharing something from my internal process I process out stuff that I have been working on in there into a google doc

Hack n Plan - Is a trello like application that is specifically tailored for game development. Once I get a project out of it's initial prototyping phase or start working with other people I like to manage tasks there.

I also keep a notebook with me all the time. I tend to put anything I consider valuable there into evernote in case something happens to that notebook.