Defeating self doubt in game development

October 27 2011, 4:27pm

In #AltDevBlogADay article this week Heather M Decker-Davis tackles the issue of controlling self doubt during game development.

Decker- Davis shares: “This troublesome specter (self doubt) is most likely to rear its ugly head when there’s a lot riding on what you’re doing and you’re running out of time. The higher the stakes, the lower the blows self doubt will inflict. The trick is identifying it. This may sound silly, but it’s not always apparent! You might get stuck in the rut of making small, meaningless changes and not being happy with anything. You might outright utter the words, “I’m never going to finish this,” without even making the obvious connection.  There are countless symptoms, but they all generally have stalling out and depression in common.” The proposed solution to these last minute doubt episodes is first, identifying the problem and regain control of your emotions. Identify small victories. Locate what is going right in your development and view each victory (however small) as a stepping stone in the right direction. And lastly, don’t beat yourself up and give up. To read more doubt coping techniques, visit Decker-Davis’s post on #AltDevBlogADay. Source: #AltDevBlogADay