There is something to be said for having a working piece of inelegant code versus the most beautiful code you've ever seen that is only 10% done.
Me? I'm a hobbyist/beginner. I have the terrible tendency, and this extends beyond just programming, of attempting to run before I can walk. For instance, a MUD I'm designing is completely coordinate based (not too big of a deal, involved me learning about quadtrees and such) and includes such things as emergent behavior from NPC's (this will probably have to get trimmed), a system akin to atomic elements where all items are composed of various sub-particles, and these sub-particles have their own properties (such as melting points, bond strengths with other particle types, etc).
With the 'element system' I am trying to make an abstract 'chemistry' layer, which would allow crafters to create their own custom alloy recipes (e.g. heat element a to 1550 and element b to 1200, mix and stir for 90 seconds before quickly cooling and you'll end up with element x, super hard and light although slightly brittle). And this system is really just the tip of the iceberg.
Okay, I'll stop rambling about my game :) Anyhow, that's just a taste of my problem. The reason I label it a problem is because while I have no problem mustering the enthusiasm to spend hours of time thinking/dreaming up ideas and committing them to design docs at my current skill level there is no WAY I can implement a lot of the ideas. Of course, it's much harder to muster up the enthusiasm to learn all of the pre-requisite skills (and time) to actually implement my design, and so I tend to make slow progress. Slow progress = less enthusiasm = slower progress = putting the project on the backburner.
With all of this said, I think I'm going to spend the next week or two paring down my design into something that I CAN finish. Maybe with a decent sized project under my belt, and the fulfillment that the completion will no doubt bring, I'll be able to stay on track a bit more when I get back to taking larger bites.
I guess this didn't really answer your question very well. Excuse my cathartic verbal diarrhea. :)
Me? I'm a hobbyist/beginner. I have the terrible tendency, and this extends beyond just programming, of attempting to run before I can walk. For instance, a MUD I'm designing is completely coordinate based (not too big of a deal, involved me learning about quadtrees and such) and includes such things as emergent behavior from NPC's (this will probably have to get trimmed), a system akin to atomic elements where all items are composed of various sub-particles, and these sub-particles have their own properties (such as melting points, bond strengths with other particle types, etc).
With the 'element system' I am trying to make an abstract 'chemistry' layer, which would allow crafters to create their own custom alloy recipes (e.g. heat element a to 1550 and element b to 1200, mix and stir for 90 seconds before quickly cooling and you'll end up with element x, super hard and light although slightly brittle). And this system is really just the tip of the iceberg.
Okay, I'll stop rambling about my game :) Anyhow, that's just a taste of my problem. The reason I label it a problem is because while I have no problem mustering the enthusiasm to spend hours of time thinking/dreaming up ideas and committing them to design docs at my current skill level there is no WAY I can implement a lot of the ideas. Of course, it's much harder to muster up the enthusiasm to learn all of the pre-requisite skills (and time) to actually implement my design, and so I tend to make slow progress. Slow progress = less enthusiasm = slower progress = putting the project on the backburner.
With all of this said, I think I'm going to spend the next week or two paring down my design into something that I CAN finish. Maybe with a decent sized project under my belt, and the fulfillment that the completion will no doubt bring, I'll be able to stay on track a bit more when I get back to taking larger bites.
I guess this didn't really answer your question very well. Excuse my cathartic verbal diarrhea. :)