pouët.net

Hello people,

I've been reading pouet for a while, and I wanted to ask this question.

I have to work for a living, so my time isn't really the same as when I was a student. Reading the site for a while, I found out that a lot of known groups release maybe 2 to 5 demos a year, and they are quite nice productions. I would like to start coding a demo, but I'm not very much at ease with my free time (week-day evenings and saturdays and sundays). I come home from work (computer job) feeling rather tired and my motivation to pick up the code is very little. On weekends I usually go out to see my friends, so I don't do any coding.

So, do you pick up your demo code when you get back home from work, after dinner maybe? Do you do it in the weekend? What about group members, do you all get together in one place and make the demo?

I am in need of some good advice from those who have made demos.
Thanks for the help.

use condoms.

I couldn't get a wife or girlfriend like a geek. I own my appartement, so I quitted my job like a hippy 7 month agos, just to have more time to code at home. I have no clear plan for the future, neither something like hopes, but I think I do the right thing.

Some educated guesses.. people either:

1) Do demos at work
2) Use demo frameworks (werkkzeug etc.), with minimum coding efforts needed
3) Recycle old stuff and wrap up something quickly just before / during a party.
4) Combine all of above.

strangely enough coding in the evenings after work is more productive than trying to do it in the weekends..

I tend to code mostly in periods when I've been doing boring shit like writing tests, writing documentation, and spec-editing at work for a long time... Like this winter has mostly been ;)

(Look out Breakpoint!)

I heard the best way to do it is to find yourself a code monkey. Anyone have one spare, I'll pay postage?

I second jaw. When I used to work, week end was sacred, and I also coded in the evening. Also, my productivity picks were the same at my job and for demos: Something like, being unable for both during a week, and them being proactive for both during the next week. My advise: eat a string breakfast in the morning with *3* oranges.

The formula of success: Why finish today, what you can postpone for tomorrow?

wtf? strOng breakfast af caorse... ok, 4 oranges then.

Afaik, there are a lot of demosceners very young, students yet, with a lot of free time. Also, its not the same to have a developed framework already than to start from scratch. Most of the groups develop their framework for lots of years, so then releasing new stuff is just a bit of code (if a new effect is added), a bit of graphics, design, music and direction. Also, lot of demos are a mix of non completely coherent stuff... it is not easy to see a whole demo with everything done ad hoc. And finally, people can do an impressive amount of work in 2 days when a deadline is near...

at work

Actually, almost all of the little demo making I've done was at work, which is busier now hence the need for a code monkey, still no offers? I'll look after it and supply it with bananas and pron, promise!

After work, very late at night, mostly.. I usually don't manage to get much done on weekends.

Take these simple steps:
- Stop watching TV
- Stop playing games
Now you'll have plenty of free time for demoscene purposes, even with job/gf/house/etc :-)

^ word.

word. no tv here. (in france, people spend 4 heurs a day with TV)

Hmm.. i watch little tv, and play no games, and still have no time for demo making. But then I tend to work on other stuff at night. I agree though, the best work gets done very late at night. What I find works best is sitting down late in the evening, putting some good tunage on, having enough beer at hand to see you through the night (but not so much that your work suffers), chill out and work until the sun rises (not recommended in the winter in the far north of europe ;-)

Also, if you hate the sight of a pc by the time you get home from work, try a different platform.

^ word

^^ word

Thanks for the comments so far :)

Well, I do not watch TV except the news, and I also don't play games. From what you wrote, it seems best to pick up the code when you come back from work, and do it until midnight or so?

At least during the weekend I find it very hard to sit down at the PC to work...

Like what? fighting crime?

I usually tend to do most of my democoding during the week after hours at the office. Sometimes i do it at home too.

I usually ask uncle-x to do it for me and then I reward him with french cheese and baguettes.

uncle-x: not far off actually. I wear a cape and mask, then break into keops' house, and doctor his supply of french cheese with LSD. I'll never admit it in public, but I was the one behind deities!

Usually stopping using pouet brings plenty of free time ;)