On the other hand… while I don't have weekends or half my evenings.. I'm quite young and working under my brother at my dads office, So any chance that I don't have a assignment I can focus on game dev, and any questions I have I can bug my programmer-brother about and am learning all the time..

All that being said, I may not have perfectly relatable advice, But over the last month (outside the competition) there were a few things that made a huge difference and allowed me to keep going forward with my game.

Life.
Like Rb said.. Keep moving with your life.. Game Dev is a hobby for most of us.. So you have to think of it like one.

Its a hobby.
Since you've got the mindset that Game Dev is a hobby.. you, like any devoted hobbyist, think about your selected hobby all the time.. In other words, You can make actual programming efficient by thinking through problems and coding strategies before proceeding with actual code. and even if you get to a problem that you cannot solve right away, thinking of it throughout the day will keep your mind fresh with the problem, and give your mind a chance to think of things from a different perspective.

Don't Fret.
Take breaks, sleep on it, Don't let problems bother you to much, work around problems to keep going.. If you are planning to spend X amount of time at the computer.. you might aswell get something done, even if your stuck on a huge code problem and have no idea how to tackle it.. Go build some art that you've been putting off.. or find a resource for music, The general idea here is that if you are pacing around in circles.. your wasting time.. you might as well be sleeping and letting your mind rest.

Again, HOBBY.
This ties in to number 2.. But occasionally you do come across a problem that really really needs some thinking.. If you need to figure out how to solve X and Y using only Z.. then get off your computer.. keep your life going.. go put your laundry in.. and all the while keep thinking through.. you won't even realize that by the time you finished thinking through your problem.. you've done all your chores and have more free time to program.. This is something I realized through experience.. I think through my toughest problems when I do easy/time consuming house chores and other basic stuff.. like Eating.

Anyway, That's my two cents.. Let me know if this helped!! And thanks RB (and any future posters) for the advice! Week Two is where most of my older projects die.

We've gotten far enough into our games to bump up against the hard parts, we've done enough to realize we've made mistakes in our code and headed in the wrong direction in some places, and life is working as hard as possible to catch back up to us.

So I ask the question to you guys. What are you doing, or what can we do to stay focused and keep moving forward for the other two-thirds of the challenge?

I want to hear from you guys too, but let me share a couple of pieces of advice of my own.

First, with respect to that whole "life trying to catch up" thing, it's a fact. With a 1 day or a weekend-long challenge like Ludum Dare, it's easy to just suspend life for the whole competition. Everything can wait a couple of days, and then you can leave the game and get back to it and take care of things.

With a month-long challenge, life will inevitably force its way back in, as it should. And I think this is good. It's one of the reasons I like the month time frame. Life still moves on, and you have to actually make a lifestyle change to get game dev in. But the other side is that you have to force your pace to become sustainable. Spending 18 hours a day for a 2.5 day weekend just simply isn't sustainable long term. A 30 day challenge forces you to find a way to get game dev in while still having a life.

So I recommend finding ways to find a balance between the two on a daily basis. You'll have to spend at least some time every day juggling normal life stuff like laundry or taking your car into the shop. Don't let it all pile up. Take care of it as it comes up.

But on the other hand, don't let the game dev get neglected. I tend to find that the weekends are where I get the most done. I can usually get more done on a Saturday than on Monday through Friday combined. But I've learned by doing these competitions that if I don't do something every day, when Saturday hits, I've lost my forward momentum and it takes hours to get back in the groove.

So I have a personal goal to spend at least 30 minutes each day doing game dev. It keeps me on focus throughout the week, and lets me knock out small little features and keep the momentum going.

So my own suggestion: find a sustainable balance between life and game dev. Do a little of both every day.

(I should probably throw in rest/relaxing/entertainment into the mix too.)

What advice do you guys have for me?