Luckily, I get the feeling I'm not alone.
One of things I learned while putting together my recent RPG release, The Googly Eyed Primetime Puppet Show, is that when you are working on such a thing, sooner, or later (preferably sooner) you have to call it done. Even if there is a lingering feeling that it needs something, that if you just had another day, or two, it would be perfect, you've got to slap some sense into yourself, and call the product finished.
If not, it will never be finished. It will go on, and on for eternity, or what feels like one. Why? Partially it's because no game is ever really done, as they can always be improved.
More importantly because people like me (like us if this sounds familiar to anyone out there) are perfectionists. If it isn't absolutely perfect, it isn't worthy of being seen by the public. It isn't worth doing, we wrongly surmise, if it isn't going to be done to total perfection.
This is an excellent goal to aspire to, but it is also flawed thinking.
Nothing is ever perfect. No amount of time, preparation, and even diligence can overcome Human nature, and Human nature is imperfect. We aren't machines, and because of this fact we will always miss something, want to do more, think of a great idea five minutes after posting our project to the internet, and all other manner of things we simply can't control.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't do your best to minimize errors, to produce the best work you can, or that you should rush. I am a firm believer that things take as long as they take.
At the same time, you have to pull the trigger some time. Not completing a project you've dedicated yourself to completing only generates more anxiety, and I would go so far as to say that for me it generates more then getting it right generates (even though that generates a boat load, I tell you me).
Anyway, this lesson is one I learned only recently. It is, in point of fact, against my nature to call something done without checking, double-checking, and triple-checking it over, and over again.
In the end no amount of reviewing guarantees a flawless product. Especially for my first, professional outing, it was far more important that I get it out there.
It's out there. Now to take what I've learned in the process, and make the next product even better.
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Barking Alien
More importantly because people like me (like us if this sounds familiar to anyone out there) are perfectionists. If it isn't absolutely perfect, it isn't worthy of being seen by the public. It isn't worth doing, we wrongly surmise, if it isn't going to be done to total perfection.
This is an excellent goal to aspire to, but it is also flawed thinking.
Nothing is ever perfect. No amount of time, preparation, and even diligence can overcome Human nature, and Human nature is imperfect. We aren't machines, and because of this fact we will always miss something, want to do more, think of a great idea five minutes after posting our project to the internet, and all other manner of things we simply can't control.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't do your best to minimize errors, to produce the best work you can, or that you should rush. I am a firm believer that things take as long as they take.
At the same time, you have to pull the trigger some time. Not completing a project you've dedicated yourself to completing only generates more anxiety, and I would go so far as to say that for me it generates more then getting it right generates (even though that generates a boat load, I tell you me).
Anyway, this lesson is one I learned only recently. It is, in point of fact, against my nature to call something done without checking, double-checking, and triple-checking it over, and over again.
In the end no amount of reviewing guarantees a flawless product. Especially for my first, professional outing, it was far more important that I get it out there.
It's out there. Now to take what I've learned in the process, and make the next product even better.
AD
Barking Alien
I'm glad to hear you jumped in and decided to do this. I have young children who I am trying to get into RPGs and something like this will pique their interest. Who doesn't love muppets?
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