Devtober was a chance to work towards a project I could be more proud of. I wanted to try something different, to get out of a rut of doing only game jams and small side projects. My intention was to create an easy-use-to tool where the user can make silhouette landscapes using premade sprites and colourise them by layer.  Link to my twitter for more details here - My Twitter

I've worked everyday and though I haven't finished it, I have finished spending the whole of October working towards it. I have tweeted daily (never had a twitter before this), and have learned a lot of things along the way.

What went right?

• Got over my public fear,  got a twitter account and uploaded daily. Though some days were not as productive as others 
• Learned a new software - Inkscape, vector graphics were a perfect fit for my tool
• Improved my UI skills, It's been a challenge but its actually quite fun and has opened a door to a new possible area of focus
• Became more driven and focused, I don't need motivation, never have for coding / making games as its fun but a longer project like this has tested me but I feel I've only improved my ability to just crack on. Pomodoro Technique is a useful tool I've started using for getting through these types of days
• Reduced indecisiveness, it's a problem I suffer with but this time, I managed to almost eliminate it by denying myself the opportunity to question a big decision after I've made it. As a chronic over-thinker it's a nice change of pace

What went wrong?

• Time wastage, early month digression wanting to make a game instead, lack of skill and knowledge in certain areas causing me to spend hours figuring things out, bug fixing and falling victim to late project lethargy
• No proper project management, I spend barely any time planning or detailing this project. I incorporated Trello two weeks in but never used it effectively to truly benefit from it. 
• Not finishing the tool for the 31st. This isn't a truly awful thing as it wasn't the goal, better habits were and I've made some

How and what to improve?

• Thoroughly map out all intended features and estimate how much work and time would be required. I wasted a lot of time just figuring out exactly what features I needed and what they require. This sounds obvious in hindsight but my initial excitement got the better of me and I just go started
• More rest away from the computer, I have the problem of spending too many straight hours in front of the computer screen, I swear it causes me to produce less productive work in the same time it would take if I had a break. With this pandemic it might be even more important to catch a break once in a while