>because aside from anything that takes longer than a weekend, I can't ship a side project for the life of me.
I know what you mean, so don't rule out actually spending 48 hours or a week on a game. Game jams can provide a huge amount of motivation for finishing a game in short time period. The combination of a tight deadline, knowing others are working in parallel, and a guaranteed minimum amount of exposure are highly motivating.
I had a blast with 7drl this year and probably coded more in that week than I ever have in a similar time period.
I know what you mean, so don't rule out actually spending 48 hours or a week on a game. Game jams can provide a huge amount of motivation for finishing a game in short time period. The combination of a tight deadline, knowing others are working in parallel, and a guaranteed minimum amount of exposure are highly motivating.
I had a blast with 7drl this year and probably coded more in that week than I ever have in a similar time period.