...And Panic Sets In

I'm starting to freak out a little bit.

When "learning programming" was still a nebulous concept for me, imagining how I was going to make my game was a fun mental exercise, nothing more. Sure, I was going to make a game someday, but it was still a ways off. It wasn't something I was going to be starting today by any means.
However, learning XNA is easier than I thought it would be. I'm understanding the concepts easier than I assumed I would, and I'm starting to realize that soon it's going to be time to put my money where my mouth is. It's making me nervous.

When you think about all the work that goes in to a video game: Planning, level design, character design, programming, sound design, marketing, fine-tuning... it's overwhelming. I'm trying to break it all in to chunks mentally, but it's not working.

Of course, when I start freaking out, I start thinking of other projects I can do instead. Maybe I could write a book, or make an album of chiptunes, or do this, or do that. Anything to keep me from actually making something big or having to commit so much time to something.

I have to keep on reminding myself that nothing worth doing is easy. This isn't about "having fun," although making games can be like that. This is about doing something big that I've always wanted to do. I just need to suck it up and do it.