Guidance on aproaching problems that you cannot concieve a solution to

I’m not asking for help on anything in particular, this can apply to anything. I, however, lean to be a programmer more often than not, and informs why I have decided to post to scripting support
(I decided not to).

I believe this topic could become much bigger than myself, and would do good to help others.

I, as a programmer, —maybe masochistically— enjoy racking my brain to solve problems and optimizing code where it counts, often to me or my game’s own deficit… I am stubborn, and often spend hours on a stupid problem with a stupid, over-complicated solution. This is bad, I know, but I think everyone does this to a degree. Such is the human condition.

But recently, I’ve been stuck. I could ask for guidance on a particular thing or help with a block of code. —and realistically, this post is my catalyst to finally asking specific, productive questions… but such is for different day.

I thought writing a dense, ultimately unproductive post would be better. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Does anyone have any ideas? Maybe I seek a process one can use to approach a problems with particularly difficult solutions. Like design-altering “architectural” decisions. —Or some mindstorming phase to really nail down what you want to achieve, and the steps you think will take you there. I’ve drawn up ideas for things before and I find it very helpful, however I’ve never used this process on things I, from start to finish, have NO IDEA how to achieve.

Secondary question, might help some people, I always write boilerplate, boilerplate, boilerplate even when I’m prototyping. Not only does this feel unproductive, but isn’t the whole prototyping phase to just, not do that? It’s a mindset kind of thing, I don’t know if there’s a solution other than just “catching myself when I’m trying to write Optimized™ code in bad scenarios.”

Thank you for any thoughts— ideas, et cetera… I’m very grateful that this community is as kind and helpful as what you’d imagine the best of communities to be : )

TLDR; the title.

I’d like you to read into this type of principle:

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Personally I get stuck on big problems, a lot, and as someone who is easily overwhelmed, what I’ll do is just take a minute, put down any kind of electronic, and just take a moment to think. This usually helps me clear my mind in order to figure out wth im doing, and usually by then I’ve come up with the solution, or at least a step in the right direction.

I think the longer you’ve been scripting the easier this will become, as you’ve probably learned more stuff and have figured out the ins and outs of the engine.

And if I really cant figure it out, I either quit, or just go ask on the forum.
Sometimes Ill wait entirely for the next day, and as Im getting ready Ill start thinking up ideas on how I can solve problems. Really just a whole bunch of clearing your mind lol.

Hopes this helps some~
~ Frodev

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Sometimes I find there aren’t any good solutions to problems and everything feels like a fudge or a compromise, so I tend to do a quick risk/impact assessment, what long term problems will I create for myself choosing one method over another?, and even if I know a better way to do something is it worth investing the time at this stage? What is dependent on a solution to this problem now? and can I put it off till later to do some research and have a think on it?

Usually, time and research either solves the problem or convinces me to choose another way around it!

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