As a few of you may remember I've been working on a game engine for quite awhile now. I was making good progress but things are slowing down quite a bit even as I am so close to completion. Many factors have contributed to the decrease in productivity such as school, relationships, boredom with the lack of progress, and the lack of community support. After this semester I plan to take a break from school for the entire summer semester and focus all of my effort on finishing my game engine and a small tech demo.

I really need something to get me stoked about working on it again. I was thinking of getting a few friends I know in real life to help me work on a small game to act as a tech demo but unfortunately I only know java programmers and my game engine is built for c++. I'm not sure if that idea will be very fruitful. Do you guys have any ideas to bring some energy to my project? What can I do as an individual that would make you interested in the project? Would money or contests draw your interests? In the past I tried offering $100 to do a weekend's worth of work on it but there were no takers. What should I do?

I'm going to take a more negative response to this question, so try not to take it the wrong way.

Completion of projects is a trait that will be seen as a definite plus by companies when you look for a job.Trust me, many people are in a situation such as yourself. It's easy to start something, but over time, it becomes more and more tedious. Sometimes, you just need to suck it up and force yourself to finish what you started. When you get out into the real world, you're not going to have the luxury of putting things to the side. Be it if you work on the game of your dreams, or have a 9-5 corporate programming job, a lot of it comes down to just allocating time, and forcing yourself to work.

As for friends, don't worry if they only know java. If you're looking at that as a major disqualifier, there are probably bigger issues you need to address first.

For bringing energy to a project, you probably need to first find a realistic project with realistic goals. Most of us almost always hit a bump where we just want to put it aside. But what it comes down to is what makes you motivated? Bringing people onboard is going to be a little tougher because if you're at the end of your life cycle, the project probably won't be very motivating to your teammates. Unfortunately, money is a very bad motivator, especially for professionals. There's a time versus money dynamic, and unfortunately, for many professionals, their time is worth significantly more than what you'll probably be able to ask of them.

What you're probably looking for though is people who are in your position, and need recognition. Fame imho is a much bigger motivator to help bring people on.

Make a game. Really. It need not be big or elaborate. I mean, look at the piddly iPhone garbage that passes for entertainment these days. People love it, but it didn't necessarily take team of 100 people 5 years to cook up. Just make something light, fun, and polished. It needs to be something YOU enjoy.

What can I do as an individual that would make you interested in the project?[/quote]

Nothing. That's really the issue. I've got my own set of interests, personal projects, and demotivaters. Make something YOU enjoy. Unless you have money for a startup team, its just you.

* I'm saying this as someone who spent the better part of 7 years working on an "engine" and who finally made a game in 4 months (A complete game, not a tech demo. Included all graphics, sound, UI, transitions, input, menues, and special effects). It went surprisingly easy and i enjoyed doing it. Working on a game let me know what remaining work the engine still needed to be useful.

Create a C++->Java wrapper for your engine ;-)

Make a game, not an engine. A game will help you much more for a job. A game should also help you to be more interested and productive in your project.

Maybe leave it and go do some Web 2.0 project where you'll actually get startup funding. Money makes things interesting!

As a few of you may remember I've been working on a game engine for quite awhile now. I was making good progress but things are slowing down quite a bit even as I am so close to completion. Many factors have contributed to the decrease in productivity such as school, relationships, boredom with the lack of progress, and the lack of community support. After this semester I plan to take a break from school for the entire summer semester and focus all of my effort on finishing my game engine and a small tech demo.

I suggest you to not do that. Take a break, take some fresh air, invest in your connections. This is my sincere suggestion. Due to very bad health issues I had to spend a few summers in the way you plan to do. It is not good long term and massively increases the chances of burnout.
I suggest taking a break with a mix of aerobic (soccer, marathons) and anaerobic (bodybuilding is great for self-esteem).
Unfortunately, some have a tougher life than others. I think you should stop a couple of days and think if your current lifestyle actually supports a complex process. I haven't really worked on anything in my first years of university; the 3-hours day commute and the 10+ hours day turnaround made the whole thing unfeasible.
I still recall the case of NeHe (Jeff Molofe); no doubt his site was a cornerstone, he just had to drop it to focus on real life.

I really need something to get me stoked about working on it again. I was thinking of getting a few friends I know in real life to help me work on a small game to act as a tech demo but unfortunately I only know java programmers and my game engine is built for c++. I'm not sure if that idea will be very fruitful. Do you guys have any ideas to bring some energy to my project? What can I do as an individual that would make you interested in the project? Would money or contests draw your interests? In the past I tried offering $100 to do a weekend's worth of work on it but there were no takers. What should I do?

Perhaps you're really rich, I don't know, but if you're offering 100USD for two days of work, I'm afraid you crossed the "desperate" line. If your "friends" are unwilling to help you a weekend for free... odds are you might have to reconsider your friendship.
Just talk to them first. Note most people, when asked about "providing help for a game" will just accept and then deliver nothing. Don't be too explicit, you don't want that to happen - it can easily trash a few months of effort, I can tell by experience.
Those are people you are supposed to know well, you should have at least a rough idea of how interested they are in your project, how much skillful they are, if there's a chance for them to actually commit. You don't need to explicitly ask for help to figure out what they could bring to you.

Yes, make a game with your engine, while focusing on the game itself.
I don't know your background but even if you are an experienced software architect or completed other games before, without an actual use case you can't write no engine or framework which will be useful, maintainable and relatively bug free. A tech demo is not enough.

Dont finish your engine. Put it in the closet, and go do something you enjoy instead.

Nobody is paying you to do this, so you might as well have fun, and you know, do things, instead of burning away motivation at self-imposed goals, that deep down inside stopped being your goals a long time ago anyway.

Go play some games, read some articles, until you get that 'I want to do that!' feeling again. Then do it.

Dont finish your engine. Put it in the closet, and go do something you enjoy instead.

Nobody is paying you to do this, so you might as well have fun, and you know, do things, instead of burning away motivation at self-imposed goals, that deep down inside stopped being your goals a long time ago anyway.

Go play some games, read some articles, until you get that 'I want to do that!' feeling again. Then do it.

No I still really want to finish it and I have a lot of great ideas I would like to see come to life. However, my lack in motivation comes from the shear amount of effort I've put in to it so far and the amount of effort I will still need to put in to it to see it through. My collection of games on steam has grown to nearly 200 and I've managed to play them all for at least an hour so I don't think playing more video games is what I need.