5 ms·

It's super, super hard to work a day job and then come home and work on your game. Not only the obvious mental difficulties that come from trying throw down 10

It's super, super hard to work a day job and then come home and work on your game. Not only the obvious mental difficulties that come from trying throw down 10-12 hours a day (8 at work, then 2-4 more on your game if your focus holds), but also just in opportunity cost. Like, if you're an indie game dev you obviously enjoy games, but making your game leaves precious little time left for playing games, and you can frequently feel like that time spent on games is a waste that could have been spent working - even if you know you're feeling burnt out and just need a night relaxing. I'm definitely not advocating bailing on your job and betting the farm and working through poverty while making Minecraft But With Cars or whatever, but I can totally see why it's attractive. Source: I've been working on an indie game for the last year and a bit (http://chatandslash.com/ http://chatandslash.com/) and I'm currently trying to decide if picking up Nier: Automata on sale is worth it because I may not end up allocating time to play it before the next sale.

marcus_holmes 9y ago
This. I got home from an 8-hour day writing code. The last thing I wanted to do was write more code. I wanted to play games, not make them. Three months of freelancing later, I have a side project and I write code for it every day. The energy you spend on work is the energy you have available for side projects. Either you have a job that demands nothing from you, or you have a side project that demands nothing from you. Or you compromise. Choose.
- joncampbelldev 9y ago
  perhaps this is my youth talking but I feel no compromise working hard at my job then coming home and working on side projects (current one is a multiplayer 2d space dogfighting game, was using it as a learning project for clojurescript, now finishing it cos it's fun for me)
  - zeta0134 9y ago
    I've found that as I get older, my capacity for doing both consistently is slowly vanishing. Enjoy your youth, but understand also that it's temporary. Pay attention to the signs of burnout and be careful not to push yourself too hard, even if it feels like you have the energy to. I've found that by pacing myself at my work (it's very easy to go too hard, I work in a customer service oriented field) I can retain the energy to make forward progress on my side projects, so I've achieved a balance. This is not easy to do however, it's definitely a challenge for most indies.
    - marcus_holmes 9y ago
      yeah, I found the same. But I'm not sure it's age. It feels more like experience ;) I used to pull crazy stuff. I did 36 hours straight coding to meet a deadline once. Stupid. If I'd stopped at 10 hours, got some sleep, and come back to it I would have achieved a better result. I did burn out (at least I recognise that in retrospect). I had to take a couple of years away from coding. Now I recognise when my brain is fading and I can stop and do something else. It's much better in the long term.

marcus_holmes 9y ago

This. I got home from an 8-hour day writing code. The last thing I wanted to do was write more code. I wanted to play games, not make them. Three months of freelancing later, I have a side project and I write code for it every day. The energy you spend on work is the energy you have available for side projects. Either you have a job that demands nothing from you, or you have a side project that demands nothing from you. Or you compromise. Choose.

joncampbelldev 9y ago
perhaps this is my youth talking but I feel no compromise working hard at my job then coming home and working on side projects (current one is a multiplayer 2d space dogfighting game, was using it as a learning project for clojurescript, now finishing it cos it's fun for me)
- zeta0134 9y ago
  I've found that as I get older, my capacity for doing both consistently is slowly vanishing. Enjoy your youth, but understand also that it's temporary. Pay attention to the signs of burnout and be careful not to push yourself too hard, even if it feels like you have the energy to. I've found that by pacing myself at my work (it's very easy to go too hard, I work in a customer service oriented field) I can retain the energy to make forward progress on my side projects, so I've achieved a balance. This is not easy to do however, it's definitely a challenge for most indies.
  - marcus_holmes 9y ago
    yeah, I found the same. But I'm not sure it's age. It feels more like experience ;) I used to pull crazy stuff. I did 36 hours straight coding to meet a deadline once. Stupid. If I'd stopped at 10 hours, got some sleep, and come back to it I would have achieved a better result. I did burn out (at least I recognise that in retrospect). I had to take a couple of years away from coding. Now I recognise when my brain is fading and I can stop and do something else. It's much better in the long term.