4 ms·
How “At the Gates” took 7 years of my life – and nearly the rest
- stochastic_monk 8y agoIs At the Gates related at all to the melodic death metal band by the same name?
- thatoneuser 8y agoWondering the same thing when I read the title
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- Ascetik 8y agoThat was the first thing I thought as well.
- danso 8y agoWow, this essay is like one developer's personal journey through the most discussed topics on HN: - Almost dropping out of college to pursue his passion in game development - Working on his gamedev project (Civ 4: Warlords) during his boring CS courses - Getting a dream job (lead designer of Civ 5) at the very young age of 21 - Crunching to finish the game (239 days in a row with no time off) and after shipping, quitting out of burnout - Launching a Kickstarter in hopes of producing the game that's been in his mind. - Getting diagnosed with ADHD and becoming dependent on amphetamines. - Becoming isolated from all of life while working as a solo developer, and quitting all other activities, including regular exercise. - Hitting rock bottom, financially, physically, and mentally. - Finding a process for self-improvement and better health. - After years of struggle, being able to finally ship. It was great to see that this story seems to have a happy ending, but I don't know if I'd call it uplifting. But kudos to the author for his honesty, and huge congrats for being able to succeed with his project. I'm definitely interested in checking it out based on his personal testimonial (that, and I'm a huge Civ fan).
- baud147258 8y agoDidn't he worked at Paradox during solo development? I think I heard about it, with disapointed reactions from backers who realised he had stoped working on his game. Edit: I read the article: 'a big part of my ticket out of the situation was an offer to join Paradox '
- GorgeRonde 8y agoHi, just wanted to chime in to say ADHD is totally unheard of in France and in most of europe I guess. It's totally an american thing and the more I hear about it the more I laugh. LOOK IN MY EYE LOOK IN MY EYE YOU CAN SLEEP WHEN YOU DIE YOU CAN SLEEP WHEN YOU DIE. NO EXCUSE FOR THIS. ^That's the kind of america I dig. Edit: same goes for exercise. Exercise is important only if you're overweight and in a culture that encourages fighting it, ie if you're american or in an american-influenced mindset/country.
- paulcole 8y agoObsessed with games, obsessed with drugs, obsessed with food. What’s the common denominator? Obsession. You can control it for awhile and move the obsession to something else, but it’s the obsession that’s the underlying problem. You’ll just find another thing that in moderation might be just fine but when obsessed over has some dark side you never imagined. Ask me how I know lol.
- djohnston 8y agoi have had similar episodes of high intensity obsession to the point of counter-productivity, often around hypochondriac-based anxiety. but i've also learned a lot more about my body because of it. it's a mixed bag, to be sure, but i'm content to accept that it's part of my character and i like it.
- kkarakk 8y agoi think at that point you should realize that you need professional help. i was the same and finally i just gave up and called a psych. very useful, the meds have evened me out and i am way more productive and focused instead of obsessed. wish i had done it 5 years earlier but it is what it is.