5 ms·

Why have I been wasting my life?

by yters 8y ago

teakdust 8y ago
Get to doing what you love! You have the power and the tools
muzani 8y ago
Same thoughts here. This just looks fun! It reminds me of when I started programming. I had a cheap laptop that took half an hour just to start. There were few co-working spaces, so I just camped out on the stairs of a goverment building for free internet. But it was a productive, fun time. Now with all the high end resources and tools I have, it's not as fun and surprisingly, less productive.
- Erlich_Bachman 8y ago
  Why is it less productive now? Doesn't make any sense. Even just the available tools and libraries today make every thinkable workflow orders of magnitude more productive.
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    One factor likely is the fact that to produce a working website to today's standards is a team effort when a few years ago you could hack out something that worked in a day or two by yourself. Team communications add overhead and that in turn slows you down. A similar thing has happened to game development, it is rare to see a monetizable game made by a single individual.
    - Erlich_Bachman 8y ago
      This is not about productivity, this is just about quality of content. You can still make a game of the same standard as way back, by one person. It's just that games of today are objectively so much better and more complex and intricate.
      - ohithereyou 8y ago
        Objectively better? I don't think you can say that. Objectively different, more complex, and intricate? Absolutely.
      - muzani 8y ago
        Arguably, games like Fallout 4 have a huge world but it's not complex at all. It looks more realistic, but the storyline is simpler and far less memorable than Fallout 2. I'd also argue the most complex games are something like Dwarf Fortress or Ultima Ratio Regum. Both of which were made by 1-2 people. The way of writing "use cases" for dwarf fortress is also a lot of fun and probably doesn't scale up with a large insustrial team: http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_story.html http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_story.html There are games like Rimworld which try to imitate DF's charm, but go further with a team, professionalism, and better funding. But while it's more polished and "balanced", it doesn't come to the same level of craftsmanship. You also don't get the same goofiness as a necromancer who slices off your finger, animates it, then pokes you in the eye with your undead finger.
        hutzlibu 8y ago
        "You also don't get the same goofiness as a necromancer who slices off your finger, animates it, then pokes you in the eye with your undead finger." Where does that happen? Ultima ratio regum?
        muzani 8y ago
        Dwarf Fortress. It's full of crazy details, like falling down the stairs, cracking a rib, and dying when something pushes the rib through a heart. Or that time when someone found out mermaid bones were valuable and set up structures to trap, breed and "harvest" mermaids. Even the 'bug' list is a fun read: https://m.imgur.com/gallery/ROa2C https://m.imgur.com/gallery/ROa2C
  - muzani 8y ago
    I think moving further down the path, you learn to drop passion and focus more on professionalism. Passion is a lot harder to control and manage, often replaced with a cold mechanical professionalism. I remember when I swapped out flip flops at the office for proper shoes. It felt painful, like a part of my soul died.
    - hutzlibu 8y ago
      "replaced with a cold mechanical professionalism" And thats when the spirit dies and you get a soulless product which sells, but does not satisfy. It is about balance. Enthusiasm alone gets you nowhere, but mixed with skills ...
  - coldtea 8y ago
    Yes, but the end target now is some social media BS, big data BS, or social app BS, or some similar BS, your corporate overlord has you make... So, it's like making those Ugandan movies with fun and passion for $200 with a compact camera, and making the 1000th Hollywood BS superhero movie with $300 million budget.
- WrtCdEvrydy 8y ago
  Build it in a cave with a box of scraps... and you'll see how productive you have to be.
rchaud 8y ago
The answer is (partially) provided in the article: "But he admits that this [use of sewage in the film] puts off distributors, whom he has accused of "trying to copy exactly what is done in the West and exactly what is done in Bollywood and Hollywood". "I'm going to show the world the kind of life we enjoy or we grew up in," Nabwana said in an interview for the 2012 documentary Wakaliwood. "It's called a ghetto life but you know it's good… and it's hostile." In a sense, you, and perhaps we as well, are the directors being referred to here. We're trying to build something that could become a global juggernaut, so we can be prone to making the product excessively complex, because that's the way it seems like things should be. Nabwana on the other hand is of the '1000 true fans' variety. As long as the he continues to deliver what entertains them, it doesn't matter if the movie was made for $200. With each additional movie, he improves upon his craft.

Why have I been wasting my life?

by yters 8y ago

Why have I been wasting my life?

teakdust 8y ago

Get to doing what you love! You have the power and the tools

muzani 8y ago

Same thoughts here. This just looks fun! It reminds me of when I started programming. I had a cheap laptop that took half an hour just to start. There were few co-working spaces, so I just camped out on the stairs of a goverment building for free internet. But it was a productive, fun time. Now with all the high end resources and tools I have, it's not as fun and surprisingly, less productive.

Erlich_Bachman 8y ago
Why is it less productive now? Doesn't make any sense. Even just the available tools and libraries today make every thinkable workflow orders of magnitude more productive.
- jacquesm 8y ago
  One factor likely is the fact that to produce a working website to today's standards is a team effort when a few years ago you could hack out something that worked in a day or two by yourself. Team communications add overhead and that in turn slows you down. A similar thing has happened to game development, it is rare to see a monetizable game made by a single individual.
  - Erlich_Bachman 8y ago
    This is not about productivity, this is just about quality of content. You can still make a game of the same standard as way back, by one person. It's just that games of today are objectively so much better and more complex and intricate.
    - ohithereyou 8y ago
      Objectively better? I don't think you can say that. Objectively different, more complex, and intricate? Absolutely.
    - muzani 8y ago
      Arguably, games like Fallout 4 have a huge world but it's not complex at all. It looks more realistic, but the storyline is simpler and far less memorable than Fallout 2. I'd also argue the most complex games are something like Dwarf Fortress or Ultima Ratio Regum. Both of which were made by 1-2 people. The way of writing "use cases" for dwarf fortress is also a lot of fun and probably doesn't scale up with a large insustrial team: http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_story.html http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_story.html There are games like Rimworld which try to imitate DF's charm, but go further with a team, professionalism, and better funding. But while it's more polished and "balanced", it doesn't come to the same level of craftsmanship. You also don't get the same goofiness as a necromancer who slices off your finger, animates it, then pokes you in the eye with your undead finger.
      - hutzlibu 8y ago
        "You also don't get the same goofiness as a necromancer who slices off your finger, animates it, then pokes you in the eye with your undead finger." Where does that happen? Ultima ratio regum?
        muzani 8y ago
        Dwarf Fortress. It's full of crazy details, like falling down the stairs, cracking a rib, and dying when something pushes the rib through a heart. Or that time when someone found out mermaid bones were valuable and set up structures to trap, breed and "harvest" mermaids. Even the 'bug' list is a fun read: https://m.imgur.com/gallery/ROa2C https://m.imgur.com/gallery/ROa2C
- muzani 8y ago
  I think moving further down the path, you learn to drop passion and focus more on professionalism. Passion is a lot harder to control and manage, often replaced with a cold mechanical professionalism. I remember when I swapped out flip flops at the office for proper shoes. It felt painful, like a part of my soul died.
  - hutzlibu 8y ago
    "replaced with a cold mechanical professionalism" And thats when the spirit dies and you get a soulless product which sells, but does not satisfy. It is about balance. Enthusiasm alone gets you nowhere, but mixed with skills ...
- coldtea 8y ago
  Yes, but the end target now is some social media BS, big data BS, or social app BS, or some similar BS, your corporate overlord has you make... So, it's like making those Ugandan movies with fun and passion for $200 with a compact camera, and making the 1000th Hollywood BS superhero movie with $300 million budget.
WrtCdEvrydy 8y ago
Build it in a cave with a box of scraps... and you'll see how productive you have to be.

rchaud 8y ago

The answer is (partially) provided in the article: "But he admits that this [use of sewage in the film] puts off distributors, whom he has accused of "trying to copy exactly what is done in the West and exactly what is done in Bollywood and Hollywood". "I'm going to show the world the kind of life we enjoy or we grew up in," Nabwana said in an interview for the 2012 documentary Wakaliwood. "It's called a ghetto life but you know it's good… and it's hostile." In a sense, you, and perhaps we as well, are the directors being referred to here. We're trying to build something that could become a global juggernaut, so we can be prone to making the product excessively complex, because that's the way it seems like things should be. Nabwana on the other hand is of the '1000 true fans' variety. As long as the he continues to deliver what entertains them, it doesn't matter if the movie was made for $200. With each additional movie, he improves upon his craft.