3 ms·

Ask HN: I've lost all motivation, please help

3 points by newac4now 15y ago

Dear HN community, I am a fellow hacker who has been working on mobile games for various platforms for a while (4 years). The games have been modestly successful and I do not have to worry about money for the next 10 years. I've have always wanted to work on a "big game" - not the small puzzle games that I have worked on but on a big 3d game. However, not that I have the time to pursue such project I have realized that I am no longer interested in making games at all. I find them fake. I have turned 31 a few days ago and somehow feel that these games are probably not what I'd like to do. I am totally lost - I can't find anything interesting worth hacking - how would you deal with this? How should I reignite my desire to work on stuff (like I used to a couple of years ago). How can I find this thing? I have been searching for a long time but can't find nothing...It seems like no project interests me. And I feel like I'm just wasting my time doing nothing... Thank you so much for your opinions.

megamark16 15y ago
I have the exact opposite problem, I'm trying to stay focused on my budding startup and not get too distracted by other projects and ideas (one of which is a game, btw!) If it were me, I'd go work at a temp agency as a receptionist or something and try to get into as many local businesses as possible for short periods of time. My goal would be to ask a ton of questions about the business, their processes, what works, what's a pain, what software are they using and how well is it working for them (and how much did it cost). My end goal would be to try to figure out what problems could be solved with software. Nothing gets me energized like solving someone's problem, and being able to see how much better their lives and work are because of my solution. Another thing I might do if I didn't have to worry about money for the next 10 years would be to get into hardware hacking. I've been a software guy for years, and hardware has always been that great unknown over the horizon. I might take a few classes at the local community college on electronics, or I might just pick up a few arduinos and start messing around. I'd love to build clip on hardware for phones, or home automation components, now that smart phones are everywhere, I think home automation makes more sense than ever before. Good luck!
- newac4now 15y ago
  Thank you so much for your reply. I am really happy you took the time to write this up!
walru 15y ago
As someone who started making "big games" out of high school and then moved to making mobile ones, with remote teams, I feel like I am near the polar opposite of your tale. I know your feeling about games. It seems that if you want to create something which satisfies you, you'll be doomed to have no sales. However if you just make what the market wants, no matter how 'dumb' or 'simple', you'll do just fine. Or at least that's where I'm guessing your 'seems fake' comment comes in. My main trade is game design, so directions to move have never been my problem. If anything it's been finding the dedicated talent to walk the mile with me. As my projects are typically too big to do alone. That's why I'm finally learning to code myself, and to that end, it's not in games. I'm now 33 and I want to get down to solving real problems. The more I travel around the net the more I find that's ripe for improvement. While I personally don't know what to suggest for your own endeavors. I think coming here and talking to like minded individuals is a great first step. ^-^
- newac4now 15y ago
  Thank you for your reply. One of the problems I have is that I wanted my "big game" to be something that I myself would like to play and appreciate - not the stupid kind of games for teenagers - such as Assassins Creed / GTA / Halo etc. However, I started to think that maybe a game as itself will always be sort of a "toy" and that no matter how hard I try it will always be "just a game". Am I wrong? Maybe the problem is the "topic" for the game? I just really don't know....
  - walru 15y ago
    No. I don't think you are wrong. Games are for entertainment first, but that doesn't mean you can't also have them be about something else. It all depends on what you want to do. What message do you want to get across? What do you want to define as the project's success? and a host of other questions. From there you should be able to whittle things down until you get to something that sticks. You have the buffer to figure these things out. However, I kind of like the first suggestion too. Go become Batman! Go educate yourself on a ton of different topics that interest you. It'll only make you that much more dangerous as you progress in life. Out of all the things I've gained in my last 14 years, experience has been the most valuable.
steventruong 15y ago
There's no contact email. I am in a similar boat albeit slightly different. We should connect.
NonEUCitizen 15y ago
Take a year off and take some classes that will expose you to other areas that might need people with software skills, e.g. bioinformatics.

3 points by newac4now 15y ago

megamark16 15y ago

I have the exact opposite problem, I'm trying to stay focused on my budding startup and not get too distracted by other projects and ideas (one of which is a game, btw!) If it were me, I'd go work at a temp agency as a receptionist or something and try to get into as many local businesses as possible for short periods of time. My goal would be to ask a ton of questions about the business, their processes, what works, what's a pain, what software are they using and how well is it working for them (and how much did it cost). My end goal would be to try to figure out what problems could be solved with software. Nothing gets me energized like solving someone's problem, and being able to see how much better their lives and work are because of my solution. Another thing I might do if I didn't have to worry about money for the next 10 years would be to get into hardware hacking. I've been a software guy for years, and hardware has always been that great unknown over the horizon. I might take a few classes at the local community college on electronics, or I might just pick up a few arduinos and start messing around. I'd love to build clip on hardware for phones, or home automation components, now that smart phones are everywhere, I think home automation makes more sense than ever before. Good luck!

newac4now 15y ago
Thank you so much for your reply. I am really happy you took the time to write this up!

walru 15y ago

As someone who started making "big games" out of high school and then moved to making mobile ones, with remote teams, I feel like I am near the polar opposite of your tale. I know your feeling about games. It seems that if you want to create something which satisfies you, you'll be doomed to have no sales. However if you just make what the market wants, no matter how 'dumb' or 'simple', you'll do just fine. Or at least that's where I'm guessing your 'seems fake' comment comes in. My main trade is game design, so directions to move have never been my problem. If anything it's been finding the dedicated talent to walk the mile with me. As my projects are typically too big to do alone. That's why I'm finally learning to code myself, and to that end, it's not in games. I'm now 33 and I want to get down to solving real problems. The more I travel around the net the more I find that's ripe for improvement. While I personally don't know what to suggest for your own endeavors. I think coming here and talking to like minded individuals is a great first step. ^-^

newac4now 15y ago
Thank you for your reply. One of the problems I have is that I wanted my "big game" to be something that I myself would like to play and appreciate - not the stupid kind of games for teenagers - such as Assassins Creed / GTA / Halo etc. However, I started to think that maybe a game as itself will always be sort of a "toy" and that no matter how hard I try it will always be "just a game". Am I wrong? Maybe the problem is the "topic" for the game? I just really don't know....
- walru 15y ago
  No. I don't think you are wrong. Games are for entertainment first, but that doesn't mean you can't also have them be about something else. It all depends on what you want to do. What message do you want to get across? What do you want to define as the project's success? and a host of other questions. From there you should be able to whittle things down until you get to something that sticks. You have the buffer to figure these things out. However, I kind of like the first suggestion too. Go become Batman! Go educate yourself on a ton of different topics that interest you. It'll only make you that much more dangerous as you progress in life. Out of all the things I've gained in my last 14 years, experience has been the most valuable.

steventruong 15y ago

There's no contact email. I am in a similar boat albeit slightly different. We should connect.

NonEUCitizen 15y ago

Take a year off and take some classes that will expose you to other areas that might need people with software skills, e.g. bioinformatics.