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GeekStack Postmortem

geekstack.com

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Re: GeekStack Postmortem

#21

Post by damncabbage »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #15
pchristensen wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well don't forget to read the part where I split it into three tasks - the web part, the game engine part, and the game design part. For game design, I highly recommend A Theory of Fun for Game Design [1] and the column Making Magic by the head designer for Magic: The Gathering[2]. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Theory-Fun-Game-Design-ebook/dp/B004D4... only $4 on Kindle or $12 on paper [2] Look for the ones he gives 4 an…

Where is the column?

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Archive.aspx?tag=makin...

Re: GeekStack Postmortem

#22

Post by pchristensen »

damncabbage wrote: post #21
pavel_lishin wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is the column?

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Archive.aspx?tag=makin...

Thanks, I totally meant to paste it. Look for a recent one called something like 500 And Counting. Thats where he rates his own columns.

Re: GeekStack Postmortem

#23

Post by pchristensen »

ww520 wrote: post #14

This is a honest and fantastic postmortem. The lessons teach us more than the success stories. I had the same problem of envisioning bigger product goal than I can achieve; I simply overestimated my energy, attention, or ability. Nowadays I try to trim down feature ruthlessly and limit scope to the bare minimum. Work not needed are work done great. Hope it's not too intrusive. Is $10K/month necessary for living expen…

$10K/mo is a little more than my current salary, but I would have to exclude taxes, health care for four (COBRA is a US law that lets you buy your old employer's health plan for 18 months after you leave, and at my last job it was $1800/mo), etc. I live in Chicago which isn't NYC or SF but still isn't cheap. Plus I would need more savings bc of unpredictable cash flow. Plus stress kills productivity.

Re: GeekStack Postmortem

#25

Post by ahi »

pchristensen wrote: post #23
ww520 wrote: post #14

This is a honest and fantastic postmortem. The lessons teach us more than the success stories. I had the same problem of envisioning bigger product goal than I can achieve; I simply overestimated my energy, attention, or ability. Nowadays I try to trim down feature ruthlessly and limit scope to the bare minimum. Work not needed are work done great. Hope it's not too intrusive. Is $10K/month necessary for living expen…

$10K/mo is a little more than my current salary, but I would have to exclude taxes, health care for four (COBRA is a US law that lets you buy your old employer's health plan for 18 months after you leave, and at my last job it was $1800/mo), etc. I live in Chicago which isn't NYC or SF but still isn't cheap. Plus I would need more savings bc of unpredictable cash flow. Plus stress kills productivity.

$1800/mo. Damn. That's the equivalent of working a 40 hour week $10.80/hour job. I'd be pushing my kids down the stairs to make sure we got our money's worth.

Re: GeekStack Postmortem

#26

Post by earl »

ww520 wrote: post #14

This is a honest and fantastic postmortem. The lessons teach us more than the success stories. I had the same problem of envisioning bigger product goal than I can achieve; I simply overestimated my energy, attention, or ability. Nowadays I try to trim down feature ruthlessly and limit scope to the bare minimum. Work not needed are work done great. Hope it's not too intrusive. Is $10K/month necessary for living expen…

$10K/mo before taxes == $6300/mo after taxes, at least in SF. If you have a family and either rent a 2 bedroom or have a mortgage, you'll spend $2500+ on shelter. Etc etc. It doesn't go as far as you'd think.

Re: GeekStack Postmortem

#28

Post by Lucadg »

We need more posts like this. Success stories are great, they make us believe it can be done. But failure stories are maybe even more valuable as they teach us that so many things can go wrong..so many.

Success stories makes us dream (which is great) and failure stories wake us up (which is necessary). Also, failure stories make us appreciate more the success stories. It's never easy even if sometimes it seems so.

Re: GeekStack Postmortem

#30

Post by epo »

pchristensen wrote: post #3
Harkins wrote: post #2

I'm sorry to see this. Peter was a friend, and it was great to meet someone else in Chicago working on similar stuff. (We joked that you can tell us apart because he's the Peter in Chicago bootstrapping a social game built in Rails, and I'm the Peter in Chicago bootstrapping a social game built in Rails.) I'm hoping he finds a way to reactivate this project or starts something else great. I had similar issues working…

I'm not dead, just resting :) This was mostly about me not wanting to face reality, and then finding out that reality didn't care whether I was paying attention or not. Lesson learned.

I am somewhat older than you. This is an insight I wish I'd when I was your age. A useful lesson, one that will strengthen you for the future.
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