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‘Braid’ creator sacrifices his fortune to build his next game

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Re: ‘Braid’ creator sacrifices his fortune to build his next game

#61
Here's a nice thread about Jonathan Blow's view on investing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2198255

you are better off taking the mental energy you would have expended on "investing" and subsequently worrying about your money, and instead funneling it into your creative endeavors. You will make more money that way, especially when you take a long-term view.

...

If creative endeavors are profitable, you can use the resulting money to fuel more creative endeavors, thus making the world a better place. Keeping money in a bank account or publicly-traded stock does not particularly make the world a better place.

Once I got approximately into the f-you money level of income, it became crystal clear how fictitious money is in the first place. I wake up one morning, and bam, I am wealthy! Why? Because someone said so and typed a number into a computer. Okay... that's kind of weird.

Given that money is so fictitious and somewhat meaningless, it is a shame to give into primal hoarding impulses, just so one can see the number in one's bank account go up like a high score in a video game. It's much better to make like Elon Musk and use your money for what it is: a way to wield influence to make the world more like you would like it to be.

Re: ‘Braid’ creator sacrifices his fortune to build his next game

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes! wtf!! id, commander keen, duke nukem, shareware etc. etc.

My thoughts were more like it was the first indie game because it was the first game I recall being referred to as "indie" Before that they were just "games" or "a cool new game" or stuff like that. I dunno.

shareware.

Re: ‘Braid’ creator sacrifices his fortune to build his next game

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've followed him for a while and I think it might be a little more complicated although this is definitely how it might come across to the average person. He is blunt, and seemingly socially detached at times, almost in a Carmack-ish way. I don't see this as a bad thing really, just a different type of personality. Most of the best programmers I have known have this kind of personality. Also, as mentioned his new la…

I've found his Twitter very frustrating to follow sometimes, but I also learn a ton from the things he links to and talks about. For example, I'm certainly not in the anti-OO camp, but his perspective keeps me on my toes and has been informing my programming decisions to a degree. He also seems like a good person in general — just one who happens to be an old school programmer with a very specific view on how things…

Yeah, I've found that programmers who work a lot in C++ are a different breed from those who tend to work with higher level and GC'ed languages more. It really boils down to the task at hand I think. There are always going to be people who want explicit control to those who want the system to figure out things for them.

Re: ‘Braid’ creator sacrifices his fortune to build his next game

#64

Here's a nice thread about Jonathan Blow's view on investing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2198255 you are better off taking the mental energy you would have expended on "investing" and subsequently worrying about your money, and instead funneling it into your creative endeavors. You will make more money that way, especially when you take a long-term view. ... If creative endeavors are profitable, you can use…

This is good advice for a very narrow segment of creative people and not everyone at large. It's terrible advice for people with children, for example.

Re: ‘Braid’ creator sacrifices his fortune to build his next game

#65

I've followed Jonathan Blow for a while. He has a reputation for being condescending. If you follow him a Twitter then you might come to the same conclusion. But he has given some amazing talks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxFzf6yIfcc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1Fg76c4Zfg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqFu5O-oPmU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjDsP5n2kSM

Ambitious, creative, but also kind of a jerk IMO who occasionally makes authoritarian but sloppy observations about low-level tech. You're not the only one he rubs the wrong way.

Not that this is any way an obstacle as long as he succeeds here. But if he really went all in for this game, well, I wouldn't do it that way (unless my name was Derek Smart that is). I'd pocket $1M of my ill-gotten and play the lottery with the rest, knowing there was a backup plan. I hope he has a backup plan. I can't say I like the guy, but I do like what he's doing.

Re: ‘Braid’ creator sacrifices his fortune to build his next game

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is entirely irrelevant. Improvements can always be made on man-made things like C++, even if improvements aren't always obvious at first. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take!

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take! Tangentially, I hate this phrase. It ignores the fact that there's an opportunity cost to missed shots. If you're imagining the metaphor of a ball game, it's possession (and thus time and position). If you imagine the metaphor of a gun, it's your limited supply of bullets. This exhortation has an implicit assumption of endless resources, which are typically not available in…

> It ignores the fact that there's an opportunity cost to missed shots.

For the record, Blow has said that he's making the language primarily for his own use. I expect that most of the games he makes in the future will be written in this language.

Re: ‘Braid’ creator sacrifices his fortune to build his next game

#67

Very stoked on The Witness but also Firewatch: www.firewatchgame.com These are the kind of games I can get down with, a good slow ambiance based puzzle game—had enough of RTS and FPS for the time being.

Whoa! How have I not heard of this game? That trailer looks amazing!

Re: ‘Braid’ creator sacrifices his fortune to build his next game

#68
post #64

Here's a nice thread about Jonathan Blow's view on investing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2198255 you are better off taking the mental energy you would have expended on "investing" and subsequently worrying about your money, and instead funneling it into your creative endeavors. You will make more money that way, especially when you take a long-term view. ... If creative endeavors are profitable, you can use…

This is good advice for a very narrow segment of creative people and not everyone at large. It's terrible advice for people with children, for example.

I think reaching "Fuck you" levels of wealth has a very slightly different (3% higher?) definition for people with kids, but otherwise the advise is the same. Once you (or, you and your family, if you have one) are financially safe, don't hoard.

Re: ‘Braid’ creator sacrifices his fortune to build his next game

#69

Here's a nice thread about Jonathan Blow's view on investing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2198255 you are better off taking the mental energy you would have expended on "investing" and subsequently worrying about your money, and instead funneling it into your creative endeavors. You will make more money that way, especially when you take a long-term view. ... If creative endeavors are profitable, you can use…

Sure, money is fictitious and meaningless once you've moved into the f-you echelon. By definition. Perhaps for that segment piping it into creative endeavors is fulfilling and worthwhile.

For everyone else for whom money is a meal, rent, or essential good instead of an expletive, who cannot afford to take an ethereally long-term view, this advice is out of touch with reality if not plain dangerous.

Re: ‘Braid’ creator sacrifices his fortune to build his next game

#70
post #64

Here's a nice thread about Jonathan Blow's view on investing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2198255 you are better off taking the mental energy you would have expended on "investing" and subsequently worrying about your money, and instead funneling it into your creative endeavors. You will make more money that way, especially when you take a long-term view. ... If creative endeavors are profitable, you can use…

This is good advice for a very narrow segment of creative people and not everyone at large. It's terrible advice for people with children, for example.

Why do you feel it is bad advice for people with children?
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