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Finishing my first game while working full-time

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Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#161

Post by devwastaken »

ca6d8815 wrote: post #12

Good tips... but in reality if you're working full-time (especially in a software related role), you may find yourself depleted before you get to the keyboard. It took us 5 years to finish our game (everyone started from 0 knowledge on how to make games, so it was a rocky road), and for the last 1.5-2 years my life was absolute hell. I'd push hard at work for 9 hours a day, eat, then push hard on the side project for…

For games we don't have to start from scratch either. If you want a little multiplayer game people can have fun in, vrchat is a good platform for it. Gets the game into the hands of people and you can even just join them. A lot of stuff already handled for you.

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#162

Post by taneq »

stevofolife wrote: post #93
Zababa wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard this called before the "4 hour life", you have 4 hours every day for yourself: https://medium.com/@pskallas/4-hour-life-glossary-4740bca641...

Generally true. The next step of optimization would be automating parts of your job so you can reduce 8 hours of work to like 6 hours of work. Now you have more time for yourself.

So you can do 2 more hours of work, you mean?

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#163

Post by cecilpl2 »

ericmcer wrote: post #127
Zababa wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard this called before the "4 hour life", you have 4 hours every day for yourself: https://medium.com/@pskallas/4-hour-life-glossary-4740bca641...

I wouldn’t mind if it was my 4 best hours a day, but it’s the 4 hours after work and dinner when my energy levels allow for a half effort workout and a bit of reading or TV.

One of the best things I did for myself was moving all of that free time to the morning. Now I wake up at 5, have coffee, exercise, play or work on whatever hobby has my attention at the moment, then work all day. I have loads of focus and attention and energy for my fun things.

Evening is pretty much make dinner, eat, relax for a bit and be in bed reading by 8.

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#164

Post by ZephyrBlu »

capableweb wrote: post #19
ca6d8815 wrote: post #12

Good tips... but in reality if you're working full-time (especially in a software related role), you may find yourself depleted before you get to the keyboard. It took us 5 years to finish our game (everyone started from 0 knowledge on how to make games, so it was a rocky road), and for the last 1.5-2 years my life was absolute hell. I'd push hard at work for 9 hours a day, eat, then push hard on the side project for…

> I'd push hard at work for 9 hours a day, eat, then push hard on the side project for 8-9 hours a day, sleep, wake up, and just keep going. One day a week maybe I'd just sleep. No wonder you feel like hell, where is time for people, leisure, exercising and all the other activities that will help you move faster by feeling better? The true optimization for becoming a more efficient person is to do less of the thing y…

> No wonder you feel like hell, where is time for people, leisure, exercising and all the other activities that will help you move faster by feeling better?

You can't do all of that and have a job and also make significant progress on a side project. There isn't enough time in the day.

https://blog.asmartbear.com/two-big-things.html

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#165

Post by mikesabbagh »

> All that said, the joy of doing something for us by us is not something I've encountered in my 15 year career yet

I like the "us" in your comment. I worked on many personal projects, the best was when someone else is working with me. By the time you finish your feature, the other person would have finished his, and you see everything being built fast and with less pain.

Actually as you know, startups are recommended to have at least 2 founders. So I would suggest that if you are working on a project alone, find help

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#166

Post by ZephyrBlu »

boplicity wrote: post #34

Not discussed in the article: You have to have the support of the people in your life this will impact. For example, the 7-9am timeslot for working, as listed in the article, will impact my family, as that is when I'm getting the kids up and off to school. OK, so I could move it to 5am to 7am, but that would mean I'd need to go to bed earlier, which eliminates important evening time with my wife. Similarly, I could d…

Relevant article that covers this: https://blog.asmartbear.com/two-big-things.html

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#167

Post by Taylor_ »

In the past when I was at University during the summer breaks I somehow managed to create and publish two indie Xbox 360 games. However I have been working full time now for 8 years and I have never been able to come close to creating something similar to what I did back then. I will either get simply burned out by staying up late working on it (I don't recommend) or come to the conclusion that the it wont be a success and give up on it.

I have been working on something new though and what has been really working well for me is that I will try to spend at least 15-20 minutes a day working on my new game, this usually always results in more time being spent on it. When I finish working on it for the day at a reasonable time I will create a list of very minor and easy tasks and list them, then the next day when I work on the project I will pick that minor thing implement it and see something I'm happy with and then maybe complete another one. Usually If I feel like I will tackle something bigger, if not then I will enjoy the rest of my day.

The game has been coming together nicely so far me and it feels far more sustainable. I'm also doing this more now as a hobby rather than trying to make it a financial success (as there are much easier ways to make money).

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#168

Post by prawn »

cecilpl2 wrote: post #163
ericmcer wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn’t mind if it was my 4 best hours a day, but it’s the 4 hours after work and dinner when my energy levels allow for a half effort workout and a bit of reading or TV.

One of the best things I did for myself was moving all of that free time to the morning. Now I wake up at 5, have coffee, exercise, play or work on whatever hobby has my attention at the moment, then work all day. I have loads of focus and attention and energy for my fun things. Evening is pretty much make dinner, eat, relax for a bit and be in bed reading by 8.

This can be a good strategy until you have young kids. After then, they often hear you get up and then seek you out to get help making breakfast or want to sit on your lap.

But otherwise, it prioritises your side project while you're fresh in the morning and puts relaxing (movie/TV/etc) for when you're fading at the end of the day.

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#169

Post by cecilpl2 »

prawn wrote: post #168
cecilpl2 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the best things I did for myself was moving all of that free time to the morning. Now I wake up at 5, have coffee, exercise, play or work on whatever hobby has my attention at the moment, then work all day. I have loads of focus and attention and energy for my fun things. Evening is pretty much make dinner, eat, relax for a bit and be in bed reading by 8.

This can be a good strategy until you have young kids. After then, they often hear you get up and then seek you out to get help making breakfast or want to sit on your lap. But otherwise, it prioritises your side project while you're fresh in the morning and puts relaxing (movie/TV/etc) for when you're fading at the end of the day.

That's a good point - I don't have kids and don't have any good advice on how to work around them. :)

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#170

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

pizza234 wrote: post #47
ca6d8815 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just out of curiosity, when you spent 9 hours at work, was that in a software field? Yes, however the day job and night project were _completely_ different disciplines. Someone wrote that gamedev isn't really software engineering... I'd agree with that (not putting it down, but its not like anything I've done). > If so, why would you choose to do the same thing 18 hours a day for 5 years? Those long days came in th…

> Someone wrote that gamedev isn't really software engineering Could you elaborate on that? I find this perspective very interesting. I had a brief experience with gamedev, and I've actually found that even the smallest bit of game engineering is significantly more challenging than (I suppose) "x%" of web development. However, on the other hand, the engine is only a part of game development (and can also be underengi…

> Could you elaborate on that? I find this perspective very interesting.

In addition to what others have said, game development places a massive priority on optimization and performance.

You have to write code that updates game state and renders a scene in under 16 ms. CONSISTENTLY under 16 ms. Otherwise, you get stutters and choppiness as it fails to maintain 60 fps. If you want to please your top-end PC gamers with their 144 hz monitors, you need to render each frame in under 6.9 ms.

With a web app, you can make up for underperforming code by scaling horizontally. That's simply not an option for game development.

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