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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

#191

Post by snarf21 »

yamaneko wrote: post #190
snarf21 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, this is my issue. After a long day of (sometimes pointless) software dev, strapping in for more is draining. So as a contrast, I design board games (not digital) as my hobby. It is very analog and tactile and so energizing partially from just being a nice change of pace. Your advice to start small is spot on though. I would even say one of the best first things to do is start by making a game mod. You don't hav…

Can you elaborate on how you design your board games? How do you approach it?

Sure, but let me first say there are tons of great podcasts about board game design if you are just getting started. Ludology, Building the Game, Fun Problems, etc.

I have played lots of board games so I have a good mental model of different types and the components needed. When I get an idea for a theme or mechanism, I build it up mentally first. When it feels like it might be fun or interesting, Then I'll start making some crappy cards or tokens. Some people will just write on note cards but I like something that feels more real. So I'll make some mostly text based images from a template. If they are cards, I'll print on paper and cut them out, then use CCG (MtG) sleeves and cheap playing cards to sleeve my paper. This lets them be shuffle-able. For other components or boards, I'll print on card stock. If I need something heavier, I'll print on adhesive label paper and then stick that to foam board or cardboard. The next and most important step is play test it with anyone and everyone you can.

Glad to provide more information if you're interested.

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#192

Post by jrumbut »

jrumbut wrote: post #183
bobobob420 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or open office where everyone can see your triple monitor screen and it’s a company work station so you literally can’t do anything else, can’t even open a personal laptop. Any cellular data reception is very bad.

I worked in an open office for years and never understood how people did things besides work. I tried 100% remote but that got lonely. Now that I have an office, it's like I'm living a completely different life where there's energy for meaningful activities after work. I get so much more done. The socialization is down from 2019 but there's a feeling to being in a building full of people that's different from being s…

Edit: when I said "did things besides work" I meant "did things outside of work" not "goof off at work"

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#193

Post by Viliam1234 »

Zababa wrote: post #97
stevofolife wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Well, unless your job requires you to be present for 8 hours, in which case it's harder to use those 2 new hours.

If presence is all that is required during those 2 hours, there are some useful things you can do: Think. Make plans on paper. Study.

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#194

Post by Viliam1234 »

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…

> If you want to finish a game, choose a small game.

I know a few people who tried to make a big game first. None of them finished.

Even a small game will take much more time than you imagined, because there are so many details to consider. (Then it gets faster, because you can reuse the ideas, maybe even parts of code.) It is easier to try new concepts in a small project.

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#195

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

penjelly wrote: post #153
stevofolife wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

except in practice this never works. you cant automate all tasks, even as a programmer a lot of time is spent architecting or debugging, even requirements gathering in some cases. Those details aside, if you automated hours of your job away youd then be asked to do more work (or if you own the place youd probably want to improve your product more anyway) instead of just sitting around working on your own projects dur…

You don't have to tell your office every time you automate a task do you?

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#196

Post by sershe »

vlunkr wrote: post #111
sershe wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The meta is that if you add something to your life, and you don't currently have a lot of time when you are just bored, something will have to suffer. I was wondering why I was often stressed out even though my life was good and I mostly did the things I want to do. Years ago, I had 3 things in my life - work, rock climbing, and coding/reading/videogames ("geeking out"), and I was never stressed for time. Then I got…

I'm not going to tell you that you should have kids, but my experience is that I can still have time for "geeking out" if I do it with my kids. This is going to vary depending on their age, but currently they like to watch me play games, so I pick games based on what I think they will enjoy. Similarly, it's fun to read a book around the same time as my wife, and then we can have a sort of "book club" discussion. If I…

Yeah, I forgot to mention that; sometimes that works, I do read with my wife, and we rock climb together a lot. However, sometimes you may have your own goals (climbing training like hangboarding is impossible to do together and not fun anyway), or things the other person doesn't do (like coding).

As far as kids go however, I feel like it's almost always a trap (it can sometimes happen with adults too, but with kids it's almost a given)... I know many people with hobbies from some tech stuff to extreme sports (like skiing), who "still play with Arduino" or "still ski" after having kids. Except before they used to do some hardcode backcountry stuff, and how with kids they go to a resort, fool around on an easy run, and then go have a beer while kids are taking a lesson. Technically, they are still skiing, but realistically they are not - they are just spending time with their kids. There are exceptions, but they are few and far between imho.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but my point still stands - when you add something, you have to lose something; I feel like for kids, it's especially true.

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#197

Post by sershe »

Sammi wrote: post #172
sershe wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The meta is that if you add something to your life, and you don't currently have a lot of time when you are just bored, something will have to suffer. I was wondering why I was often stressed out even though my life was good and I mostly did the things I want to do. Years ago, I had 3 things in my life - work, rock climbing, and coding/reading/videogames ("geeking out"), and I was never stressed for time. Then I got…

When you start valuing new things, then you automatically stop having time to value the things you valued before. So you stop valuing them. Because your values changed. So let your values change. You'll be the richer in the end.

But do you want your values to change? An extreme example is drugs, if you start taking certain drugs your values will get replaced with wanting more of the drug. You-then might endorse that, you-now emphatically won't (I hope). In the GP, the key point is that you would have to sacrifice something... it's not surprising, it should be expected. The question is what, and whether you would want to.

Re: Finishing my first game while working full-time

#198

Post by ultrasounder »

sabjut wrote: post #23
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…

What I learned from other people who have success in their side projects is to choose a workplace that allows you to do a sub 40 hour work week. Of course you would have to live a tad more simply than your standard upper-middle class software guy.

I totally can attest to it. Work for a subpar legacy medical device company where my input is constantly less than 40 hrs a week thereby allowing me to learn skills like React and solidity to consider opportunities in web3 which wouldn’t be remotely possible with FAANGMULATAD
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