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

Post by anonbanker » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 10:14 PM UTC

nsxwolf wrote: post #64

footpath wrote: post #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…

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.

Post by jonathantm » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 10:14 PM UTC

melling wrote: post #3

One of the contributors is creating a video game from scratch in a series of videos. http://handmadehero.org He just did day 60 today. It's probably going to take at least a year. It's quite educational to start from scratch without any libraries.

Post by archagon » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 10:20 PM UTC

ericd wrote: post #72

archagon wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Indie" doesn't just mean independent. It is (or was) a specific scene, centered to an extent around TIGSource and its forums. The games that came from this scene are what put the genre in its current spotlight.

I would say that that's a redefinition/hijacking of a word that's been in use since long before 2008 to mean exactly "independent" in many different art forms. EDIT: You may find it interesting to read Jordan Mechner's journals about the making of Prince of Persia as a solo dev (published by Broderbund, so not quite fitting the indie self distribution model today, but otherwise fairly similar). They used to be availa…

Post by huhtenberg » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 10:25 PM UTC

simplicio wrote: post #10

I always sort of wonder about stories like this, where fairly established game-devs have to rely on Kickstarter, or on their own funds to develop games. Seems like someone like Blow should be able to attract some investors.

Post by anigbrowl » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 10:39 PM UTC

archagon wrote: post #66

anigbrowl wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.