Hi all,
Like a lot of people here I’m sure, I dabble in video game development as a hobby. And if you are anything like me, you juggle work, school, relationship and hobby standing on one leg while being pulled in all sorts of different directions.
So, how do you do it? Is it possible to be successful in this arena while only being a hobbyist? Or do you have to be more hardcore to actually produce something and get it in the hands of players?
Before I had a job doing this I didnt find it to hard to work on my side game projects. It was easy though because it didnt feel like work to me, so thats why it was so easy. Now that I work on games 8 hours a day when I get home the last thing I want to do is go on my computer. But I know when I worked on my own stuff I wouldnt have had any motivation to do it if I wasnt having fun doing it.
You can easily produce quality games if you are a hobbyist. A great game doesn’t need countless hardcore dedicated hours to be made.
you just need to set your priorities right:
0. getting drunk
At my age, I’m glad I’m not married nor have kids. Game development is an art that requires a lot of time and dedication. You’ll also need understanding of what makes games fun and addictive to play, and that requires major time playing all sorts of games.
I’m pretty sure that with proper scheduling, you’ll be able to learn as well as create fun games that people will enjoy! The most important thing, just like with any other job, is that you actually “love” playing and creating games. If you don’t love what you do, it will show in the end product.
LOL!
Ivkoni , thats great 
, made me laugh.
I like this order better:
Lol @ relationship at the bottom X)
This is the truth, though:
this is better
Isn’t it better to multi-task? Like getting drunk AND developing games at the same time?
this better and the geek path to get you somewhere
0 - no relationship
1 - no getting drunk
2 - eat only diner ( lunch is waste of time )
3 - sleep only 4 hours a day ( sleeping is waste of time )
4 - do not go outside ( waste of time )
5 - isolate yourself from “social life parasite”
6 - code , do art
7 - code , do art
8 - code , do art
…188298292 >> code , do art
hahaha…then you will eventually make your block buster one day XDDD
pretty boring life isnt’t it ^^
PS > oh by the way i already fail at number 0 with wife and 2 kids XDD hehe hmm nobody’s perfect …
lol - well said
He is mine :
0 - 3D work (8-12h/day)
1 - some coding (1-3h/day)
2 - personal stuff (30min -1h/day)
3 - garden vegetable care (1h-2h/day) >> very important to delete daily stress and get focus on something else that work.
4 - wife + kids(1-2h/day) + full time week end (do the best to keep full time for family the week end is the most important challenge)
5 - Beer, pastis or sake mostly every days with wife before getting bed/
6 - personal hobby… very rare.
I think Freelance is difficult deal with private time but have to do the best for it.
Omg, that’s almost me. I just sleep 4 to 5 hours more to keep my brain healthy.
And I hate so much social parasites / attention whores.
Lol awesome geek path.
Heres Mine:
-1) Family
1)Projects (Filming, Games, e.t.c)
2)School
3)Parkour and Work-Outs
4) Other Hobbies (Art, Outdoors, e.t.c)
5) Social Life :forever alone:
You have to balance them out on which is more important at the time. A test is coming up, work is getting heavy, girlfriend is angry at…something… namely you; you have to figure which needs your attention the most at that time.
Also, the better you become at something, the less time it takes. I wrote code for parkour in another game engine, took me about 4 months(of learning(total noob), trial and error, and figuring out the logic.), I rewrote it in Unity, and it took me an hour.
0 - getting drunk
done.
0 procrastinate
1 procrastinate a little bit longer
2 getting drunk
3 wake up drunk
4 realise you have a game to build
5 build the freaking game
6 sleep
repeat!
After nearly 12 years working in the film industry, this is what I know…
Don’t get addicted to prototyping or short 48 hour game development competitions you will end up with lots of half finished projects and a coding habit where you are addicted to the quick fix!
Like this still in beta game!
Unless you can throw away your prototypes and move on or put the time and effort in to completing them!
Kj47,
If you are wanting to have balance in your life, I recommend meditation. Make it your number 1 priority and have your world revolve around that discipline then all of your goals will become achievable in their own timing. True, it works.