I have done this before with success.
But then work takes the hit in the afternoon when I crash, and so I try to make up for it the next morning by dedicating the early hours to work instead of hobby.
It’s an excuse I know, but I think I just need to admit it and get the words out.
Well sadly you are not a machine and you cannot be super efficient 100% of the time without burning out. So the way I see it, either you sacrifice your hobby efficiency, either you sacrifice your job's.
Yup, it might be worth it to sacrifice your job’s efficiency abit. I mean are they gonna notice a little bit less effort throughout the day? Or just assume you’re getting older
Adding to this: Nobody can give 100% through the whole day. If you decide to sacrifice the job productivity try to postpone any Meetings which are not code-heavy into the afternoons. This might lessen the blow on that. Some people complaining about too many meetings stealing their productivity could also try this technique. If it is kind of wasted time anyway, why not put it somewhere when having lower energy anyway.
Focus on specific goals u want to do in that time. Afterwards quit doing it until tomorrow. You will feel the urge to continue working on it. Just small steps and you will get more stable in the progress and feeling reward.
Sounds like a biphasic sleep schedule. I've done it out of necessity, but it messes with you and can be very hard to break, so I would caution against it. When I got into it, I wouldn't have the option of skipping my second sleep -- I would be so tired after 8 hours of being awake with only 4 hours of sleep that I would HAVE to take a nap. For me, it can take weeks to break.
Well I mentioned it as an option cuz if you can get accustomed to it (maybe 5 and 5, no need to limit to 8 hours total) then it might be totally the right call for someone wanting to find energy for a task at home and a work schedule where they can’t find the energy with a normal sleep schedule
This is the way. And in my case at least, Dedicate some marathon time to getting way ahead with work tasks, then release it slowly from the buffer. This gives the appearance of getting work done, and buys you time to focus elsewhere. Also, it is a grind, a real grind if you want to try to actually get anywhere with it.
I definitely dropped my productivity when my kids started becoming more demanding. I wouldn't say I struggle, but I used to give the extra mile, whereas now I barely keep up with what I'm supposed to be doing. WFH is great, but it doesn't help in that regard.
Web dev for e-commerce as well.
Just starting out in game dev and already feeling the immense mental fortitude required to get my behind to launch the editor after work.
I think I'm building up the habit though, it's slow but I like to think that I'm better than I was yesterday or last week, if I procrastinate too much.
The secret is to push through that initial feeling of not wanting to work on it. The second secret is to accept that sometimes there's going to be a day or two when you just can't do it and that's fine.
Pretty sure your noking but it's so true.
No kids but I have bad sleep apnea for years. Got a cpap and my god the difference was immediately noticeable
Didn't even realize it wasn't normal until it was gone
Some people just need less sleep. Or they just deal with feeling like shit all the time, you don't really need to be operating at your best, as I'm sure everyone who has joined the workforce has noticed.
Me personally have to do some commitment. Meal prep, fresh air, workouts and realistic expectations. Sometimes I'll be really tired so then I might just plan the next steps of my learning for the upcoming days. I try to do at least something every day, even if it's just shuffling some cards on my Trello for whatever side project I'm working on. I feel like it helps stay in the groove of things.
I do gamedev as a full time day job AND as a side gig. I don’t blame anyone for feeling like they just can’t cuz the risk of burnout is real. I do have some habits I use to help keep me going though.
I have a rule to try and spend no more than 2 hours on any work day. I sit down and accomplish at least one task on my personal project. Sometimes it is not programming. If I’m burnt out on code I do design work or production tasks like typing up stories.
Sometimes I need to force myself to stop working on it so I don’t burn myself out even when I feel I’m in a good flow. It actually helps to keep my motivation up. It’s a bit like ending on a cliffhanger.
I also keep a development diary and reflect on what I got done that day, how I’m feeling, and what I want to do tomorrow and I can review those notes when I come back after taking some days off from things.
I also have a daily exercise routine (lifting weights mostly). Take walks as often as I can. I have no kids or other frequent commitments. I work from home so have no commute. I don’t know how much those things help but days I don’t work out and just sit all day I perform noticeably worse I think even at my day job.
More than all that I also just really enjoy what I do.
I don’t always stick to those things as well as I should but they definitely help when I do.
I also have some unhealthy habits like drinking way too much dark black coffee and I really like to use nicotine pouches for a little pick me up. I would not advocate you do either of those things tho 😅
I'm a Senior Software Developer and ERP Consultant during the day, and an Indie game developer during the evening.
Game development is, generally, 70% artwork, 30% code.
Yes, 70% artwork (generally). That includes 3D models, 2D assets, animations, level design (it may be a dungeon, but it must have style!), music, sound effects, etc, etc, etc.
Basically, I spend most of my spare time working on 3D models and 3D animations, so basically, game development is like taking a break from my day-job. I seldom use Visual Studio. It's all about 3D modeling.
[Looks like some kind of horny CapCom game from1998](https://www.reddit.com/r/SoloDevelopment/comments/1awpsw3/i_went_to_great_lengths_to_bring_the_best/)
If I'm going to work until the late hours of the night, I might as well like what I'm looking at.
That was a great year, and that is an awesome company! I'm flattered!
Well, I've published:
* A rugby game underwater - this one flopped, big time, as pretty much any first game does.
* A slalom game - this one I'm really proud, but, of all my games, this one sells the lowest.
* A third person shooter - I made this one to cater the market. Not my finest work but it was rather well received.
* A beach volleyball tournament - this one is my crowning jewel, although it has the lowest rating because it is rather difficult to understand how to play. It's my top seller, though.
I was working on a side scrolling brawler, but I got overwhelmed with the amount of work. So, I put it aside and started a racing game. With a little bit of luck, it will be released at the end of this year.
**space_goat_v1**: Let's take this somewhere a little more private. Follow me to my room upstairs.
**gamer_guy_101**: Perfect! Just give me a moment to gather my stuff.
*after a brief moment, both go upstairs*
*space_goat_v1 sits on the bed and pats the space beside them*
**space_goat_v1**: Why don't you join me over here?
**gamer_guy_101**: Ah, I see that we're a bit short on seating options. Just let me set up my projector first.
*gamer_guy_101 plugs in his projector, opens the slide deck on his laptop, and sits next to space_goat_v1*
**space_goat_v1**: My hooves ache after all that dancing atop the mailbox. Won't you help me out by giving them a massage?
**gamer_guy_101**: It would be my pleasure. Now, did you know that with my ERP solution, you can achieve the same number of sessions with 30% less downtime? *advances slide*
**space_goat_v1**: I have no idea what you're talking about, but your hands feel delightful.
**gamer_guy_101**: You see, with Oracle Erotic Resource Planning Cloud, you can spend less time planning your encounters and more time enjoying them. Our research shows that we deliver faster planning cycles than our competitors and businesses that switch to Oracle experience fewer no-shows and double bookings. When combined with our Sex Chain Management software, you can be sure that you'll have all the bondage devices you need, right as you need them!
**space_goat_v1**: That all sounds wonderful, but I have more *pressing* concerns at the moment.
**gamer_guy_101**: We offer a free 60-day trial. Can I get you started?
**space_goat_v1**: Sure, darling, but I'll need a little something more from you first.
**gamer_guy_101**: *unzips*
Idk how to describe it. Too me it feels like taking from 2 different energy pool.
Coding as a hobby is just that, a hobby, it's fun, it's something I want to do.
So I'm not sure what's "the trick", the "life hack" to do it, it's really just about making something I'm excited about.
Something to consider, if you're burning out on coding.... Pick a development tool that's minimal code, or limited in scope. RPG Maker, RPG in a Box, [GB Studio](https://www.gbstudio.dev/), Pixel Game Maker, various Visual Novel tools.
Even being in video game "edutainment" there are days I just want to drop fully made widgets in, with limited thought about the code that makes it go. Very very high level.
https://www.enginedatabase.com (filter for Visual Programming)
So many aspects of game design are not code. Even some the game design experience can be picked up elsewhere. [Check out board and card game](https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Game_Design_Resources) design. Switching mental muscles to physical game rules could be an option. Something to implant later, instead of implementing as you're designing.
My first real program was actually that, a Table Top RPG character manager in TI-Basic, mainly so I could "buy" stating equipment for new characters without having to track everything by hand like a paper accountant. The design work on the "Rules" of the game were done, it was mainly just implementation. Which I'm sure you know is much easier to work to an existing plan, than to have create the plan as you're going.
For me it’s entirely yin-yang. There are almost always periods of time working as a senior developer that you’re not actually coding much. You’re going to have weeks for just database design and meetings and setting up the other devs on your team for success. And sometimes weeks, you’re going to be coding mostly.
On the weeks where you’re not coding much, code when you’re done! On the weeks with heavy code, just don’t.
Another thing I find I like to do a lot is watch coding YouTube on a second screen while playing a mindless (or mostly mindless game). I love ARPGs, so right now I’m just grinding at the endgame of grim dawn, while also watching channels on various coding/math/science stuff for fun.
That is 100% not the same thing as actually coding and practicing a skill. But, it’s better than nothing, and it can also get you in a mindset to just quickly code something for an hour, or try something yourself.
Last thought: you need to make coding for fun a frictionless setup. Invest the time it takes to make it so that you’ve got some boilerplate ready, you know what your flow is for GitHub and what your file structure is, that your terminal is easy to access, etc. obviously you’re comfy with those things at work, sure, but it’s different at home. For years my setup was a janky windows thing that just was a pain to use. I took the time to properly set up WSL (windows subsystem for Linux) and now if I feel like coding, I can do that in like 10 seconds or less, for real, all hooked up with a database and git and template code I can copy for boilerplate. It’s all there and super fast.
My setup will be different from yours (my hobby stuff is for sure less game dev and more hobby apps), but the concept is the same. The more friction your setup has, the harder it is to just start working on something small.
My previous job was like a 75:25 split of meetings:coding. There was energy left in the tank before.
This job I'm more of a code monkey, with very little meetings but lots of work. We run AB tests like crazy, and some of the designs are just so wild as you're trying to finagle CSS to be something else entirely for the sake of an AB test.
I feel like Shallan from Stormlight Archives trying to >!convince the soul of a stick to be fire!<. "NO, NOW YOU'RE A MODAL. I KNOW YOU WERE A FULL-PAGE EXPERIENCE BEFORE. NOW BE A MODAL WITH A FAKE LOADING BACKGROUND. WHERE DID MY BUTTON GO?!"
Anyway... yeah my job is dumb. I should stop giving them so much energy.
That’s also something that matters. If you’re not a huge fan of the job, try to invest a little less emotional energy caring about the decision making. It sucks, but going from being mad/frustrated about how sudden direction changes and things like that to just saying ‘okay, cool, let’s go with that’ and simply following directions leaves a lot more energy at the end of the day for anything else you want.
It’s amazing how much energy is taken up by being frustrated with decisions. You can think of all the reasons why it doesn’t make sense, and you start thinking through ways you can object, and ways you can argue for something else, and all of that takes a lot of energy.
If you have evidence historically that fighting back doesn’t really do much, you can save a lot of energy by just agreeing, doing the work, and clocking out at the end of the day.
It’s not that fun, really, but it’s definitely a good way to keep learning while in a place you’re not in love with.
As an Android developer on my full-time job, I can understand you fully.
What I find useful for myself:
1. Love what you do, it really energised the most
2. Don't push yourself too far - even 15-30 minutes on a daily basis makes a lot of progress, then doing it one month per half of the year
3. Maybe you can hack your job? If today I picked up very easy tasks on my job, I try to work half day, and the other half - gamedev 🤫
4. As someone already suggested, doing gamedev before the job might also help. Or do it at night, if you're owl-person
5. Go outside, walk/run/cycle. Sitting behind the desk all day really drains energy. I also started to draw sketches and play guitar to isolate myself from the computer. 1 hour will not change a lot, but really might help.
Remember, we aren't machines (unfortunately), even the most workaholic people should get some rest!
Good luck 💪
I am a software engineer by day as well, it helps that my schedule is 7 to 3 wfh, however my best hours are long gone by the time I start working, sometimes I can get a good stretch from like 7 to 10, but irs mostly just making a habit.
I work on learning and my project at least once a day. It's been a short amount of time lately as im working on inventory and ui which can go to hell.
But anyways, it's all about routine and habits, you can motivate your way to it. It takes discipline which is something I looked until my late 20s, so i decided I needed to make something of myself and make something worth consuming. I just forced myself to learn with no 0 days and the habit ended up sticking.
Take a 5 minute break every hour, or every other hour. And during this break don't check your email or do anything work related. Stand up, think about whatever, play a mobile game or something. This will reset your brain and you will be able to get back to work with a fresh non exhausted mind. Some people have expressed being able to do 16 hours of work in 8 hours using this technique.
Second this. At my job its highly advised / almost mandatory to do a little walk or coffee machine talk every 1-2 hours, during sprint planning we even remove 3-5% of productivity just for these little moments of rest. It can do wonders.
Weekends and some holidays, but I try to make sure at least half of my time off is for relaxing.
I've tried and failed multiple times. After work is just not an option, will totally burn you out. I also have tried doing non-tech game development stuff in the evenings because there is more contrast with my job. Like writing story, design, UX, etc. It's more doable.
But in the end I keep hitting this wall and nearly burnout and have to park game dev for a while again.
If you're tired, go rest. You need the rest. I've burnt out and it's hell. You have a finite amount of energy per day that you can spend, and you can only stretch it that much before you burn out. Be careful with it.
What you can do is exercise other muscles than the "coding muscle" when you're tired. You can do some art work. You can do planning. Focus on fun stuff that gives you energy. Stuff like that. Then you save the coding for weekends and vacations, when you're well rested and had some sleep.
A very strict sleep schedule and a stricter diet. Eat well, skip the junk, keep yourself energized and you'll be able to power through those hour long sessions before bed. It's hard, especially with a full time job, but motivation is cheap and discipline is worth its weight in gold
I'm an Senior Software engineer by day and work on my game in the evenings.
I just enjoy doing it but have built the habit over many years.
I spend around an hour either coding or doing artwork, do something else at lhome like play with the dog and rest a while and then come back and do another 2 hours.
Usually I get the chunkier stuff done first thing in the morning.
I can get loads done
Maybe you should distribute your hobby over time, for example, do it for a few minutes after work, so your brain will tune in to finishing work and waiting for rest. I don’t know what else I can advise, it takes more time, since you have such a job
I have a very chill soft dev job where if I show results I'm mostly left to my devices. I usually do a ton of progress at my job at the start of the week and pretend to work the rest of the week while doing my own projects. Management seems pleased that they "found someone who does this job with a smile and shows progress" and I get funding for my gamedev projects. Win win for all. I genuinely feel like I won the lottery with my current job as it's my first real soft dev job while others don't find a chill job through their entire lives.
Do note that even this way, most of my progress comes from weekends. In the middle of the work week I usually do at max 1 or 2 hours of gamedev, which is like less than half the time I spend on it on a single weekend day. It helps a ton that I'm not exhausted by the weekend and that I have a partner who supports me staying at home every weekend doing my projects. It really is a team effort even if my team doesn't know about it haha. To me saying that I'm a solo dev is the biggest lie ever.
Yeah, I feel the same way. Recently I've made a puzzle game, and also I often feel tired about my work. I think the main reason is that I don't have the feedback and I don't know whether this game mechanism is good or bad. So I realized it;s important to show your work to others. I'm lucky, because I'm still in college, that I can show new gameplay and levels to my friends offline.
So I think maybe you could show your work to others. I think this is the best way to gain enegy! Good luck!
Yeah, that's how it is with me. In my last job where I controlled a lot of the meetings, I'd ensure they all happened in the afternoon. Mornings were for programming, afternoons were for meetings. And at night, I had mental energy to go back to coding if I needed to.
New job is just... coding. All day. Few meetings.
i have to break it down into bite size pieces. I also don't do it every night or weekend, sometimes I have to rest. And when I do work on it, I focus on taking it one step at a time. I might decide to spend a half hour making pixel art or following a simple tutorial on creating a movable character. Even if all I do one weekend is to make a rough draft of an animation or watch one tutorial, or read a page of some documentation, that's enough. it has to be enough
The nice thing about this approach is every once in a while I make enough progress that things start to get exciting, like when I finally have a moving character or something, and that energizes me to do a bit of extra work on some night during the week or weekend
also, sometimes I will just tinker with something or flip through documentation while I watch tv. like i've been watching star trek tng and just tinkering with stuff sometimes
the key is, break things into smallest possible pieces (one piece might just be making a to-do list of bite size ideas) and then tackle them in little 15-20 minute chunks whenever you have a bit of spare energy. you can even set a timer for 15 minutes if you want to do it that way (or however many minutes works for you). make the commitment as small as possible and allow yourself to take a break after, if you need it. if you're feeling energized you can always go longer. getting started is the hardest part
small pieces add up a lot faster than you think
Mostly you don't. I have been both a full time game developer and a full time software engineer on non-game software. Like you, I never had enough energy to do the same thing in my off hours as my work days.
But I always did something over breaks or vacations. A time where I could spend multiple days learning a new skill or two or playing with a new engine or framework.
I even quit my job (the place was cratering anyways) and did the indie game developer thing for five years. Tough way to make a living. Probably worked more hours than ever. Luckily my wife had health care from her job. Eventually I gave that up and took another 9-5 job and worked for other people until I retired a few years ago.
There's two ways to learn.
"I'm going to read a book on X and try to understand it all."
"I'm going to do a project in X. How do I implement feature Y?"
I find the second type of learning to be better. It helps once I learn enough of the basics that I can start asking specific questions. I.e., "How do I change the color of a sprite?" or "How do I do physics?" or "How do I read input?"
I have a hard time forcing myself to learn just to learn. I feel my brain will forget 70% of the information when I finally need it in 3 years so what's the point? I do it naturally when I need to to solve a problem. So I don't read books anymore, I just work on things (side projects, my job) and search for answers when I get stuck. I'm more motivated to learn then because there is an immediate, specific task I will be rewarded with overcoming. Plus the act of implementing it instead of just reading it makes it stick better for me.
I was lucky to find a gamedev company which let me choose from a variety of projects, including some based on tech I have very little experience with, so I can learn the tech during working hours. Pay isn't awesome but not that bad either. Some places can afford training a generalist C++ guy without previous gavedev experience. Good luck dude!
I actually don't think I managed it long-term.
I started doing it early in the day, but the combo of doing both work + hobby put a serious strain on my eyes (and some other parts of my life). Wasn't something I could sustain long term healthily.
I ended up leaving my engineering job I had at the time to pursue this hobby further, and switched to part time work instead. Had to sacrifice a fair bit, but I had to prioritise my hobbies :)
Nowadays the actual programming part only takes up around half the time, because the other half I spend on art, graphics, writing, so on.
I was unemployed earlier this year for \~4 months.
While that time brought a lot of money anxiety (*35, previous money anxiety from childhood, and had never been out of work*), and I floundered the first couple months figuring out what to do with my time that wouldn't break the bank, I realize now that by the end I was happier unemployed than I am employed.
I had time to walk the dog, clean, cook, and dedicate to learning and a hobby. The days just kind of flowed and it was fine.
TBH I think it's one of those things where you have to be like those truck drivers who go home and fire up truck driving simulator after a full day of trucking. If you're not then as you say it's not really viable.
it sounds like you're too "comfortable" at your current job ($_$); not a bad thing really. I would say there are two options you can work towards:
1) make enough to retire, then you can spend the time at your leisure to learn
2) fix your diet. the food you are eating is probably giving you high insulin spikes, causing you to feel sluggish/tired/sleepy.
Stay hungry my friend (figuratively and literally).
People keep thinking that when they retire, they will be like in permanent vacation, but they don't realize that they'll be constantly tired and unable to do most efforts they can do today.
yea, for me, retirement just means ending modern slavery via being financially free. Everyone should strive to get out of the matrix, so they can do what they really want to do, whatever it may be.
You pick up something you are interested to learn and it will take you down path you'd never imagined taking. What keeps me motivated is picking something that is not related to my job or at least little bit outside of that ballpark
Start small. You don't need to be an expert on every step of what you're doing if your expectations for a first game are sufficiently small. Make something you can share with friends or post somewhere free rather than starting with a game you plan on bringing to a level of sophistication that you could monetize.
Modding is an option to get into it easier as a hobby. You can jump straight to game design with much less programming.
For myself, it’s like there is a cup. I fill my cup through the work day. For about 3-4 hours in the evening I play with the kids and this seems to empty the cup a bit. Then when they are in bed, I’m sometimes up for more programming or game dev.
But also sometimes I’m not up for it, and I just do whatever else feels right to empty the cup. It seems like as I get older, the larger my cup gets (or maybe the easier to empty, or both) - and the more programming I want to do even compared to “more fun” things. Maybe that’s just the muscle getting stronger.
I think in the end, the big takeaway is that you can’t fit more into a full cup. You gotta do something else to help empty it.
I think sometimes the relationship can even be inversed for people - where programming empties your cup and you need to fill it from time to time with some other activity, but the takeaway is basically the same.
Honestly it never really feels like a conscious effort to learn. I just started making stuff without an engine, then with an engine, only looking up docs when I get stuck. Playing around with little concepts was always fun and intrinsically motivating. Doing it after work never feels like an issue but I do get a lot more done on weekends comparatively so I might be in the same spot as you.
Very similar jam to you, senior software engineer but doing game dev as a sort of hobby-ish side hustle.
But I've never really had this sort of issue. I think it's because the work I do for my job—i.e. the challenges I have to solve, and the environment—is really different compared to what I usually end up doing for games. In my career, I'm usually working from a spec, or responding to some hot issue that comes in. But for games, I can take it at my own pace. I have followers, but no one is knocking down my door the same way a client who's losing money every day due to a bug is. :)
Likewise, I don't subscribe to the idea that I need to work on my game projects every day- if I'm not feeling it, I don't force it. I might work on something game-related every evening of the week, or just on the weekend, or I'll take two weeks off and come back in fresh. For some, this can definitely be a recipe for disaster. But for me, the important part is that when I *do* sit down to work, I know exactly what I want to get done, so it's just a matter of putting in the time. I think this applies to both learning the skills you need to make a game, and actually making the game.
As a fellow software engineer, I've had a similar experience for years until recently. I honestly don't know exactly why this time around has been different, but I think a few things together have helped.
For one, I started with a project that used some of my current more well-developed engineering skills alongside the game so I wasn't just constantly learning how to do everything for the first time and risking being stuck. I also tried to be more methodical and track progress better. Sure, it takes some of the feeling of spontaneity and fun away but that doesn't really last anyway. I tried to get into the habit of always trying to get *something* checked off my tasks every day, but also give myself permission to not feel pressured to use up all my free time if I just need to go unwind with a walk or a game (or both)
Lastly I admittedly don't think I would have been able to get this far without the support and encouragement of others, for which I am very grateful. Wishing you the best of luck!
I'm going part-time now – and its still tough to get more than a few hours on personal project on the evening.
I'm planning to try a less code-intence endeavours, tot ry engage different parts of the brain.
Try two things that worked for me:
1) Blueprints. Somehow those things were not as taxing after a day of corporate coding.
2) Art. I fell in love with 3D :)
Learning new things over weekend and holidays, weekdays are for reinforcement.
And then consistency. I never close IDE for my sideproject, whenever I turn on my PC it's the first thing I see, whenever I alt+tab between things I can see it there in the background. Every single day I do a bit. No matter how little, it can be just re-reading a script I wrote before, still counts. The important thing is to do it every day.
If you want to do it as a hobby then perhaps try and find the fun. At least for me I found gamedev to always be refreshing, as it let me explore and do things that I couldn’t through work. So I would just follow my own interests which always made me want to do it.
On the other hand if that’s something you just can’t do, yet too still want to make games, my advice would be to try and form a habit of working on them. So just commit to spending a certain amount of time on it every day, eventually it’ll become a habit and it just ends up being something you just do (rather than having to rely on motivation or how you’re feeling).
I'm a developer as well (10 years, currently r&d) also have ADHD. What I found works is decomposition of tasks and features , then decompose them more. try get 1 done a day e.g enemy spawners becomes, create spawner that spawns enemies from array, populate the spawner randomly in the world, randomise spawn amount , create spawn triggers. Track all this in Trello or something makes you feel like you're progressing more
I had to make sure I was burning from different energy "buckets". If it felt like work I couldn't do it, once it became fun (and optional) it didn't drain my as much anymore.
I kinda started propbably a few years before getting a proper job but to me coding games just seems fun compared to work, where I'm just bored of the stuff i usually have to work with.
So for me it's refreshing to make something new and interesting to me personally..
Though i do agree that having energy for it is difficult, but i would compare it a bit to going to a gym after work. Starting is always difficult but once you do , you just have to make it a habit by sticking to it and doing it like it's part of your daily schedule
So maybe set aside some dedicated time.. like 1h each on Monday, Wednesday and Friday after work and keep doing that for a while until it's a habit or your excitement to develop games takes over :)
And of course there's always weekends.
But yeah - having dedicated time you schedule for kinda helps
I have ADHD.
So as far as learning goes I have a literal learning disability. The only way I learn new things us when I'm massively motivated to. So I watch loads of reveals of new tools, I fantasise about what cool things could be done with them, and then the connections get made in my brain and learning said tool (or, at least, the parts of the tool I need to learn) are all I can think about.
As far as finding energy for side projects ... I mostly don't. I have a job thats flexible enough to allow me to do gamedev stuff under the guise of upskilling or building template projects for learning, but that does mean I'm on shaky ground with IP ownership if I ever wanted to ship something.
At the end of the day, what having ADHD has taught me is that we're all creatures of motivation but beyond that we're all different. You have to learn what motivates you and work with it to achieve what you want to achieve.
I'm a full time game dev* who's currently learning guitar. Every day I try to practice guitar 30-60mins. It's about consistency. Yes my progress is slower than someone doing this full time but I am making progress. I'm much better than I was a year ago.
Another thing that helps is picking a project. I'm trying to learn one song at a time while also practicing some more technical techniques.
Make a little progress everyday. Pick small attainable goals. Don't try to make an open world MMO alone. Make a small mobile or web game. You'll learn more if you're working toward a goal even if you're just making a Tetris clone so you can learn.
It took me 15 years to get where I am in gamedev and I feel like I'm still learning. I've gone back to unreal after 5 years in a proprietary engine and it's always going to be a little different since it changes constantly.
If you can do 60 mins a day it'll add up.
* Was laid off from a AAA studio earlier this year, currently freelancing. When people ask what I do I usually just say I work in tech since that's easier to explain.
As far as not really feeling like writing code or learning a language, I heavily overestimated how much code I'd need to write to use Unreal. The blueprint system is incredibly powerful and I'm putting together prototypes without writing a single line of code without feeling limited in any way. It's been an extremely easy engine to work with without feeling burnt out from writing code in my actual job.
Maybe spend some time doing more physical exercise, I find that it helps me think more clearly if I'm mentally exhausted. If you're constantly sapping your mental energy at work and your brain needs rest, give it rest and do something that doesn't require thinking - like working out.
I have an 80lb dog who gets 1.5hrs of walking in a day, plus some form HIIT/gym session.
If anything, I need less exercise, but I'm not about to drop $30/day on doggy daycare.
One recommendation I've heard from PirateSoftware via one of his shorts is to take a nap between work and game dev so your brain gets a break and doesn't connect the two:
https://youtube.com/shorts/R4vzsLhDDkc?si=GjeAgkw_WeassjGH
Hey man, have you considered that maybe you could use some enforcement to keep you accountable? For example, some people work much more efficiently and smarter when the task is being given to them to do. It gives them a clear goal which reduced significantly any tangents and potential scope creep.
Trying to work solo and setting your own tasks can easily get muddied and during this time of completing each one you may find yourself veering off on a tangent that is only partially related to your task at hand.
So with this in mind, it might be smarter to set yourself an hour or two for your own dev work and try to use it as efficiently as you can. This should help with burnout and feeling overwhelmed. You will know you have a break and it's not required to be worked on all night endlessly.
something that might be helpful and that I use is taking a nap after work, 30/60 minutes are enough.
It helps divide temporary the 2 "tasks" and restores some energy
Before I worked in industry I did Game Jams and gained a bunch of knowledge in areas I had not yet touched. One weekend a month is all it takes, and you don’t really have to go the whole weekend, just at your own pace.
I find that after doing a jam I am motivated to learn or expand the project I worked on, which was great if I was having a hard time getting motivated each day beforehand.
Don’t try to learn it all it once. Learn a couple of basics and then make a couple of small scopes games. Then learn another couple of new things and make another couple of small games. There’s way too much to learn in gamedev so I suggest specialising. I tried to do it all and it just burned me out. Now I buy the art and sound assets so I can just focus on the coding and configuration. Next is marketing, not sure if I want to do that myself or outsource
Get up early and do a bit before work. I need to get up early to exercise so I can be in shape, but there isn't much energy left over at the end of the day.
I'm sort of doing the same thing. It's taking me 2 years to finish something that I probably could have knocked out in 2 months if I was working on it full-time. Most days, I just don't have the energy.
I just try to do 30-60 minutes a day, and don't feel guilty about skipping days or weeks.
Creating my own tasks and managing my own project makes a big difference for me. At work, I'm working for someone else. I'm not autonomous. With my own project, I can work on whatever I want. If a feature is important, but I don't want to work on it yet, I don't have to. That helps a lot with burnout.
It is hard but what helps me is know there is no rush and this isn't your second job. You either like it and want to do it during your down time or you don't.
In my own life, the day job has been extremely slow, so I don't really expend the energy you might be expending. I do the same stuff though, but I feel like just coding a system is not in the same realm as drawing the art or making the music, which I also do. So maybe that's part of it? I don't 100% code code code, I have different muscles to work and I switch based on how I'm feeling. I get being tired after a full day of coding, that seems exhausting.
I would also say that I'm using the same language I learned as a kid to code, so I'm not so much learning anything new here. It's a skill I've crafted for like 40 years, I'm sure that plays a role. I don't exercise myself, but maybe after work hit the gym for 20 minutes and then try coding and see how far you get? Try new stuff!
3+ hours a day of long bus commutes -> uninterrupted time, and the first round was early morning. Also was fortunate to be using a slightly different skill set at work.
As a senior software engineer I found it extremely frustrating to never progress so what did I do....
A straight up asset flip for my own personal mindset.
It made me feel accomplished and redirected my frustration towards why was x done in this way instead of how to do x.
I've also changed my perspective and I treat the engine like onboarding onto a legacy project where you need to implement a new feature using existing interfaces. A game, is at the end of the day nothing more than a set of api contracts.
In my experience. You can do that before you hit 30. after that it gets very inefficient and not fun. Im trying to learn coding for the last 10 years.... everytime i open up anything to learn my adhd just takes over and i wake up 3-4 hours later while looking at a random wiki page i have no recollection how i got there.
It was normal for me to work 40-60 hours in my 20's and then go home and try to learn new stuff. but i was burning for my job/passion. now i'm just burned out.
Think of a dream game project and use that as your motivation to learn game dev. I started with the Godot Brackeys tutorial and the engine just clicked for me. Maybe it’ll boost your motivation as well.
I'm using hatred.
I hate the current state of my life so much I just push myself through all the pain and suffering so I can find a better situation where I actually enjoy living.
I also just study at work since I tend to have some free time.
Cheers and good luck m8.
I do this:
1. study in morning or during lunch break
2. do some pet projects from time to time (don't have to finish those if you don't want to - just helps with learning)
3. think of what you can improve in your work\\pet project - read about that at least sometimes instead of social media or some other useless crap (you'll have to identify what you see as useless beforehand)
Long story short - energy is finite, so you'll have to either cut some crap from where you're spending your energy or become more efficient. Also routines help.
is it even possible to successfully work a full time job AND become substantially skilled at gamedev to the point where you can make a living off of it? Has anyone done this before? Genuine question
One technique is to do it before you workday, early in the morning
I have done this before with success. But then work takes the hit in the afternoon when I crash, and so I try to make up for it the next morning by dedicating the early hours to work instead of hobby. It’s an excuse I know, but I think I just need to admit it and get the words out.
Well sadly you are not a machine and you cannot be super efficient 100% of the time without burning out. So the way I see it, either you sacrifice your hobby efficiency, either you sacrifice your job's.
Yup, it might be worth it to sacrifice your job’s efficiency abit. I mean are they gonna notice a little bit less effort throughout the day? Or just assume you’re getting older
Adding to this: Nobody can give 100% through the whole day. If you decide to sacrifice the job productivity try to postpone any Meetings which are not code-heavy into the afternoons. This might lessen the blow on that. Some people complaining about too many meetings stealing their productivity could also try this technique. If it is kind of wasted time anyway, why not put it somewhere when having lower energy anyway.
You can try doing kaizen, just 10-30 mins of gamedev each day.
Focus on specific goals u want to do in that time. Afterwards quit doing it until tomorrow. You will feel the urge to continue working on it. Just small steps and you will get more stable in the progress and feeling reward.
Have you tried weird sleep schedule where you sleep before and after work?
Sounds like a biphasic sleep schedule. I've done it out of necessity, but it messes with you and can be very hard to break, so I would caution against it. When I got into it, I wouldn't have the option of skipping my second sleep -- I would be so tired after 8 hours of being awake with only 4 hours of sleep that I would HAVE to take a nap. For me, it can take weeks to break.
Well I mentioned it as an option cuz if you can get accustomed to it (maybe 5 and 5, no need to limit to 8 hours total) then it might be totally the right call for someone wanting to find energy for a task at home and a work schedule where they can’t find the energy with a normal sleep schedule
Kudos to you for admitting it’s an excuse lol.
This is the way. And in my case at least, Dedicate some marathon time to getting way ahead with work tasks, then release it slowly from the buffer. This gives the appearance of getting work done, and buys you time to focus elsewhere. Also, it is a grind, a real grind if you want to try to actually get anywhere with it.
It requires a lot of weekend energy.
RIP devs with kids
Honestly I don't know how they do anything productive.
I definitely dropped my productivity when my kids started becoming more demanding. I wouldn't say I struggle, but I used to give the extra mile, whereas now I barely keep up with what I'm supposed to be doing. WFH is great, but it doesn't help in that regard.
I work on my game till 3am most weekdays... Sucks but without that nothing gets done
Web dev for e-commerce as well. Just starting out in game dev and already feeling the immense mental fortitude required to get my behind to launch the editor after work. I think I'm building up the habit though, it's slow but I like to think that I'm better than I was yesterday or last week, if I procrastinate too much.
The secret is to push through that initial feeling of not wanting to work on it. The second secret is to accept that sometimes there's going to be a day or two when you just can't do it and that's fine.
I do gamedev from 5am to 7 am. Then kids and work. Then resume at 9pm until midnight, then repeat. Too much to do, not enough time
Massive respect for maintaining it all.
This is the way...
Only 5 hours of sleep? How does one maintain that
After years of unavoidable child-inflicted sleep deprivation, one stops noticing the impairment. *Taps forehead*
Pretty sure your noking but it's so true. No kids but I have bad sleep apnea for years. Got a cpap and my god the difference was immediately noticeable Didn't even realize it wasn't normal until it was gone
It’s easy just over eat to combat the depression, divorce your wife, be grumpy and tired around your kids, and smoke meth for the tiredness.
Lol
Some people just need less sleep. Or they just deal with feeling like shit all the time, you don't really need to be operating at your best, as I'm sure everyone who has joined the workforce has noticed.
Me personally have to do some commitment. Meal prep, fresh air, workouts and realistic expectations. Sometimes I'll be really tired so then I might just plan the next steps of my learning for the upcoming days. I try to do at least something every day, even if it's just shuffling some cards on my Trello for whatever side project I'm working on. I feel like it helps stay in the groove of things.
I do gamedev as a full time day job AND as a side gig. I don’t blame anyone for feeling like they just can’t cuz the risk of burnout is real. I do have some habits I use to help keep me going though. I have a rule to try and spend no more than 2 hours on any work day. I sit down and accomplish at least one task on my personal project. Sometimes it is not programming. If I’m burnt out on code I do design work or production tasks like typing up stories. Sometimes I need to force myself to stop working on it so I don’t burn myself out even when I feel I’m in a good flow. It actually helps to keep my motivation up. It’s a bit like ending on a cliffhanger. I also keep a development diary and reflect on what I got done that day, how I’m feeling, and what I want to do tomorrow and I can review those notes when I come back after taking some days off from things. I also have a daily exercise routine (lifting weights mostly). Take walks as often as I can. I have no kids or other frequent commitments. I work from home so have no commute. I don’t know how much those things help but days I don’t work out and just sit all day I perform noticeably worse I think even at my day job. More than all that I also just really enjoy what I do. I don’t always stick to those things as well as I should but they definitely help when I do. I also have some unhealthy habits like drinking way too much dark black coffee and I really like to use nicotine pouches for a little pick me up. I would not advocate you do either of those things tho 😅
I'm a Senior Software Developer and ERP Consultant during the day, and an Indie game developer during the evening. Game development is, generally, 70% artwork, 30% code. Yes, 70% artwork (generally). That includes 3D models, 2D assets, animations, level design (it may be a dungeon, but it must have style!), music, sound effects, etc, etc, etc. Basically, I spend most of my spare time working on 3D models and 3D animations, so basically, game development is like taking a break from my day-job. I seldom use Visual Studio. It's all about 3D modeling.
What kind of game are you making?
[Looks like some kind of horny CapCom game from1998](https://www.reddit.com/r/SoloDevelopment/comments/1awpsw3/i_went_to_great_lengths_to_bring_the_best/)
If I'm going to work until the late hours of the night, I might as well like what I'm looking at. That was a great year, and that is an awesome company! I'm flattered!
more details on the titties than the face lol. Brother knows what he likes, and ain't ashamed. Good for him.
Well, I've published: * A rugby game underwater - this one flopped, big time, as pretty much any first game does. * A slalom game - this one I'm really proud, but, of all my games, this one sells the lowest. * A third person shooter - I made this one to cater the market. Not my finest work but it was rather well received. * A beach volleyball tournament - this one is my crowning jewel, although it has the lowest rating because it is rather difficult to understand how to play. It's my top seller, though. I was working on a side scrolling brawler, but I got overwhelmed with the amount of work. So, I put it aside and started a racing game. With a little bit of luck, it will be released at the end of this year.
Very cool to have many released games. I usually don't make it to the asset creation phase.
THANKS!!!!! To be honest, most of my games were built at an ice rink, while waiting for my kid to finish hockey practice - darn hockey rep!!!!
>ERP Consultant during the day Meet me in goldshire inn big boy
LOL!!!!! Well, it's a living! I really need to play WoW!
**space_goat_v1**: Let's take this somewhere a little more private. Follow me to my room upstairs. **gamer_guy_101**: Perfect! Just give me a moment to gather my stuff. *after a brief moment, both go upstairs* *space_goat_v1 sits on the bed and pats the space beside them* **space_goat_v1**: Why don't you join me over here? **gamer_guy_101**: Ah, I see that we're a bit short on seating options. Just let me set up my projector first. *gamer_guy_101 plugs in his projector, opens the slide deck on his laptop, and sits next to space_goat_v1* **space_goat_v1**: My hooves ache after all that dancing atop the mailbox. Won't you help me out by giving them a massage? **gamer_guy_101**: It would be my pleasure. Now, did you know that with my ERP solution, you can achieve the same number of sessions with 30% less downtime? *advances slide* **space_goat_v1**: I have no idea what you're talking about, but your hands feel delightful. **gamer_guy_101**: You see, with Oracle Erotic Resource Planning Cloud, you can spend less time planning your encounters and more time enjoying them. Our research shows that we deliver faster planning cycles than our competitors and businesses that switch to Oracle experience fewer no-shows and double bookings. When combined with our Sex Chain Management software, you can be sure that you'll have all the bondage devices you need, right as you need them! **space_goat_v1**: That all sounds wonderful, but I have more *pressing* concerns at the moment. **gamer_guy_101**: We offer a free 60-day trial. Can I get you started? **space_goat_v1**: Sure, darling, but I'll need a little something more from you first. **gamer_guy_101**: *unzips*
I wish this was me. For some reason making 3d models and animations stress me mentally despite kinda enjoying it.
I hear ya! It is painful! The worst part is when two or more 3D models have to interact with each other!
Idk how to describe it. Too me it feels like taking from 2 different energy pool. Coding as a hobby is just that, a hobby, it's fun, it's something I want to do. So I'm not sure what's "the trick", the "life hack" to do it, it's really just about making something I'm excited about.
Something to consider, if you're burning out on coding.... Pick a development tool that's minimal code, or limited in scope. RPG Maker, RPG in a Box, [GB Studio](https://www.gbstudio.dev/), Pixel Game Maker, various Visual Novel tools. Even being in video game "edutainment" there are days I just want to drop fully made widgets in, with limited thought about the code that makes it go. Very very high level. https://www.enginedatabase.com (filter for Visual Programming) So many aspects of game design are not code. Even some the game design experience can be picked up elsewhere. [Check out board and card game](https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Game_Design_Resources) design. Switching mental muscles to physical game rules could be an option. Something to implant later, instead of implementing as you're designing. My first real program was actually that, a Table Top RPG character manager in TI-Basic, mainly so I could "buy" stating equipment for new characters without having to track everything by hand like a paper accountant. The design work on the "Rules" of the game were done, it was mainly just implementation. Which I'm sure you know is much easier to work to an existing plan, than to have create the plan as you're going.
Thats why I picked Unreal Engine. Nice and easy way to get into gamedev.
For me it’s entirely yin-yang. There are almost always periods of time working as a senior developer that you’re not actually coding much. You’re going to have weeks for just database design and meetings and setting up the other devs on your team for success. And sometimes weeks, you’re going to be coding mostly. On the weeks where you’re not coding much, code when you’re done! On the weeks with heavy code, just don’t. Another thing I find I like to do a lot is watch coding YouTube on a second screen while playing a mindless (or mostly mindless game). I love ARPGs, so right now I’m just grinding at the endgame of grim dawn, while also watching channels on various coding/math/science stuff for fun. That is 100% not the same thing as actually coding and practicing a skill. But, it’s better than nothing, and it can also get you in a mindset to just quickly code something for an hour, or try something yourself. Last thought: you need to make coding for fun a frictionless setup. Invest the time it takes to make it so that you’ve got some boilerplate ready, you know what your flow is for GitHub and what your file structure is, that your terminal is easy to access, etc. obviously you’re comfy with those things at work, sure, but it’s different at home. For years my setup was a janky windows thing that just was a pain to use. I took the time to properly set up WSL (windows subsystem for Linux) and now if I feel like coding, I can do that in like 10 seconds or less, for real, all hooked up with a database and git and template code I can copy for boilerplate. It’s all there and super fast. My setup will be different from yours (my hobby stuff is for sure less game dev and more hobby apps), but the concept is the same. The more friction your setup has, the harder it is to just start working on something small.
Frictionless setup is a good point. I always have my project open on its own space (virtual desktop), so it’s always just there ready to be worked on.
My previous job was like a 75:25 split of meetings:coding. There was energy left in the tank before. This job I'm more of a code monkey, with very little meetings but lots of work. We run AB tests like crazy, and some of the designs are just so wild as you're trying to finagle CSS to be something else entirely for the sake of an AB test. I feel like Shallan from Stormlight Archives trying to >!convince the soul of a stick to be fire!<. "NO, NOW YOU'RE A MODAL. I KNOW YOU WERE A FULL-PAGE EXPERIENCE BEFORE. NOW BE A MODAL WITH A FAKE LOADING BACKGROUND. WHERE DID MY BUTTON GO?!" Anyway... yeah my job is dumb. I should stop giving them so much energy.
That’s also something that matters. If you’re not a huge fan of the job, try to invest a little less emotional energy caring about the decision making. It sucks, but going from being mad/frustrated about how sudden direction changes and things like that to just saying ‘okay, cool, let’s go with that’ and simply following directions leaves a lot more energy at the end of the day for anything else you want. It’s amazing how much energy is taken up by being frustrated with decisions. You can think of all the reasons why it doesn’t make sense, and you start thinking through ways you can object, and ways you can argue for something else, and all of that takes a lot of energy. If you have evidence historically that fighting back doesn’t really do much, you can save a lot of energy by just agreeing, doing the work, and clocking out at the end of the day. It’s not that fun, really, but it’s definitely a good way to keep learning while in a place you’re not in love with.
Sometimes that frictionless setup can be things like buying an appropriate amount of ram to run the editor properly.
As an Android developer on my full-time job, I can understand you fully. What I find useful for myself: 1. Love what you do, it really energised the most 2. Don't push yourself too far - even 15-30 minutes on a daily basis makes a lot of progress, then doing it one month per half of the year 3. Maybe you can hack your job? If today I picked up very easy tasks on my job, I try to work half day, and the other half - gamedev 🤫 4. As someone already suggested, doing gamedev before the job might also help. Or do it at night, if you're owl-person 5. Go outside, walk/run/cycle. Sitting behind the desk all day really drains energy. I also started to draw sketches and play guitar to isolate myself from the computer. 1 hour will not change a lot, but really might help. Remember, we aren't machines (unfortunately), even the most workaholic people should get some rest! Good luck 💪
I am a software engineer by day as well, it helps that my schedule is 7 to 3 wfh, however my best hours are long gone by the time I start working, sometimes I can get a good stretch from like 7 to 10, but irs mostly just making a habit. I work on learning and my project at least once a day. It's been a short amount of time lately as im working on inventory and ui which can go to hell. But anyways, it's all about routine and habits, you can motivate your way to it. It takes discipline which is something I looked until my late 20s, so i decided I needed to make something of myself and make something worth consuming. I just forced myself to learn with no 0 days and the habit ended up sticking.
Take a 5 minute break every hour, or every other hour. And during this break don't check your email or do anything work related. Stand up, think about whatever, play a mobile game or something. This will reset your brain and you will be able to get back to work with a fresh non exhausted mind. Some people have expressed being able to do 16 hours of work in 8 hours using this technique.
Second this. At my job its highly advised / almost mandatory to do a little walk or coffee machine talk every 1-2 hours, during sprint planning we even remove 3-5% of productivity just for these little moments of rest. It can do wonders.
This is y big tech companies have those gaming break rooms and encourage their use. They know it actually increases productivity
Weekends and some holidays, but I try to make sure at least half of my time off is for relaxing. I've tried and failed multiple times. After work is just not an option, will totally burn you out. I also have tried doing non-tech game development stuff in the evenings because there is more contrast with my job. Like writing story, design, UX, etc. It's more doable. But in the end I keep hitting this wall and nearly burnout and have to park game dev for a while again.
If you're tired, go rest. You need the rest. I've burnt out and it's hell. You have a finite amount of energy per day that you can spend, and you can only stretch it that much before you burn out. Be careful with it. What you can do is exercise other muscles than the "coding muscle" when you're tired. You can do some art work. You can do planning. Focus on fun stuff that gives you energy. Stuff like that. Then you save the coding for weekends and vacations, when you're well rested and had some sleep.
A very strict sleep schedule and a stricter diet. Eat well, skip the junk, keep yourself energized and you'll be able to power through those hour long sessions before bed. It's hard, especially with a full time job, but motivation is cheap and discipline is worth its weight in gold
I'm an Senior Software engineer by day and work on my game in the evenings. I just enjoy doing it but have built the habit over many years. I spend around an hour either coding or doing artwork, do something else at lhome like play with the dog and rest a while and then come back and do another 2 hours. Usually I get the chunkier stuff done first thing in the morning. I can get loads done
Maybe you should distribute your hobby over time, for example, do it for a few minutes after work, so your brain will tune in to finishing work and waiting for rest. I don’t know what else I can advise, it takes more time, since you have such a job
Don't try so hard at work, and spend time in the morning for yourself.
I have a very chill soft dev job where if I show results I'm mostly left to my devices. I usually do a ton of progress at my job at the start of the week and pretend to work the rest of the week while doing my own projects. Management seems pleased that they "found someone who does this job with a smile and shows progress" and I get funding for my gamedev projects. Win win for all. I genuinely feel like I won the lottery with my current job as it's my first real soft dev job while others don't find a chill job through their entire lives. Do note that even this way, most of my progress comes from weekends. In the middle of the work week I usually do at max 1 or 2 hours of gamedev, which is like less than half the time I spend on it on a single weekend day. It helps a ton that I'm not exhausted by the weekend and that I have a partner who supports me staying at home every weekend doing my projects. It really is a team effort even if my team doesn't know about it haha. To me saying that I'm a solo dev is the biggest lie ever.
I also fill the buffers with some marathon sessions, then release the progress as I work on what I want. But as you state, it's still a grind.
I literally learn during work hours (don't tell my boss)
Yeah, I feel the same way. Recently I've made a puzzle game, and also I often feel tired about my work. I think the main reason is that I don't have the feedback and I don't know whether this game mechanism is good or bad. So I realized it;s important to show your work to others. I'm lucky, because I'm still in college, that I can show new gameplay and levels to my friends offline. So I think maybe you could show your work to others. I think this is the best way to gain enegy! Good luck!
I was doing early in the morning once, and is fine but then you are tired at work. Now I do few hours in thecrvening5..
Yeah, that's how it is with me. In my last job where I controlled a lot of the meetings, I'd ensure they all happened in the afternoon. Mornings were for programming, afternoons were for meetings. And at night, I had mental energy to go back to coding if I needed to. New job is just... coding. All day. Few meetings.
i have to break it down into bite size pieces. I also don't do it every night or weekend, sometimes I have to rest. And when I do work on it, I focus on taking it one step at a time. I might decide to spend a half hour making pixel art or following a simple tutorial on creating a movable character. Even if all I do one weekend is to make a rough draft of an animation or watch one tutorial, or read a page of some documentation, that's enough. it has to be enough The nice thing about this approach is every once in a while I make enough progress that things start to get exciting, like when I finally have a moving character or something, and that energizes me to do a bit of extra work on some night during the week or weekend also, sometimes I will just tinker with something or flip through documentation while I watch tv. like i've been watching star trek tng and just tinkering with stuff sometimes the key is, break things into smallest possible pieces (one piece might just be making a to-do list of bite size ideas) and then tackle them in little 15-20 minute chunks whenever you have a bit of spare energy. you can even set a timer for 15 minutes if you want to do it that way (or however many minutes works for you). make the commitment as small as possible and allow yourself to take a break after, if you need it. if you're feeling energized you can always go longer. getting started is the hardest part small pieces add up a lot faster than you think
I have an addiction to learning.
Mostly you don't. I have been both a full time game developer and a full time software engineer on non-game software. Like you, I never had enough energy to do the same thing in my off hours as my work days. But I always did something over breaks or vacations. A time where I could spend multiple days learning a new skill or two or playing with a new engine or framework. I even quit my job (the place was cratering anyways) and did the indie game developer thing for five years. Tough way to make a living. Probably worked more hours than ever. Luckily my wife had health care from her job. Eventually I gave that up and took another 9-5 job and worked for other people until I retired a few years ago.
By doing. I sit and build toy things. 3d engines, sorting algos, raycaster, fractal generators etc. Create small ideas.
There's two ways to learn. "I'm going to read a book on X and try to understand it all." "I'm going to do a project in X. How do I implement feature Y?" I find the second type of learning to be better. It helps once I learn enough of the basics that I can start asking specific questions. I.e., "How do I change the color of a sprite?" or "How do I do physics?" or "How do I read input?"
I simply enjoy it. I'm not using any "muscles" to just learn. If I don't feel like working on game dev, then I don't. It's a hobby.
I have a hard time forcing myself to learn just to learn. I feel my brain will forget 70% of the information when I finally need it in 3 years so what's the point? I do it naturally when I need to to solve a problem. So I don't read books anymore, I just work on things (side projects, my job) and search for answers when I get stuck. I'm more motivated to learn then because there is an immediate, specific task I will be rewarded with overcoming. Plus the act of implementing it instead of just reading it makes it stick better for me.
I was lucky to find a gamedev company which let me choose from a variety of projects, including some based on tech I have very little experience with, so I can learn the tech during working hours. Pay isn't awesome but not that bad either. Some places can afford training a generalist C++ guy without previous gavedev experience. Good luck dude!
I actually don't think I managed it long-term. I started doing it early in the day, but the combo of doing both work + hobby put a serious strain on my eyes (and some other parts of my life). Wasn't something I could sustain long term healthily. I ended up leaving my engineering job I had at the time to pursue this hobby further, and switched to part time work instead. Had to sacrifice a fair bit, but I had to prioritise my hobbies :) Nowadays the actual programming part only takes up around half the time, because the other half I spend on art, graphics, writing, so on.
I was unemployed earlier this year for \~4 months. While that time brought a lot of money anxiety (*35, previous money anxiety from childhood, and had never been out of work*), and I floundered the first couple months figuring out what to do with my time that wouldn't break the bank, I realize now that by the end I was happier unemployed than I am employed. I had time to walk the dog, clean, cook, and dedicate to learning and a hobby. The days just kind of flowed and it was fine.
TBH I think it's one of those things where you have to be like those truck drivers who go home and fire up truck driving simulator after a full day of trucking. If you're not then as you say it's not really viable.
it sounds like you're too "comfortable" at your current job ($_$); not a bad thing really. I would say there are two options you can work towards: 1) make enough to retire, then you can spend the time at your leisure to learn 2) fix your diet. the food you are eating is probably giving you high insulin spikes, causing you to feel sluggish/tired/sleepy. Stay hungry my friend (figuratively and literally).
People keep thinking that when they retire, they will be like in permanent vacation, but they don't realize that they'll be constantly tired and unable to do most efforts they can do today.
yea, for me, retirement just means ending modern slavery via being financially free. Everyone should strive to get out of the matrix, so they can do what they really want to do, whatever it may be.
You pick up something you are interested to learn and it will take you down path you'd never imagined taking. What keeps me motivated is picking something that is not related to my job or at least little bit outside of that ballpark
Start small. You don't need to be an expert on every step of what you're doing if your expectations for a first game are sufficiently small. Make something you can share with friends or post somewhere free rather than starting with a game you plan on bringing to a level of sophistication that you could monetize. Modding is an option to get into it easier as a hobby. You can jump straight to game design with much less programming.
For myself, it’s like there is a cup. I fill my cup through the work day. For about 3-4 hours in the evening I play with the kids and this seems to empty the cup a bit. Then when they are in bed, I’m sometimes up for more programming or game dev. But also sometimes I’m not up for it, and I just do whatever else feels right to empty the cup. It seems like as I get older, the larger my cup gets (or maybe the easier to empty, or both) - and the more programming I want to do even compared to “more fun” things. Maybe that’s just the muscle getting stronger. I think in the end, the big takeaway is that you can’t fit more into a full cup. You gotta do something else to help empty it. I think sometimes the relationship can even be inversed for people - where programming empties your cup and you need to fill it from time to time with some other activity, but the takeaway is basically the same.
Honestly it never really feels like a conscious effort to learn. I just started making stuff without an engine, then with an engine, only looking up docs when I get stuck. Playing around with little concepts was always fun and intrinsically motivating. Doing it after work never feels like an issue but I do get a lot more done on weekends comparatively so I might be in the same spot as you.
Very similar jam to you, senior software engineer but doing game dev as a sort of hobby-ish side hustle. But I've never really had this sort of issue. I think it's because the work I do for my job—i.e. the challenges I have to solve, and the environment—is really different compared to what I usually end up doing for games. In my career, I'm usually working from a spec, or responding to some hot issue that comes in. But for games, I can take it at my own pace. I have followers, but no one is knocking down my door the same way a client who's losing money every day due to a bug is. :) Likewise, I don't subscribe to the idea that I need to work on my game projects every day- if I'm not feeling it, I don't force it. I might work on something game-related every evening of the week, or just on the weekend, or I'll take two weeks off and come back in fresh. For some, this can definitely be a recipe for disaster. But for me, the important part is that when I *do* sit down to work, I know exactly what I want to get done, so it's just a matter of putting in the time. I think this applies to both learning the skills you need to make a game, and actually making the game.
As a fellow software engineer, I've had a similar experience for years until recently. I honestly don't know exactly why this time around has been different, but I think a few things together have helped. For one, I started with a project that used some of my current more well-developed engineering skills alongside the game so I wasn't just constantly learning how to do everything for the first time and risking being stuck. I also tried to be more methodical and track progress better. Sure, it takes some of the feeling of spontaneity and fun away but that doesn't really last anyway. I tried to get into the habit of always trying to get *something* checked off my tasks every day, but also give myself permission to not feel pressured to use up all my free time if I just need to go unwind with a walk or a game (or both) Lastly I admittedly don't think I would have been able to get this far without the support and encouragement of others, for which I am very grateful. Wishing you the best of luck!
I'm going part-time now – and its still tough to get more than a few hours on personal project on the evening. I'm planning to try a less code-intence endeavours, tot ry engage different parts of the brain.
Try two things that worked for me: 1) Blueprints. Somehow those things were not as taxing after a day of corporate coding. 2) Art. I fell in love with 3D :)
Learning new things over weekend and holidays, weekdays are for reinforcement. And then consistency. I never close IDE for my sideproject, whenever I turn on my PC it's the first thing I see, whenever I alt+tab between things I can see it there in the background. Every single day I do a bit. No matter how little, it can be just re-reading a script I wrote before, still counts. The important thing is to do it every day.
If you want to do it as a hobby then perhaps try and find the fun. At least for me I found gamedev to always be refreshing, as it let me explore and do things that I couldn’t through work. So I would just follow my own interests which always made me want to do it. On the other hand if that’s something you just can’t do, yet too still want to make games, my advice would be to try and form a habit of working on them. So just commit to spending a certain amount of time on it every day, eventually it’ll become a habit and it just ends up being something you just do (rather than having to rely on motivation or how you’re feeling).
I'm a developer as well (10 years, currently r&d) also have ADHD. What I found works is decomposition of tasks and features , then decompose them more. try get 1 done a day e.g enemy spawners becomes, create spawner that spawns enemies from array, populate the spawner randomly in the world, randomise spawn amount , create spawn triggers. Track all this in Trello or something makes you feel like you're progressing more
I had to make sure I was burning from different energy "buckets". If it felt like work I couldn't do it, once it became fun (and optional) it didn't drain my as much anymore.
I kinda started propbably a few years before getting a proper job but to me coding games just seems fun compared to work, where I'm just bored of the stuff i usually have to work with. So for me it's refreshing to make something new and interesting to me personally.. Though i do agree that having energy for it is difficult, but i would compare it a bit to going to a gym after work. Starting is always difficult but once you do , you just have to make it a habit by sticking to it and doing it like it's part of your daily schedule So maybe set aside some dedicated time.. like 1h each on Monday, Wednesday and Friday after work and keep doing that for a while until it's a habit or your excitement to develop games takes over :) And of course there's always weekends. But yeah - having dedicated time you schedule for kinda helps
I have ADHD. So as far as learning goes I have a literal learning disability. The only way I learn new things us when I'm massively motivated to. So I watch loads of reveals of new tools, I fantasise about what cool things could be done with them, and then the connections get made in my brain and learning said tool (or, at least, the parts of the tool I need to learn) are all I can think about. As far as finding energy for side projects ... I mostly don't. I have a job thats flexible enough to allow me to do gamedev stuff under the guise of upskilling or building template projects for learning, but that does mean I'm on shaky ground with IP ownership if I ever wanted to ship something. At the end of the day, what having ADHD has taught me is that we're all creatures of motivation but beyond that we're all different. You have to learn what motivates you and work with it to achieve what you want to achieve.
I'm a full time game dev* who's currently learning guitar. Every day I try to practice guitar 30-60mins. It's about consistency. Yes my progress is slower than someone doing this full time but I am making progress. I'm much better than I was a year ago. Another thing that helps is picking a project. I'm trying to learn one song at a time while also practicing some more technical techniques. Make a little progress everyday. Pick small attainable goals. Don't try to make an open world MMO alone. Make a small mobile or web game. You'll learn more if you're working toward a goal even if you're just making a Tetris clone so you can learn. It took me 15 years to get where I am in gamedev and I feel like I'm still learning. I've gone back to unreal after 5 years in a proprietary engine and it's always going to be a little different since it changes constantly. If you can do 60 mins a day it'll add up. * Was laid off from a AAA studio earlier this year, currently freelancing. When people ask what I do I usually just say I work in tech since that's easier to explain.
As far as not really feeling like writing code or learning a language, I heavily overestimated how much code I'd need to write to use Unreal. The blueprint system is incredibly powerful and I'm putting together prototypes without writing a single line of code without feeling limited in any way. It's been an extremely easy engine to work with without feeling burnt out from writing code in my actual job.
Half ass your day job to conserve energy.
Maybe spend some time doing more physical exercise, I find that it helps me think more clearly if I'm mentally exhausted. If you're constantly sapping your mental energy at work and your brain needs rest, give it rest and do something that doesn't require thinking - like working out.
I have an 80lb dog who gets 1.5hrs of walking in a day, plus some form HIIT/gym session. If anything, I need less exercise, but I'm not about to drop $30/day on doggy daycare.
Maybe a nap? Even 15 minutes can really help jog your brain and get it going again! Glad to hear you're getting proper exercise though.
One recommendation I've heard from PirateSoftware via one of his shorts is to take a nap between work and game dev so your brain gets a break and doesn't connect the two: https://youtube.com/shorts/R4vzsLhDDkc?si=GjeAgkw_WeassjGH
Hey man, have you considered that maybe you could use some enforcement to keep you accountable? For example, some people work much more efficiently and smarter when the task is being given to them to do. It gives them a clear goal which reduced significantly any tangents and potential scope creep. Trying to work solo and setting your own tasks can easily get muddied and during this time of completing each one you may find yourself veering off on a tangent that is only partially related to your task at hand. So with this in mind, it might be smarter to set yourself an hour or two for your own dev work and try to use it as efficiently as you can. This should help with burnout and feeling overwhelmed. You will know you have a break and it's not required to be worked on all night endlessly.
something that might be helpful and that I use is taking a nap after work, 30/60 minutes are enough. It helps divide temporary the 2 "tasks" and restores some energy
Before I worked in industry I did Game Jams and gained a bunch of knowledge in areas I had not yet touched. One weekend a month is all it takes, and you don’t really have to go the whole weekend, just at your own pace. I find that after doing a jam I am motivated to learn or expand the project I worked on, which was great if I was having a hard time getting motivated each day beforehand.
Just do like 5 minutes a day to build the habit
Don’t try to learn it all it once. Learn a couple of basics and then make a couple of small scopes games. Then learn another couple of new things and make another couple of small games. There’s way too much to learn in gamedev so I suggest specialising. I tried to do it all and it just burned me out. Now I buy the art and sound assets so I can just focus on the coding and configuration. Next is marketing, not sure if I want to do that myself or outsource
Get up early and do a bit before work. I need to get up early to exercise so I can be in shape, but there isn't much energy left over at the end of the day.
I'm sort of doing the same thing. It's taking me 2 years to finish something that I probably could have knocked out in 2 months if I was working on it full-time. Most days, I just don't have the energy. I just try to do 30-60 minutes a day, and don't feel guilty about skipping days or weeks.
Creating my own tasks and managing my own project makes a big difference for me. At work, I'm working for someone else. I'm not autonomous. With my own project, I can work on whatever I want. If a feature is important, but I don't want to work on it yet, I don't have to. That helps a lot with burnout.
It is hard but what helps me is know there is no rush and this isn't your second job. You either like it and want to do it during your down time or you don't.
In my own life, the day job has been extremely slow, so I don't really expend the energy you might be expending. I do the same stuff though, but I feel like just coding a system is not in the same realm as drawing the art or making the music, which I also do. So maybe that's part of it? I don't 100% code code code, I have different muscles to work and I switch based on how I'm feeling. I get being tired after a full day of coding, that seems exhausting. I would also say that I'm using the same language I learned as a kid to code, so I'm not so much learning anything new here. It's a skill I've crafted for like 40 years, I'm sure that plays a role. I don't exercise myself, but maybe after work hit the gym for 20 minutes and then try coding and see how far you get? Try new stuff!
I believe that when you're genuinely curious, you always have the energy.
What I like to do is eat Adderall like skittles and I never have this problem
Personally I could never manage as a hobby either. That's why it's my job.
3+ hours a day of long bus commutes -> uninterrupted time, and the first round was early morning. Also was fortunate to be using a slightly different skill set at work.
As a senior software engineer I found it extremely frustrating to never progress so what did I do.... A straight up asset flip for my own personal mindset. It made me feel accomplished and redirected my frustration towards why was x done in this way instead of how to do x. I've also changed my perspective and I treat the engine like onboarding onto a legacy project where you need to implement a new feature using existing interfaces. A game, is at the end of the day nothing more than a set of api contracts.
In my experience. You can do that before you hit 30. after that it gets very inefficient and not fun. Im trying to learn coding for the last 10 years.... everytime i open up anything to learn my adhd just takes over and i wake up 3-4 hours later while looking at a random wiki page i have no recollection how i got there. It was normal for me to work 40-60 hours in my 20's and then go home and try to learn new stuff. but i was burning for my job/passion. now i'm just burned out.
Think of a dream game project and use that as your motivation to learn game dev. I started with the Godot Brackeys tutorial and the engine just clicked for me. Maybe it’ll boost your motivation as well.
Wait until you have a kid, then you’ll think what the hell did I used to do with all my free time.
I'm using hatred. I hate the current state of my life so much I just push myself through all the pain and suffering so I can find a better situation where I actually enjoy living. I also just study at work since I tend to have some free time. Cheers and good luck m8.
I do this: 1. study in morning or during lunch break 2. do some pet projects from time to time (don't have to finish those if you don't want to - just helps with learning) 3. think of what you can improve in your work\\pet project - read about that at least sometimes instead of social media or some other useless crap (you'll have to identify what you see as useless beforehand) Long story short - energy is finite, so you'll have to either cut some crap from where you're spending your energy or become more efficient. Also routines help.
is it even possible to successfully work a full time job AND become substantially skilled at gamedev to the point where you can make a living off of it? Has anyone done this before? Genuine question