I must be mad, at least that is what I think is going on. I had a dream the other night. In it a beautiful girl asks me frankly why I'm spending so much of my time on something that will yield zero return? She was rightfully disappointed in me. Why? Who out there has also come to this barrier? What do you see over the barrier?
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Madness
Do you feel that your work will yield zero return?
What do you value about development (or whatever activity you're discussing) and what are you hoping to get out of it?
You might want financial success, or you might just want to express yourself. You might want to communicate some specific message or draw attention to something. You might just want to pass time. You might be using it to learn things you can apply to other fields.
If you're not getting what you want out of it, maybe it's time to reevaluate your goals. You might want to invest your time differently.
Is that helpful at all?
Author
Hey Jbadams, thanks for the quick reply. I think I'm just burnt out. I gave myself extra time until the end of summer to try and get as much done as possible, impatient perhaps?. The more time I spend, the blurrier the end goal gets. I thought I'd value making this project a bigger priority, and at first I did, but now more and more I'm thinking I should perhaps make this more of a hobby project again. I enjoyed it more then. Hmmm...
Most of us on the site have had the struggle, or will eventually.
There is an enormous difference between a project done as a hobby and a project done with a commercial goal.
The hobby project is done for the love of what you are creating. If something is fun for you then you include it. If something is less fun then it is left out. It is crafted toward whatever you like.
If your hobby project is to build a model ship in a bottle, then you can work on it whenever the mood strikes, and put as much detail as you want. If you want to make that model ship out of 15 pieces of an easy-level product bought at the craft store, then you can. If you want to make it out of thousands of intricate parts, each crafted, sanded, polished, painted, varnished, and carefully glued in place, then you can. There are no expectations.
If your hobby project is to rebuild a classic car, then the same things apply. There is a difference that people complain about the space it takes up, but it is still done for the love of the craft done at your own pleasure without expectations.
However, a project with commercial intent is an entirely different beast. It isn't just about what you want, but it also includes what other people may want. It isn't just your play style, you need to account for many play styles. It isn't just crashes in the code paths you follow, it also includes all the crashes other people encounter in their play styles. Instead of needing your own personal preference of polish, it requires a higher degree of polish. The basics feel fun, and putting together the first prototypes can be a struggle yet enjoyable. However, as the project drags on, there are all the things that you wouldn't bother with in a personal project but are unacceptable if you're going to ask for money. The hobby project is fine if you know you can't hold down two actions at once on level 6, but that is unacceptable in a released project. The flickering sprites on level 4 are fine in a hobby, but not in commercial. The slowdown when 17+ bullets are on the screen at once are fine in a hobby project, but not in a commercial product.
That doesn't mean you can't turn a hobby project into a commercial success, nor does it mean to limit making a commercial game as a hobby. People have done both. It is just an amazing amount of work, far more work than most people realize until they try to do it themselves.
But it is that way in many fields. Authors know it is a ton of work to write a book, with draft after draft until you hate the project and the editors finally let it pass, but nobody can effectively communicate the work until someone experiences it themselves. Parenting is a ton of work, a seemingly unending set of challenges and only after many years seeing how the results turned out, with no way to go back and fix changes; but nobody can effectively communicate all the details until someone goes through the process.
It is a major effort. If you really want to do it then do so. It requires enormous efforts, particularly as you get farther along in the project, but generally persistence brings results, and with that product you can throw it on the great roulette wheel of the open market. Then you'll see how your market research, your marketing, your designs, and your implementations all come together. Don't skimp on the market research or the marketing, both are critical.
Finally, yes, it is a bit of madness. But that madness sometimes builds up all of humanity.
There is an enormous difference between a project done as a hobby and a project done with a commercial goal.
The hobby project is done for the love of what you are creating. If something is fun for you then you include it. If something is less fun then it is left out. It is crafted toward whatever you like.
If your hobby project is to build a model ship in a bottle, then you can work on it whenever the mood strikes, and put as much detail as you want. If you want to make that model ship out of 15 pieces of an easy-level product bought at the craft store, then you can. If you want to make it out of thousands of intricate parts, each crafted, sanded, polished, painted, varnished, and carefully glued in place, then you can. There are no expectations.
If your hobby project is to rebuild a classic car, then the same things apply. There is a difference that people complain about the space it takes up, but it is still done for the love of the craft done at your own pleasure without expectations.
However, a project with commercial intent is an entirely different beast. It isn't just about what you want, but it also includes what other people may want. It isn't just your play style, you need to account for many play styles. It isn't just crashes in the code paths you follow, it also includes all the crashes other people encounter in their play styles. Instead of needing your own personal preference of polish, it requires a higher degree of polish. The basics feel fun, and putting together the first prototypes can be a struggle yet enjoyable. However, as the project drags on, there are all the things that you wouldn't bother with in a personal project but are unacceptable if you're going to ask for money. The hobby project is fine if you know you can't hold down two actions at once on level 6, but that is unacceptable in a released project. The flickering sprites on level 4 are fine in a hobby, but not in commercial. The slowdown when 17+ bullets are on the screen at once are fine in a hobby project, but not in a commercial product.
That doesn't mean you can't turn a hobby project into a commercial success, nor does it mean to limit making a commercial game as a hobby. People have done both. It is just an amazing amount of work, far more work than most people realize until they try to do it themselves.
But it is that way in many fields. Authors know it is a ton of work to write a book, with draft after draft until you hate the project and the editors finally let it pass, but nobody can effectively communicate the work until someone experiences it themselves. Parenting is a ton of work, a seemingly unending set of challenges and only after many years seeing how the results turned out, with no way to go back and fix changes; but nobody can effectively communicate all the details until someone goes through the process.
It is a major effort. If you really want to do it then do so. It requires enormous efforts, particularly as you get farther along in the project, but generally persistence brings results, and with that product you can throw it on the great roulette wheel of the open market. Then you'll see how your market research, your marketing, your designs, and your implementations all come together. Don't skimp on the market research or the marketing, both are critical.
Finally, yes, it is a bit of madness. But that madness sometimes builds up all of humanity.
In it a beautiful girl asks me frankly why I'm spending so much of my time on something that will yield zero return?
Because I fucking enjoy it, bitch.
Point is, not everything you make has to have a return. Whether it is in money, acknowledgement, or whatever. Everyone does things to have fun and relax, reading books, playing a game, doing some sport, etc. Some people just so happen to open up their IDE and see what else they can implement or toy with. What return do those activities yield? You wont become an erudite by just reading a couple books, you wont become a professional player by playing a weekend football match with your friends, and you might not become a "successful" indie dev by working on your project every now and then. And that is fine.
The slowdown when 17+ bullets are on the screen at once are fine in a hobby project, but not in a commercial product.
Eh, lets not assume "commercial development" has that high of standards. In the highest levels and the lowest, It doesn't. What AAA dev has that an indie doesn't is probably 10 years of a franchise (and a big marketing budget) that will pull customers in no matter what, so they get leeway in the mistakes they can make. People bought ME Andromeda despite the animations, people bought all Fallout 3/4 despite all of the bugs, sub-par performance and sub-par graphics, etc.
Author
Right on frob, I really appreciate your post!
In it a beautiful girl asks me frankly why I'm spending so much of my time on something that will yield zero return?Because I fucking enjoy it, bitch.
hahaha.
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