I managed to wrap up the navigation UI last week and am now working on making it run and do what it is supposed to do. Also, I am connecting that with the programming mechanic and slowly approaching something that is representable.
The grunt work, creating 2-d or 3-d art, creating music or programming is not the most time consuming aspect so far. Re-iterating on design and scribbling on pieces of paper, to try and find an attractive solution is usually what takes up most of the time. Reviewing for continuity, simplifying ideas, removing features and unifying features can be a bastard to do. It helps being able to do all the tasks yourself, so when you get stuck for a while in one area, you can retreat into another and stay productive while other problems are boiling in the back of the mind. When that is not a problem anymore, and the grunt work tasks can more accurately assessed in regards to time. I can basically sit down with a large coffee cup and a timer and crunch through dozens in a day. Creating something by trial and error and not just by copy, will always be time consuming.
I am often asked: “Why are you doing this on your own?”. Why are you not recruiting all your game development friends to help you out?”.
There is no linear growth of quality and throughput by putting more hands into the bakery. You have to be very aware about the people you can work with, and the people you can’t work with. That does not relate to their quality and work results, but a lot more about the overall dynamic of characters. It is also a very focused effort on my part to educate myself better by throwing myself into the deep end. Knowing the ins and out of this game development adventure by setting a very ambitious goal, where a serious trip and an effort to reach it will most likely be a lot more rewarding than reaching it in the end.
I have also been very aware that I work very well on my own, where I am not being leashed around to do grunt work, but where I am betting my own ideas, thoughts and inputs into key parts of the solution. I want the freedom to travel. Being free to travel, is not only the freedom to physically travel around the surface of this planet, but also being free to run towards the creative thoughts that spark in the back of your mind. I am working towards autonomy, where I am really in control of where I go and when I go.
Most people are too focused on absolute income and the deferred way of living, instead of looking at relative income and the free time you can have in your hands when you actually want to use it.
A one man workshop is not tied down to a fixed address, fixed hours or fixed goals. It is the most flexible working condition you can aim for. So, a big set of employees, large company, partners and a lot of responsibility will have you working like a slave for years and maybe until you retire, when you finally can go where you want to, work on what you want and when you want to. So, how about working towards personal freedom instead of waiting until you might not even have the health to enjoy it.
So, I am actively working towards being self employed with all the freedom that comes with it. While I am getting there, I will need to take on various small gigs, contracts or freelance work. But, my goal will remain the same.
This week, I will continue to work on the interactive features of the navigation along with wrapping up the connections with the programming mechanics. There are a couple of UI related tasks that need to be done, but those are all trivial and do not need weeks of dedicated work to see through.
I need to continue, since there is no-one else to pick up my slack.
V 