I think it's reasonable to take extra time to recover after putting your heart and soul into a project for years. Especially when, like any game, you might not be noticed or only get negative attention. I also think it's reasonable to be thrown off by a ton of attention, even positive attention. New fans who've seen the high standard a dev can meet met tend to expect similar quality moving forward, and that's a ton of pressure even when your project was received really well. Dunno if it helps to mention, I hope so. Anyways, Gunpoint was the first game I fell in love with on Steam. From a players perspective, I'm glad that even with all the studio closures and layoffs that you have had a chance to keep bringing your projects to your playerbase since those days. Luck may play some role but the success is earned IMO.
I don't have anything substantial to add to this, it's pretty much exactly what I was going to write myself! Look after yourself Tom, it takes time to adjust to big changes and events, even positive ones.
With regards to how old something has to be to feel mysterious, you could have layers of history. If you go to Rome, you can see ancient roman ruins (thousands of years old) and renaissance arcitecture (hundreds of years) side by side. Some parts that are in truth very old don't look it because they are incredibly well preserved or have a newer exterior shell (e.g. the Pantheon), so that could come as a surprise to the player when it is revealed.
Thank you for sharing. All the best with your recovery! I don't think that the part of you that wants to be able to not do anything for a few days is entitled. You've been pushing yourself over your limit for a long time. Even if you technically haven't crunched. The break is well earned. I would recommend, down the line, trying to do a holiday that is long enough that you start to become bored. That's an indication for some that they're truly out of burnout. It sounds ridiculous but we as human beings have a right to waste some of our time.
The "what the story seems to be" and "what the story really is" sounded to me a lot like Hot Fuzz :D As far as estimates go, I have done my share of estimates on complex development projects and if you don't have someone insisting on a budget, the best option is to set a deadline for a specific part of work for each team/role and set a new one for the next part as they come along. I usually multiply my estimate for smaller projects (under 6 months) by anywhere from 1.5 to 3 depending on how much is unknown or how problematic I expect the client to be and it tends to end up pretty close. The problem with more creative projects is that you have dead ends which you can't predict, so estimating the whole game is pretty much impossible.
Try not to feel too guilty about succeeding during a time of layoffs, nor of feeling burnt out after achieving success. It was long and difficult, and the success you and your team achieved was well earned. The state of the industry at large is not just a simple twist of fate - much of what's currently happening was made inevitable by the bad decisions of people in power. Sympathy for the workers who suffer, but none for the executives that engineered it all. Also, since you mentioned it in passing, Godot is fairly easy to get into, but expect it to be closer to Game Maker than Unity in terms of like.. friction and flexibility? It's got an initial hiccup as you try to get orientated, then things flow very smoothly for a while, then you inevitably start running into limitations or convolutions. Also, tip: "Scenes" in Godot are just a really stupid name for what are ostensibly prefabs, and the "scene tree" is the heart of the engine.
It may be that success gave you something too big to live up to, and once ego is involved, paralysis follows to protect it. You can reframe the situation because every success is relative and not that important in the grand scheme of things so your ego doesn't need to worry.
That whole parties know everything ruined Broken Age for me. The boy and girl did puzzles and never met or communiated thier findings but.Sometimes but not always, Girl puzzle solutions would be found by the boy. A snake that murdered the girl was later harmless to the boy because aged 2 he played with a cuddly toy snake. He lived in a sterile environment so no indication he ever learned animal handling. Ended up completing the second half with RUclips assistance every ten minutes.
If you want to make original games (both original to players and also original in the sense that you've never made a game like that before yourself), then there's never going to be any 'just banging one out'.
thank you very much tom for being so honest and open about your mental state during this time. hope you feel better very soon
I am so ready for this potential Outer-Wilds-a-like (if it ever eventually exists).
I think it's reasonable to take extra time to recover after putting your heart and soul into a project for years. Especially when, like any game, you might not be noticed or only get negative attention. I also think it's reasonable to be thrown off by a ton of attention, even positive attention. New fans who've seen the high standard a dev can meet met tend to expect similar quality moving forward, and that's a ton of pressure even when your project was received really well. Dunno if it helps to mention, I hope so.
Anyways, Gunpoint was the first game I fell in love with on Steam. From a players perspective, I'm glad that even with all the studio closures and layoffs that you have had a chance to keep bringing your projects to your playerbase since those days. Luck may play some role but the success is earned IMO.
I don't have anything substantial to add to this, it's pretty much exactly what I was going to write myself! Look after yourself Tom, it takes time to adjust to big changes and events, even positive ones.
With regards to how old something has to be to feel mysterious, you could have layers of history. If you go to Rome, you can see ancient roman ruins (thousands of years old) and renaissance arcitecture (hundreds of years) side by side. Some parts that are in truth very old don't look it because they are incredibly well preserved or have a newer exterior shell (e.g. the Pantheon), so that could come as a surprise to the player when it is revealed.
Thank you for sharing. All the best with your recovery!
I don't think that the part of you that wants to be able to not do anything for a few days is entitled.
You've been pushing yourself over your limit for a long time. Even if you technically haven't crunched. The break is well earned.
I would recommend, down the line, trying to do a holiday that is long enough that you start to become bored. That's an indication for some that they're truly out of burnout.
It sounds ridiculous but we as human beings have a right to waste some of our time.
The "what the story seems to be" and "what the story really is" sounded to me a lot like Hot Fuzz :D As far as estimates go, I have done my share of estimates on complex development projects and if you don't have someone insisting on a budget, the best option is to set a deadline for a specific part of work for each team/role and set a new one for the next part as they come along. I usually multiply my estimate for smaller projects (under 6 months) by anywhere from 1.5 to 3 depending on how much is unknown or how problematic I expect the client to be and it tends to end up pretty close. The problem with more creative projects is that you have dead ends which you can't predict, so estimating the whole game is pretty much impossible.
It honestly sounds like you need and deserve a holiday somewhere. What you're going through sounds very much like burnout 😅
Try not to feel too guilty about succeeding during a time of layoffs, nor of feeling burnt out after achieving success. It was long and difficult, and the success you and your team achieved was well earned. The state of the industry at large is not just a simple twist of fate - much of what's currently happening was made inevitable by the bad decisions of people in power. Sympathy for the workers who suffer, but none for the executives that engineered it all.
Also, since you mentioned it in passing, Godot is fairly easy to get into, but expect it to be closer to Game Maker than Unity in terms of like.. friction and flexibility? It's got an initial hiccup as you try to get orientated, then things flow very smoothly for a while, then you inevitably start running into limitations or convolutions. Also, tip: "Scenes" in Godot are just a really stupid name for what are ostensibly prefabs, and the "scene tree" is the heart of the engine.
It may be that success gave you something too big to live up to, and once ego is involved, paralysis follows to protect it. You can reframe the situation because every success is relative and not that important in the grand scheme of things so your ego doesn't need to worry.
Tom, if you want my money for the next game you just have to promise me there will be a window and a wilhelm scream ;-)
That whole parties know everything ruined Broken Age for me. The boy and girl did puzzles and never met or communiated thier findings but.Sometimes but not always, Girl puzzle solutions would be found by the boy.
A snake that murdered the girl was later harmless to the boy because aged 2 he played with a cuddly toy snake. He lived in a sterile environment so no indication he ever learned animal handling. Ended up completing the second half with RUclips assistance every ten minutes.
What was the subpar movie you were watching and abandoned to work on gamepad controls?
If spending 6 years doubled your sales, imagine how many copies you could sell if you spend 20 years on the next project 😁
If you want to make original games (both original to players and also original in the sense that you've never made a game like that before yourself), then there's never going to be any 'just banging one out'.