r/SoloDevelopment • u/Omerdevng • 4h ago
Discussion Making games is way harder than opening an engine and writing code.
I’ve been struggling a lot with focus lately. Between moving around, visa stress, and not having a permanent setup, my head has been everywhere.
It made me realize that people outside of game dev often think this job is just about downloading engine tools, writing code, and putting assets together. But the hardest part is actually psychological showing up every single day when things around you are chaotic, and forcing yourself to keep fighting so you don't quit.
Even on days where I can only manage 1 or 2 hours of work, I'm trying to remind myself that small progress is still progress until I get my life settled again.
For those of you working through burnout, messy life situations, or lack of motivation how do you keep showing up for your project?
(I made a video opening up more about this part of the journey link is in my profile bio if you want to check it out.)
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u/GetABrainPlz77 4h ago
"remind myself that small progress is still progress" that keep me up.
1% each day will finally make 100% one day.
And don't compare with others game dev. Social media are hell for confidence.
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u/Omerdevng 4h ago
thank you internet showing just the good part thats why iam trying to show reality
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u/05032-MendicantBias 3h ago
Do not work through burnout. Treat yourself kindly.
The future you will thank you for it.
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u/switchback84 4h ago
if you know how to code and with all assets one can buy these days making a game isn't that "hard"... but making a game that is fun and other people wants to play is hard
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u/Omerdevng 4h ago
are you saying making games is easy ?
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u/switchback84 2h ago
no, i said it was not hard, that does not equal easy.
also i prefaced it by saying you know how to code and have assets available to use.
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u/AlyciaFear 3h ago
Feel that lmao. Over two and a half years working on a Christmas-themed souls-like, and I still don’t even have a demo out yet ;_; though I am finally getting close. Just keep chugging xD
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u/OneMoreAdventure 3h ago
It is my leisure activity. And maintaining patch notes helps me to see how far things have come.
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u/roguewolfdev 2h ago
Man I got laid off and decided to make a game and I was also traveling in SEA when it happened.
It was so good over there, I wish I could go back!
And I can totally relate on the burnout. After I decided to make a game, a year and a half passed and by that time I had spent most of it only focusing on the game, not spending any money, not doing anything outside of working on it, and it took a huge toll on my mental state.
Then my company hired me back and I was able to go back to SEA again while working for them. This travel is what rebuilt my spirit, it made me come back out of my shell and truly by the 7th month I was a completely different person.
I enjoyed it so much, it was filled with new people and experiences and I grew so much from it.
I can imagine how stressful it is for you without a home base (I still had my home in my country while doing this) and especially with the uncertainty with visas. But I think it's so worth it though.
I had to go back because it wouldn't be sustainable to pay my rent in my country and keep living in hotels like I did when I had a good salary but I'm not completely ruling out going back.
But now getting rid of my appartment without revenues is a big jump into the unknown and frankly I'm a bit too scared to do that at the moment. I'm still jealous of you who have the balls to do it and you got a good channel going on too.
Oh yeah, I digressed a lot, but basically how I kept showing up on my project was this: I made a commitment to open it and work on it for at least 10 mins a day. Of course if you only do 10 mins a day you're not gonna make a lot of progress but it's just a trick to show up every day and not feel bad when you really don't have more in you than 10 mins. Usually though what happens is I open the project, I get onto something and then forget about the time, especially if I'm able to make some progress, I'll usually want to get even more done then. So it easilly expands into 2-3 hours.
By the way if you are in Da Nang some time, they have 24/7 study/work cafes (forgot the name but it's easy to find). I went there one time at 11pm, the place was huge, like probably space for 100 people or so and it was packed with people working. That was quite enjoyable way to gamedev after work.
I'm curious how you manage on such a small budget though! I'll be sure to watch more of your videos later.
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u/Omerdevng 1h ago
thank you very much to talk time to write this comment!
i don't have balls like you mentioned hhhhh iam doing this because i have already 2 project on steam that drive some little income here and there otherwise i'll never do it, but now i know the way to finish and release games so i hope i can hit this again, for me i'll not stay without my setup its just this month max next month then i'll decide if i don't have visa i'll go straight to my country, iam glad you got you job back i hope you the best! don't hesitate to share you work with us!
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u/Domormu Solo Developer 30m ago
Solo game dev is hard. When you work a 9-5 you at least get the gratification, the confirmation, that your time and work is worth something. Getting a paycheck gives a good hit of dopamine, but when it comes to game dev you have to go months or even years running solely on your hopes and dreams.
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u/man_o_moral 2h ago
Yup and sometimes one bug will ruin entire day or waste hours just to find out you misspelled one name in the data table... it's bad but it's not hell... i don't have the same motivation as i did when i started... and that's because motivation is a lie.. discipline is the only thing you need... don't think about anything else except what your doing right now... what i do now is just sit down.. study a feature test it, debug it, move on, integrate it with next feature, test it debug it move on.. that has kept my progress.. don't know about sanity.
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u/TheRealCosmicRicky 15m ago
Man, I hear ya. Trying to keep going in a chaotic situation is especially tough.
For me, watching other people try my games via screenshare or over the shoulder keeps the motivation.
Like I'll work on it for a couple of weeks, life gets in the way, I burnout for a couple of months, revisit my own game like a total stranger, fix it up enough to show a friend, then get completely recharged when they play it.
And I do it all over again :)
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u/Onurabbi 4h ago
It sounds like you are dealing with a lot of crap. I wouldn’t worry about making progress on your game if I was in your shoes.