Can You Develop Games as a Hobby After Work?
TLDRThe video documents game developer Jason Weimann's daily routine of balancing full-time work, health and relationships, with his hobby of game development. It depicts a typical Monday where he wakes up early to work on his game before exercising, working his software engineering job, and caring for his puppy. In the evening he squeezes in more personal project work before picking up his wife. He reflects on sustainably fitting hobby game dev into life by focusing not on goals, but on balancing his desired identity as a game developer with good health and relationships.
Takeaways
- 😀 He starts each day by laying out clothes and planning game dev tasks the night before to save time and decisions in the morning
- ☕ His morning routine involves making coffee, doing mobility stretches, and working on game dev for 1-2 hours
- 🏋️♀️ He makes time for exercise by working out at home for 45 mins - 1 hour each morning
- 🐕 His morning also involves taking care of his 1.5 year old puppy with walks, play time, etc
- 👨💻 He works a full time software engineering job from home during the day
- 😌 His evening routine involves family time, dog walks, sometimes more game dev, and unwinding
- ⏰ He works game dev into small windows between other responsibilities rather than long intense sessions
- 🌲 He showed an example of progress made that evening on the game's foraging system
- 💡 He emphasizes focusing on your identity as a game dev rather than specific goals in order to sustain motivation
- 👍 He enjoys sharing his journey and hopes people find this type of routine/habit content valuable
Q & A
What time does the day start for the video creator?
-The day starts at 5:45 AM for the video creator.
What does the video creator work on first thing in the morning?
-The video creator works on game development first thing in the morning, as he finds himself to be most productive during the early morning hours.
What is part of the video creator's morning workout routine?
-Part of the video creator's morning workout routine includes doing some mobility work and stretching while the coffee is brewing.
How does having an in-home gym benefit the video creator?
-Having an in-home gym allows the video creator to get a great workout in right at home conveniently, which helps him maintain his routine of working out every morning.
What is the focus of the evening walk with the dog?
-The focus of the evening walk with the dog is relaxation and unwinding after a long work day rather than videography or productivity.
How much time does the video creator have to work on game dev in the evenings?
-The amount of time the video creator has to work on game dev in the evenings varies, but he often has 1-2 hours in the evening to dedicate to it.
What feature was added to the game during the demo?
-During the demo, the feature of having trees drop items when hit with the hand ax was added.
What does the video creator believe is most important for maintaining balance while working full-time and developing games?
-The video creator believes shifting focus to your desired identity rather than just your end goals is most important for maintaining balance with a hobby like game dev.
Who helps support the video creator's game development financially?
-There are several Patreon supporters, including Kyle Vanreiper, Jess Sargo, and others, who help fund the video creator's game development.
What type of additional content from the video creator is requested at the end?
-At the end, the video creator is requested to create more videos focused on routines and habits, as that is a big part of his lifestyle.
Outlines
🎮 Getting feedback from the gaming community about making games as a hobby
The first paragraph discusses a Reddit post that asked whether it is possible to create games as a hobby while working a full-time job. The author relates to this question since he has been developing his own games for years outside of his job. He decides to share his daily routine and how he fits game development around his other responsibilities.
☕️ Early morning game dev sessions fueled by coffee
The second paragraph describes the author's morning routine. He wakes up early to work on his game before his day job. This includes laying out clothes, planning his game dev tasks, mobility work, and enjoying coffee while coding. He strives to complete at least one small dev task in the early hours.
🏋️♀️ Integrating fitness into the morning routine
The third paragraph covers the author's morning workout routine. After his game dev time, he heads to his home gym around 6:45am. He discusses his equipment and how working out at home is efficient and enjoyable. The workout fuels him for the rest of the day.
🐕 Balancing work, gaming, dog responsibilities
In the fourth paragraph, the author takes care of his dog after the workout, including a walk and breakfast. He then gets ready for his work-from-home job. He notes that his dog now sleeps through work days, allowing more time for game dev in the evenings.
🌧 Dealing with evening plans changing unexpectedly
The fifth paragraph explains how the author had planned to film an evening walk in the woods but had to adapt because of bad weather. Since his wife is traveling, he has more time to work on his game tonight. He decides to work for a bit but also relax to stay mentally fresh.
🎉 Making coding progress to showcase in the game
In the sixth paragraph, the author shows the progress made during the evening coding session. He added functionality where the in-game axe now causes trees to shake and drop items when hit. He discusses future plans for the feature.
🤵 Shifting focus from goals to identity for motivation
In the final seventh paragraph, the next day, the author reflects on key approaches for maintaining hobbies like game dev with a full-time job. Most importantly, he recommends shifting priorities from specific goals to your desired identity and lifestyle.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Game development
💡Morning routine
💡Work-life balance
💡Time management
💡Dog ownership
💡Home workspace
💡Progress tracking
💡Development skills
💡Support community
💡Identity-based decisions
Highlights
I read this I thought it could be a fun opportunity for me to share how I have been making this work for me for such a long period of time
Tomorrow I have a pretty run-of-the-mill Monday, we'll work on Dolphin hit a workout, spend at least eight hours working from home as a software and engineer
Lay out my clothes the night before, basically when I wake up very early tomorrow I don't want to have to make a single decision first thing
If I did not know what I was going to be working on tomorrow I basically have no reason to get up out of bed
Find that I'm most productive in these early dark morning hours while everyone's still asleep so that's what we're gonna do
This first cup of coffee while I'm working on Dolphin is always just really enjoyable and it helps charge me up for my workout
The convenience of being able to get a great workout in from home is just totally worth it in my opinion
At a year and a half old moose seems to have made it to the stage where he finally sleeps through nearly all of the work days
Tonight I need to go pick up Kate from the airport, but not for another two and a half hours, or so so I have a larger than usual window of opportunity to work a bit more on Dolphin
I'll work for a little bit and relax for a little bit to keep my head fresh for the morning
After tonight's development session when you hit the tree with the hand ax we'll see the tree kind of quickly shake and drop an item for the player to collect
I think once you actually use up all the trees resources it would be a good idea to destroy the tree maybe even drop a seed so the player can plant one elsewhere
I have about an hour and a half before I'm off to the airport so plenty of time to kick back and reflect on another productive day
I really think in order to sustain the practice of developing games for months or years at a time you have to shift Focus away from your goals to your identity
That identity is what informs decisions like cutting out Game Dev time for workouts in the morning and making sure I give myself time to unwind in the evenings and on weekends
Transcripts
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