Success | Gamedev Brain

I Fail on a Different Scale

Posted on August 29, 2015 by magicrat_larry

I’ve always been amazed how people tend to just shoot for the minimal they need to have to be successful. I watched many people shoot for a very low bar and fail at it. It is sad, because they just don’t understand that everything fails. We are people, we are big screw-ups. We fail at everything to some degree. So if you shoot for the minimum you need to succeed then you will not make it there.

The unobtainable is always the plan. How does this set me above the others we just discussed? I fail on a different scale.

What do I do? I shoot for Perfection. If I need to make $1 a day, I shoot for $1,000,000 a day. I shoot for goals that cannot be hit. The unobtainable is always the plan. How does this set me above the others we just discussed? I fail on a different scale. Let’s keep running with the money example, if I need $1 a day, but shot for $1,000,000 and failed like all people do, but get $1,000, it is a miserable failure when you look at what was being shot at. If you look at what I needed though which was $1 shooting for $1,000,000 made me get 1,000 times my need.

See If you shoot for $1, it’ll be just as hard as shooting for $1,000,000 in our example. You have to think about the same amount. You have to come up with the same amount of ideas. You have to implement the same amount of money generating things. You simply make different decisions that allow for failure to still reach what you absolutely need.

Stop looking small, shoot of the largest thing you can think of. Don’t just make a game, make a hit. Realize that you are going to mess up everything, that is a fact. If you give yourself room for that failure, you will be surprised what success comes from it. It’s a mindset change. Don’t change the amount of effort you put in, change the scale by which you try.

If you have not checked out my current project…

Violent Sol Worlds home

IndieDB

Facebook – join the conversation

Am I a Failure, or No?

Posted on August 28, 2015 by magicrat_larry

Fear of all this work not paying off is looming. As we push to Kickstarter and Steam Greenlight it does cross my mind that people may not support us or even know about us. I’ve been working hard for a long time now to try and make that not happen. I suppose the fact that you are reading this is a sign that my fears are at least not 100% solid.

It will be a slightly crushing blow if our efforts do go unseen or even worse un-liked. Well our best is all we can give. I do appreciate everyone for supporting, following, and just being there through our hard work. Game development is not hard, the workload is the hard part.

Holding down the full-time job and performing on game development at the same time will kill a lesser person. I have the largest amount of respect to those who have made it before me and hope like heck that hard work pays off and I follow them in stride. All of your support is appreciated and there is a much longer road ahead. I’ll keep digging in as long as I keep getting up in the morning. I love this stuff.

As always here are some links to learn about our game Violent Sol Worlds

Violent Sol Worlds home

IndieDB

Facebook – join the conversation

Problems Generated By Successful Actions

Posted on August 20, 2015 by magicrat_larry

I used to think that game development was this glamorous, fun, coding, experience that was intense but just a blast. I know better now. The truth behind game development is that it is a lot of work. It still is fun, but there is no glamour.

What do I mean? Well Let me tell you my story. I used to do this as a hobby. I loved to make cool things render to the screen. I would play around with it for a few hours a week. Then it turned into a few hours a day. From there I gathered people, they wanted to make games. So it turned into 20 hours a week. At that point I mostly coded, still seemed like my vision of what I though game development was was true.

I then started to think, if we get a game to the finish line, how do we sell it? Then entered marketing time. I started about 5-10 minutes every day. That turned into 30 minutes. Then it turned into and hour. Before I knew better, it was my entire 20 hours a week. Is that bad? No. I am driven by success, so as I got feedback and validation from people, like you, I spent more time doing it.

Now, I reach a problem. The fans, followers, and generally great people that I strove to entertain are pushing me further. I am out of time. Eventually I need to code the game, keep up marketing, and innovate in both areas. We have to get this to be a full-time equation soon or things have to be cut. Problem is you cannot cut either development or marketing because you’d be cutting your own projects head off.

I love this problem, can’t really have a better one. I just have to solve it and continue to grow. Love all you people out there that drive me, keep it coming and I do pass it on to our team that is working on the game. Problems generated by success mean you are participating in life and not just along for the ride.

If you have not seen the game I am a part of here are a few links…

Facebook – Like us on facebook

ViolentSol.com – Homepage

IndieDB – Indie Games Community with news, screenshots, and video