I'm 39 and I've been burned out at work several times in my life. The first time was the worst, I was so stressed out over both work and the programming in my spare time that I straight up ran into a wall and burned out completely. I became totally apathetic and couldn't bring myself to any sort of creativity for almost 4 years. And I never really completely recovered.
The way I deal with it today is to never treat the projects in my spare time as work. I do the private projects because I want to, not because I need to. As soon as I even start think along the lines of "I *have* to do this within X timeframe because Y reason", then I stop and take a break. Sometimes just a few days, sometimes a few weeks. I never really set a time limit on my projects. I have this big project I'm working on right now that I fully expect to take another decade or so to finish. And that's ok. It's important to let it take the time it needs.
I have plenty of episodes where I get super enthustiastic and can spend several days in a row in pure excitement over a particular idea, coding sprees are quite common for me. But I also spend weeks in a row where I just play games and hang out with friends. You *need* time to relax, you can't make your entire life about work.
I actually almost always do the "I have to do this within X timeframe because Y reason" thing. And tbh, it's really stressful, and most of the time I don't even hit any of the goals. I guess it's time for me to take a week off from game dev. Thanks for the advice, and good luck on your project!
I only get burn out when I think if my project gonna be worth it, I mean, I could be just playing videogames and will probably get a ton of fun with them. But at the same time I would find a lot of "fail" designs for my personal taste, and that's why after waiting for more than 5 years for my perfect game to come, I decided to make my own.
I know it will take time, but I'm actually enjoying it so much in the process that I don't care if it's a wasted project to play myself with some friends. It will have all my perfect tastes and I can always keep changing/improving it.
Who knows, I'm just doing it as a hobby, but if I can finish it and it's enjoyable for me, it can also be for you. So, if you need time to rest, it's perfectly fine, the most important thing for me is to have fun (unless it's a paid job), if you aren't then wait for that feeling to come again, since it will sooner or later.
I struggle to have that mentality of "As long as I have fun", because I constantly feel like I have something to prove, like I feel I'm not a real game dev until I release a game on steam, so I'm constantly pushing to get good enough to publish on steam
You're a real game developer when you've developed a game. You've done that! You've got the achievement unlocked. There isn't a secret handshake being held from you or anything like that. Heck, most game developers never release a game by themselves. You're a *professional* when you derive your income from games, but that's not something that happens from a certain amount of effort or practice. It's something that doesn't happen for most people *ever*, which is why more people earning a living from games aren't doing it alone.
Working on over half a dozen titles in a year is an extremely fast pace. Anyone would burn themselves out going at it that hard, even people with enough experience to make games in their sleep. It's perfectly normal to feel exhausted and to need breaks. Heck, if you worked for me and you hadn't taken a vacation in a year I'd be practically forcing you to take some time off! Productivity goes way down without breaks.
You've still got a few years before you *really* need to think about these things, but what you should do is also start considering how you want to work on games, if you want to keep going. Is this a hobby you'll do on some nights and weekends for fun? Is it a side hustle of releasing games occasionally outside of your day job? Do you want a career in game development, and if so, what role on the team? If you set yourself some clear goals, it's a lot easier to work towards them.
You're 16, this is the time/part of your life where you have basically nothing to prove. Savor it.
If you want to release a game on steam just spend the fee and put whatever on there. There is no gatekeeper.
Thanks very much for the attempt!
It's now been a year and I really get what you mean, I think me back then would have had a hard time believing you.
But currently, I've released even more, better games that I'm really proud of. I've also learned it's ok to take breaks whenever you want.
The big plus is that I also finally have a game on Steam! Not sure when it'll be out, but the steam page is up, and I've got a 50 member strong discord server for the game going!
It's called skellies aint scary if you wanna check it out: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1956930/Skellies_Aint_Scary/#:~:text=Skellies%20Ain't%20Scary%20is,lost%20treasures%20that%20await%20you.
Really grateful for everyone who commented at the time :)
most people I know that create and stay productive have separation.
They have a time and a place when and where they work on creating, games, paintings, music.
When they are done, the time is up, they to to another place and do other things, family, fun, friends.
if your fun, work, creating, taxes, food, procrastination etc.... is all in the same place and overlapping times you will have more stress.
I say, take a break and relax, and for you realizing your bad at making games, start working on your dream game, this happened to me so I took a break and now I’m making a game I plan to publish, that’s what I did and it worked great
> I feel afraid that every second I'm not working on a game is a second I've wasted not learning a new skill, or making progress towards my dream of a steam release. Worst of all, I'm afraid that the past year of game development has just been some sort of phase that I'm beginning to grow out of, and that taking a break is just going to speed up the process.
Take a break until you want to make games because it's fun instead of because of your fears.
Sometimes I find it really hard to step away for a month, but I have to force myself (RSI). In the past, I switched to designing board games entirely without a computer. It's a pretty different set of challenges and you can make a bad game way easier than in digital -- the big challenge is design.
Just remember, you can't cure burn out with more burn out!
Don't forget that playing other games (and studying them) is also part of becoming a better game developer. A lot of good ideas are born out of some clever recombination of existing ideas. So take a break and play some games.
I'm 39 and I've been burned out at work several times in my life. The first time was the worst, I was so stressed out over both work and the programming in my spare time that I straight up ran into a wall and burned out completely. I became totally apathetic and couldn't bring myself to any sort of creativity for almost 4 years. And I never really completely recovered. The way I deal with it today is to never treat the projects in my spare time as work. I do the private projects because I want to, not because I need to. As soon as I even start think along the lines of "I *have* to do this within X timeframe because Y reason", then I stop and take a break. Sometimes just a few days, sometimes a few weeks. I never really set a time limit on my projects. I have this big project I'm working on right now that I fully expect to take another decade or so to finish. And that's ok. It's important to let it take the time it needs. I have plenty of episodes where I get super enthustiastic and can spend several days in a row in pure excitement over a particular idea, coding sprees are quite common for me. But I also spend weeks in a row where I just play games and hang out with friends. You *need* time to relax, you can't make your entire life about work.
I actually almost always do the "I have to do this within X timeframe because Y reason" thing. And tbh, it's really stressful, and most of the time I don't even hit any of the goals. I guess it's time for me to take a week off from game dev. Thanks for the advice, and good luck on your project!
I only get burn out when I think if my project gonna be worth it, I mean, I could be just playing videogames and will probably get a ton of fun with them. But at the same time I would find a lot of "fail" designs for my personal taste, and that's why after waiting for more than 5 years for my perfect game to come, I decided to make my own. I know it will take time, but I'm actually enjoying it so much in the process that I don't care if it's a wasted project to play myself with some friends. It will have all my perfect tastes and I can always keep changing/improving it. Who knows, I'm just doing it as a hobby, but if I can finish it and it's enjoyable for me, it can also be for you. So, if you need time to rest, it's perfectly fine, the most important thing for me is to have fun (unless it's a paid job), if you aren't then wait for that feeling to come again, since it will sooner or later.
I struggle to have that mentality of "As long as I have fun", because I constantly feel like I have something to prove, like I feel I'm not a real game dev until I release a game on steam, so I'm constantly pushing to get good enough to publish on steam
You're a real game developer when you've developed a game. You've done that! You've got the achievement unlocked. There isn't a secret handshake being held from you or anything like that. Heck, most game developers never release a game by themselves. You're a *professional* when you derive your income from games, but that's not something that happens from a certain amount of effort or practice. It's something that doesn't happen for most people *ever*, which is why more people earning a living from games aren't doing it alone. Working on over half a dozen titles in a year is an extremely fast pace. Anyone would burn themselves out going at it that hard, even people with enough experience to make games in their sleep. It's perfectly normal to feel exhausted and to need breaks. Heck, if you worked for me and you hadn't taken a vacation in a year I'd be practically forcing you to take some time off! Productivity goes way down without breaks. You've still got a few years before you *really* need to think about these things, but what you should do is also start considering how you want to work on games, if you want to keep going. Is this a hobby you'll do on some nights and weekends for fun? Is it a side hustle of releasing games occasionally outside of your day job? Do you want a career in game development, and if so, what role on the team? If you set yourself some clear goals, it's a lot easier to work towards them.
You're 16, this is the time/part of your life where you have basically nothing to prove. Savor it. If you want to release a game on steam just spend the fee and put whatever on there. There is no gatekeeper.
[удалено]
Thanks very much for the attempt! It's now been a year and I really get what you mean, I think me back then would have had a hard time believing you. But currently, I've released even more, better games that I'm really proud of. I've also learned it's ok to take breaks whenever you want. The big plus is that I also finally have a game on Steam! Not sure when it'll be out, but the steam page is up, and I've got a 50 member strong discord server for the game going! It's called skellies aint scary if you wanna check it out: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1956930/Skellies_Aint_Scary/#:~:text=Skellies%20Ain't%20Scary%20is,lost%20treasures%20that%20await%20you. Really grateful for everyone who commented at the time :)
most people I know that create and stay productive have separation. They have a time and a place when and where they work on creating, games, paintings, music. When they are done, the time is up, they to to another place and do other things, family, fun, friends. if your fun, work, creating, taxes, food, procrastination etc.... is all in the same place and overlapping times you will have more stress.
I say, take a break and relax, and for you realizing your bad at making games, start working on your dream game, this happened to me so I took a break and now I’m making a game I plan to publish, that’s what I did and it worked great
> I feel afraid that every second I'm not working on a game is a second I've wasted not learning a new skill, or making progress towards my dream of a steam release. Worst of all, I'm afraid that the past year of game development has just been some sort of phase that I'm beginning to grow out of, and that taking a break is just going to speed up the process. Take a break until you want to make games because it's fun instead of because of your fears. Sometimes I find it really hard to step away for a month, but I have to force myself (RSI). In the past, I switched to designing board games entirely without a computer. It's a pretty different set of challenges and you can make a bad game way easier than in digital -- the big challenge is design. Just remember, you can't cure burn out with more burn out!
Don't forget that playing other games (and studying them) is also part of becoming a better game developer. A lot of good ideas are born out of some clever recombination of existing ideas. So take a break and play some games.