Thank you so much for coming on the podcast, Julian! ► Get 50% off Full Time Game Dev during the Black Friday sale: www.fulltimegamedev.com/full-time-game-black-friday ► Learn how to become a full time game dev, free: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-how-to-make-six-figures
Here's how I learnt to avoid burning out: I worked 15 years in the dystopian soviet nightmare hellscape that is our corporate culture. Spending 95% of your precious time managing personal feelings, explaining what needs to be done for months, even years, before ever taking a step. You do that, you will learn to love working on your own game. You will adore every single task. In an hour you can get done what corporate would need a team of 10 and a month of discussions to get done. You will truly learn what the value of an hour of your time can be. And then, whats the point of taking yourself to the limit? There is none. You work at your prefered pace and you still know that no corporate team could keep up in a million years.
Really glad you talked about this Julian its easy to neglect your health. Its a major wake up call for a lot of devs knowing extreme burnout can cause a lot of issues
Great chats Thomas. Thanks for doing all you do for Indies mate. I'm just a hobbyist but it was your channel that first made me realise years and years ago that I can make games. Absolute legend.
Here is how to avoid heart problems 1. Forget about stress because stress doesn't matter otherwise you would have more cardiac arrest in high stress jobs(which is not what the statistics show). 2. Avoid the combination of high fat and high sugar foods(oxidade in blood and make ateriosclerosis more likely) 3. Move But what do programmers do? Don't move and eat high sugar + high fat foods.
@Salamaleikum80 I bought a 5 in 1 weight lifting bench . Do push ups and 30 minute walk every day. I learned physical fitness is the best option with improving eating habits
This is why I remain a "beginner": I move at my pace and prioritize health over sacrifices. I’m not apologetic about my methods. Thank you for sharing this video.
Thank you Julian and Thomas for sharing this with all of us! These are the lessons I learned from this video: What is inherently stressful about Game Development? 1- Building a thing without a blueprint, Trying to build something without knowing exactly what it is or how it needs to be done. 2- It is too technical 3- Extremely difficult to estimate Time/Money 4- It’s unbelievably difficult to get the formula right 5- Difference between projection and reality 6- Sometimes it feels like it’s all or nothing 7- It is like trying to build a house while it collapses 8- There is insecurity, fear, anxiety, money being lost How to combat the stress of Game Development: Non-Negotiable Routine/Activities? 1- Exercise 2- Good Diet 3- Meditation 4- Hydrate 5- Don’t wait for a bad thing to happen to change your habits 6- Even little things could make a big difference 7- Have a good rest 8- Be in a healthy mental state regardless of the situation Bonus Quote “The game they are making is the outcome of the Game designing machine that they are, The better that machine… The better the game” - Julian Ball
Great video! I'm normally not the biggest fan of these podcasts but this story was really similar to mine, and strangely enough, I feel somewhat releaved to hear how bad it could have turned out for me. I think I might be done with gamedev, at least with trying to make a living out of it. Right now I'm still in high school, I have 8 to 10 hours of classes a day, then I have either 1 or 3 hours of transportation a day (my parents are divorced), and when I get home, I only get 4 hours before bedtime. And for the last 3 years, the only thing that I would do when I got home would be working on my game. I would sleep-deprive myself to get more time and make progress, I would never listen to what the teachers said, then I'd get terrible grades and my self-esteem would take a hit at every grade under 10/20. Then because I didn't sleep enough I would always be tired alllllllllll the time. And it just kept getting worse and worse, I became bitter and resentful, I fell in a deep depression, lost lots of close friends, my first love... I lost every single piece of my shattered self esteem. But luckily, this summer, my mother forced me on a vacation: two weeks in a summer camp in Corsica (i live in france). I was so obsessed that at first I didn't even want to ear about it. I just wanted to make my game, in my room, and keep isolating myself. But luckily, I didn't get a word, and these two weeks have been the very best thing that happened to me in my entire life. The very first day I broke my phone so I didn't have social media, I just had nature and friends around me. I had never ever made friends so easily and when I got home, I had just never been happier. Now, my perpective has changed. There is nothing I can do to escape these 8 to 10 hours of school all week. So I might as well try a little. Now, when I get home, I eat something, take a quick nap, work a little on school stuff and then I just enjoy myself. Sometimes I just watch something on Netflix, sometimes I keep on with my current reading, sometimes I draw, or do a bit of 3D, or listen to music, or write something. And sometimes, I work on my game. Without any pressure on my back. And now, I am not stressed. I'm happy, I get good grades, I'm healthy, and I have great frienships, and great relationships with my family. Sometimes, you work your butt off to get somewhere you don't even want to go to. I think that for me, game dev was one of these things. It just wasn't made for me.
Oh, how I understand this. I have been working on my first game for a long time, and I had hard times. Sometimes I was afraid to fall asleep because of severe cardiac arrhythmia. Sometimes it came to nervous breakdowns due to stress. At some point, I started having severe stomach problems and had to change my habits and attitude towards health. Now I feel much better, although the motivation to work on my project has noticeably dropped over time. What's the other side of the story. Gamedev enthusiasm is damn hard, guys...
Burn out kills me once I stop working on development and swap to promotions like making videos or posts, then getting no views. It kills me but that's the most important part of solo development.
Hi sir! I'm new to game development and excited to learn. Could anyone guide me on how to get started with game development, especially as a blind developer? I'm looking for advice on: 1. Learning Resources: Beginner-friendly tutorials or courses? 2. Tools and Software: Screen-reader compatible tools, especially for Unity and C#? 3. Best Practices: Tips for navigating and using Unity with NVDA? 4. Accessible Game Design: How to make games playable for both sighted and blind players?
Don’t try to learn that all at once. Focus on something first like modeling in blender or coding in c#. Learn the basics first and then go step by step. When it comes to game design, always write a GDD (Game design document) where all your ideas and features are written down. Try to learn not by TH-cam tutorials but instead with courses. And most important keep it simple at the beginning of your journey, so don’t start with multiplayer or MMO, open world etc.
As a dev that works at a studio and is trying to break into indie with my own game, I get it. almost all my day is write, iterating or working in engine. Ive worked fast food and manual labor jobs but nothing quiet as hard as making games, but nothing anywhere near as fulfilling and fun.
This is super interesting. I have been developing a small game. Its not super fun yet but i hope to make it fun soon. I recently had a scare 3 days ago. I thought i had a serious issue My heart rate dropped into the 40s and I am only 26. I work all the time 24/7 and some days dont even feel like i have a choice but to work. Im dizzy all the time and the ER said i have vertigo. (I guess it can drop your pulse when you are dizzy.) All of these symptoms are very new to me... Luckily im not dead but i dont have much time to work on my projects at all. it makes me feel like a loser most days. I guess i just need a different change of perspective. I have a full 2D planting game im working on that i should be proud of. I guess i should stop being angry at myself for not finishing something as fast as possible... idk. Maybe one day i will be a successful game developer. Yes i am probably not making a ton of sense. Just throwing out thoughts as i type. Thankyou for making this type of content. You are extremely helpful
I had a very similar experience, i actually went to college for game design, lot of kids died sadly. Post graduation i kinda keep myself in a constat state of working because i find if i take a break for longer than two weeks or so the stress catches up and i get sick. Hopefully i can ease out of it a bit, but its been a struggle for sure. Ive done a good job of eating well thankfully, but damn exercising always falls off my list of priorities when i get hyperfixated on something. Honestly though my mental health has always been bad so id rather die to game dev overwork than what tended to get people back in school. Creative passions are weird like that. They can be great coping skills and harmful obsessions at the same time.
I have not worked on my project in two maybe three weeks. My brain wont allow me to focus . So i ha e been relaxing and playing minecraft and flying drones and rc airplanes. The fire will come back . I hope its sooner rather than later.
Gamedev is the hardest job in the world The most basic game we can find should be worthing 100 dollars, because the amount of knowledge, time, emmotional investiment, eletric bills, internet, equipment, softwares we need to buy and master is absurd. we spent 6+ months with the butt glued to the chair just to sell a game for 5 or 10 dollars, plus the steam taking 30% and government stealing us, and giving nothing back.
is it stil worth to get into game dev from scratch with advancing ai. Isnt everything I learn now in 2 or so years wasted when ai can do it better coding,modeling etc?
stop this please i had enough of re watching the same kind of videos over and over again just do a simple 1 hour long videos talking to game devs and thats it we dont need this anymore you are doing this to make money i get it but please thomas make normal calming videos again like art videos using photoshop or streams where you make mini games in unity or unreal engine or 3d model videos in blender
Thank you so much for coming on the podcast, Julian!
► Get 50% off Full Time Game Dev during the Black Friday sale: www.fulltimegamedev.com/full-time-game-black-friday
► Learn how to become a full time game dev, free: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-how-to-make-six-figures
Here's how I learnt to avoid burning out: I worked 15 years in the dystopian soviet nightmare hellscape that is our corporate culture. Spending 95% of your precious time managing personal feelings, explaining what needs to be done for months, even years, before ever taking a step. You do that, you will learn to love working on your own game. You will adore every single task. In an hour you can get done what corporate would need a team of 10 and a month of discussions to get done. You will truly learn what the value of an hour of your time can be. And then, whats the point of taking yourself to the limit? There is none. You work at your prefered pace and you still know that no corporate team could keep up in a million years.
Really glad you talked about this Julian its easy to neglect your health. Its a major wake up call for a lot of devs knowing extreme burnout can cause a lot of issues
Great chats Thomas. Thanks for doing all you do for Indies mate. I'm just a hobbyist but it was your channel that first made me realise years and years ago that I can make games. Absolute legend.
Here is how to avoid heart problems 1. Forget about stress because stress doesn't matter otherwise you would have more cardiac arrest in high stress jobs(which is not what the statistics show). 2. Avoid the combination of high fat and high sugar foods(oxidade in blood and make ateriosclerosis more likely) 3. Move
But what do programmers do? Don't move and eat high sugar + high fat foods.
@Salamaleikum80 I bought a 5 in 1 weight lifting bench . Do push ups and 30 minute walk every day. I learned physical fitness is the best option with improving eating habits
This is why I remain a "beginner": I move at my pace and prioritize health over sacrifices. I’m not apologetic about my methods. Thank you for sharing this video.
Thank you Julian and Thomas for sharing this with all of us!
These are the lessons I learned from this video:
What is inherently stressful about Game Development?
1- Building a thing without a blueprint, Trying to build something without knowing exactly what it is or how it needs to be done.
2- It is too technical
3- Extremely difficult to estimate Time/Money
4- It’s unbelievably difficult to get the formula right
5- Difference between projection and reality
6- Sometimes it feels like it’s all or nothing
7- It is like trying to build a house while it collapses
8- There is insecurity, fear, anxiety, money being lost
How to combat the stress of Game Development: Non-Negotiable Routine/Activities?
1- Exercise
2- Good Diet
3- Meditation
4- Hydrate
5- Don’t wait for a bad thing to happen to change your habits
6- Even little things could make a big difference
7- Have a good rest
8- Be in a healthy mental state regardless of the situation
Bonus Quote
“The game they are making is the outcome of the Game designing machine that they are, The better that machine… The better the game” - Julian Ball
Great video! I'm normally not the biggest fan of these podcasts but this story was really similar to mine, and strangely enough, I feel somewhat releaved to hear how bad it could have turned out for me. I think I might be done with gamedev, at least with trying to make a living out of it. Right now I'm still in high school, I have 8 to 10 hours of classes a day, then I have either 1 or 3 hours of transportation a day (my parents are divorced), and when I get home, I only get 4 hours before bedtime.
And for the last 3 years, the only thing that I would do when I got home would be working on my game. I would sleep-deprive myself to get more time and make progress, I would never listen to what the teachers said, then I'd get terrible grades and my self-esteem would take a hit at every grade under 10/20. Then because I didn't sleep enough I would always be tired alllllllllll the time. And it just kept getting worse and worse, I became bitter and resentful, I fell in a deep depression, lost lots of close friends, my first love... I lost every single piece of my shattered self esteem.
But luckily, this summer, my mother forced me on a vacation: two weeks in a summer camp in Corsica (i live in france). I was so obsessed that at first I didn't even want to ear about it. I just wanted to make my game, in my room, and keep isolating myself. But luckily, I didn't get a word, and these two weeks have been the very best thing that happened to me in my entire life. The very first day I broke my phone so I didn't have social media, I just had nature and friends around me. I had never ever made friends so easily and when I got home, I had just never been happier. Now, my perpective has changed. There is nothing I can do to escape these 8 to 10 hours of school all week. So I might as well try a little. Now, when I get home, I eat something, take a quick nap, work a little on school stuff and then I just enjoy myself. Sometimes I just watch something on Netflix, sometimes I keep on with my current reading, sometimes I draw, or do a bit of 3D, or listen to music, or write something. And sometimes, I work on my game. Without any pressure on my back.
And now, I am not stressed. I'm happy, I get good grades, I'm healthy, and I have great frienships, and great relationships with my family.
Sometimes, you work your butt off to get somewhere you don't even want to go to. I think that for me, game dev was one of these things. It just wasn't made for me.
Oh, how I understand this. I have been working on my first game for a long time, and I had hard times. Sometimes I was afraid to fall asleep because of severe cardiac arrhythmia. Sometimes it came to nervous breakdowns due to stress. At some point, I started having severe stomach problems and had to change my habits and attitude towards health.
Now I feel much better, although the motivation to work on my project has noticeably dropped over time. What's the other side of the story.
Gamedev enthusiasm is damn hard, guys...
Burn out kills me once I stop working on development and swap to promotions like making videos or posts, then getting no views. It kills me but that's the most important part of solo development.
This was the best game dev podcast I've watched because it's very real.
"The game you are making is the outcome of the game designing machine that you are. The better that machine the better the game."
Hi sir! I'm new to game development and excited to learn. Could anyone guide me on how to get started with game development, especially as a blind developer? I'm looking for advice on: 1. Learning Resources: Beginner-friendly tutorials or courses? 2. Tools and Software: Screen-reader compatible tools, especially for Unity and C#? 3. Best Practices: Tips for navigating and using Unity with NVDA? 4. Accessible Game Design: How to make games playable for both sighted and blind players?
Don’t try to learn that all at once.
Focus on something first like modeling in blender or coding in c#.
Learn the basics first and then go step by step.
When it comes to game design, always write a GDD (Game design document) where all your ideas and features are written down.
Try to learn not by TH-cam tutorials but instead with courses.
And most important keep it simple at the beginning of your journey, so don’t start with multiplayer or MMO, open world etc.
You can get addicted to anything. Please, listen to your body. Be vulnerable with those who love you. Take your time when it matters.
Thanks for sharing your story, I need this in general because I just love doing things and I get passionate about that
The only thing burning me inside is that I can't spent full time on my game. So much ideas, so much inspiration but lack of time.
As a dev that works at a studio and is trying to break into indie with my own game, I get it. almost all my day is write, iterating or working in engine. Ive worked fast food and manual labor jobs but nothing quiet as hard as making games, but nothing anywhere near as fulfilling and fun.
This is super interesting. I have been developing a small game. Its not super fun yet but i hope to make it fun soon. I recently had a scare 3 days ago. I thought i had a serious issue My heart rate dropped into the 40s and I am only 26. I work all the time 24/7 and some days dont even feel like i have a choice but to work. Im dizzy all the time and the ER said i have vertigo. (I guess it can drop your pulse when you are dizzy.) All of these symptoms are very new to me... Luckily im not dead but i dont have much time to work on my projects at all. it makes me feel like a loser most days. I guess i just need a different change of perspective. I have a full 2D planting game im working on that i should be proud of. I guess i should stop being angry at myself for not finishing something as fast as possible... idk. Maybe one day i will be a successful game developer. Yes i am probably not making a ton of sense. Just throwing out thoughts as i type. Thankyou for making this type of content. You are extremely helpful
best way is to set goals and dates, and be free, imagine subtle details you was inching to add and add them. think about the outcome and creativity.
awesome vid!
Thanks so much for this wake up call
I had a very similar experience, i actually went to college for game design, lot of kids died sadly.
Post graduation i kinda keep myself in a constat state of working because i find if i take a break for longer than two weeks or so the stress catches up and i get sick.
Hopefully i can ease out of it a bit, but its been a struggle for sure. Ive done a good job of eating well thankfully, but damn exercising always falls off my list of priorities when i get hyperfixated on something.
Honestly though my mental health has always been bad so id rather die to game dev overwork than what tended to get people back in school.
Creative passions are weird like that. They can be great coping skills and harmful obsessions at the same time.
as they say: your health is your wealth
I have not worked on my project in two maybe three weeks. My brain wont allow me to focus . So i ha e been relaxing and playing minecraft and flying drones and rc airplanes.
The fire will come back . I hope its sooner rather than later.
Yeah great quote there at the end. Stay healthy out there everyone. It's not worth the burnout
my main problem is when I get a eureka/a code working. I almost always have the urge to pee, its not fun needing to urinate every 30-60minutes
Have you two considered getting daily 20 minutes of sunlight (serotonine) for your overall health?
14:19 really well said
Gamedev is the hardest job in the world
The most basic game we can find should be worthing 100 dollars, because the amount of knowledge, time, emmotional investiment, eletric bills, internet, equipment, softwares we need to buy and master is absurd.
we spent 6+ months with the butt glued to the chair just to sell a game for 5 or 10 dollars, plus the steam taking 30% and government stealing us, and giving nothing back.
woa it got unlisted as I was watching it... Because of the title I guess.
is it stil worth to get into game dev from scratch with advancing ai. Isnt everything I learn now in 2 or so years wasted when ai can do it better coding,modeling etc?
More videos like this please Thomas. This is by far your best content.
❤❤❤
Made a Podcast Game dev,, that will be great?
Sec
He died gg
Lol just kidding 🤣
Basically video title
Title changed to appease the algorithm 😅
stop this please i had enough of re watching the same kind of videos over and over again just do a simple 1 hour long videos talking to game devs and thats it we dont need this anymore you are doing this to make money i get it but please thomas make normal calming videos again like art videos using photoshop or streams where you make mini games in unity or unreal engine or 3d model videos in blender
but i watched and motivated me,, the only wrong is the thumbnail