Passion, Paychecks & Parenthood: Balancing Life to Make Games
summary
Builds two released games since 2023: a simple Space Moonlander prototype and the commercial 2D RTS Cosmic Resistance (planned 6 months, took ~1 year), now working on a 3D Voytech satellite-repair simulator; uses Unity (certified), Blender and pixel art, publishes to iOS/Android and Steam, makes trailers and store pages, learns marketing and onboarding. Juggles a full-time job and a toddler by working during nap windows, avoiding post-11pm crunch, leaning on a cofounder and the mantra find your orbit and done is better than perfect; cites that ~99% of devs never finish a game.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (16)
- 0:00Balancing passion and parenthood
- 1:07Passion, paychecks, parenthood
- 3:12Finding orbit in life and work
- 6:42Meet the speaker
- 9:56Cosmic Resistance introduction
- 12:28Passion and game dev start
- 17:24Passion’s good and dark sides
- 22:05Paychecks funding passions
- 23:51Parenthood joy and chaos
- 27:26Passion, paychecks, parenthood clash
- 30:59Balancing act and rhythm
- 34:11Corporate to game dev skills
- 37:51Supportive partner and team
- 38:12Key takeaways for game devs
- 41:50Closing reflections
- 42:13Question and answer session begins
related talks
34mStories from my 37 years in game development
52mGameDev as a hobby
01h 13mThings I wish I knew before I started my own indie studio
25mThe Journey Of Learning To Wear Multiple Hats
51mThe Long Haul: A Fireside Chat
08mTips from Industry Vets – Ken Wong
22mSession: Quit Your Job… Then Join Duolingo? The Unexpected Journey Of An Indie Icon
11mTips from Industry Vets – Julie Wotzko