Life, Unright-Sized

Well, it looks like those experienced indie pros were right all along - right-sizing your life is absolutely necessary.

Now, initially, I thought I could circumvent this truism by answering back with "right-size your GAME!" So I kept scaling back my game, smaller and smaller, until it was the tiniest thing you ever saw.

But...

I still don't have enough time. Between working full-time and going to college almost full-time, there's just nothing leftover. Sure, I could work on my game now and again... but at ths rate, it's take another year - to finish a game that should be done from start to finish in 4 to 6 months. I've already spent eight months.

So, it turns out, in the end, they were right. Right-size your life. You can shrink your game all you want, but if you don't change your life to fit your game, you generally can't do it.

As it is, I'm almost through with college, and I certainly can't give up my day job (eating really is my favorite part of the day), I'm just going to have to wait until I'm done with school, which will be another good 6 months or so.

... so what do I do in my mean-time until I wait for my life to be right-sizable? Well, I still design games on paper. I actually just finished making one that's even smaller than my current game and just as much fun. I think it's rather brilliant. So I do a little in my spare time to feed my creative addictions.

It's very difficult having the patience, but at least I know that if I do good in school (the thing I actually hate most in this world) I can get back to the one thing that's important to me - indie development.

So, right-size your life, and keep the scope of your game as realistic (minimal) as absolutely possible. Try not to fall into the same trap as I with a half-finished game on indefinite hold. It's a horribly uncomfortable position to be in.

Seriously.