Plan for David Myers

On my previous GG .plan, my buddy Ed Gardner wondered aloud if my leaving 21-6 and starting a new studio would work out. After breaking all of Ed's fingers so that he can no longer type doubts such as these for the forseeable future (kidding...kidding), I decided that I'd write a little something on a related topic I'm pretty opinionated on, and that's "How to Stop Getting Started Making Games and Instead Actually MAKE a Game".

I have already helped start a studio and ship some games. So, I have all of that knowledge and those contacts to help me get started anew, as opposed to last time when I had to learn everything the hard way first. I have a leg up this time around I guess you could say. It won't be easy, but I'm very confident in my ability to get this accomplished.

However, there are a whole lot of people out there that really want to make games and they have NOT been able to ship one, yet. In my opinion, if you have led a team in some effort (especially software development), and you were successful, you can be successful at making games. Period. I have no doubts about that. You just have to take a step back and look at the big picture. How do you attack your day job where you lead your team? That is how you attack leading a game dev team. You might have some problems finding well-qualified people at first, but if you persist eventually you will get rolling. To keep it rolling I think you again need to take a look at how you motivate your people at the day job. Obviously, if you're not paying them, then you have to be a little imaginative, but you should be able to draw upon your experiences to help you.

Ok, that's fine if you've led a team, but what if you haven't yet and you still want to make games? One of the real problems I see in the game dev community is that there are a whole lotta chiefs and not enough indians. So many people want to make THEIR game, and most of those people do not (a) know how to make a game nor (b) know how to lead a team. You really need to take stock of your experience as well as your passion and motivation and decide "Do I really have the skills to lead a project like this?". If you can see the development path, maybe you can. I believe most people do not have the appropriate skill set. That is not necessarily a bad thing, as it is okay to first learn from others before you attempt to go out on your own. Nothing to be ashamed of there, we all have to learn from someone.

I used to be one of those people that I call "tinkerers". I used to tinker with game development and technology, bouncing from topic to topic without really finishing much of anything. I had a lot of motivation and passion, and I did have dedication to what I was working on, but I was not focused. I finally realized that if I really wanted to accomplish my goal (read: making a game), I needed to focus on how to get that done. Essentially, I understood that I was NOT going to make a game on my own, so why the hell had I not joined a group who might actually be able to finish a game? So I joined a community game development project much like the Realm Wars project on GG. I was content to be an indian in this case, even though I had the experience of a project lead. Why? Because I would rather be a part of something cool and get something done than to insist that *I* run the show.

Sadly, that community project did not succeed, and you very well might join a group that does not complete a game. But I do not regret the effort I put into that game, in spite of it not getting completed. That's because the people that I worked with ON that project became the nucleus for 21-6. It still took time for us to get something shipped, but once we figured out how to work together to ship a game we never looked back. And that is exactly what every person who wants to make games can do if they have patience and work hard.

If I sound a little preachy, well, I did warn you I'm pretty opinionated on the topic. I'm sure most people (who am I kidding - how many readers do I actually HAVE? ;) will read this and like so many other times before when they read something similar they will just shrug it off and ignore the advice, thinking "he's not talking about ME". But maybe this will be the time one of those people out there finally "gets it" and makes the right move. I wish you luck if you do.