Making the Most of Your Time
I just finished reading a fantastic article over at Polygon that features the guys (Jeff Agala and Jamie Cheng) over at Klei Entertainment discussing their stance on the work/life balance. This is a subject that I wish more CEO’s, producers, directors, or… I don’t know… whoever is responsible for bidding time on film and games would take the time to consider more seriously.
We applied to be part of the Indie Megabooth, and I’m actually nervous to hear back our judgment as to whether or not we’re going to make it happen. They get back to people this week about it, and I can’t help but just sit here refreshing my email and constantly changing my mind between confidence and the solemn acknowledgement that we just didn’t have enough of a demo ready to the the thumbs up. I stress out quite easily about this sort of thing. Not knowing, really does a number on me, and yet I know that when I get our answer, I’ll be able to easily continue in whatever direction the cards are played.
I love life. I love hiking, and singing, and playing guitar, and playing video games, and reading, and martial arts, and photography, and watching movies, and… well, I like life. Shortly after I got into the film industry, I began to realize that I needed to do more with my life than go to work, stay there for 60+ hours a week, then come home, eat, and sleep. I loved my time in Sydney, Australia and Vancouver, Canada… but I wish I’d had more spare time to really get out and see what was around me. I’m at a point in my life now where I’m an adult, and have to worry about adult things like the potential for having a kid and saving for retirement, and how little time there is in a day to do everything I want to do. Honestly I’m at such a weird phase in my life/career right now where I’m doing what I love to do (making a game that is not a product I’m doing for someone else) but am just not seeing a financial return for it. And the reason for that is pretty simple, in that we’re not done our game yet, but there’s also a lot of stress knowing that there might not be a financial return for it even after it’s done. But it’s awkward knowing that I have the potential to be making money right now elsewhere. It would be so much easier to start looking for work again, and get to start padding the bank account for all those adult-y things to come in the future, but part of what’s horrifying in that decision is knowing that the type of work I’m cut out for involves long hours months of crunch. If we are granted the opportunity to go to PAX as presenters, I think we may experience some self-initiated crunch… but at least it will be on our own project right?
I’m glad to see that there are people out there that recognize the importance of having a life outside of work. I’ve listened to Jamie talk before about the trials of starting up a new company. It’s great to see him talking about the lessons he’s learned starting out making a game on his couch to 10 years later having a successful company with employees. Origin Stories are always great. These are always the types of stories that I’m most interested in hearing, and I loved hearing Kris Piotrowski, the Creative Director of Capybara Games‘ take at GDC on how CAPY got started too. It’s always a blend of horror and inspiration to see how these people managed to make something out of nothing, but I’m glad that once they’re up and running, they seem to make a good focus on having positive work/life experience. It’s certainly something that we value.