Money vs. Passion: In the Creative Industry - Journey of a Solo Game Developer (Journal #5)

The sun is shining behind misty clouds. It’s rather windy, but still warm. I’m sitting here at my terrace, pouring coffee from my newly bought ”Dragon Vase” to related ”Dragon Cup” as I like to call them. These are beautiful, just look at them.

I found them from a secondhand store in Norway, when visiting the Senja island.

The midsummer festival was last weekend. It sure was a pleasant time at our cottage. We had a medium size group (around 11 people) celebrating it. Lots of good food, swimming, sauna, beverages and festive mood.

Each morning I reserved some time for myself to think about things, write my journal, draw some assets to my upcoming ”Fishing Autobattler” -game and enjoy the moment.

While I was there, I found myself thinking that it would be super nice if ”work” could be something like this as often as possible. Working a couple of hours there and there, while enjoying the summer and the company of other people on the side. I ended up thinking, what is the reason why it isn’t like that so very often.

More common way of working is that I work my ass off for months and then take a vacation to recover from it. Each of these thinking sessions ended up with the common ”problem” which obviously, is the money side of things.

"I guess my so-called ”passion” is to craft weird things with my weird imagination and help others to do the same. "

To pay the bills. And oh boy, the bills are rather big nowadays. Not only basic living, but everything. For the past couple of years I’ve been reducing costs as much as I possibly can. Trying to find ways to purchase things that last, focusing on my wellbeing and on things that support the idea of ”long game”.

And by ”long game”, I mean that I could preserve my freedom to make games, art and other content that I personally find interesting. The downside of that, is that it usually doesn't make that much money. But I’ve acknowledged it and kind of accepted it as well. Instead of trying to force the income to rise, I decided to lower the costs of my living to bare minimum.

In the end, I’m a simple man. If I have a possibility to be in my own ”creative bubble” and craft things that are fun to make. I don’t need that many fancy things around me.

For me, it seems like a very big thing when considering my wellbeing. If I’m able to do that, the rest of my life will be enjoyable. When I’m forced to make big bucks from my creations, it becomes ”work”. And that’s very consuming, at least for myself.

I guess my so-called ”passion” is to craft weird things with my weird imagination and help others to do the same. By helping, I mean that I could experience the challenges of the process myself and then flatten the road of people who are interested in following.

1. Make a game 
2. Fail/succeed in X, Y, Z things
3. Tell others of my experiences and learnings
4. Repeat.

I’ve been doing just that for some time now. I love it. I’m just not very good at promoting my things, or making ”clear product(s)” which affects the ability to make an income from it.

But guess what? I’m learning that as well! I’ll tell you how I managed to do it, once I find a way to do it.

I do know the theory of how it should be done, but for me the biggest challenge is time. I have SO MANY ideas what I want to do, that before I’m able to finish the things I’m working with I’m already building the next one.

"How to scope the projects I work with, to match my ability to stay focused."

I guess that ”feature” is rather common for people who work in the creative field (or have a ADD/ADHD). I still like to believe that there is a method that could preserve this ”feature” of mine, which empowers the creative process. Since when I get excited about something, it starts to build fast. Like… Very fast. But the motivation usually dies along the process, since I discover some other methods that I find better, more interesting, faster or something else.

I could force myself to finalize the things I’m working with, but at the same time. It usually starts feeling like ”work”. Because of this, I’m trying to find a sweet spot within the scope and size of things I start working with. Best case, it could even be finalized and released before I run out of motivation. Like this blogpost you’re reading right now.

And that’s exactly what I’m trying to learn currently. How to scope the projects I work with, to match my ability to stay focused. I think that if I’m able to do that, I could be into something.

Maybe that could enable me to stay within my ’creative bubble’, enjoy the process and make an income which could carry my reduced living costs?

Right now, I think that it could be the answer to my ”Money vs. Passion” challenge.

We’ll see, while the adventure continues!

Want to have a chat with me (and fellow game developers)? Be sure to drop into our Discord channel here: https://discord.gg/Cb9hY8y