A late start
Hi, my name is Adam, and I make games in unity. I've set up a company called Out Of Body Interactive from my bedroom and I'm making some mobile applications for a few clients. But I'm not here to talk about those developments (because I've signed non-disclosure agreements and i'm not legally allowed to), I'm here to talk about my personal work.
Setting this up is surprisingly difficult, and has been full of ups and downs so far. I have so many questions to answer myself, and I keep changing my answers. Do I label everything I make under my business name? Is my business name just for contract work, and I'll use my real name for my personal projects? Am I spending too much time at my part time job and not enough on my art, or vice-versa? Either way, regarding my craft, I had a serious problem:
I've been slacking. Hard. I managed to find myself some part-time work to keep the money coming in, and I've bought Unity Pro, but when it actually came to making games, I've been disappointing myself. The only times I've managed to get myself to do what I've been dreaming of doing my whole life was through game jams, they motivated me like nothing else and it's thanks to the insanityjam that I managed to make Fruitless, but now with this job I miss half the time I would have. That lack of time killed my attempt for insanityjam 2, which hurt my motivation even further. For months I did nothing but part-time work and the contract work. There were occasional exceptions, like Farewell Robin which was the product of a 4-5 hour emotionally-fueled surge of dismantlingly shocking sadness and existential crisis, and the rush of being paid for my work for the first time. But don't worry, this post isn't all misery and whining, because I hit a turning point.
I met up with my niece Brooke for a fun time around Sydney one weekend, and we had stopped in Kinokuniya, a large bookshop, when I saw an oddly shaped book in the #1 bestseller shelf near the cash registers. It was called "Steal like an artist" By Austin Kleon. The title was controversial in my mind as soon as I read it, with a small mental battle in my mind over what I felt about it. "Stealing means a lack of creativity and originality, real artists don't do that!" called my inner neckbeard, a part of me I've learned to suppress over several years. "Nothing is REALLY original, and people copy each other all the time, it's a part of life" replied the hipster on the other side. I figured it was worth a read and bought it.
This book has changed my life.
After reading all the way through twice in a few days, I was inspired. My views on homage and...well..stealing, have been totally reshaped, and I feel like the huge obligation to be 100% outside-influence free has been lifted. I implemented lots of the books advice within the following week: I bought several notebooks and carry them with me always, a swipe file, a logbook, and a place to keep the ideas I catch floating through my head. My bedroom had to be rearranged to create two separate work stations, one of which is populated with a whole bunch of pens, papers, post-it-notes, play dough, sharpies and sketch pads. There's a whiteboard on my wall. My creative workspace isn't just a big computer setup with a notepad on it anymore. Despite the fact that this is all just in my bedroom, it feels more like a studio now. I have my desk for being creative and using my hands (Tip #4 from the book), and my desk for implementing that creativity with my PC.
I've started absorbing more of the creative world around me as well, I make a point to go to the powerhouse museum, the museum of contemporary art, various theatrical productions, stuff like that. I'm populating my swipe file and keeping my logbook. And now I'm keeping a blog. I didn't write one before because quite frankly I didn't think anyone would care.
One last thing that's really made me feel like I might be able to get done what needs to be done is a seminar I went to at Fishburners. They spoke about productivity and creativity in the games industry. Organisation has always been one of my weakest points, but they showed me to a lot of great advice and services, like Trello and How To Get Things Done by David Allen.
Things are looking up.