mred’s developer diary: full indie

It’s now four weeks into running Tea Clipper Games as a full indie developer and things are in an interesting place. Lots of potential ideas and collaborations, some of which are taking shape and some which are floating in the ether, yet to take form. There have been many discussions with other indie devs and it’s great to see people following a plan and succeeding. It’s also been really great to get back in touch with old colleagues who are all doing their own thing from freelancing to self-funded projects, their support and confidence has been heartwarming. I’m genuinely excited to be able to work with some really great people again, some of them after many years!

The shifting demands of the day to day are intense. Self-direction and variety have always been big factors in my working life – particularly since forming Tea Clipper Games 2 years ago – but the degree has just been raised to a whole new level. I sometimes find myself walking into rooms without remembering what I was there for, often to find an abandoned domestic task – a half-hung, crumpled and soggy towel, tepid water containing an angrily lurking tea bag, a tool box near a disassembled set of shelves.

The development plan is similarly half-formed, notes after notes, and a growing daily task list. At times like this I often think of the strategist in Tora! Tora! Tora!, locked in his room, hiding under a blanket, going over his plan second by second or Max in Pi, taking it back to square one, restating his assumptions. It’s at these times I think to myself, “Phew, this could be going a lot worse!”

It’s all good though, this came a little sooner and more suddenly than I anticipated but the ground work has been put in place. My work environment is well specced and much of the research has been done. Now I need to organise the stream of conciousness into a coherent plan and execute. I find the act of physically organising helps the mental organisation – something about mundane physical actions that gives everything room to fall into place. I see this in many of the people I’ve worked with – the mid-morning coffee ritual, the pacing of the office in the afternoons, the headphones on with music blaring out – all helping them to find their rhythm.

Ok, enough procrastination…

Also check out VoidInSpace’s blog, he’s going to go far that one.