Making Game Dev Friends - Coding, Music, Art, Writing, and Design

Lake

Lotsa people here are looking for other people to fill in that missing skill on their own passion project, but that's not usually super fun. People can get kind of weird about their projects. Moreover, every project and game jam I've ever been involved in has collapsed into vaporware.

It'd be nice to get to know some other developers, though - trade code, assets, demos - show off, talk. For me, a good collaboration comes out of developing a respect for another person's skills and seeing how well you can communicate them. I'd like to work with other people, but strangers can be all kinds of risky, so why not start with some informal sharing? I'll go first:

I do digital art sometime. This one's a space bug from a weird novel I wrote.

I also do traditional art. Here's the cover of a local magazine I'm an editor of.

This bit's from a crummy Android game I never finished. I thought the bloody heart motif would be fun to add to the gui. Below you see pieces of the parallax background.

My pixel art is crazy old, but here you see some shops I made in 8-bit style.

I code too, but I'm not that good, especially not with anything that involves math more complicated than basic trigonometry. I'm not that familiar with stuff like GitHub, either but I'd like to learn. Here's a weird little sample I made that simulates being drunk:

ZIP for PC users: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ItYaUnTqSUUJuV9MXHjqcxgpW_S0Fhgf/view?usp=sharing ZIP for Mac users: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XRjc5nSwVUnuP_TdhJVcEPQUl5TMUagA/view?usp=sharing

That's where I'm at. What cool stuff do you do? Anyone else want to get to know some other developers and be less like strangers?

jbskaggs

Yes of course more friends is great, but maybe hard to really pull off.

Ive edited a magazine 15 years back and that was long tedious work with no money. Made a lot of friends doing it. Wrote 3 novels. I have owned dozens of businesses, im a soso artist and coder. but I am a great at business startups and design. I still design restaurants etc. And this year I cant work due to cancer. But I am pushing myself to create games and apps as I can no longer physically work. It is high risk of failure I know but I am a creator type not a consumer.

I dont think I have ever made a friend in dev since 1984 when I started in basic on a tandy color computer and tape recorder as a storage device. I have over the years had some really intelligent people give me advice and I have returned the favor. But I think it is hard to make friends where the only common contact point might be a forum. One of the factors is also the shear nature of the personalities many artists or coders have. Many simply do not hang out with people. Especially as they get older (im 51 come next month) if your are awake you are working, creating, testing, studying. Doesnt seem to matter if that art is woodworking, Python structuring of a chat app, or pixel art for a new project. People who are not creators- rather they are just consumers, usually have more friends. The more you are a creator they more you find yourself alone. Even when you are on a team.

They goto work, get off and just be and consume. Creators are not like that. They may work several jobs- so they can have the resources to create. Sometimes pulling all nighters or even several all nighters in a row feverishly trying to complete a project. And think nothing is weird about that. They will skip dinner dates, events, hiking, and watching TV just to get that last thing done.

The Psychologist Jordan Peterson talks about the law of society that 10% of the people do 90% of the work. Its not a criticism is a matter of personalities and ambition and drive. Those with lower ambition and less drive to create (whether wealth, art, or whatever) will socialize more and more authentically.

So yes more friends are great, but you may find they are hard to maintain as you create.

Lake

I agree with what you are saying, but I wonder if what you describe isn't a structural issue with our particular society (I'm assuming, here, you belong to the Anglosphere). Creativity in previous eras was centered on workshops, guilds, salons, academies, and even cafes. The difference, I suppose, is that people used these institutions to discuss their work and ideas instead of Netflix. Methods, culture, genres, and so on were more homogenous, too, so it was probably easier to find points of common interest. Our world, though it offers more information and more opportunities, is also ripe with distractions.

The benefits of collaboration are evident - inspiration, access to diverse expertise, greater division of labor and less reduplication of effort, an economy of scale, a critically sophisticated test audience etc. Drawbacks are also easy to name - interpersonal drama and politics, problematic hierarchies, freeloaders, the bureaucracy of people managements, distractions, lack of singular vision, and so on. The task of a rational human being is to treat collaboration as a tool by seeking to optimize its benefits while minimizing problems.

Because solo work is the default, it makes sense to invest a little in other people now and then - a little, at first, so you can analyze the returns, and more later contingent on the relationship's mutual value.

jbskaggs

I agree collaboration is awesome. And I agree investing in others is of the utmost importance.

I was just saying that its hard to have time when working long hours. So are you making a game now or looking for a project to collaborate on?

Personally I like coaching and finding small solution rather than taking on others projects- mainly due to chemo (fighting cancer) can stop me in my tracks for says or weeks before it wears enough to think and this isnt fair to others. But its cool when I can help, beta test, or critique small sections. So lyeah I love to help out best I can.

My current project a tower defense game development is expected to last thru may or june if no medical glitches occur, I launched building it this month and just finished my design doc, some research, and conceptual stages. Moving into coding and tons of raster art this week.

BTW really liked your insect above and prisma or art pencil sketch reminded me of my childhood in the 1970's.

jbskaggs

OH another point Im sure you know already. Finishing a project is easier when you have an audience that wants it- even if its just team members. It can be very hard to produce something if you dont even know if its wanted and with no feedback.

Lake

You could say I'm working on a game, but right now I'm more just experimenting with the technology - a programmable sound unit, text generation, newer pixel art, platform gameplay, a weird UI demo based on satirizing horrible user interfaces and bureaucracy I've had to deal with - stuff like that.

My health's none too good, either. I'm mid thirties and my spine's already janked up with arthritis, for one. Being knocked out by disability's basically a full time job, but it has the fringe benefit of time. My energy and focus are low, but I can always find some mindless, low-level work for one of my pet projects. I take some online classes from the local university, but it was the media arts course I took this semester that really got me back into this stuff. You certainly have my sympathies on your health.

I don't expect to live a long life, but I'm more working on a "before I'm dead" timeline. I have dreams of a ridiculously deep, procedurally generated 2D action adventure, but my only real goal is to make something I can honestly call my favorite. The other thing I've been working on these past twenty years is a graphic novel. Maybe I'll combine them some day. They keep growing closer and closer, so, who knows?

In seeking out others, I'm thinking in the extreme long-term - acquiring new skills I can apply to the projects I care about by experimenting in a more collegial atmosphere, or, making contacts for skill trades down the line. Every time I try to code something, I realize how little I actually know, and I want to know everything - DSP, neural networks, AI, shaders, graphic design, what have you.

jbskaggs

I went into a deep depression the day I realized I would not be able to pursue every path I wanted. Gaming design is sometimes viewed as low brow. And game engines as crutches,

These statements of course are wrong.

In my career I went from cattle ranching, to nuclear machinist mate in navy, to structural steel engineer, and computer and cnc operations , to martial arts, to owning stores, cook, restaurants, computer repair shops, to woodworking and furniture building, to restaurant design and food truck design and building. to point of sale and website building and hosting, fantasy and sci editor and writer (got to work with Kevin J Anderson of dune fame.) , comic maker, illustrator and faux ads maker, novelist, pastor, children's home operator and founder, professor, and now like you disability and game making. I have rarely ever been employed by others I have been self employed or independent contractor for 35 years.

That is a two edged sword too. As it means I have moved a lot, made and lost millions, and dont have anything for retirement now. But honestly I cant punch a clock. Nor can I work for a fixed amount that has nothing to do with my production.

So I think in that regard we are very similar. Learning is my existance- I study things I dont even understand. Will read math books decades beyond me becuase I understand the concepts by not the mathematical specifics. Or I might read the box of a cereal box with the same intensity. I love reading.

But I also forget things quickly. So in my life Ive learned six languages and could speak read and understand them. Now I remember almost none of them. Same with computer languages I have problems recalling my previous languages. And math? I used to calculate the formula for nuclear physics, or the plasticity of steel and momentum forces. Now I have to look up definitions of simple terms like sine and cosine to refresh the memory. Doctors say that by pushing my myself with programming it should help recover my mind and stave off other mental issues.

As far as poor health IM sorry your suffering and I wish you get to feeling better. I was given two months to live last december. I have beaten that and may live longer but chances are I will disabled the rest of my life. I say that to just say I understand the mindset you are expressing and the rollercoaster of emotions you face, As well as reaching backwards and forwards in time to establish meaning in art. Life without purpose is very hard to endure.

I went to your website. Your artwork is very reminiscent of the style Heavy Metal and Crumb both used when I was young, This was another artist I cant remember his name who was famous for his fairies and being locked in an asylum- his studies were similar to yours- but more dour.

I like almost all art save much post modern- modern art. Painting a brick purple just isnt art to me. Here lately I have been studying a dj named DJ Cummerbund even though I am not a music guy. But his stuff is really fascinating how he can take 10 bands and films of opposing genre and trope and combine them into a seamless music video.