A small indie game developer’s day

I am kind of curious about the lives small game developers live. Are they nerds? Do they go out and dance all night? Do they manage to have a successful social life, or do they just hide inside their cave, waiting for some pious being to feed them?

Myself, I’m kind of new at game development. I worked in the interactive field for more than a decade (CDs, softwares, touchscreen apps, mini-games) but mostly on commission. Since some months though, I kind of consider myself a small indie game developer, since my time is mostly spent on my own Journeyballs and small prototypes. I still work on commission, but that happens more rarely, because my clients became very tough to hunt down for money, and that lead to more losses than gains (like paying taxes on jobs I didn’t get payed for – once is ok, but when it becomes a rule I’m out).

I consider myself quite autistic. I mean. Invite me to a party and I’ll have lots of fun and go around making silly jokes all night. I might even dance. I like dancing. And I will probably get drunk with Paul, if he’s around – while trying to avoid his killer cigars. But give me a cave, and the woman I love, and I’m happy to stay in there all the time – and maybe go out just for a short walk and an ice cream. Luckily, I made so much sport when I was younger, that my body still carries on quite well. And sex is a great surrogate for gymnastics.

So. Here is my average day when in Serbia, with the woman I love, during our july of work-vacation. Obviously, there are exceptions, and note that july is our vacation month. In August I’ll maybe write part 2 of this article, and it will sound way more autistic.

My average summer-vacation day in Serbia

I wake up late, around 10am, and have breakfast with my lady, who woke something like an hour before – shame on me. Milk & coffee plus a sandwich (sometimes with chocolate, sometimes with mayonnaise and ham). I use my phone to check mail and tweets, while I smoke my first cigarette. I suffer from low pressure in the morning, so I throw a few punches at the wall to get some adrenaline for the day – my knuckles got very hard after many years of wall boxing.

I turn on my computer, and while it takes its usual ages to initialize Windows I wash myself.

I answer eventual mails and tweets, check Google Calendar to see what I have to do, and take care of any bureaucratic stuff (and usually get all worried for a while, since money is an issue right now). Then I start working on Journeyballs, or something like that.

At around 2pm, I pause and have a shower. Then it’s break time. Some sex, and then my lady and I eat something simple, while we watch some episode of Arrested Development – not necessarily in this order, but we usually like to watch series and jump on each other during the afternoon.

Work again, until 8pm or so. While I’m at the computer, my lady draws her new steampunk comic. Then a short walk and an ice cream, which usually ends with my lady complaining that the ice cream was too big and it killed her and she should take a smaller one next time.

Game development, but more relaxed. Usually I just mess around with stuff. Maybe another break to play a couple levels of Super Meat Boy and then give up swearing. Sometimes I write a blog post.

At around 10/11pm, it’s dinner time. Every second day I usually cook some pasta. I’m Italian, I have to do that or I will turn into a spaghetti-seeking zombie*.

Shower, then we jump in bed to watch a good movie, hopefully.

Then sleep, around 3am. Sometimes, sexsomnia.

Ok. I’m a nerd.

If anyone knows other blogs that talk about the day of an indie game developer, please let me know: I’m stupidly curious.

*By the way. Today I just bought a ridiculously expensive Wok, and found some pecorino romano (which is rare as gold here in Serbia – actually, probably rarer). So I’m finally gonna cook an awesome gricia