Dear Indie Devs: Stay Self Motivated!
Written by Jeremy Rhoades - Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 12:44pm
As mentioned in previous posts, this June will be the Steam Early Access release of our Multiplayer Metroidvania/RPG game, PowerBots. I've been putting work into this game since 2015, and have technically had the idea for this robot filled universe since I was eleven years old. The first PowerBots game was created by me and my twin brother in 2002, though it never made it past the home computers of a few of friends. It wasn't much of a game, but we weren't even teenagers yet, so experience was certainly a lacking factor.
As I continue to bring countless hours of development time to the table, it can be a bit depressing to see how small a mark PowerBots will inevitably make in the flooded indie game market. Maybe this game won't make it past family and friends, maybe the past three years of development will be for nothing.
To be honest, I hate that this even bothers me at all. I often have to remind myself that the goal should not be simply to win the indie game lottery. Game development has been a great learning resource and creative outlet for me, and I want to focus on that as much as possible. I'm happy to be able to look at this positively, as I used to have a much less healthy outlook on my life as a musician. It was either music or nothing, and that was a poisonous mindset that led me into a self destructive ditch.
All I'm trying to say is that, if you're counting on other people to be happy, you may not find happiness for long. The good news is that this doesn't have to be a negative thing. True, creative arts are a great way to communicate to other people. But it's also healthy just to be able to express yourself in that way, and you can find joy in it whether people are paying attention or not. Even if we make PowerBots free, and it's still not downloaded even once, I will still feel accomplished just for finishing something I've been working on for so long. It takes a lot more work and knowledge to do something than you would originally think, and releasing your work is just another step that takes practice as well. The past three years have taught me a lot about game development, and I imagine the next three years will as well.
So here's to creativity and learning! Happy game dev-ing!
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