Time Management – Balancing Playing Games With Making Them

I did some soul searching recently, taking a step back and trying to evaluate how much time I spent playing games. Contrary to what you might be thinking, my thoughts were surrounding how LITTLE I played. I posted recently on Reddit’s /r/gamedev subreddit asking how much other people played video games, both for research and for fun. The question came to mind after realizing how little I’ve been playing video games, especially mobile games, since I started development on West Wars. I got answers ranging from “Spend a fifth of your time playing games” to “Don’t sweat it and do what works for you!”

After the numerous answers poured it, I took a few valuable learnings away. The points may seem contradictory, but take them as you will.

1. Do what keeps you motivated. If you’re riding a wave of motivation when making your game, don’t wipe out!
2. Reserve some time for games that are relevant to the one you are designing. These games are what can provide the most value to your “research”.
3. (Especially applicable to mobile) Spend time playing games in moments that couldn’t equally be spent developing them. For instance, the perfect time to pick up and play might be when you’re ready to take the browns to the superbowl! *hint hint*

Someone at one point quoted something they heard in the past: “If you want to make good games, you need to play games.” Since my goal is to make games in innovative, new ways, it reminded me of another quote from Tom Freston – “Innovation is taking two things that already exist and putting them together in a new way.” Knowledge of what’s out there helps us predict what’s next (or should be next)!