#1GAM 2016 kick-off

In general, I find it pretty tough to maintain the motivation to make (and finish) games in my spare time. It’s not uncommon, I know. I program all day at work (and sometimes late into the evening), so by the time I get home, its temping to just veg-out on the couch, or do something completely different. My wife is a bit of a workaholic, so seeing her toiling away on her own personal projects, night after night, is a big motivator, but after having our first child last summer, it’s become even tougher for me to find that drive it takes to create.

I love making indie games though, and when I go a long stretch without developing, it leaves me feeling remorseful; a feeling that I’ve wasted my time watching TV or playing games when I could have been making them!

So this year, to help jump start my creative process, I’ve signed up for One Game A Month! As the name suggests, this group of developers commits to releasing a single game, every month of the year. Although making 12 games in a year is a slightly grueling schedule, I actually think it will be easier than what I am doing now in a lot of ways. Since the deadline is so short and fixed, I won’t feel as obligated to polish to perfection, and will be much more conservative in the scope of projects I take on (for example, although somewhat simple, Power Swipe took me about a year to make).

I’ll be keeping this blog updated with my progress throughout the year. Hopefully by putting this out there, and making a public declaration of intent, I’ve given myself even more motivation to follow through! I’d hate to disappoint all those adoring fans. 😉

If you are interested in joining in, shoot me a message, and maybe we can help keep each other motivated! If you’ve always dreamed of making games but didn’t know where to start, this is it! You don’t need any experience to do this. You can make entire games without writing a line of code, or drawing a single pixel. It’s never been easier to make games, and with a schedule like this, there are no expectations! I’d be more than happy to help point you in the right direction. Imagine if at this time next year you have created 12 games!

Game 1 starts tomorrow!