Recently I’ve been extremely frustrated with my game development journey and I suddenly noticed something about my approach to development: I focus a lot on what I want to do, on dreams, inspirations, ideas. And since I don’t fully understand how to get there, or how others got there, I get frustrated and it becomes almost a magical thing to reach those goals.
But here is my solution: Learning and combining what you know. You only focus on learning something. And then you work with what you have. You do not chase dreams, inspiration or any ideas. You start from the bottom – You stay inside the boundaries of what you already know you are able to do. This way you will not run into any problems.
This is very related to “first principles” thinking and the “cargo cult” mentality. You can google those 2 terms to get a better understanding. But essentially the conclusion is that seeing something and trying to replicate it without knowing the underlying fundamentals will lead to deep frustration. But this cannot happen if you start from existing knowledge instead of being inspired by others. You can study and extend your knowledge and skills and then work with what you have, instead of what you wish you’d be able to make. You never know the circumstances of other people, their budget, their family life, their friendships, their location, their partnerships, their investors, their personal taste. All those factors make for a unique mix of things that lead to their success.
Now, instead of trying to copy others or chase dreams, look at yourself, who you are, what you can do, how much energy you have, how much budget, your taste and interests. And then work with that. This works so well, because it doesn’t create a situation where you have to desperately try to achieve something you don’t know how to do. It keeps you grounded in reality.
And you can still expand yourself by learning more. So spend more time learning if you feel stuck, so you have more skills you can combine into new things. The important part is to avoid frustration and desperation, because those will make you give up. And giving up is the worst mental state to be in.