50-41: A Decade of Game Design Wisdom

[@connievogelmann8946]

Love the video series! I thought I was going to disagree with your point about designing in the morning (I do almost all my design work late at night!) until you got to the part about not sleeping! 🙃😂

[@bryanwelsh6383]

I think the thing about productivity in the morning is more about productivity is higher in your first few hours of being awake, regardless of what time of day that is. I've seen it put forward that its about the first 3 hours or so of your day and I tried that for a time a number of years back. It seemed to hold true. If someone is more inclined to sleeping later and staying up later, they would be less productive trying to force themselves to adapt toa different sleep cycle.

[@AdaminWales]

I agree. But regardless of how late you go to sleep, it’s sensible to have a considerable break after game design before sleeping. Game design is very stimulating - and your brain needs time to settle. Books I’ve read on the topic suggest 90 minutes of low-stimulation activities before sleep (not that I ever manage that). But regardless, the message really is: if game design is impacting your sleep, you’re not doing yourself any favours.

[@bryanwelsh6383]

@AdaminWales I totally agree with that. I don't think there can be any doubt. I tend to get a second with between midnight and 0130 and I've often made the mistake of trying to be creative in those hours. Particularly when its ideation it becomes very difficult to sleep after. If I'm programming or writing it's not quite so bad and I can leave things at a point that's easy enough to pickup next time. But with ideation the thoughts feel important but I know they wont linger, and that can keep you up all night. I've literally had nights of no sleep whatsoever because of my mind rushing, even with attempts to meditate or whatnot. Some people have noisy minds and if you practice ideation for an extended period it can set your head rolling. Similar to driving all day then going to bed right after, you're still in driving mode.

[@GramMcM]

2nd

[@francisd8650]

Great point about the relation between theme and mechanism! But is there something to be said about publishers sometimes imposing a theme on your game? I've heard it's a fairly frequent practice, is it something you should keep in mind when designing theme-first?

[@AdaminWales]

I don’t think it should stop you designing theme-first. If publishers want to change the theme, then it is up to them to ensure that’s possible. If you’ve created a game where the theme cannot be changed because it’s so tightly interwoven with the mechanisms, that’s going to be a huge positive to many customers and publishers (if you find the right one). There are a ton of publishers out there - you can’t please all of them. But yeah, loose themes can be more easily interchangeable.

[@eric80tn]

In my experience, the most frustrating part of communicating cold via email is when you get no response, but the publisher adds you to their marketing emails.

[@AdaminWales]

Yes, that would annoy me intensely. It hasn’t happened much to me.

[@HolisticSongwritingLIVE]

This is usually automatic when you use their contact form.

[@sirguy6678]

Looking forward to every video! These life lessons are extremely valuable!