Can You Develop Games as a Hobby After Work?

Love the emphasis on focusing on your own identity rather than an end goal. It's so important to keep yourself physically and mentally healthy to eventually reach those goals. Amazing video, keep up the great work!

You made working on games as a hobby look "not too difficult", but it is really difficult. It is a testament to your discipline. Great video and keep inspiring. Health is a major factor with developers.

I assume it's quite tricky, which makes it even more amazing how you've kept this up for so many years! I'm guessing there are plenty of days when work is just too tiring to do something afterwards, definitely challenging but doable. Nice home gym, impressive L-sit!

I work in a call center and there is usually some down time between calls. Not only can you make games after work as a hobby, but during! I have gotten a lot of my game done in 3-4 minute intervals between calls at work. The dev cycle has been much longer than traditional development but I finally have been steam approved and look to have a demo out by the end of November. You may not have as much time when you are making a game as a hobby, but there also isn't any pressure to get things done by a set time frame unless you put it there. My game is nearly feature complete so I am finally starting to get my steam page up and a demo ready, but that is after 6-7 months of work where I have just been silently plucking away at the core features. My game likely wont be a huge success but I know I will get it out there and if you are doing it as a hobby after work that is a pretty good place to start

I appreciate videos like this. As someone who bought C++ for dummies in 2010 to begin the trek toward the "game creator goal", I know it's not an overnight endeavor. To me the REAL gem here is your workflow! The computer setup and monitor layout as well as non cluttered and ergonomic work environment is on point! I'm always scouring the internet for tips and tricks to getting better at game creation, music recording, and CGI in general, and just seeing the layout of working devs is a real treat. On any given day, I'm in danger of getting bonked in the head with an overhead recording mic, and tripped by a pile of cords on the floor that make the snake pit in an Indiana Jones movie look safe. LOL. Cheers

Man you're such an inspiration, I get motivated to work on my projects every time I watch one of your videos 😄

So relatable! I appreciate how you always keep things down to Earth. This is so similar to my process & routine right now

Your work ethic is incredible. I have always had a hard time balancing work and my love for indie game dev, mostly because work drains me so much that I lack the motivation to even start doing game dev

Hey Ben, always loved your devlogs and been impressed at how you split your time wisely on developing Dauphin between your day to day responsibilities, seemingly without breaking a sweat - which comes through on how chilled each video you do is. This episode was very informative and inspiring, and made me remember not to beat myself up if I don't spend hours every day on my personal project either. Keep it up!

Very interesting video Ben! 😊I am very impressed by people who manage to make a game after work. During my time at Ubisoft, I was so tired at the end of the day that I would never find the motivation to work again. Kudos!

Echoing some other folks in this thread -- the notion of aligning one's work to one's desired identity over their immediate goals for that work is profound and inspirational. I really appreciate you broadcasting this.

That is really inspiring :) ! FYI love the esthetic of your office and the aquariums! A beautifully planted aquarium is always such a highlight in a room

DevDuck, this is my first time viewing your channel but this video has helped me in more ways than one can imagine. I'm a 26, work-from-home Senior Software Engineer and I love game-dev or exploring new avenues of code (such as AI), but over the course of 2 years I've been feeling burned out and not wanting to code outside of the 9 to 5. That passion of code going into this field during my entry level era was burned out when adding on more responsibilities. Sleep stared to get neglected and more. But the slight changes in routine you mentioned in this video has re-lit a fire that has been long been extinguished. I didn't think it would be possible because the main criteria is the work-from-home cycle. The constant cabin fever. This has been extremely insightful. You probably won't see this but man. Thank you. Subbed.

Love this video. Thanks for your thoughts, and best of luck on your game dev journey!

Incredible video! Something a lot of people really need to hear, so thanks for putting this out there!

Absolutely love this! Trying to live my life with this philosophy in mind (especially as someone who is beginning his Game Dev journey). Thanks a lot for the inspo

This guy is still young... this is something I was very capable when I was younger too, but as I got older, it becomes harder and harder to do more work-like stuff after work. For one, it just gets very tiring mentally -- I'm challenged mentally in work, I can't be too challenged in similar ways after work too or I'll burn out. Additionally, I can't neglect other aspects of my life: sleep is super super important, so is exercise, family and friends, significant other, non-work related hobbies (ideally some that have nothing to do with screen time), cleaning, etc. That makes it very hard to fit in hobby programming without burning out. When I was in my twenties, it was easy, now that I'm in my late thirties, it becomes harder and harder.

Very enjoyable watch, and I think you gave your insight into the topic perfectly, it's different for every person. I'm aiming to change my work schedule to be an 8-4 (or around that) wake up for 6, chill time in the morning, after work it'll either be gym, bit of piano practice or game dev, depending on the day, and I'll see how that works for me and change it where necessary. I'd love to see more routine like videos from you, 1) for inspiration and 2) just to see how you manage it!

so awesome to see you pursue your passion constently and in a healthy way great vid as always :)

Very interesting outlook, and very helpful! Something I've always struggled with is finding a balance between family, friends, recovering from work and obligations, and find it difficult to consistently put in hours into gamedev. But your focus on identity and finding a healthy balance first, and game dev will follow, makes a lot of sense and is quite eye opening. Without it you'll struggle to sustain yourself, which is the exact boat I'm in now xD So definitely going to try focus more on having a healthier identity first.