It is not the first time I start something, or try to and I am not ashamed to do it once again and if I wouldn't succeed with what I want to do I will probably try again. I am going into this with the dream as my goal in a way meaning that success is secondary at this point and the further I get the more my goal can move toward my vision so to speak. I believe that it is a kind of healthy way to dream, at least for me at this point in time. I love doing it all and I have both started up companies and planned for doing it and it's something I really love doing. I believe that the road might well be the goal in many cases.
I already do have a vision and loads of ideas for what I want to achieve in some years moving forward, both business-wise and more at a project level. Much of it is things I am currently writing but well I don't really have all that much to say about it yet. But then again I kind of feel like I haven't yet said much at all about "all of this", I mean what am I writing about? I thought I would spend this post trying to give a little outline of what I want to do and also what I am doing so that anyone reading might get a better understanding of what they are reading. It's actually a difficult thing when writing, to understand what the reader sees, and to write from a perspective where I don't know anything about the writer (me) and the ideas and stuff talked about.
So in some kind of summary I would like to get two things across. Firstly I want to say that I have already done similar things before and I have failed or at least not succeeded before and more importantly I have already been part of creating successful business as well. And the last sentence there, it's something which I find super rewarding and with my current experience I could and would love to spend time and insight on it. Secondly I would like to provide at least an outline of where I would like to see myself in 5-10 or so years. I believe that I have gotten the first part down so let's talk about the second part now.
So I don't really know where to begin and further more I don't know what frame of coverage I want to do here as the scoop to cover is quite big. But I will try to put it simple here in an attempt to let you decide if you are interested in reading about it or not. So that will be my main focus and hopefully it will be interesting enough to have you come back and read more of what I write!
I have a lot of ideas for games that is the base of it all. I have been part of numerous start ups and actually know it all pretty well. I have had different roles from founder and CEO to lead tech and even more modest positions. I do love the business parts I just find it hard to actually believe in myself and my ideas which of course is more problems at a personal level than a problem to my ideas. I would say that I have some quite unique ideas both for game projects and also for running a business and the combination of it with my own self-esteem as the biggest barrier is what I want to achieve.
I do believe that technology made available through Epic's unreal engine and the Unity technology is key bricks in making it possible for someone like me to move forward. I have always written my own tech when starting projects like this and in all fairness it would take me years to write an engine which isn't even close in features and work flow as any of those pieces of software. So that opens up a brand new world of possibilities for me. I don't have any funds to start off with which also is a problem in a way but as I see it it is temporary and not at all essential to get a lot of the work done and down the line there are options and I have yet to decide which option/s suite my needs. I mean I have been in traditional investment presentations where you basically get money for shares of your ideas/company and it might well be an alternative forward when that time comes. However kickstarter and crowd-funding is a bit of a game-changer in this respect as you could get funded without actually giving up ownership of your ideas and that goes really well in line with my way of thinking. As I want to create an environment which is somewhat of the professionals dream ownership and mandate becomes increasingly important to be able to keep that opportunity.
So I guess I said in a way that my views on a company is somewhat different from the traditional capitalist view. And don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the value money brings to the mix but I believe that it is secondary in many ways. I love what Ricardo Semler did with his company where he basically say: "If you are working here it should be because you enjoy doing so. If you are spending most of your time at work you really should enjoy it otherwise your life outside of work will not be enjoyable and it will in the long run effect your work effort negatively and it will spiral down into depression. I trust my workers to decide what and when things should be done and I would only manage when something is obviously not working." (please observe that I am not quoting but rather paraphrasing the ideas as I see them).
So what am I doing when I am not working full time, playing with my kids and doing all the things my every-day life requires to keep me happy? At the moment planning, and refining goals and visions, and also "talking" to the readers here in hope of spreading the word and it is a huge help for me to organise my thoughts in this way as well, as I can write pretty much straight from my heart without bothering too much with formulations and the likes.
I hope to get back with a funny hat in the near future to present the wacky ideas implied by it, and also hope that you are sharing this because in the end that is what it's all about. If it is shared and reaches more people interested in it my work will become more rewarding and it all become (much like the paraphrased Ricardo Semler bit) an upwards spiral of creativity!
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Ideas
Today I found a small gap in my flow to write between packing and going to the ballet to watch an interpretation of the nut cracker with my oldest son. So I will try to make the best of it and talk about some pretty interesting concepts my wife suggested for the whole "have little time but want continuity" - theme.
So basically her idea were that you could have a "hat of topics" and if you feel uninspired one day, just pull something out of the hat and like magic you will have a topic. It's actually a pretty darn good idea. First of all I can interlock ideas and in a way work on them in an indirect manner. So I mean I could have some ideas of things that might be something I want to make something of and by writing about it, thinking about it and explaining a bit about it I would in reality do a lot of concept-work while staying true to my vision of keeping up pace.
So how would it work? well basically it would be like a super-loose scrum board in a way, I set up topics rather than tasks and every day where I feel I don't know what to do I just select a topic at random and have at it. Then I have material to refine and work through, again like magic ;)
Another thing which would be interesting is to ask hypothetical questions on social media and elaborate on concepts there, however I do realize that I do not have a big enough crowd taking an interest at this point, but perhaps in the future that would be a good idea.
I might start asking questions like that soon enough on twitter and facebook, but for now I think I will be focusing on deciding how to do it and hopefully time will mature so that I may have discussions and input soon enough.
So next up I will be creating the sorting hat (please I need to make Harry Potter references when the chance is given!) and I will report on the progress for that. I am thinking of an actual physical thing as it become much more concrete that way, and because it is fun! So pictures might well be a reality.
So basically her idea were that you could have a "hat of topics" and if you feel uninspired one day, just pull something out of the hat and like magic you will have a topic. It's actually a pretty darn good idea. First of all I can interlock ideas and in a way work on them in an indirect manner. So I mean I could have some ideas of things that might be something I want to make something of and by writing about it, thinking about it and explaining a bit about it I would in reality do a lot of concept-work while staying true to my vision of keeping up pace.
So how would it work? well basically it would be like a super-loose scrum board in a way, I set up topics rather than tasks and every day where I feel I don't know what to do I just select a topic at random and have at it. Then I have material to refine and work through, again like magic ;)
Another thing which would be interesting is to ask hypothetical questions on social media and elaborate on concepts there, however I do realize that I do not have a big enough crowd taking an interest at this point, but perhaps in the future that would be a good idea.
I might start asking questions like that soon enough on twitter and facebook, but for now I think I will be focusing on deciding how to do it and hopefully time will mature so that I may have discussions and input soon enough.
So next up I will be creating the sorting hat (please I need to make Harry Potter references when the chance is given!) and I will report on the progress for that. I am thinking of an actual physical thing as it become much more concrete that way, and because it is fun! So pictures might well be a reality.
Friday, January 1, 2016
New Year
It's the first day of 2016 and in a way it makes me feel hopeful and quite excited. I am planning for for the year and I have spent a lot of energy late 2015 thinking and trying to get in some way emotionally ready to go forward.
I guess it's all about dreams in a way and the balance of dream and reality. On the one hand I am working full-time to support my family and along with that goes things like cleaning the house, cooking and playing with my two children. That would go under the reality-tag. On the other hand I want to make real these dreams I have of my own company where I would work with the company and game-design and I want to get there. Maybe not this year and the time I can put in is quite limited. However I am starting this year with planning and even doing so I have the four-year old next to me meaning I have to filter impressions. So I guess the point I want to make is that the only way to really keep the dream alive is to keep realistic is to realize that it will take a lot of time and perhaps I will not really be able to invest in the dreams for years. But that I can still do many things such as business planning, game design, campaign work and social media coverage and most importantly keep dreaming!
Really it might seem trivial in a way but if I am making any promise for the new year it is to every day give time to the project in one way or another, and my goal is to write something in the blog every day. That of course mean that I might be writing short uninteresting updates at times mainly saying "nothing new" but I believe that continuity is key. I have either written or thought about this before, but here goes. If I work with something I get "in the zone" when there I am efficient. Going away for dunno but 30-60 minutes every couple of hours or so does me and my zone-ness good. being away more then an hour or so starts draining the creativity and inspiration, being away for a day is a complete reset and I need to start over from zero taking hours to get back in the zone. being gone for multiple days actually mean that I might need a day or so before I feel back in the loop and being gone for a week or more probably mean that I wont really ever get back but rather I have a full restart. A full restart here basically means that I can still do it and I get back in a matter of speaking but it wont be easy.
There are different reasons for this, one of it is that if I for example is writing a story I really need to read all of it, perhaps even multiple times before feeling that I have the same state of mind and the same understanding of it. Another reason is pure emotional, I mean I have to feel the same way as I did when working on it. I have fuzzily described it as the need to get into the world I am creating before. And I actually think that it's a pretty good way of describing it as in the essence that really is what it is all about.
I think that is one of the main points when creating worlds and realities as in game development, to have an understanding and the right feeling and it's something which is difficult to provide for your staff. I mean if I am working with a registry I don't really need to feel the data, I don't need to be able to go into and live in the data. For games I believe that it is much more important in order to create the correct thing.
And even now this short post has taken me more then one hour to write! For real, I have the four year next to me making comments on things which takes micro moments away and as I can't get into the zone I have to start over every couple of seconds. However don't misunderstand, I don't mind it and I choose to take this hour or so to write here because I still think that to get one hour a day keep the continuity better than "waiting for the right moment" to put in some time. The moment wont come for years, and I am ready now!
So cheers and hopefully I am going to create some hype in 2016!
I guess it's all about dreams in a way and the balance of dream and reality. On the one hand I am working full-time to support my family and along with that goes things like cleaning the house, cooking and playing with my two children. That would go under the reality-tag. On the other hand I want to make real these dreams I have of my own company where I would work with the company and game-design and I want to get there. Maybe not this year and the time I can put in is quite limited. However I am starting this year with planning and even doing so I have the four-year old next to me meaning I have to filter impressions. So I guess the point I want to make is that the only way to really keep the dream alive is to keep realistic is to realize that it will take a lot of time and perhaps I will not really be able to invest in the dreams for years. But that I can still do many things such as business planning, game design, campaign work and social media coverage and most importantly keep dreaming!
Really it might seem trivial in a way but if I am making any promise for the new year it is to every day give time to the project in one way or another, and my goal is to write something in the blog every day. That of course mean that I might be writing short uninteresting updates at times mainly saying "nothing new" but I believe that continuity is key. I have either written or thought about this before, but here goes. If I work with something I get "in the zone" when there I am efficient. Going away for dunno but 30-60 minutes every couple of hours or so does me and my zone-ness good. being away more then an hour or so starts draining the creativity and inspiration, being away for a day is a complete reset and I need to start over from zero taking hours to get back in the zone. being gone for multiple days actually mean that I might need a day or so before I feel back in the loop and being gone for a week or more probably mean that I wont really ever get back but rather I have a full restart. A full restart here basically means that I can still do it and I get back in a matter of speaking but it wont be easy.
There are different reasons for this, one of it is that if I for example is writing a story I really need to read all of it, perhaps even multiple times before feeling that I have the same state of mind and the same understanding of it. Another reason is pure emotional, I mean I have to feel the same way as I did when working on it. I have fuzzily described it as the need to get into the world I am creating before. And I actually think that it's a pretty good way of describing it as in the essence that really is what it is all about.
I think that is one of the main points when creating worlds and realities as in game development, to have an understanding and the right feeling and it's something which is difficult to provide for your staff. I mean if I am working with a registry I don't really need to feel the data, I don't need to be able to go into and live in the data. For games I believe that it is much more important in order to create the correct thing.
And even now this short post has taken me more then one hour to write! For real, I have the four year next to me making comments on things which takes micro moments away and as I can't get into the zone I have to start over every couple of seconds. However don't misunderstand, I don't mind it and I choose to take this hour or so to write here because I still think that to get one hour a day keep the continuity better than "waiting for the right moment" to put in some time. The moment wont come for years, and I am ready now!
So cheers and hopefully I am going to create some hype in 2016!
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