Game development and personal life

2 July 2013

A few days ago, a friend pointed me at this Kotaku article about Sid Meyer. It's a fascinating read from end to end, but the one quote that stood out to me wasn't about game design at all:

I asked Meier, who is 59, if he ever thinks about retirement. “I kinda feel like I am retired,” he said, laughing. “I'm doing what I wanna do — I've been retired for a long time. I still love making games, so I've really never thought of that.”

It instantly reminded me of Alex Warren's recent write-up about living frugally. Being one of those who managed to get off the hamster wheel against all odds, it warms my heart to see more people advocating the same thing.

Remember, nothing guarantees success in life. You might as well have fun trying, so that if you fail there will be no regrets at least.

The Kotaku article also contains some very wise advice about game design (which applies to all software development, really):

“Sid’s never had to write a design document, because instead of debating with you about some new feature he wants to implement, he’ll just go home and at night he’ll implement it,” Solomon said. “And then tomorrow when he comes in he’ll say, ‘Okay, now play this new feature.’ And you’ll play, and then you can have a real conversation about the game, instead of looking at some design document.”

But that's another story. Go read the whole thing.