I'm coming upon my 35th birthday (in August), it got me to thinking what I had done this last decade (2000-2009), and I realized I sort of wasted the decade. I mean I did a few things such as finish my first 3 games (which really was in around 2001-2002). and I did programming for a game that was completed in 2008. But I haven't really gotten anything done of note. Hopefully this next decade I'll actually do something with my life. This decade I hope to finish 3 games. My platformer, an adventure game (point and click), and a big time high quality 3d shooter. At some point I hope to be making little youtube movies (because I think I've always wanted to make movies). I doubt I'll actually make a full movie (indie or otherwise) by 2019, but hopefully I'll be a little more successful this decade. On a personal note, I plan on learning to drive before the decade is over (yes I know I'm 35 years old, and 10 years is a lot of time to learn driving in), get in shape (working out currently so hopefully by the end of the decade I'll be ripped ), have some money (or a job or whatever), maybe a girlfriend (well that's pretty darn iffy, i'm not very social, nor am I around anything where I can meet people). Hopefully this is the Decade of Keith ;-) What about the rest of you?
1) Finally take my company properly independent. 2) Keep it that way. Sadly they really are two separate things, both of which are hard. But there's no point setting easy goals, right...
I'm hoping to strike a blow for what remains of humanity, probably by disguising my scent with the pheromones of a worker drone and smuggling an EMP device right into the overhive's control nexus. If the Earth isn't invaded by alien bugs in the next ten years, then, dunno, no plans really.
Starcraft too much? In 2010 I'll get off my ass and organize myself into ending the two games I have at 90% in my code repository and stop fearing releasing a game like the little scared coward I'm feeling right now. Two years should be enough to stop my mouth from talking rubbish and actually ending the freaking games... After 2010, I'll resume conquering the world as I was doing back in 2008 before getting married and having kids... So don't waste more time planning stuff guys.
"Same thing I do every decade, Pinky - try to take over the world" [edit] But I'll settle for four successful games and early retirement by the age of 45.
Finish my bloody PhD. Get some form of retirement income sorted (i.e. some income stream that doesnt stop if I stop working). Have some great life experiences again (been up and down on that recently) and generally try and focus on creative pursuits.
This minus the PhD, plus travel in other countries and learn foreign languages. More realistically, try to finish a game that i'll enjoy and isn't a webgame or mobile device game.
Make millions, marry a supermodel, cheat on her, go on a 6 month bender and then go to rehab and write a book about my life. Naah, I'll settle for writing a game that sells more than 100 copies for a change.
I'm surprised no one has plans for the next 10 years. Granted it's kind of a long time, but from what I heard about goal setting you are supposed to think 5 and 10 years ahead. I went from wanting to do 12 games in 1 year, to wanting to do 3 in 10 years. It's a bit more reasonable, don't you think? It means I have 3 years (about) to do my platformer, and 3 years for the other two. it might scale a bit differently though, let's say 2 years for my platformer, 3 years for my adventure game, and 5 years for my fps. (Considering it will take a while for me to learn anything having to do with 3d). Hopefully that's enough time for those. So I plan to have my platformer out by 2011 sometime.
I will either get succesful working in the independant games industry or I will abandon all extra professional initiatives alltogether and start living like a retired old guy.
I plan to get some games released, then when my fiancee completes her law degree go back to Uni and complete a interactive entertainment and business dual degree (already got credits for both). She has 2 years left, so I have 2 years to get some early games released, and I intend on working on them while at uni. That's only the next 3. Beyond that I have grand plans, but they rely so much on more immediate plans coming through I can't expect all of them to happen how I hope. Plenty to do and learn. I'd love to study, while working full time while making games, but 2 of 3 at a time seems more logical to me. So for now, work and games dev it is. Education will come up when I no longer have to work fulltime. Then again, I have other skills to fall back on due to my studies/employment as a Structural Drafter.
Well, I hope to have 30 games released if downloadable games don't collapse. Yep, that's right, I want to release 3 games a year. I guess this year will have 3 released within next 3 months, so we'll have some spare time for the rest of the year ;-)
This year I wanted to really do something just for myself, so I started my "just for fun" project. As I've been composing various video game genre music for over a decade now, I've never had a chance to work with really obscure styles. Polka? Banjo-Hillbilly? I enjoy the challenge of creating these, all without the interference of other designers, producers, clients, etc. I'm really enjoying it so far and plan to continue on a lot of different, personal projects for the years to come. I think the more we can expand our disciplines and enrich our lives the better! Anyone else doing anything on the side, just for fun?
So, I mean this in the nicest way possible. The info on your twitter page, you're 35, have no job, no car, no family, and live with your dad. It seems like you should have literally nothing else to do but make games all day every day, it's kind of a dream situation in a sense. You have no obligations. The fact that you're talking in terms of "what to do in 10 years" is a bit scary. How about doing one game, as quickly as possible? Most people don't plan out that far ahead because life is filled with constant curveballs once you leave your parents' house and enter the workforce... - andrew