
How “At the Gates” took 7 years of my life – and nearly the rest - smacktoward
https://jonshaferondesign.com/2019/01/09/how-at-the-gates-took-7-years-of-my-life-and-nearly-the-rest/
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danso
Wow, this essay is like one developer's personal journey through the most
discussed topics on HN:

\- Almost dropping out of college to pursue his passion in game development

\- Working on his gamedev project (Civ 4: Warlords) during his boring CS
courses

\- Getting a dream job (lead designer of Civ 5) at the very young age of 21

\- Crunching to finish the game (239 days in a row with no time off) and after
shipping, quitting out of burnout

\- Launching a Kickstarter in hopes of producing the game that's been in his
mind.

\- Getting diagnosed with ADHD and becoming dependent on amphetamines.

\- Becoming isolated from all of life while working as a solo developer, and
quitting all other activities, including regular exercise.

\- Hitting rock bottom, financially, physically, and mentally.

\- Finding a process for self-improvement and better health.

\- After years of struggle, being able to finally ship.

It was great to see that this story seems to have a happy ending, but I don't
know if I'd call it uplifting. But kudos to the author for his honesty, and
huge congrats for being able to succeed with his project. I'm definitely
interested in checking it out based on his personal testimonial (that, and I'm
a huge Civ fan).

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baud147258
Didn't he worked at Paradox during solo development? I think I heard about it,
with disapointed reactions from backers who realised he had stoped working on
his game.

Edit: I read the article: 'a big part of my ticket out of the situation was an
offer to join Paradox '

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paulcole
Obsessed with games, obsessed with drugs, obsessed with food.

What’s the common denominator? Obsession. You can control it for awhile and
move the obsession to something else, but it’s the obsession that’s the
underlying problem. You’ll just find another thing that in moderation might be
just fine but when obsessed over has some dark side you never imagined.

Ask me how I know lol.

~~~
kkarakk
i think at that point you should realize that you need professional help. i
was the same and finally i just gave up and called a psych. very useful, the
meds have evened me out and i am way more productive and focused instead of
obsessed.

wish i had done it 5 years earlier but it is what it is.

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stochastic_monk
Is At the Gates related at all to the melodic death metal band by the same
name?

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thatoneuser
Wondering the same thing when I read the title

