Same thoughts here. This just looks fun! It reminds me of when I started programming. I had a cheap laptop that took half an hour just to start. There were few co-working spaces, so I just camped out on the stairs of a goverment building for free internet.
But it was a productive, fun time. Now with all the high end resources and tools I have, it's not as fun and surprisingly, less productive.
Why is it less productive now? Doesn't make any sense. Even just the available tools and libraries today make every thinkable workflow orders of magnitude more productive.
Yes, but the end target now is some social media BS, big data BS, or social app BS, or some similar BS, your corporate overlord has you make...
So, it's like making those Ugandan movies with fun and passion for $200 with a compact camera, and making the 1000th Hollywood BS superhero movie with $300 million budget.
One factor likely is the fact that to produce a working website to today's standards is a team effort when a few years ago you could hack out something that worked in a day or two by yourself. Team communications add overhead and that in turn slows you down.
A similar thing has happened to game development, it is rare to see a monetizable game made by a single individual.
This is not about productivity, this is just about quality of content. You can still make a game of the same standard as way back, by one person. It's just that games of today are objectively so much better and more complex and intricate.
Arguably, games like Fallout 4 have a huge world but it's not complex at all. It looks more realistic, but the storyline is simpler and far less memorable than Fallout 2.
I'd also argue the most complex games are something like Dwarf Fortress or Ultima Ratio Regum. Both of which were made by 1-2 people.
There are games like Rimworld which try to imitate DF's charm, but go further with a team, professionalism, and better funding. But while it's more polished and "balanced", it doesn't come to the same level of craftsmanship. You also don't get the same goofiness as a necromancer who slices off your finger, animates it, then pokes you in the eye with your undead finger.
It's full of crazy details, like falling down the stairs, cracking a rib, and dying when something pushes the rib through a heart. Or that time when someone found out mermaid bones were valuable and set up structures to trap, breed and "harvest" mermaids.
I think moving further down the path, you learn to drop passion and focus more on professionalism. Passion is a lot harder to control and manage, often replaced with a cold mechanical professionalism.
I remember when I swapped out flip flops at the office for proper shoes. It felt painful, like a part of my soul died.
But it was a productive, fun time. Now with all the high end resources and tools I have, it's not as fun and surprisingly, less productive.