Not to get too personal, but how did working on a video game affect your personal life? If you worked from home, do you have a wife/kids? Was anyone upset or disappointed you were working on a game and not getting another job at a big tech company?
I don’t mean to be critical, but I’ve always faced pushback working on startups/side projects, and I’m wondering how that was for you?
It was discussed with my family (wife/kid) that this was going to be my near singular focus for a year, and it basically was. Luckily everyone was supportive because they knew how long I'd wanted to do this, and the fact that I already had a "good idea" with some proof on my hands certainly made it easier. Having traction helped convinced everyone, myself included, that it would be a worthwhile investment of time, and not just "fucking around in the basement." No one was disappointed that I was not getting another big tech job. I'd just spent 20 years in FAANG.
I think people doing gamedev who have/had a day job writing business software have a tendency to eschew all the boring scope/time management/actually shipping stuff because being able to just write the code you want and spend however long you want polishing it is so freeing.
Seeing someone come from the corporate world to gamedev and seemingly carry over all the right lessons and keep the discipline is pretty awesome, kudos.
> but I’ve always faced pushback working on startups/side projects
You mean from your SO?
I think most sane people don't have issues with their SOs' side projects, but they have issues with that their SOs 1) not spending enough time with family and 2) being the main income source of the family but not making enough money.
if op was working at Meta for 10 years and they started at 2013 they probably have more then enough money stashed away to not worry about bills for a few years.
The most pushback you get while building it if there is no money coming in. They see you working a lot, being stressed, but still struggling financially, so from their side it's hard to see the benefit of doing it.
I mean video games are notoriously competitive, and very little money comes in until it launches after a year of building. It was not impossible OP was going to launch to 4000 customers.
I think OP’s story is inspiring, and I’m happy to hear he had support, but I could also see a wife being upset her previously highly paid husband is working on a video game, and presumably a low salary from a publisher (if any).
When I was working on my previous startup we had a couple customers and a small investment, but I got intense pushback from a female friend who would often come and live with me. She couldn’t stand the fact I was passing on a high salary to work on something I cared about, and we weren’t even dating. The 1.5 years+ she referred to me as unemployed lol
Again though I don’t mean to be critical of OP or his dream, I was just curious about the social dynamic he encountered.
>It was not impossible OP was going to launch to 4000 customers.
Having a publisher helps a lot. But 4000 copies for many indies would be a rousing success (albeit, not a financial success). It is simply that competitive.
>I could also see a wife being upset her previously highly paid husband is working on a video game, and presumably a low salary from a publisher (if any).
Very true for 99.99% of indie devs. But I figure that OP's savings and RSU's (almost a deacade's worth) would easily put them in a situation everyone else can only dream of.
>When I was working on my previous startup...
I know startups are risky, but I really don't get this attitude. It might just be lack of knowledge, but once you can get a startup off its feet, the VC money from seeds easily makes up for that downtime. And unless you're the founder or are a near-founder being paid with future equity, startups can still pay very respectably. It's the time committment that you need to worry about.
> once you can get a startup off its feet, the VC money from seeds easily makes up for that downtime
The depends a lot on the startup. Many startups don't take VC money.
Of those that do, in my experience as first non-founder employee, the founders were paid very little compared with employees, on the hope of future success with their equity instead, even after the startup got decent pre-seed and seed investment. Both rounds of investment were enough to pay some key employees well, but not to pay everyone well for long enough. So the founders felt they has to continue with low pay for themselves.
he worked at facebook for 10 years, so there is a lack of distraction in relationships that don't have financial stress if this was managed only moderately well in those 10 years
A facebook compensation package for 10 years + the pandemic rally. any trade and speculation with a 6 figure account would be multiple seven figures
its important to put these things into perspective
although there are a lot of risk averse people in big tech, irrationally afraid of not having corporate salary coming in, there are far fewer partners that base their identity on their partner being employed when the partner is wealthy already
Your partner stops you from working on startups and side projects? Come join the other 99% of us not working at a big tech company, life is still fulfilling, honest!
There's a world between "big tech" and "startup", and between "startup" and "solo project that won't bring any money for a year (if ever)". What the OP did is much more less usual than working at big tech.
I've mostly worked in startups and on side-projects since I met my partner, so I'm fine there, but I think in many situaitons it's perfectly reasonable for a partner to push back on it. If your family relies on your income (and you don't have a decade of FAANG earnings saved) then it needs to be a family decision. Likewise if you have kids then anything that involves extremely long hours that prevents you from doing your share of childcare is also something that isn't an automatic yes.
Saying the quiet part out loud, but yeah this is a very weird relationship where you have a partner who wouldn't be outright enthusiastic about you pursuing something you really want to, so long as your family can still live comfortably.
I don’t mean to be critical, but I’ve always faced pushback working on startups/side projects, and I’m wondering how that was for you?