I’m at the GDC with the rest of the Intuition collective, and we spent all Monday and Tuesday attending the Independent Games Summit. It was an amazing experience…as expected. I was touched by a particular talk from Alec Holowka (Aquaria) and Tommy Refenes (Goo!) entitled How to Finish a Game Project You… Hate?
They discussed their stories on developing Aquaria and Goo!, emphasizing how much work development takes, and how it can often be depressing. Both of them were in a situation where it seemed like the project would never end, and they had to persevere in order to finish. The whole talk was very candid. I really admire their boldness to speak on such personal things.
We have a very similar story for the development of Dinowaurs, so I was relieved to know we weren’t the only ones who had gone through this. It got me thinking that talks like the one they gave provide a very therapeutic benefit to all game developers. I would imagine it is like the same benefit people get from Alcoholics Anonymous. I feel we were created to be in community, so it seems natural that sharing our troubles helps us to realize that we’re not alone. On the outside, everyone else seems so successful, but we all struggle with things on the inside. It’s comforting to know that.
Ron Carmel (World of Goo) put it best when he said “Alec and Tommy deliver what in my mind (and heart) was the most important and honest talk of the IGS.” I couldn’t agree more.
