Ask HN: Starting indie game dev. need advice | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Starting indie game dev. need advice

1 pointrythmshifter1 comment

So I've decided to start in the game development field. I am a programmer, and I have 2 friends with skills I need, graphics and audio. I love both of them dearly, but they have their flaws. I am concerned about several of these flaws and how they will apply to our project. I am not really sure how to bring them up to them, or if I even should. does anyone have any advice on how to constructively bring it up in a conversation and address my issues? the issues include, laziness, smoking too much pot, and general lack of ambition, among other things. After watching the indie game dev documentary on netflix, I know what it is going to take to make this dream of mine a reality. however, i cannot do it by myself. I am personally willing to put in the time and effort necessary, but how do I inspire them to want the same?

The time to have the difficult conversations is now - before you start anything. You'd rather put all your cards on the table including what you see as obstacles (include some of your own challenges/deficiencies in that mix).

A good way to start such a conversation is to assess if to get a sense of whether everyone shares the same goal and what they are willing to do to get there. If that alone is something where everyone is not on the same page then there is no point in getting into conversations on personality etc.

If everyone is on the same page, that naturally will lead into talking about challenges of achieving the goal.

You can google things like "how to handle conflict" or "how to have difficult conversations" etc to see which specific strategies/tactics for handling such a conversation could work for you given your temperament and the group dynamic in general.

If you don't do this now, it will be 100x harder later and likely cause a lot of friction/ill-will and possibly even cost you your friendships.

If having the conversation means that your friends don't land up wanting to work with you, that's fine. They are likely not the only 2 people on the planet with those skills.

If this is something you are serious about then you cannot let anyone else hold you down. If they can't/won't be inspired to work with you then you've gotta do what you gotta do to move forward.

Hope that helps.

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