RichHopefulComposer
Member
Absorbs life force.I can relate. As of 26th, May 2018 I had officially stopped game development and programming in general making Casino Bundle is the last asset that I'll (ever?) make.
Just like what @Misu said, it was mentally draining. I don't mean programming was that bad, after all I've developed my English and math skills and I got to admit it had changed the way I look into problems, making every solution possible.
I recently started being ashamed of telling people that I am a programmer. I remember when I was 12 I was boasting about it, but now I've seen much "cooler" jobs/hobbies, whether it is seeing my little brother performing cool magic tricks (as a hobby), or seeing my older brother half way down in pharmacology college, it makes me want to pursue a better future for myself.
Programming is a dead-end job (at least for me), I remember staying up late fixing a stupid bug, or waking up at 5:00 AM and sleeping at 2:00 AM creating an eCommerce website that died 3 months after its release, not because I didn't put too much effort on it but because it wasn't meant for me. I remember working for 3 days straight to finish a failed HTML5 game, sent them to publishers and got 21 rejection messages, did the same thing 3 times more and got 3 more 21 rejection messages.
Then after I decided to stop game development, I felt free, light-weighted, I finally have the time for myself, I can finally watch a movie or play a game without feeling guilty about it. I can finally not worry about hosting fees or not having enough money to develop anything. I found freedom. Giving up on programming was freedom.
This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time.
Yesssss. Give me your power, GMC!! Game development is hard! Just lay down and rest - it'll all be over soon! >=D
Nah, just kidding. I just had a really depressing ty few months, too. Finally snapping out of it and working on my game again. Feels like I'm walking into a nice warm field after crawling around in a dark cave for almost half a year.
Never say never though, everybody. If you're feeling down on gamedev, take a break! Don't decide you're done forever though, unless you really just don't enjoy it anymore. And if you really don't enjoy it anymore, before quitting for good, I think it's best to ask yourself why you don't enjoy it anymore. I find it hard to believe that people who've worked so hard on a creative outlet like making games can suddenly just stop liking it one day. If you're not enjoying game dev anymore, it's probably got more to do with outside factors or how you're approaching game dev than the actual act of game development itself. Reflect a bit and then come back later if possible! ):