Issue # 11 - Motivation and Burnout

Hey friends,

This is going to be a shorter one, and you can probably guess why from the title. I've been working hard over the past weeks in trying to get Barty's Adventure back on schedule. This has led to long hours, often with little or no progress as I chase down bugs or create four new ones for every one I solve.

I don't mean for this to be a sob story, but I think going into my process a bit may help everyone understand where I'm coming from. For those who don't know, I'm a dad of two small kids who has a full time job. I started Barty's Adventure with no coding or pixel art experience, and with work and family obligations I had (and still have) little free time for any major projects (like an overscoped video game!).

My problem though is that I LOVE game development. Once I started learning things, I couldn't stop. Every one of my precious free moments went to working on the game, not only because I wanted to see the game completed, but because I was feeling a passion I hadn't ever felt in my actual career. It was fun! It was interesting! It had the right kind of logical problem solving that I enjoy! So, instead of accepting that I have no time for this now, I started waking up earlier than my kids to get some gamedev time in. That early wakeup started at 5:30am, but quickly creeped earlier and earlier until I fell into a groove on setting my alarm at 4:30am every morning without thinking about it.

As you can imagine, this isn't sustainable. As anyone with kids knows, they don't exactly give you a full night's sleep. This meant that even if I was a good boy and hit the hay by 9:30pm, one or two lengthy kid wakeups means that I'm now facing six hours of interrupted sleep. Do this for a few days in a row, and you too can become an actual zombie! And after months of it, I have realized that I've been living a life that I really don't enjoy.

Still, Barty is inevitable and I have to keep going. I want to see it through, regardless of how people feel about it. I need to do this for me. So how do I balance my lack of free time with the pressure of getting this done, all without killing myself in the meantime from burnout? I have a few options:

1. Do Nothing - Keep on keeping on and grind my way through life. Honestly, if I choose this I will have a mental breakdown and/or gain another 30 pounds by Christmas. Score: -1/5
2. Take a Break - This option is very tempting to schedule a vacation away from Barty and come back to it. However, I'm a little terrified inside that I'll never come back to it. And plus, I LIKE doing this! Score: 2/5 stars
3. Descope - If I cut scope back, I'll be able to release sooner with a more refined product. I scoped the entire project first in like twelve spiral bound notebooks. I'm not completely ready to start killing my darlings, but thankfully the game is segmented enough that I can cut a biome or two if I need to. Score: 3.5/5 stars
4. Push the Release Date - Right now I have a ton of pressure on me due to a scheduled release date of November 2025. That was possible if I could stay on task with the build release dates and made steady, consistent progress. But that's not the case, as seen by the two weeks of bug fixes I've been struggling through. So, I reworked my schedule with the most conservative of timelines, and now project a July 2027 release date 😢. I believe it will be somewhere in between the two dates, with Spring/Summer 2026 floating in the back of my mind. But what that means is that I have to survive until then, which in turn means that I need to take care of myself. Score: 4.5/5

So I think that's that. I don't want to compromise on scope or take a break, so I'll need to push the release again. With a longer runway, I may be able to fit in exercise and sleeping in into my schedule. I need to stay overall healthier if I'm going to make it in the long run.

And this DEFINTELY doesn't mean I'm ditching Barty. In fact, I'm more committed than ever, setting up an LLC and hiring an artist to create all of the Steam page marketing art (more on that next time!). I just need to work on the game in a healthier way, and that means kicking a planned release down the road some. If I ever find a way to work on it full time, then things will definitely change. But until then I need to accept my situation and adapt rather than trying to grind through it. In the end, it will lead to a better Barty and a better me.

Thanks all! 😄

This newsletter is an update series for the development of the game Barty's Adventure. If you are interested in continuing the conversation, please join the community Discord server: https://discord.gg/M7p2Mtgkyx. Your input in these early stages of the game are invaluable and much appreciated. Thanks!