独立开发者协调工作与生活编辑本段回目录
当我开始专注于Tiebreaker Studio的事务时，我以为自己会拥有更多时间去撰写博客并让读者们进一步了解我的工作以及《Shape Invaders》的开发过程。不幸的是，说归说，当我真正开始扮演独立工作者这一新身份时，我发现我根本不可能拥有足够的时间去做这些事。独立开发游戏是件非常困难的工作。当你还依靠着父母生存时，这已经算是件复杂的任务了，而当你结婚生子后，你将面临更大的挑战。在过去几个月时间里，我终于学会了如何当好一名开发独立游戏的好爸爸，并且我也将在本篇文章中与你们分享相关经验。
Independent-game-developers（from usatoday.com）
1.多花时间与家人在一起
当你开始经营自己的工作室时，你会发现工作和家庭之间的时间界限会模糊许多。也就是你将逐渐分不清哪些时间是属于工作而哪些又是属于家人的。现在的你可能会时时刻刻面对着工作。当你认为工作是为了养活自己的家庭时，我想说，这只是你频繁面对着电脑的借口。一位著名的海军上将曾经说过：“这是一个圈套！”带着这种想法你可能快速创造出不错的成绩，但是与此同时你却在逐渐远离妻子和孩子，并最终让他们感觉你的工作比自己来得重要。所以你必须始终牢记，你这么努力的工作完全是为了他们而不是为了你自己。如果你的妻子和孩子们开始怨恨你和你的工作，那么你所创造的一切将不再有价值。
2.列出任务清单
请勇敢承认自己的记性不好！这是大家都有的毛病，这也是我们为何需要任务清单的重要原因。有时候人们不愿意使用任务清单是因为他们必须投入额外的时间去维护这些清单。但是请相信我，这是值得投入的时间。并且任务清单也不是只能用于管理工作上的相关任务，你还可以在其它时候使用它，如记录与孩子们的约定以及家务事等等。这一方法能够帮助你牢牢记住工作和个人生活中一切重要的事物。如今网上也出现了各种免费的任务清单软件，你只需要选择一种适合自己的即可。
3.制定一份时间安排表
如果你想要合理地平衡工作时间和家庭时间，你就需要拥有一份时间表。当你是名典型的办公室职员时，你能够很轻松地完成工作与家庭间的转化；而当你开始自立门户时，从下午5点到隔天早上起床的这段期间则应该归给家庭时间。所以你必须和家人共同明确一个合理的时间表。不管你的时间安排是怎样的，最重要的还是你需要始终坚持于这些安排。这一方法也能够让你的孩子们更加清楚爸爸什么时候有空陪自己玩耍，并且你也可以明确地告诉自己什么时候该停下工作去与家人相聚。虽然遵循这种时间表不容易，但是你一定得努力尝试看看！
4.有始有终
我们都知道，开始容易结束难。我想很少有什么比完成一件任务并能够转移到下一项任务来得开心吧。对于那些未完成的任务，如果你始终纠结着原因并幻想着结果，你便会受到阻碍而难以往前进。所以比起一开始就关注于无数事物，你最好先选择其中的某些目标并努力完成它们。
5.走出去认识其他人
作为独立工作者，也就意味着你没有多余的钱去租办公室，就像我们的Tiebreaker Studio。所以我一周有6天的时间都呆在地下室进行工作。当然了，这样能够让你更加专注于自己的工作，不会因为任何小事而分心，但是在维持了几周时间后你将会发现自己越来越孤独，并且越来越沮丧了，如此只会慢慢地消磨自己的情感和能量。所以你最好能够在一周时间里多多走出地下室（即使是在白天），散散步，到杂货店买点东西，见见朋友等，也就是多与现实中的人进行接触。这将能让你心情更加愉悦，并摆脱孤独的恐惧。
6.经常运动
完成任何任务都需要一定的体力。然而花费10个小时以上的时间坐在电脑前将会不利于你的健康，并让你感到懈怠与劳累。所以让我们每天至少运动15分钟，选择任何自己喜欢的运动，只要暂时离开椅子或电脑前便可！
7.将你创造的游戏呈献给孩子或孩子的朋友
当然了，这取决于你所创造的游戏类型，而如果你的游戏适合你的孩子的年龄，那就让他们尝试玩看看。这不仅能够帮助你更好地测试游戏，同时也能够告诉你的孩子你真的在努力创造一些有趣的事，并且你正在不断进步着——最后，尽管孩子们不喜欢你的游戏，他们也会认可它！除此之外，你还可以让孩子的朋友也来玩游戏，如此你便可能成为孩子们心中“酷爸爸”的角色，并因此给你的孩子带来好处（游戏邦注：例如让他们在孩子群中更有面子）。
8.与妻子讨论自己的计划
妻子总是你的第一位“投资者”，她拥有更多的“股权”能够帮助你决定任务目标，你的失败也就等同于她的失败。所以你就需要让她清楚你的工作的进展，你致力于何种任务以及你认为自己何时能够获得成功等。这些信息能够缓解她对你的担心，并且能够推动她提出一些对你有帮助的建议。
9.获得充足的睡眠
Juan Rico曾经说过“幸福只在于拥有充足的睡眠。”如果你希望自己更有成效并且每天都能够熟练地应对游戏开发，你就需要获得足够的睡眠！缺少睡眠的话你便很难集中注意力，从而导致你需要花更多时间去完成一些简单的任务，从而产生恶性循环，让你只能拥有更少的睡觉时间。劳累不仅会让我们的工作变得更加糟糕，同时也会在我们身上施以更多压力。如果你在某一天熬夜了，那也没关系，你只要在隔天晚上早点上床补眠便行。
10.玩游戏
对于独立开发者来说时间本来就很少了，他们一般不会想着去玩游戏。但是事实上，玩游戏不仅能够帮助你获得更多动力，同时也能够带给你更多灵感并帮助你解决在自己的游戏中所遇到的各种问题。如果你玩的是一款优秀的独立游戏，你便会意识到没钱也能够创造出真正优秀的游戏，同时你也可以将这些游戏当成是一种挑战而更加具有竞争意识。你会想着，如果他们能够做到，那么我肯定也行！
真心希望这些秘诀能够帮助你成为一名真正优秀的独立开发者爸爸。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，作者：Daniel Marcoux ）
Indie dad survival tips
by Daniel Marcoux
When I started working at Tiebreaker Studio full time I thought I would have more time to blog and let you know what’s going on with me and Shape Invaders development. Unfortunately life being life, time is not something I have plenty these days. Going indie is hard. It’s hard when you’re a kid living in your parents’ basement, but when you’re married with children it adds another layer of complexity. In the last few months, I have learned a thing or two about being an Indie Dad and I thought that, for my first blog, it would be a goodidea for me to share what I have learned with you guys in case other Indie Dads would like to do the jump to the sweet life of Indie game development.
1. Spend time with your family
When you are your own boss working out of your basement, the line between work time and family time get blurred a lot. Over are the good old days of 8 to 5, 5 days a week. Now it’s possible to always be on the job. When you believe in your project and are working to feed your family let me tell you it’s natural to always want to be in front of the computer working. But as a famous admiral said a long time ago: “It’s a trap!” Sure, things will move faster…for while, but your wife and kids need you too, and last thing you want is to have them feel like your business is more important than them. Remember that you’re doing that for them as much as for you. And if they end-up resenting you and your work because of how you acted, it’s no worth it.
2. Have a to-do list
Admit it, you have a bad memory, we all do, That’s why “To-do lists” exist. Sometimes people don’t want to use to-do lists because of the time it takes to maintain them. Trust me it’s time well invested. Don’t use your to-do list only for business related tasks only, use it for everything, kids appointment, chores to do in the house, etc. That way you won’t forget anything important in your professional and personal life. There are a bunch of free to-do lists software on the net. Pick one and use it.
3. Have a schedule
If you want to be able to make smooth transitions between, work time and family time, you must have a schedule. When you work in an office it’s a lot easier to make that transition…when you are out at 5pm it’s family time until you get up the next morning. However when you work at home, this line gets blurred a lot. So you and your family need to agree on a schedule. It does not matter what the schedule is, but you need to stick to it as much as you can. This way it will be easier for you kids to know when daddy is available to play, but it will also be easier for you to know when to stop working and spend some time with your family. However this one is hard to do, so try your best
4. Finish what you start
Starting things is easy…finishing them is hard. There’s few thing more motivating than being able to say “it’s done” and be able to move to something else. Unfinished things only nag you as you keep thinking about them and how great it would be if this was finish. So instead of starting a million things at one stay focused, start something and finish it.
5. Go outside and see other people
Being indie often means you don’t have the money to rent an office; it’s our case with Tiebreaker Studio. I work out of my basement 6 days a week all by myself. Its’ cool since you’re more focused and have less distractions, but after a couple of week of that regime you feel quite lonely, it can get depressing and play on your moral and energy. Try to go out of the house a couple of time a week, even during the day. Take a walk, go to the grocery store, go see friends…interact with real people. It will make you feel better and help wash off that loneliness funk.
6. Exercise regularly
You’ll need energy to complete your project. However spending 10 hours + a day in front of a computer will bring your energy level down and you’ll fell sluggish and tired. Try to exercise at least 15 minutes each day, do whatever you like but move and get of that chair for a while anyway it’s killing you http://dailyinfographic.com/sitting-down-is-killing-you-infographic
7. Show your game to your kids or kid’s friends
This one depends on what your game is but if it fits you kids age, have them play it. Not only will it help you play test your game, it will also show your kids that you are working on something real and that you are making progress, they’ll like it even if they don’t love your game. As a bonus, have your kid friends play too; you’ll score some points on the “Cool Dad” meter which can only benefit your kid.
8. Talk about your plans to your wife
Your wife is your first investor, she has a stake in what you do more than anyone else and if you fail she fails too. So it’s only natural to let her know how things are going, what you are working on, when you thing thinks will come through, etc. This information will help her feel less stressed out about the situation (if she is) and will allow her to give you better advices.
9. Get enough sleep
As Juan Rico once said “Happiness consists in getting enough sleep. Just that, nothing more”. If you want to be productive and be on top of your game every day, then get enough sleep! Otherwise, you’ll have more difficulty to focus on things, thus leading you to take more time to complete your tasks, then leaving you with less time to sleep. Hence the infernal circle. Besides things always look worse than they are when you’re tired; in the world we live in you don’t needed that added stress. It’s ok to get to bed very late sometimes but follow it with a good night sleep the day after.
10. Play Games
Time is scare and playing game sound like the last thing you should be doing. But au contraire playing games will help you stay motivated; it will inspire you and even help you solve problems you may encounter in your game. If you play other good indie games, you’ll get to realized that making good games with almost no money is possible, and if you are competitive like me you see these games as a challenge. If they can do it, you can do it too.
Hope these tips will help some of you out there. I know they are not ground-breaking tips but sometime it’s good to go back to the basics.(source:GAMASUTRA)
