I’m completely obsessed with the game right now. I’m finding it difficult to concentrate on anything else. It’s what I do while I’m working, it’s what I play on the subway, it’s what I play during commercial breaks on TV, it’s what I think about while I’m doing the dishes, it’s what I obsess over when I’m trying to get to sleep. I haven’t really experienced this kind of all-encompassing obsession over a game I’ve worked on before. Even when I’ve done large amounts of over-time on past games, I’ve usually been able to detach myself from it when I went home at the end of the day.

Last night I lay in bed, trying to get to sleep for over an hour and a half, but all I could think about was: “where should I put the indicator for the player’s current multiplier?” and “I wonder if the way I’m counting tiles in a match has introduced a bug in the special items that one of the people testing my game thinks he has encountered?” It doesn’t feel healthy.

I realised this morning that I hadn’t left the building since Sunday, so that probably wasn’t helping. I decided to go for a run in the snow. It seems to have helped a little; my mind feels a bit more clear. I think I’m also going to go to a coffee shop after lunch to work for a few hours. I desperately need a change of scenery. I’m also making a pledge right now: I’m not going to do any work on the game this weekend. This weekend is game-free. I’m not even going to play it. I think I need some time away from the game.

I suppose this is the danger of working on something at home and having that product available with you at all times on your iPod.

Owen

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 8:49 am and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.