Comments on: Quality of Life in the Indie World The biggest challenge is getting out of this crunching feedback loop, just as mentioned in this 2010 GDC presentation- It takes five times as long to do something, perhaps? It takes five times as long to do something, perhaps?

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By: Dylan Cuthbert/2011/03/02/quality-of-life-in-the-indie-world/#comment-1159 Dylan Cuthbert Wed, 02 Mar 2011 14:36:59 +0000 Is there a definition of what crunching is? I know I can work more than 9-5 pm 5 days a week and not burn out and not create more bugs/etc. I know I WILL burn out of I work 8am-3am 7 days a week, so somewhere in between those two is some sort of ideal work rate for an indie that is less concerned about not getting paid overtime by a boss... Time for family life I see as a different issue altogether and is different for each person. Obviously young single fresh-out-of-college devs have a big advantage here on how much time they can allocate towards work without getting "stressed" by other commitments. My personal general rule is that I don't work weekends. I don't think its possible for me to burn out as long as I don't work weekends. Currently I work day time for an employer and night time on my personal projects. Add that up and its a lot of work hours. Crunch seems to be defined as when I don't get to work on my personal projects, though I still work the same hours. Is there a definition of what crunching is?

I know I can work more than 9-5 pm 5 days a week and not burn out and not create more bugs/etc.

I know I WILL burn out of I work 8am-3am 7 days a week, so somewhere in between those two is some sort of ideal work rate for an indie that is less concerned about not getting paid overtime by a boss…

Time for family life I see as a different issue altogether and is different for each person. Obviously young single fresh-out-of-college devs have a big advantage here on how much time they can allocate towards work without getting “stressed” by other commitments.

My personal general rule is that I don’t work weekends. I don’t think its possible for me to burn out as long as I don’t work weekends. Currently I work day time for an employer and night time on my personal projects. Add that up and its a lot of work hours. Crunch seems to be defined as when I don’t get to work on my personal projects, though I still work the same hours.

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By: James Podesta/2011/03/02/quality-of-life-in-the-indie-world/#comment-1151 James Podesta Wed, 02 Mar 2011 02:17:57 +0000 Agreed. And I think it's hard to quantify the actual loss of productivity. Overtime is usually an invisible cost that is never taken into account when making budgets or cost estimates. Agreed. And I think it’s hard to quantify the actual loss of productivity. Overtime is usually an invisible cost that is never taken into account when making budgets or cost estimates.

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By: Neil Henning/2011/03/02/quality-of-life-in-the-indie-world/#comment-1148 Neil Henning Wed, 02 Mar 2011 02:10:09 +0000