Game developers are lazy, says indie dev Cliffski
Lewis Denby February 3, 2012 - 3:47 pmMaking a complex indie game isn’t hard, says Gratuitous Space Battles developer Cliff ‘Cliffski’ Harris – it’s just that most game developers are lazy.
Making games is an easy job. That’s according to Cliff ‘Cliffski’ Harris, developer of many huge indie games including Gratuitous Space Battles. It’s not like you’re going to war, he says. You’re sitting indoors writing some code. The reason more indie devs aren’t successful, suggests Harris, is that most of them are lazy.
Speaking at Bit of Alright 2012 in London today, Harris hit out at ‘lazy’ game developers who think working in a ‘fun’ industry means you can do things at your own pace.
Instead, he suggested, developers should compare themselves to similarly skilled professionals such as architects – who wouldn’t get away with starting their working day at 10am.
Twitter, MSN and even answering the phone came under fire from the opinionated indie developer, who previously worked at Lionhead. He wears noise-cancelling headphones while working, he revealed, in order to avoid all distractions.
Harris also called for more indie developers to invest more in not just their games, but the environment in which they make them. A good office chair will make you more comfortable at work, he said, while high-end software might cost a lot, but its added efficiency will help developers be more successful in the long-term.
Harris’ take-home message? “Stop whining and get on with it,” he said – it’s just that 95 percent of people in the talk will ignore him completely.
Comments (1)
QFT. Focus, dedication, and hard work are an absolute must, particularly if you’re a solo developer.
Kids these days think it’s a walk in the park, especially if they come off of an industry job thinking they’re ready to do it all themselves.
Is it any wonder successful solo indie devs have such huge egos? They’ve earned it.