Quick thread on keeping up your (and/or your team's) mental health while making indie games in a pandemic (will expand into a proper article to explain nuances soonTM):
1 Do 1-on-1 meetings w/ each team member every 2-4 weeks. Just chat. See how they're doing. Give space for random anxieties to surface.
Do a 1-on-1 with yourself for 2 mins too! Reflect. How are things? No, really? Identify stressors & worries. Forgive yourself. Be patient.
Do a 1-on-1 with yourself for 2 mins too! Reflect. How are things? No, really? Identify stressors & worries. Forgive yourself. Be patient.
2 Know your motivations. What has made you REALLY PROUD of your work in the past year? Examine that moment. Strategize how to maximize that, especially during the harder parts of game dev. (Repeat for team members)
3 If someone's working A LOT, ask why! Stop them if you can... tho even IF it's good for them (maybe they're on a roll), eventually they'll need to come down off that high and return to a normal productivity... and that might feel bad/guilty. Prepare them to expect the let-down.
3.5 If someone's a workaholic and just won't stop/listen to you, at the very least, make them do it in secret. Don't let them infect others with contagious self-immolation martyrdom. If they refuse to listen to you and insist on burning out, at least limit the damage to others.
3.75 Eventually, most workaholics develop a gradual resentment of teammates who do not work "as hard" -- address this ASAP, get in front of it, help them address these feelings by taking a break instead and re-setting their baseline of what's normal.
4 Speaking of which... VACATIONS! Make people take at least a week off at a time, multiple times per year. A Friday off here and there (or for months on end) is nice, but it's a bit like a band-aid. A real vacation helps the brain remember how to Be without work.
4.5 yeah, someone will be less productive when they come back from a longer vacation and need ramp-up time.. but that's part of the point. That "groove" they were in isn't a natural or necessarily healthy state, especially for having a big-picture view of what's going on.
5 Expect different parts of game dev to be easier or harder. After 1-2 years of working on a project (esp someone else's idea), the honeymoon ends and it becomes actual work. That's normal. Don't shame it; strategize around it, but accept it.
6 Create the best working conditions. Some work better (or enjoy it more) in the mornings, or w/ timeboxes, or when alone, or w/ others, or certain tasks. This often matters MORE than the # of hours worked! Can't be perfect all the time, but some customizing can minimize burnout.
7 We're currently in a pandemic, so...... I expect the avg person to be at 80% productivity MAX, usually less, esp if they have kids. We give up to 5 weeks of vacation at Kitfox... and we've added more during this difficult time, & ppl can take days off as needed, w/out warning.
Your team's productivity and mental health are tightly linked, and huge factors can't be influenced. In North America, November for example will likely be very distracting and stressful and low-productivity, so brace for that. Accept that a lot of things are out of your control.
Ah forgot 8: role model. USE the vacations & sick days, leader! when you say "it's OK to <do this>" but then don't actually DO THAT, it means it's not OK. Model honesty and sustainable work habits, and know EVEN THEN, some folks will struggle, so try to be forgiving and patient.
