No Ragrets

Not even a letter.

Hello, I'm Will, and I'm now one half of Go On Entertainment. I've quit the work-a-day world of corporate game programming and signed on with this little indie thing my good friend and mentor has been running. It's definitely a move. The riskiest move I've ever made.

Maybe there's a bit of "midlife crisis" going on here. Can you self-diagnose those? I've been through some life-altering events before. For example, my dad died more than a decade ago, which propelled me to re-evaluate everything that I was up to. That event was a catalyst; a swift kick in the ass that prevented me from settling into something less. But we shouldn't wait for the universe to give us the boot, we should always be looking for opportunities to take the next leap. And that's one of the things that Go On Entertainment is to me. It is "living life so that I may have no regrets".

Nearly 400 years before "We're the Millers", Musashi also inked the philosophy of "No Ragrets".

This wouldn't be a proper midlife crisis without some sorta plan to "get in shape". Not just medically, but also mentally. I've chosen a world of uncertainty. No steady paycheck, no big marketing machine, no team of product managers with three-letter acronyms for all the measures of how we're doing. It's going to be stressful and I need to steel myself for that. To that end, I essentially need to get in shape.

When I looked at testimonies from folks who have successfully launched an indie game, I couldn't find an example of someone who got there without burning out along the way. That's not gonna fly for me. I got a family over here and I can't be zombie-dad by EOD, or worse, absent-dad. Regretful dad. We know that crunch is not sustainable, and this little venture is about persistence. We literally aspire to "go on", not flame out.

So here's the plan: 40 hours a week--no more, no less. And no messing around! These have to be the best 40 hours I can possibly put in, day in day out. If I'm not bringing my A-Game, this will have been a huge mistake, and I can file away this experience under "Ragrets". That's not me.

Fortunately, being my best self is simple to put in list form:

1. 8 hours of sleep

2. 3 meals a day

3. Exercise

4. water

5. No Drugs (Except coffee)

6. Make time for me

One of the things I'm completely in love with about going indie is the freedom to set my own schedule. I need never be late to a family meal. Former commuting time can now be exercise time. I get two uninterrupted days of coding time in a row, which is unheard-of on big teams.

Another lovable thing about this gig is the freedom to decide how we work. When we sit down to plan and review work, we're doing it on Twitch and YouTube(every monday and Thursday, 2pm EST to 4:45!) Anyone can get involved. A legal department would have a heart attack! You can't pull a move like this if you're not committed to "No Ragrets". The word "authentic" gets stapled onto corporate value blurbs all the time, but who's buying it? Eat your heart out, management.