I have fantasized about quitting my day job and owning a farm. An open field, a small farm house, some chickens and working with my hands.

Sitting the whole day staring at a screen writing code that I very much love can become a chore after a while. It doesn’t matter where you work or what you are working on, after a while the burn out happens to all of us.

This can’t be it I find myself asking, this can’t be my legacy, this can’t be what I do till the day I die. What if, and that’s the first thought, what if I sell everything and move to a village. Where the cost of living is nothing and I work with my hands growing vegetables and selling them in the local supermarket.

The dream is not bad but it is not realistic unfortunately. Farming is not easy, it is back breaking hard work and I am lazy. Starting a farm is not easy, it requires a lot of capital, which I do not have. And in the end it is still a business that comes with all the things I don’t know how to do, sales and marketing.

What if there was an alternative? What if I don’t have to quit coding? I can still make things with my own hands, I can do whatever I want and make a living in the process as well.

Making software for a living, why can’t this be the goal. That’s what I thought a year ago today. Made a list and carefully evaluated each and every option. I tried some options and came to the conclusion. and the answer is: Game development

Why game development ? why not game development!!

It is fun to make. Requires additional skills beside programming, like drawing, storytelling, sound mixing and community building. A game is a collection of things so can’t be just autogenerated by AI and some handiwork will always be required. It is a form of entertainment and a basic human need. Anyone can make games but it takes time and hard work to build a polished video game just like farming. Even if the final product is not a commercial success I can still enjoy playing it myself, kind of like farming, where I can at least eat part of what I produce. Well, I am convinced ! and that’s all that matters, I guess…