Blog - Gold or Go Home

What is this aggressive sentence all about ?

Extracted from Grabbitz latest's album "Time isn't real" third song "The Ugly", this sentence evokes the ultimatum that someone can impose on themselves to either reach their objectives or to just give up already. This crossroad can be demotivating to some while it can be very inspiring to others. Either way, the meaning you felt while reading it probably resonates more with one of those propositions and let me reassure you, it says NOTHING about your capacity to reach your objectives, but rather about how much you trust yourself to succeed to it. :)

When I began my studies in 2016 I was hopeful that my works there would be easy successes, up until that point I used to value exams and their grades and I worked moderately to get the results I wanted but I didn't (always) strive for perfection. I just had "it" I understood things easily and I was one of those "fitted for school" kids. But once you reach adulthood, you learn that it can only get you so far in life. When you dream bigger than the world and want to lift it up, remember that you have to actually carry its weight !

The truth made itself clear pretty fast "If you want something, you'll have to work for it" and when you just begin something you can't even fathom the difficulties that lie ahead of you ! These roadblocks are the things that may chip away your interest in something or tingle your curiosity and once you overcome them, you unlock a whole lot of new knowledge (and, spoiler alert, even more challenges).

This may only be 3 sheets of paper on a wall but they are the icon of long term dedication.

Giving up is easy, most things that are worth it, aren't easy but you'll be glad to try anyway.

It's true, most things that matter a lot to you won't be easy to achieve, even if those are simple things, sometimes, it even won't depend on you and the only thing you can do is make sure the odds are in your favor and cross your fingers. But you have to rely on knowing the value of the things you're aiming for. Personally, I want to create video games, it's my lifelong endeavor. I can't mistake it for anything else, it's a medium of self-expression but also the best way to give back to a community of people who chose to spend their time experiencing fun things.

So when it comes to deciding if it's worth it to invest time, energy and sometimes money into very difficult tasks, I can always tell if it would be worth it for me as my principles are aligned with my actions, what wouldn't I give for this thing I dedicate my life to ? This strengthen my will to push through difficulties. When working on Necropunch or Plushies, I could have given up easily, laid back and waited for the year to be over. I didn't. Because I believe in the difference efforts can make and the fact that I have stories to tell now proves my way of thinking.

What you can do to decide if it's rather "gold" or "go home" ?

"Is it worth it ?"
Should be the question you ask yourself before diving head first into stressful situations. Being motivated to do stuff is great but you have to prioritize what matters the most to you. What a horrible feeling to invest a lot of your time (one of the most valuable ressources you have, whether it's real or not, looking at you Grabbitz) on something that won't leave a lasting fulfilling impact on your life. Try to picture what you would gain from investing yourself in a project, it can be tangible or as abstract as "feeling good about it". Either way the important part is that it matters to YOU.

After you found an answer of how much it matters, then you can decide if you would like to do it or if you would rather not. This way, if you decide to stop, then you can do so without worrying too much about it, you determined through rational thinking that this project wasn't worth your ressources. And so you can safely withdraw your attention without having too many regrets. A distinction to keep in mind is that, deciding to stop doesn't make this project objectively unimportant, but through your own subjectivity you can assume its importance on your life. Maybe someone else will find it very much in their interest ?

Now, if instead you decide to work on a project, you have to make it "gold". You decided that it mattered to you, so why would you settle for "good enough" ? You should give in all you've got, and use all the tools you have to achieve what you're aiming for. This thought exercice is made to stop you from hesitating and take a leap, in either direction. Once you start your new projects you may meet a lot of challenges, but if you deconstruct them, you should always find "an answer" maybe not a solution, but at least you can tackle problems one by one.

Here is a short list of common problems encountered when working on a project and a solution to each of them to help you :

I don't have the time to work on my projects / I procrastinate a lot on my projects
The problem here is centered on Productivity, we have determined that your interest in the project exists, then make room for it to happen, prioritize elements and if you're already full of projects that matter to you, then maybe right now is not the right time to wonder about starting another
I lost motivation on my project
Try to find out "why. Has the project stopped mattering to you due to external influence ? Is there a big challenge ahead that you feel is impossible to overcome ? If you find the reason then you can asses your possibilities. It's important to find a tangible reason you can act on to regain motivation. (You can also think about what made the project matter to you in the first place, and if you correctly managed your expectations in the beginning, then the spark should start right away !)
There is this big problem I've been stuck on...
You should deconstruct the task in smaller problems you can understand and fix quickly. You'll feel more satisfied if you can see the progress being made in your work instead of seeing a single task that hasn't moved for a while ! You can try to find help online through communities centered around your current project. And if nobody is able to help you, sometimes it helps to just leave the problem be for a few days and come back to it with a fresh perspective.
Some part of my project can't be done because of external restrictions
One sentence you should keep in mind is "Constraints breeds creativity." whatever your restrictions are, finding a way to break through them and doing it in your own way is definitely one of the factors that will make it unique and truly memorable to you, so don't be afraid and create away !
I'm scared that my project won't reach the expectations I had set for it
A simple concept I borrowed from Nelson Mandela is "To never lose, win or learn" if your project end up not high enough to meet your expectations then you should congratulate yourself for your efforts, remember what was pleasing about it and analyze what led to this situation, take away everything you could have had an impact on and think about solutions to those situation from your newfound experience. Your next try will be better if you do it correctly.

This website's story.

Alright, I spent the first paragraphs feeling confident about what I was writing but you may wonder : "Have I always applied the principles I was telling you about ?" heh. I would have loved to. But if I didn't make my fair share of mistakes, how would have I learned all this ?

Every game designer has to show their work, and I had to build up a website of my own since the spring of 2018 ! This website got deployed ... oh right ! In April of 2022... Yeah, I got a bit lost... I had trouble focusing on it because my projects weren't in order. I always wanted to be done with it, but because I wanted it to be more than just a showcase of my projects I was never happy with the multiple tries I made over the year. So a defeated "Site is still in construction" crowned this URL for a long time.

This year, after I was finally done with my studies I began to have more free time. So I went to Trello, listed everything I wanted to do in 2022 and started by one thing, and another and when it came to this website, I started working on it in February and I tried multiple tools that would allow for external hosting (Paying a monthly fee for the rest of my life for something I work on for only a couple of months ? No please.), so Pinegrow, Nicepage, Mobirise, etc... I never found the perfect match for what I wanted to do... I ended up settling for Mobirise and I through this constraint I tried to still put up something that felt like "me".

I worked on my own identity, on my graphic elements, on rules that I should stick to whenever I create something new. And I should say so far it has helped me a ton, I invested a lot of time in preparing the ground for the content but in the end, it's well worth it. I reached the point where the website isn't perfect, I know what I would like to work on next and how I should be doing it, but for now, it's clean, it's smooth, and it reflects the core values I wanted. I hope to make this website a place to find knowledge for aspiring creators. I'm proud of the result so far, I hope you'll have a good time (or maybe you had ) reading the creator stories about my various projects and that you'll stick around to discover new entries in the blog :)

GOLD OR GO HOME

What is this aggressive sentence all about ?

Giving up is easy, most things that are worth it, aren't easy but you'll be glad to try anyway.

What you can do to decide if it's rather "gold" or "go home" ?

This website's story.

This article in a few key points :

To go further :