Goals for 2016H1

Happy new year, dear readers! This post has nothing to do with new year’s resolutions; it just happens to coincide. Studies have shown that setting and announcing explicit goals helps drive success. And who would I be to argue with science? So here’s what I’m planning to do in the first half of 2016 (until the end of June).

These goals follow pretty much directly from this post.

  • Finish and publish 5 products.

    Releases across multiple platforms count as one. Note that I specifically wrote “products”, not “games”, because who knows what else I might come up with.

    Candidates that already exist in some concrete form:

    I guess that makes over 5 already!

  • Launch a web game across at least 5 portals.

    Got experience with Glauron on one portal so far, which was interesting enough that I want to try more. The game will probably be Dragon Attack.

  • Spend at least €100 on one or more paid advertising campaigns.

    I need to get some experience with this.

  • Hire at least one freelancer.

    Also mostly for the experience. Probably this is going to be a sound effects and/or music person. No spending minimum, because I don’t yet know what would be a realistic amount.

  • Blog at least once a week.

    While I’m at it, let’s set a schedule. How about Friday? If I don’t have a blog post with a specific topic by the end of Friday, I can do a progress update with GIFs and stuff.

  • Attend each of the monthly local gamedev meetups.

    Not just to fend off loneliness, but also to get to know interesting people and possible collaborators.

  • Have at least three people play one of my games at each of these meetups.

    Feedback good. More feedback better. I’m adding this goal because I’m usually content to sit back and listen to a discussion without actively participating.

  • Give a gamedev tech talk for the local community.

    Besides the monthly drinks meetup, there’s also a monthly tech talk opportunity. I’m sure a topic will come to mind at some point. It would be best to do this sooner rather than later, because it’s an efficient way to let people get to know me a little bit.

Okay, so those are my goals for the next two quarters. I’m printing them to stick them on the wall. I’m also adding a monthly reminder to check up on progress, and a weekly reminder for the blog posts. Here’s to a productive 2016!