It’s now half way through the month, and progress on my “October Game” is minimal to say the least. I suppose that was to be expected, since I did have several things to finish this month. My week-days have been filled with various tasks, leaving only weekends to work on this new thing. Next week I’ll be busy with my “1 more thing”, leaving me the last week of October for a final crunch. Then on to November for “the next” Smiles thing.

*sigh*… Something has to change.

I’m clearly a victim of my willingness to consider every noteworthy Smiles related opportunity I find. If I keep going as is, I could easily fill another year with Smiles stuff. Six months from now, I would probably still have another year lined up.

I don’t really follow a schedule. Rather, what I do is note important dates, and simply prioritize what needs to be done by when, giving priority to what’s easy or more lucrative. I’m practically working every day (or half working, watching the e-mailbox). It is fine, and I enjoy what and how I do it, but I didn’t quit mainstream game development and start my own company to eternally develop Smiles.

This was one of my motivations for declaring the October Challenge. Phil and I have both been developing and supporting our respected games for the past couple years (him even longer than me). And we’d be silly to ignore any serious new market or opportunity that comes up, but it really is time to move on.

So, starting in November, I’m going to try sticking to a new weekly schedule. 1 day a week on Smiles related stuff, 1 day a week on New Stuff (required), then 3 days shared between the two. I’ve been talking a bit about my plan with some friends. Here’s roughly what my new week looks like:

  • Sunday: Day off (possibly “gone dark” too)
  • Monday: No Obligation Day (like a day off, but checking e-mail)
  • Tuesday: Work (Smiles Day) **
  • Wednesday: Work (Smiles Day)
  • Thursday: Work
  • Friday: Work (New Game Day)
  • Saturday: Work (New Game Day) **

It’s been an observation of mine that Monday’s aren’t very interesting. I don’t mean that in the classic job sense, but really, I rarely get interesting e-mails or requests bright and early Monday morning. Tuesday on the other hand, that’s when the week really begins.

To contrast, Friday’s get less and less interesting as the day goes on. Important e-mails usually stop rolling in by 3 PM, Engadget and other news sources start to dry up around the same time, you’ve already read your webcomics for the week by then, and so on. Fridays are boring. Then comes Saturday where there is no news. Normal people at normal jobs are enjoying their weekends. In a sense, it’s the perfect time to work without interruption (and distraction). And I still need a real day off in there somewhere, hence Sunday.

This past month I’ve been practically following this schedule already, which is how I came up with it. The bottom line is new game developments can’t wait anymore. I’ve decided I’m not actually starting until November, since I’m planning to break the schedule during the final week of October (no Smiles stuff… at least no scheduled work). As it stands, I have some concerns about my October game, but that’s for a different post.