Are you thinking about working from home? Have you just started to work from home? The
idea of working from home sounds amazing - no morning commute, no getting stuck in rush
hour traffic on the way home, and the comforts of home at arms reach - but is it all sunshine
and rainbows? Well we’re happy to say that it can be the dream that you imagined - but
only if you have the right structure in place.
As more and more game developers start home-based game studios or begin their transition from
the downtown office to the home office, we thought it would be a great time to share
some tips & tricks for working productively from home, while avoiding common pitfalls.
In this video we’ll provide you with tips to help you create a solid structure and foundation
for your at-home gamedev journey.
We are Ask Gamedev, and these are 10 Tips for Making Games While Working From Home.
Welcome back! We make videos on how to elevate your game development and inspire others.
If after watching this video you want to continue the game dev conversation, check the video
description for a link to our discord server.
1. Start each day with a routine.
What does the first 60 to 90 minutes of your morning look like? Ideally, you use this time
to do the same things each day to make sure your day starts off strong. This is how you
can start adding structure to your work-from-home plan. Here are some things to consider doing
for this 60-90 minute period. Wake up. Yup, waking up counts. You should
aim to wake up at the same time each morning. Eat a healthy and filling breakfast. As they
say, its the most important meal of the day. Exercise. Exercising increases your confidence
and productivity. Go for a jog, a walk with purpose, or hit the treadmill for some cardio.
Alternatively, stay in and do some yoga or some calisthenics.
And finally, set yourself up for the work day.
Tidy up and clean your workspace. Follow the Ask Rule - Always Sanitize Keyboard. The keyboard
is a great place for germs to build up and food to get stuck on, so start off the day
giving it and your workspace a nice clean. Then map out your day. Look at your day’s
schedule and allocate time for working on tasks, meetings, and breaks.
You’re now ready for a productive day at work.
2. Designate a work space
It’s important to establish a dedicated workspace when working from home. If at all
possible, try to use a separate room from others - and ideally it's not where your bedroom
is. Having a dedicated space allows for more consistency and structure, and can reduce
the amount of distractions that come from working at home. When choosing a space, make
sure that it has ample room to keep your work equipment organized.
As an added bonus, designating a work space in your home, depending on your jurisdiction,
can provide a tax benefit. We’re not international tax experts though, so please consult an expert
in your area for further guidance..
Somewhat related to the last point, is 3. Set boundaries. If you’ve got family or
roommates living at home with you, it’s important to set boundaries - especially if
you don’t have a separate room! Let others in the household know your schedule, and ask
them to please respect the times that you’re “at work”.
4. Break projects into chunks
Game Trailer Expert Derek Lieu, recently wrote a blog post about working from home, and we
loved his tip about breaking projects down into chunks. In it, he shows how he breaks
down the making of a YouTube video.
You can use this process for virtually any type of task, including your gamedev efforts.
The key is to work backwards from the end deliverable, and define the preceding tasks
that have to be achieved along the way.
As an illustrative example. We thought it would be fun to use the same process for breaking
down the creation of an Ask Gamedev YouTube video, so let’s try that out:
Here’s what we need to do when we make a new YouTube video. We’ve broken it down
into 15 chunks or tasks.
Figure out what to make the video on. For this we go through our list of ideas, and
community suggestions. Research. Research. Research.
Write a script. Go through the script revision process
Record voiceover Create storyboards (if needed)
Create animations in AfterEffects (if needed) Find b-roll
Edit voiceover on top of animations and b-roll in Premiere
Find and add background music Create thumbnail
Write metadata Upload
Share Respond to comments
Try something similar to map out your day at home. This process will inform you about
what specific items you need to accomplish and the order you’ll need to execute.
In terms of what to use for creating and keeping to-do lists, it’s all personal preference.
It can be pen and paper, a notepad app, or a dedicated to-do list app. Some apps that
you might find useful for this are: Trello
Airtable Google Keep
Notion (which also does a whole lot more) And MinimaList
5. Think about ergonomics
Studies have shown that ergonomic solutions can improve productivity and reduce fatigue.
Consider ergonomics when purchasing your home office chair. A standing desk may also be
a suitable alternative. Sitting on your couch or your bed isn’t a good long term plan
for working from home.
6. Maintain social contact
Working in a vacuum can get pretty isolating. If you’re working with a team, try to maintain
social contact by engaging in a group chat. You can use tools like WhatsApp, Discord,
and Slack to organize a group chat with your team members. If you want to take it a step
further, there are even apps like HouseParty where you can hang out and play games.
If you’re working solo, try joining a community with like-minded individuals. One group you
can definitely join is the Ask Gamedev community on Discord! Check out the description for
a link.
7. Be transparent
If you’re working on a team, transparency and clear communication is key. When you can’t
just swing by a colleague’s desk and discuss work, you really have to rely on one another
more and reduce as much ambiguity as possible. Off the bat, one thing you can do is make
your schedule and availability public. If it’s within reason you can even consider
making your work calendar public within the organization.
Don’t be afraid to overcommunicate. Has someone asked you to check out their work?
Even if it’s great and you have no feedback, let them simply know that. Have you finished
editing someone’s work? Don’t let them just discover the changes, tell them what
you’ve done. Need someone’s help? Ask. No response within a reasonable amount of
time? Ask again.
Are they still ignoring you? Well that leads us to 8. Stay positive. Give people the benefit
of the doubt when you’re working remotely. Maybe they’re not ignoring you - maybe they’re
on vacation and forgot to set their out of office reply. Or maybe they’re just swamped.
Another thing to give people the benefit of the doubt on, especially when conversing via
text, is context. If someone sounds like they’re making a joke, they probably are. If someone
sounds stern in text, maybe they are just having trouble articulating what they want
to convey. Always assume the best and stay positive. Working from home can be tough for
some. You might want to be empathetic to others and do frequent mental health checks with
your colleagues.
9. Don’t forget to take breaks
It can be very easy to get lost in your work, especially when you’re working alone! Make
sure to take breaks!
The pomodoro technique suggests tackling a task 25 minutes at a time, then taking a short
break. After 4 cycles of this, take an extended break. The website tomatotimers.com has a
fun interface if you’d like to try this out.
And lastly, 10. Have the right tools for the job. Buy the right tools and software, and
/ or don’t be afraid to ask your work for them. Every job requires a different set of
tools, but some work-from-home items that we wouldn’t be able to function without
are: Great headphones. Get some comfy light headphones
with big soft cushiony earcups. Some brands we like are v-Moda, Sennheiser, and Hifiman.
A nice notebook. Moleskine and Leuchtturm (as mentioned in our Holiday shopping guide
video) are great, but any would really do. A good camera and mic. Planning on doing a
lot of video meetings, make sure you have a decent camera and mic set up. A lighting
solution and a fast internet connection may also be considered must-haves.
And a VPN. If you’re on a shared network at home, use a VPN.
Thanks for watching! For more Ask Gamedev, check out this video on the best solo developed
titles or this video on planning your game development project