Developing games as a couple

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by chenpo, Jan 25, 2013.

  1. chenpo

    chenpo Active Member

  2. wearepinata

    wearepinata Well-Known Member

    Apr 25, 2012
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    iOS Game development
    Adelaide
    Oh to be so lucky to have a partner who codes (or designs) :) Good work! Just like the couple who made Incredipede - http://northwaygames.com/
     
  3. Hercule

    Hercule Well-Known Member

    Dec 16, 2010
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  4. ColeyWoley

    ColeyWoley Active Member

    Jul 3, 2012
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    Artist, Disparity Games
    Hey guys, sounds like you have a similar story to us. I had to chuckle when I read your comment about someone being in charge... That wouldn't fly at our house/office!
     
  5. chenpo

    chenpo Active Member

    Hehe yeah, having 1 person in charge sometimes works a lot better in theory than in practice... ;)
     
  6. R3v

    R3v Well-Known Member

    Sep 17, 2012
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    CMO @ PIXEL FEDERATION
    Imangi studios (Harbor Master, Temple Run) are also husband and wife. I have read their story in book called Appilionaires.
     
  7. raekess

    raekess Well-Known Member

    Feb 3, 2013
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    Product Manager
    Lafayette, CO
    Glad to Know...

    I knew that I couldn't be one of the only ones - half of a dev team that's also a couple.

    I used to work at a company that had two couples, both working on the same game. One of them was an artist/video couple, the other was designer/designer. They seemed to handle it really well, but then again, I wasn't at their home to see if they argued.

    Have you guys found it to be a benefit or an obstacle? Have you found that work leaks into your personal life and vice-versa?

    Thanks for sharing the Gizmodo interview!
     
  8. chenpo

    chenpo Active Member

    I always suspected there was quite a few of us out there :)

    We haven't really had any major issues (knock on wood) in regards to it effecting our personal life, we've always been pretty good at separating work from personal stuff, and also my partner splits her time between Games for Gummie and another small business so it's not always 100% game dev all the time.

    raekess , ColeyWoley, Hercule, Would be keen to hear how all you other couple dev teams out there are doing :) Maybe we should start some sort of Facebook group or something...
     
  9. ColeyWoley

    ColeyWoley Active Member

    Jul 3, 2012
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    Artist, Disparity Games
    We've worked together from home, and in a big (400+) company as well. We've done the same job on different teams, and Starky was kinda my boss for a long time. Now we have ownership of different areas, but that really doesn't stop us arguing it out if we think the other one is doing something wrong. Or could be doing something better... One of the biggest fights we've had in our 20 year marriage was about lightmap settings!

    We try really hard to have some time in the day where we are only working, and don't talk about home/family etc, and some time in the day where we aren't allowed to talk about work. I'm really not ready to talk about character controllers until I've had at least one cup of tea :)

    I do find pretty hard to keep work and home life separate, and I know Starky does too, because he keeps harping on about physic based rigid body solutions first thing in the morning...

    So yeah, a facebook sounds like a good idea to me :)
     
  10. sh13ld

    sh13ld Well-Known Member

    Nov 22, 2011
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    16
    Male
    Co-founder & CEO
    Finland
    We are currently planning on establishing a game company with my wife. I'm currently unemployed and working on my first personal game project here at our home office. My wife is on parental leave taking care of our two daughters.

    We are writing our business plan and doing the calculations etc. The aim is that the company would be up and running in March/April. I would work there full-time and my wife would help as much as possible. Then when kids are a bit older, my wife would start working full-time as well. We are both gamedev beginners so there will be some interesting times ahead... :)
     
  11. opsive

    opsive Well-Known Member

    Feb 20, 2009
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    Raleigh, NC
    My girlfriend and I have developed two games, and while there have been arguments over the game, it has been successful overall and we both enjoy it as a hobby.

    One of the balancing acts that we have found is to have predefined times when we don't work on the game. For us, that is weekends. On weekdays we really get deep into the game, but on the weekends we try not to work or talk about the game at all. Of course, that changes with crunch periods but hopefully we've scheduled things well enough in that the crunch time does not last too long.
     
  12. crex

    crex Doctor of Game of the Week-ology

    Oct 18, 2010
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    Everywhere and Nowhere
    Iirc a news station did a short little interview with them. Very interesting if you can find it.
     
  13. raekess

    raekess Well-Known Member

    Feb 3, 2013
    47
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    Product Manager
    Lafayette, CO
    We haven't had any issues either. Granted, it helps that we both have our areas of expertise and tend to be pretty reasonable. There's a lot of trust that goes into it as well. I trust him to do his best at his parts and when he's helping me with my parts, and vice versa.

    I've also found that listening to what he's trying to say rather than what I'm hearing (does that make any sense at all?) plays a huge part in keeping things on an even keel. We also make sure that we express our appreciation for each other and the work the other has done often.

    Heck, I'm going to have to blog about this. :)

    And I think a Facebook group is fantastic. I'll look into it if ya'll are really interested? I still have some work to do on Squink's FB timeline, but I'll definitely look into it this week.

    Yay! I'm excited!
     
  14. raekess

    raekess Well-Known Member

    Feb 3, 2013
    47
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    Product Manager
    Lafayette, CO
    Creating a Group on FB...

    So, checked it out and it's pretty easy... let me know what ya'll think. :D
     
  15. PixelEnvision

    PixelEnvision Well-Known Member

    Jun 8, 2011
    198
    2
    18
    Indie Developer
    Brighton, UK
    Another couple here... :cool:
     

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