Kingsway dev says Tamagotchi and his gym helped save him from burnout

- Kingsway dev Andrew Morrish says breaks in development can be key to overcoming hurdles

The most important part of game development can be knowing when to take a step away from a project and refocus. But sometimes that’s easier said than done.

Thankfully, during a recent livestreamed interview, Kingsway developer Andrew Morrish shared some of his time-proven tips for staying motivated through long development sessions. 

In his case, Morrish says the secret is “finding some sort of thing I enjoy and can just find some sort of happiness in and putting that into my life.”

It started with buying Tamagotchi off eBay, but later manifested through regular trips to the gym and the occasional, inspirational power nap.

“Right now, and I know this is like really not cool, it's going to the gym. I know how that sounds because for the longest time I was the kind of person who would like scoff and roll my eyes at physical activity, but that’s what it is right now,” said Morrish. “That’s what’s keeping me mentally healthy because it can be hard. Because with making anything it's not good until it done and that can be stressful a lot of the time.”

He explains that stepping away from the keyboard and coming back later with fresh eyes helped him overcome development hurdles on a near weekly basis, while also having the bonus of injecting some joy into life. 

You can find more from Morrish on the topic of maintaining development motivation in the clip above, as well as a surprisingly in-depth discussion about the delicate art of napping. The full interview, as well as other developer chats and roundtables, can be found over on Gamasutra's Twitch channel.