You should work from paradise

Orgianlly posted at theDylanJones.com/blog

We live in an incredible era of technology. Even some of the most successful indie game developers skip on paying studio rent or choose to work from home to avoid the commute and hassle. If you’ve been around a short while, you’ve probably heard of Colin and Sarah Northway who travel the world making a collection of games. Colin Northway gave a short talk at GDC a few years ago about creating Incredipede while showing a slideshow of the perfect islands he used as a workplace. His goal was to encourage more game developers who work from home to try out his methods.

I tried it. And you should too.

What’s holding you back? To collaborate on game development with a team, you need two things. A computer and a little internet. Sure, there’s an initial cost of traveling and the eyebrow raising plunge of unknown adventure. But, if we’re going to spend a significant portion of the day on our computers, we should consider using whatever is left to experience something new. Who knows, such adventure might even soak into your work. The internet may be slower, but it usually covers Skype and any repository action. Not many prefer to work on a laptop, but the sacrifice could be made in order to have dolphins swim by your workplace. The final piece of the internet, is the 100 bucks a month for internet anywhere near developed lands. Or even off land!

I had the privilege to join my retired father off the coast of New Zealand, while working on the sequel to Battle Group. I’ve also known friends who find cheap hotels (exchange rates fluctuate, but never enough to ruin much) on those same perfect beaches. I brought 100 dollars of internet which held reception during 2 weeks of sailing (turn cellular data into wireless) and had bandwidth for scrum Skype sessions as well as downloading the latest art assets. Keep in mind the timezone of your travel destination when you pick a spot, because your spare time could be pre-work hikes, or post-work late night beers with locals. It’s an incredible field and time we all create in, I hope we can grasp the advantages!

I just sent back the below video to Tom and Pohung, but let this post also act as your personal invitation to do the same!

It's 2014, work from paradise!