Tales of the Rampant Coyote

Adventures in Indie Gaming!

Crunch Mode, Torment, and Too Much of a Good Thing.

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 27, 2017

Well, it was good while it lasted. The day job has me back in crunch. Of course I say “the day job,” but we’re small enough and I’m senior enough that I can’t pretend it’s someone high up the chain kicking my butt. It’s just the way projects come in. They gotta get done.

When the stress mounts, my method of adaptation is to start making to-do lists of things I need to get done. Because if I don’t, I’m going to find myself loading up  old, familiar strategy games or something and losing all of my few remaining “spare time” hours to them to escape the stress. Up to a point, that’s not a bad thing. Getting some brain exercise and completely turning everything else in the world is a wonderful thing. That’s why I do what I do. But if nothing else gets done, then the stress stuff doesn’t go away.

So I make lists. All the things I need to get done, so stuff doesn’t fall through the cracks. Getting the things done on the list is important. But just making the list helps me de-stress, and feel less guilty when I DO take time out to play.

Besides, this week I need to carefully allocate my game-playing time budget because Torment: Tides of Numenera drops tomorrow!!!! That one kinda crept up on me. I can’t say I’ve been looking forward to it as much as some other titles, as I wasn’t ever the rabid Planescape: Torment fan many others were. That always made me wonder if there was something wrong with me.  Fascinating characters,  good story, maybe the world was just a bit too weird for me. (But then I turn around and complain about how hackneyed the Forgotten Realms are… )  Regardless, this looks like it might be a really fantastic game, and while I won’t have much time to put into it, I’m looking forward to playing it.

Anyway – these are the days I must improve my juggling game.  Hopefully it’ll all pay off in the end.


Filed Under: Geek Life - Comments: 2 Comments to Read



  • Felix said,

    “It’s just the way projects come in. They gotta get done.”

    Please don’t say that. You’re helping perpetuate an abusive, destructive work culture. Projects don’t fall out of the sky fully formed: a manager *approves* deadlines. And whenever they approve an impossibly short deadline without consulting the people who will have to sacrifice their lives *yet again*, they show nothing but disdain for the team they were supposed to, you know, *manage*. Not drive with a whip.

    That said, TO DO lists are a very good thing, just like any form of written plan. Not because the plan is going to get followed, but the planning process, like a famous general once said, is essential for getting a feel of what you’ll have to do and what sorts of obstacles you might encounter.

  • Rampant Coyote said,

    That really depends on the stake / ownership in the company. That’s what happened with the videogames industry — at first, people were driven because they had a major stake in the company. Big success for the company = big personal success for them. That’s what got that culture going. The problem is the big companies took over, and were all too happy to take advantage of that culture while not giving the employees stake in what they do.

    In this case, my day job was just spun off as an employee-owned independent company, with the opportunity to go big or go home. We chose the former.

top