you are better off taking the mental energy you would have expended on "investing" and subsequently worrying about your money, and instead funneling it into your creative endeavors. You will make more money that way, especially when you take a long-term view.
...
If creative endeavors are profitable, you can use the resulting money to fuel more creative endeavors, thus making the world a better place. Keeping money in a bank account or publicly-traded stock does not particularly make the world a better place.
Once I got approximately into the f-you money level of income, it became crystal clear how fictitious money is in the first place. I wake up one morning, and bam, I am wealthy! Why? Because someone said so and typed a number into a computer. Okay... that's kind of weird.
Given that money is so fictitious and somewhat meaningless, it is a shame to give into primal hoarding impulses, just so one can see the number in one's bank account go up like a high score in a video game. It's much better to make like Elon Musk and use your money for what it is: a way to wield influence to make the world more like you would like it to be.
Sure, money is fictitious and meaningless once you've moved into the f-you echelon. By definition. Perhaps for that segment piping it into creative endeavors is fulfilling and worthwhile.
For everyone else for whom money is a meal, rent, or essential good instead of an expletive, who cannot afford to take an ethereally long-term view, this advice is out of touch with reality if not plain dangerous.
This is good advice for a very narrow segment of creative people and not everyone at large. It's terrible advice for people with children, for example.
In general I agree with that, although having enough money "hoarded" such that you can collect a monthly stipend to cover basic necessities (like food, shelter, and utilities) makes spending all your time on investing your creative energies a lot less stressful :-)
Though his point is not lost, the use of "primal" in "it is a shame to give into primal hoarding impulses" isn't fully accurate.
Would not primal hunter gatherers have spent it while they had it - resources being plentiful for those skilled to find and kill? Didn't hoarding only become necessary when humans transitioned to farming?
In fact it _is_ a primal urge to consume what you've earned, spending it on improving yourself/project.
You know why I want money? Why I always demand a lot of money as payment? Because money can replace everything - house, food, happiness, love - you can buy it all with money. Money is extremely important and yet, it is completely replaceable. I hate people who say "I cannot live with this or that". Your life is more important than any possession. All you need is money.
Blow is also attempting to build a programming language [1], based on his experience in game development. While I don't agree with his direction, so far, watching the process is very interesting. The next Jai demo was announced for Feb 11th [2].
Actually, he's been doing this for a while. When he was at XCF at Berkeley in the early 90s, I had contributed to his FMPL (Frobozz Magic Programming Language) project, writing MUDs in it. (I wrote a Dikumud/D&D like system).
He's a wiz, and his C code was humorously commented that makes it a joy to read.
My only issue with the series is that he uses WinAPI instead of something more... sane, like SDL or OpenGL; which makes the code much more obscure and low level, and the code not portable at all.
I guess, however, that I could learn a thing or two about getting stuff done and structuring an engine/game. Wish I had the time to watch this.
Yeah, that's a bit of an odd thing to say. It may rightfully be considered among the first indie games that got mainstream attention, but 'original indie game' is rather an overstatement.
This is very true. However, I recall it being in the first crop of commercially successful indie games: World of Goo, Super Meat Boy, Castle Crashers, Braid.
Well, it is also not hard to think of other successful independent games that predate 2004. Or 1994. Or 1984. It seems to come down to what you mean by it? Without access to the author's mental definition of the term we can't really quibble successfully.
It is just an easy narrative trope to throw if you are a lazy journalist having to write an article.
Braid was a very successful indie game. Even if you don't consider the early games such as Doom as indies, there has been cult games like Uplink way before Braid.
It just arrived at the right time in order to be published on consoles as well (and with the right portable gameplay).
I am really excited for The Witness. If you ever watch one of Mr Blows interviews on Youtube you will see why. His philosophy about video games is interesting and refreshing. Particularly, his thoughts on establishing a dialogue between the player and developer through small events and patterns in the game is very insightful and inspiring. I'm sure that The Witness will be a very thoughtfully crafted game and I am definitely going to buy it. Mr Blow, if you are reading these comments, I wish you the best of luck with this game.
Jonathan Blow is also passionately into the creation of a new programming language to compete with C++, with an emphasis on performance and ease of use.
I really like his attitude on the turing-complete compile time metaprogramming feature:
'Yes you can shoot yourself in the foot, hang the compiler, and launch missiles at the same time. You're a good programmer or you wouldn't be using this language. So don't do that. If you do, don't do it again.'
That's not always a good attitude to have in software development, but a modern language that backs away from the "wrap us all in bubble wrap" philosophy is refreshing.
Just to be clear, this is a side project he's pursuing to explore ideas he's been having in language design. As of today, the intent is not to have a final product anytime.
I've followed Jonathan Blow for a while. He has a reputation for being condescending. If you follow him a Twitter then you might come to the same conclusion. But he has given some amazing talks.
I've followed him for a while and I think it might be a little more complicated although this is definitely how it might come across to the average person. He is blunt, and seemingly socially detached at times, almost in a Carmack-ish way. I don't see this as a bad thing really, just a different type of personality. Most of the best programmers I have known have this kind of personality.
Also, as mentioned his new language is definitely worth checking out. Yes, a language is only as good as its adoption/tools/history, but I definitely think C++ needs a challenger and not many people are in the position where they can risk taking on such a thing. Since money is becoming an issue, I hope he tries to fund this language somehow.
Ambitious, creative, but also kind of a jerk IMO who occasionally makes authoritarian but sloppy observations about low-level tech. You're not the only one he rubs the wrong way.
Not that this is any way an obstacle as long as he succeeds here. But if he really went all in for this game, well, I wouldn't do it that way (unless my name was Derek Smart that is). I'd pocket $1M of my ill-gotten and play the lottery with the rest, knowing there was a backup plan. I hope he has a backup plan. I can't say I like the guy, but I do like what he's doing.
Interesting story, but I'd hardly call this "sacrificing his fortune." The title led me to believe that perhaps there was some sort of looming intellectual property or non-compete battle -- instead, he just spent his money in development efforts for his next game.
That said, the game looks great -- and I'm sure he'll be very successful with this one, too.
I think that the traditional investment mindset is suboptimal for most people. Especially the young.
For example, the advice to start early on a pension is commonplace. But the young often have low disposable income, and this cuts in to other possible uses of money that have far more return on low amounts of capital.
For example, taking a few months out to study in a different field. Building up a relocation fund so that you can move to a higher paying area. Working towards a property deposit. Buying cars outright instead of borrowing money to finance them.
Most of those have a far better return than a few percent per annum. It's just not clearly quantifiable. And that's not even going in to the riskier things like starting a business.
I always sort of wonder about stories like this, where fairly established game-devs have to rely on Kickstarter, or on their own funds to develop games.
Seems like someone like Blow should be able to attract some investors.
[+] [-] footpath|11 years ago|reply
you are better off taking the mental energy you would have expended on "investing" and subsequently worrying about your money, and instead funneling it into your creative endeavors. You will make more money that way, especially when you take a long-term view.
...
If creative endeavors are profitable, you can use the resulting money to fuel more creative endeavors, thus making the world a better place. Keeping money in a bank account or publicly-traded stock does not particularly make the world a better place.
Once I got approximately into the f-you money level of income, it became crystal clear how fictitious money is in the first place. I wake up one morning, and bam, I am wealthy! Why? Because someone said so and typed a number into a computer. Okay... that's kind of weird.
Given that money is so fictitious and somewhat meaningless, it is a shame to give into primal hoarding impulses, just so one can see the number in one's bank account go up like a high score in a video game. It's much better to make like Elon Musk and use your money for what it is: a way to wield influence to make the world more like you would like it to be.
[+] [-] vortizz|11 years ago|reply
For everyone else for whom money is a meal, rent, or essential good instead of an expletive, who cannot afford to take an ethereally long-term view, this advice is out of touch with reality if not plain dangerous.
[+] [-] nsxwolf|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ChuckMcM|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jasonvolpe|11 years ago|reply
Would not primal hunter gatherers have spent it while they had it - resources being plentiful for those skilled to find and kill? Didn't hoarding only become necessary when humans transitioned to farming?
In fact it _is_ a primal urge to consume what you've earned, spending it on improving yourself/project.
[+] [-] TheMagicHorsey|11 years ago|reply
I have friends that plowed their savings into their dream projects, but they lacked good taste. Nobody bought their shit.
Now they are back working a 9 to 5.
[+] [-] anon4|11 years ago|reply
-- some guy I used to know
[+] [-] sixQuarks|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jared314|11 years ago|reply
[1] Jai: https://sites.google.com/site/jailanguageprimer/
https://www.youtube.com/user/jblow888/videos
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8541509
[2] https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Blow/status/563766250711425024
[+] [-] cromwellian|11 years ago|reply
He's a wiz, and his C code was humorously commented that makes it a joy to read.
[+] [-] melling|11 years ago|reply
http://handmadehero.org
He just did day 60 today. It's probably going to take at least a year. It's quite educational to start from scratch without any libraries.
[+] [-] jonathantm|11 years ago|reply
I'm not into game development or C... but it looks so well done I'm sure I'd learn tons... even just watching it casually.
[+] [-] dysoco|11 years ago|reply
I guess, however, that I could learn a thing or two about getting stuff done and structuring an engine/game. Wish I had the time to watch this.
[+] [-] LaneRendell|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Sphax|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] justintime2002|11 years ago|reply
Really? I find this difficult to believe, considering the success of Cave Story back in 2004.
[+] [-] kelukelugames|11 years ago|reply
1) it was on a console 2) it made the creator rich 3) it inspired a generation of puzzle platformers
All three of those things contributed to the growth of the indie community.
[+] [-] frandroid|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] devindotcom|11 years ago|reply
Man, I need to replay Cave Story.
[+] [-] archagon|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Dave_Rosenthal|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] reledi|11 years ago|reply
Before Braid, the average (console) gamer did not know what an indie game was. Or if they did, generally considered indie games to be terrible.
[+] [-] matwood|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hullo|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ForHackernews|11 years ago|reply
I say Spacewar! is the original indie game.
[+] [-] on_and_off|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] doktrin|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] saraid216|11 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcnFbCCgTo4
[+] [-] mkramlich|11 years ago|reply
so yes this another case of the "kids are so cute, thinking Katy Perry invented rock-and-roll" pattern.
[+] [-] bronz|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] espadrine|11 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/user/jblow888/videos
[+] [-] breckinloggins|11 years ago|reply
'Yes you can shoot yourself in the foot, hang the compiler, and launch missiles at the same time. You're a good programmer or you wouldn't be using this language. So don't do that. If you do, don't do it again.'
That's not always a good attitude to have in software development, but a modern language that backs away from the "wrap us all in bubble wrap" philosophy is refreshing.
[+] [-] GuiA|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] irishloop|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kelukelugames|11 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxFzf6yIfcc <-compares games to televison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1Fg76c4Zfg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqFu5O-oPmU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjDsP5n2kSM
[+] [-] gavanwoolery|11 years ago|reply
Also, as mentioned his new language is definitely worth checking out. Yes, a language is only as good as its adoption/tools/history, but I definitely think C++ needs a challenger and not many people are in the position where they can risk taking on such a thing. Since money is becoming an issue, I hope he tries to fund this language somehow.
[+] [-] varelse|11 years ago|reply
Not that this is any way an obstacle as long as he succeeds here. But if he really went all in for this game, well, I wouldn't do it that way (unless my name was Derek Smart that is). I'd pocket $1M of my ill-gotten and play the lottery with the rest, knowing there was a backup plan. I hope he has a backup plan. I can't say I like the guy, but I do like what he's doing.
[+] [-] david_shaw|11 years ago|reply
That said, the game looks great -- and I'm sure he'll be very successful with this one, too.
[+] [-] Breefield|11 years ago|reply
These are the kind of games I can get down with, a good slow ambiance based puzzle game—had enough of RTS and FPS for the time being.
[+] [-] teddyh|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stegosaurus|11 years ago|reply
For example, the advice to start early on a pension is commonplace. But the young often have low disposable income, and this cuts in to other possible uses of money that have far more return on low amounts of capital.
For example, taking a few months out to study in a different field. Building up a relocation fund so that you can move to a higher paying area. Working towards a property deposit. Buying cars outright instead of borrowing money to finance them.
Most of those have a far better return than a few percent per annum. It's just not clearly quantifiable. And that's not even going in to the riskier things like starting a business.
[+] [-] reledi|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|11 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] rbrogan|11 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq5HRdTyKUs
[+] [-] simplicio|11 years ago|reply
Seems like someone like Blow should be able to attract some investors.
[+] [-] unknown|11 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] listic|11 years ago|reply
I hoped there will be some ambition to the like of Ice-Pick Lodge https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1535515364/pathologic or Tale of Tales http://tale-of-tales.com/videogames.php but nope, another game with puzzles.
[+] [-] alexvr|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frozenport|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DubiousPusher|11 years ago|reply
Nah, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_Story