Game dev support group?

Thought about posting this in Collaboration, then I realized that I didn't know if this was even a thing.

I've noticed that when I'm working on a game solo as a hobby - which I usually do, at least in the early phases when I'm just prototyping and finding the fun - it's hard to find motivation to keep going. It's always easier when there's somebody else that's depending on you to get something done. Some sort of social pressure, I guess? Humans are weird like that.

So I started thinking about trying to find a sort of game dev buddy - somebody who will constantly pester me for the next version, give light feedback, apply some light verbal abuse if I make lame excuses, etc. But that seems like it would be a very valuable service, and I have nothing to offer in return! It'd be weird to pay for something like that. I could put them in the credits, but that assumes I ever ship my game; statistically unlikely for a hobby project. I could offer the same in return for their own game - but why stop there?

It seems like a group of 3-5 devs all doing this for each other would be ideal. Too small, and multiple people taking a simultaneous break (planned or otherwise) for a couple of weeks with nothing to show could dissolve the conversation. Too big, and it would be easy for somebody to fade into the background, and hard to really care about each individual game in progress.

Is this a thing? Is it actually a good idea for other devs, or is it just me that needs some social motivation? How would I go about joining or starting this?

 

I own my own business (hobby went to full time business) but I am still just a one man team. Since I have 2 successful games on the market it's actually pretty hard to stay motivated, and my wife has to push me more than anything. She's been trying to figure out how she can help keep me motivated, because nagging at me doesn't really work that well, haha!

@DallonF maybe you and I should be Skype buddies and maybe kind of take interest in each others work and progress, and giving insight and feedback is just a plus to the motivation aspect. Send me a PM if you are interested.

 

You're basically talking about an Accountability Partner and that is definitely a "thing". Each week the two get together in some manner and review progress and discuss challenges from last week and go over goals for the new week. In software development business basically it is a weekly SCRUM meeting going over the same.

 

So does this sound about right?

 

It wouldn't be accepted in collab, that's for game dev roles only.

 

Most medium sized towns have dev groups that meet up on some sort of regular basis. Check out Facebook.

 

Meetup.com typically has them also. Check there.