Devlog #16 - About Work Life and Food

Devlog #16 - About Work Life and Food

Hi! (∩❛ڡ❛∩)゚.:。+゚ Here's Pectin! Back for your weekly bit of deliciously educational insight into our work!

To be honest, I was a bit stumped about what I could tell you this week after finishing the last devlog. Most important and interesting matters about the art I create during the devlopment of //TODO: today have been told already. So I was thinking...What else is there about game development I could tell?

Well, I guess you've read the title of this post and already know. I leant back into my chair and looked around myself. Running through possible devlog topics in my mind I couldn't help but think about food. ∠( ᐛ 」∠)_

To make this devlog more informative I will tell about my work life apart from the screen as well. But before we dive in, let me make it clear that I'm by no means a good example to aim for. On the contrary, I hope that you take what I share with you as a picture to compare yourself with and hopefully manage things better than myself. Or at the very least find this devlog intriguing in other ways. ゚✧

Not just Work and Life yo

Somewhere along the past semesters I began to sort my time into five different "times":

  1. Work Times
  2. Sleep Times
  3. Food Times
  4. Friend Times
  5. Alone Times

That's most often the order of priorities I gave them too. Of course things do switch up and mix depending on the situations. However, every "time" is important for me to stay healthy, so I try to see that my week is well filled with all of them. They depend on each as well. I think it's most obvious that I couldn't do anything if I wasn't eating and sleeping, but I wouldn't enjoy my free time as much if there wasn't work to do.

The word "work" itself, in English and in German too, sounds like no fun at all. Still people spend so much time of their lives with it that I believe that I should like the process of the work I do and chose the work I would take pleasure in. That leads us to the next topic:

Attitude Towards Work

I admire people who have responsibility in their jobs yet treat it with the curiousity of a child. I try to accomplish that and have fun! But there are more practical things I can share. Like, I have two work spaces. Nothing fancy though, I'm a poor student after all. At first I wanted to show you one and say, "That's the bad way of setting up a work space. As you can see, the other is better!". Buuut that's not all there is to them. See for yourself:

1.) My Bed

What's Good About ItWhy It's Not Ideal
  • it's comfortable
  • I can start working right after opening my eyes◝(○ ヮ ○)◜
  • ...and go to bed right after I'm done for the day
  • I'm alone and can focus more easily
  • I can listen to all kinds of weird music on my speakers
  • I feel less embarassed when no one is watching me draw/paint
  • I get sleepy very quickly on it
  • because no one is watching me, I tend to procrastinate
  • getting out of bed to grab a drink is SO HARD
  • when the weather is bad I want to hide between my sheets
  • I can't talk to Felix and quickly solve project related issues


2.) Our Corner in the Student Projects Room on Campus


Why I Like Working Here
Ever-Present Drawbacks
  • I can move around and talk to my friends
  • ...so my mind stays active
  • I can directly talk to Felix
  • we can have meetings on campus
  • once in a while I like being alone here at night
  • getting food from the supermarket next to the campus is a plus!
  • there're coffee and snack vending machines running 24/7
  • I have to walk or skate there, which can be tiring with a notebook and all the other stuff I have on me
  • people can get too noisy
  • sometimes I distract myself while talking to people
  • I'm quick to clutter my desk with distractions
  • getting home at night can be creepy
  • pulling all-nighters here feels weird
  • the heaters aren't always working and sometimes we just freeze ヽ(´∀`。)ノ

Felix and I are as small as a team can be. So our work environment as well as our state of minds strongly influence our total output. That's why it's central to make the right choices regarding how and where we work for the day. Even though team work (like story development) goes best when we are together on campus being there isn't mandatory. If someone feels they can't be productive in the student projects room, staying at home and working from there is totally fine. Keeping stress levels low is always super important too.

Finally Food!

As we humans, live, try to be cool, and go about doing our things, we need food! And man would I love to write about all the delicious stuff I ate and would like to eat! BUT. I'm going to stay real. So I'll tell you about "Pectin's Special Work Diet" that leads to him creating cute pink art stuff. Although I'm honest, I hope no one will take this too serious!


When I get up in the morning, the first thing I crave are carbs! So I eat about 2 to 3 slices of bread with quark and more cheese. Sometimes I treat myself and put hagelslag on the last slice of bread I eat instead of the cheese!

During lunch I eat anything that tickles my palates from the selection of the local bakery and supermarket. I try to avoid (processed) meat because I don't enjoy the taste and the guilt as much as I did before. When I'm at home I would cook spaghetti and add pesto or the same cheese I had for breakfast, or even a real sauce if I feel fancy. Of course I approve of instant noodles! Have it with an egg thrown in for extra proteins and less guilt!

I have one cup of cold coffee between lunch and dinner almost everyday. I switch it up with energy drinks if I want to feel more like an indie developer.

For dinner I would eat the same ready-made salads found at the supermarket nearly everyday! Instead of mixing them with the tiny plastic fork you get in the box I learned to put everything in and then shake the closed salad box for a perfectly balanced blend of all ingredients.

On days when there is absolutely no time to even buy ready-made meals I drink nutrition shakes which are actually way way more healthy than anything I could've bought in the supermarket or cooked up! (人 •͈ᴗ•͈)

Most often my daily budget allows me to buy one extra daily snack as well. I then resort to buying cookies, yoghurt, chocolate, fruit juice, smoothies...whatever makes me happy! I have twice or so bought 500g/1,10231lbs of tiramisu and ate it over the course of the day too! Oh and because it's already getting unhealthy - I tend to avoid buying fresh fruits because of allergies and the way they make my fingers sticky.

That's it!

Thanks for reading this looong devlog! I hope it helped and I hope your diet is better than mine! Buh-bye! ♡✧( ु•⌄• )

PECTIN

2D Artist/Story Developer at Boys Laughs +

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