Samuel Drake and Baby Crunch Time

Our first child, Samuel Drake Worch, was born a week ago. It was quite a journey: from rushing home because Victoria’s water had broken; to driving to the hospital and seeing my wife go through six hours of painstaking labor; to supposedly seeing him being born “any minute now”; to rushing to surgery for an emergency c-section because as it turns out, Sam was so tangled up in the umbilical cord that it was pretty much impossible for him to come out the natural way. But mom and baby are doing fine, and we’ve been home since Sunday. The first few days have indeed been challenging – little rest, irregular sleep patterns, mid-night feedings, lots of diaper changes, and the ever-present need to care for somebody who simply doesn’t yet have that capacity for himself. I should be absolutely exhausted and dead in the water right now, but somehow I’ve managed. And I believe that a lot of that has to do with thirteen years of professional game development. Because really, all that Sam is asking of us is yet another crunch time.

I’ve done some pretty crazy things in my game development life. Sleeping in the office, rushing back to work after only two hours of sleep (multiple days in a row!), popping caffeine pills in that push to get a few more bugs fixed – you get the picture. At Legend, I once was on so much Mountain Dew that I had to run around the office building a couple of times at 3am in the morning, just to stop myself from physically shaking. At Factor 5, I did an all-nighter by watching all three Hannibal Lector movies and all three Lord of the Rings movies in a row. The extended editions, of course.

I know – none of that points to a healthy lifestyle, and these days I’m wiser and better at pacing myself for increased overall productivity. But when you’re a game developer, in your mid-twenties, and not in a steady relationship, this is part of the life. I didn’t mind it.
Which brings us back to the here and now, and the job of caring for a newborn. It’s been an awesome experience that I wouldn’t want to miss for the world, but of course it’s been a challenge, as well. Habits need to be changed, priorities adjusted. What keeps me going is the knowledge that, at least on a similar level, I’ve been here before. I know how my body reacts to prolonged (and seemingly neverending…) periods of sleep deprivation. I know how to repeatedly wake up after three hours of rest and be fully functional immediately. None of that compensates for the crazy sleep deficit that I’m racking up right now, but at least it keeps me functional for the time being. So… yay for game development crunch time and the experience that it brings? I’ll think about that some more.

I’ll keep you updated with any additional game development wisdom that our new bundle of joy imparts on me. I’m wary of putting baby pictures on the internet, that vortex that sucks up all data and never forgets it, but hey… a couple of images can’t hurt, right?