Opening up my working desktop to the world invites all of the benefits to productivity that a boss would provide, with none of the negative hangups. I’m also able to receive real-time feedback on my ideas, as I’m working them out.

Back on May 24th I tried something new to both grow an audience, and provide inspiration to work faster and better. I called it “Take Your Planet to Work Day“.  On that Friday from 9am to 5pm, I streamed my entire workday as an indie game developer. The turnout wasn’t huge; however, it was very beneficial. I realized that while self employment has a certain independent ring to it, having someone look over my shoulder causes me to work like I’m on fire.

The catch is that it has to be the right someone(s) that is “supervising”. I’m not talking about individuals paid to manage my time. I’m looking for people with experience, or even just interest in all that goes into bringing a game to life. These types of folks are encouraging with their questions, comments, even concerns and advice. I find that as I answer them (while working) I’m thinking clearer about what it is I’m trying to accomplish in any given task. As I explain what I’m doing and why, while doing it, I more immediately recognize when I’m going in a wrong direction. As an example, flaws in programming logic are more apparent when talking out loud about the reasons behind the current direction.

I would strongly encourage any indies out there to try this out.

If you’d like to see what this looks like, and/or are interested in joining me at work. I run my live stream at www.twitch.tv/step2_hodge. I schedule myself to work live on Friday’s from 9am to 5pm (with a 1 hour lunch), but you can also find me periodically at all hours during the week… Game development never sleeps

Here is an example highlight from my stream, and thanks for reading!

Video example: http://youtu.be/2SJVicA1m4U