There’s a game, Undertale, where you play as a human who falls underground into the world of monsters. My favorite thing about the game is that it gently — every few minutes — encourages you to be determined.
This past week my brother and I worked on a bug with gamepads in one of our games. That took a lot of time, we spent most days reading on possible issues and trying different solutions. It was difficult to feel motivated when we weren’t seeing any progress. And it wasn’t even our bug but a bug in the game engine that we were building our game in. So we weren’t looking so much for a solution as for a walkaround. We kept at it and now it’s fixed.
I suspect that this kind of attitude is what made it possible for me to have a successful store on Threadless. I know how it is in the beginning: you submit your designs and not sell anything. It is discouraging. I know many people give up. I wish they knew that if only they kept drawing they too could have a profitable store.
I’ve been thinking, maybe every now and then we all could use a reminder to stay determined.