Greatness takes time. Almost by definition. Simple and fast erase the attributes of anything defined as "great".
I am reminded of the sheer scale of greatness every time I approach game development. Just to give you an idea:
Genshin Impact began with a relatively small team of around 120 people, which expanded to 700 by early 2021
Genshin Impact is an open-world role-playing game. In other words, you have your character(s) and you can freely walk everywhere.
Such a game takes a "small" team of 120 people to develop.
Each person a professional who spent years to become great in his role. 120 individuals to craft something great. But it wasn’t enough, so the team had to increase to 700 people.
What can you do alone, just you? In a sense, almost anything. But the hard and limited currency of time doesn’t wait.
A quick search smashes in my face every time I search for guidelines for making a game. These are some of the skills that are required of you:
- Writing: craft a compelling story
- Programming: implement the game
- Music: game sounds
- Drawing: game assets
- Animation: visual effects
That's why you need 700 people. Each invests time to master a single subset of these areas. They become "great" in their own small responsibility. Years of mastery, combined together to build greatness at a larger scale.
But alone, you are facing years of learning, spending your limited pool of time. No matter what, the sheer scale of the task forces you to reduce the scope of your ambition.
Alas, greatness takes time. You can be "great" only in a small subset of skills. And that's a harsh limitation when your interests span many artistic endeavours like mine.
Two opposing realities stand in your way:
- You can only be great in a few things, so choose with care
- Time doesn’t wait, so the time you spend "choosing" is time you are not spending to "become great"
"Great" is stacking small improvements, each the result of a small time investment. If that time is spent worrying about the limitations of greatness, the paradox is that greatness never comes.
Therefore, I found that the best strategy is enjoying the process:
Greatness is the result of single moments of exciting work, stacked, that eventually create mastery in a diverse and unique set of skills
Don't be stuck "choosing" where you want to become great, just play. Capture any spark of interest and dive, regardless of the length of the journey to mastery.
Mastery becomes a consequence of repeated action. The point of the game is keep playing. No lesson is wasted, even if the project fails or doesn’t reach the same scale of a 700 people game.
Just start, don't wait.