Self Care and Dealing with Designer Burnout with Kirk Dennison

Kirk Dennison, founder of Piecekeeper Games, discusses some pretty heavy topics as we get into self-care, mental health, depression, burnout, and more.

Kirk went through a pretty tough time of life a while back, and we delve into issues that I believe a lot of people are struggling with right now. We also get into strategies for dealing with and overcoming dark times.

And be sure to check out Kirk’s latest project, Rurik: Stone and Blade, on Kickstarter now.

5 comments on “Self Care and Dealing with Designer Burnout with Kirk Dennison

  1. Mark Mistretta says:

    This episode was excellent! As someone who has been through dark times myself, it was great to hear someone sharing his story. Only good can come from this!

    While I don’t want to make light of the seriousness of this episode, your description of having to dress up in a Spider-man outfit for a job as a teenager was the most hilarious thing I have heard all year. I was literally laughing out loud picturing the absurdity of it! I think you might have a second career in stand-up comedy waiting for you.

    Thanks again for the insightful episode and the great laugh.

    1. gabe says:

      Thanks! Yeah, I’d tried to lighten the mood just a bit, haha. Looking back, I disappointed so many children, but such is life sometimes.

  2. Jeff says:

    Thank-you for shining a light on these issues. Many suffer in silence and need to know that they only need to reach out and support is there.
    I find a lot of the advice in the board community is, if you want your design to come to life then you need to dedicate yourself to it. This episode highlights balance.

    Personally I recently had a minor struggle that was the opposite of what was discussed on this episode. I have a game that I really want to design but I was starting to feel really bad because it wasn’t moving along as fast as I wanted. I have a full time job and I have an 8 yr old daughter and 10 yr old son (with autism). Both I adore and love spending time together. Not to mention my totally supportive wife that we try to make time together as to not forget our love.

    This episode highlights balance. Due to these feeling that were getting stronger I reached out to a local friend that is also a game designer. We started monthly meetings to discuss our design progress. One suggestion he had was to log my time. I have started to do this and now it feels like it holds me accountable to continue moving forward and makes my time intentional while still balancing life.

    1. gabe says:

      Thanks for listening, Jeff. You’re right, balance is key, and I’m glad you found a method that works. I think many others would greatly benefit from doing the same.

  3. Abe Underhill says:

    Gabe and Kirk,
    Thanks for having this open discussion on such an important issue. It is challenging to create and maintain a healthy life balance. Gabe, I appreciated the ballerina analogy. There are individuals/families that make it look easy but every day demands new adjustments. Kirk, your statement about questioning God in the midst of depression hit home for me. I have struggled with this tension during times of conflict with coworkers and dissatisfaction with my job.

    I am only a year into exploring the world of game design but it has given me a wonderful outlet for my creativity. As a teacher, I’ve developed activities and games but never considered the possibility of expanding beyond the classroom. I entered the HABA design challenge and one of my designs was chosen among the four finalists. I am thankful for the insights I’ve learned from this podcast. Keep up the good work!

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