In this extremely personal and honest GDC 2016 talk, Framed director Joshua Boggs opens about his mental health. Boggs talks about how validation, attention and recognition were major goals for him in his game development career, and how the release of Framed sent him into a period of deep depression.
That isn’t because Framed did poorly — far from it. It won quite a few indie and mobile game awards and critical acclaim. Boggs talks about how hard it was to achieve what he ostensibly wanted and not find happiness through it, and encourages developers to nurture values that don’t pin their self-worth on how enthusiastically the game world embraces their games.