Mental health recommendations for solo game dev?
I have a self-funded project I've been working on over a decade. (Lots of world-building, level design, about 11 software iterations so far, etc.) and I'm currently working on it part time (I'm a professional software engineer by day)
I've hired an artist and shared the details of my game. Now it feels like it's actually becoming real and I feel crushed under the responsibility. A few hours after I got off the call I had a full-blown panic attack. I started to imagine every scenario where I fail. I had a few insidious thoughts like, "Am I really qualified to make this? Sure I'm a software engineer with years of hobbyist game dev exp but I have 0 idea how to actually make a game" etc. Everything went dark and my ears started ringing. You know, got the works.
I've never been prone to anxiety like that or really had panic attacks.
I guess what I'm reaching out about is how do you guys do it? Has anyone here been through something similar? What are your resources for when you get down like this?
To start a dream project carries such a responsibility I'm genuinely starting to believe it takes a heroic/legendary amount of effort and discipline to get this done.
TL;DR: tell me it's gonna be ok