How to Keep Going When You Want to Quit | Haritha Naurunna, Founder of Rivertune Games

Nobody told Haritha Naurunna he was allowed to build a game studio. He just started building.He graduated with a computer science degree in Sri Lanka at a time when the games industry had made big promises and kept almost none of them. The jobs weren't there. The infrastructure wasn't there. Nobody was going to hand him the career he'd been told was possible. So he gave himself a job instead.Four months ago, Rivertune Games was one person. Today it's six — four developers, two artists, a funded game in active development, and a studio that just showed work at Sri Lanka Comic Con and Disrupt Asia. Haritha is twenty-four years old and moving too fast to process any of it.This conversation goes deeper than the startup story. Haritha talks about what actually keeps a creative person going when every reason to stop makes complete sense — and it's not passion or discipline. It's five people who don't have a job if you do. It's a father who kept taking calls for his employees from an ICU bed. It's the specific relief of staying in motion so fast you don't have time to overthink.He burnt out. He almost left game development entirely. What brought him back was his own Goose Game — a dating simulator where you play as a goose, made at nineteen, made for nobody but himself — and the reminder that no one was stopping him from making exactly what he wanted to make.In this episode:How to keep going as a creative entrepreneur when the industry doesn't have a place for youWhat it really means to give yourself a job when no one else willHow Haritha grew Rivertune Games from one person to six in four monthsThe burnout that almost ended his career — and what pulled him backWhat his father's death taught him about responsibility, legacy, and not stoppingWhy good and bad are subjective — and what the real standard for creative work actually isHow to find your passion: the only answer that actually worksBuilding a support system as a young founder who is hard on himselfThis episode is for the creative person who is in the hardest part of their journey right now — the part where quitting makes complete sense. Haritha is twenty-four and he has already figured out something it takes most people decades to learn: nothing is stopping you. That's not a pep talk. It's just the truth.🎙️ Host: Sheran Ranasinghe 🎨 Guest: Haritha Naurunna — Founder, Rivertune Games | @rivertune.games 📍 Recorded at: Hatchworks, Colombo, Sri Lanka 📩 Contact: [email protected] 📸 Instagram: @thecreativeodysseypodcast | @sheranstories Produced by Odyssey House MediaKeywords: Haritha Naurunna, Rivertune Games, The Creative Odyssey Podcast, Sheran Ranasinghe, Odyssey House Media, how to keep going when you want to quit, indie game developer Sri Lanka, creative entrepreneur giving yourself a job, game studio founder, how to start a game studio with no money, burnout recovery, creative entrepreneurship, Sri Lanka startup, finding your passion, self belief, game development podcast, creativity podcastSend Us A Message! We'd love to hear your thoughts!Support the show