I ended up needing to take the latter of the 2 options, and I wouldn’t wish that torture on my worst enemies.
Straight out of HS I went to Uni, and it always felt like I wasn’t doing it for myself. 2.5 years and $20k later I left hastily, and went to college after a few months off. I didn’t get it right in the first year, but I went into game dev after that and barely squeaked by. Even with it being a very strong interest of mine, it was very difficult to drag myself through it. I met some incredible friends along the way that helped keep me focused enough, but it was hard.
Fast forward 3 years, and here I am now, diagnosed with mixed ADHD, medicated, with more focus than I’ve ever had. Its still not great… I have 27 years of bad habits to break, but it’s getting better.
One of the biggest things I can offer as advice is know your enemy. ADHD is tricky to deal with, but not impossible. If you have the option to make itbeasier to manage, I’d try to find a way and make it happen. I can’t speak to the autism part, but the ADHD is something that you can manage. It just takes some time.
It’s insane that a company can miss the point by this much…
Just make a good product, do everything you can to avoid fleecing your player base, and they will come. Then you can add microtransactions that people can buy. You gotta earn that shit through merit of a good game.