I complete a game, with hectic schedule, in 6 weeks. Now my boss expects all following games to be developed within 6 weeks each. When I asked for 10 weeks, his response was like - you're not putting all your efforts.
I don't want to sacrifice my leisure.

What would you guys do?

Should have used the "Scotty Principle".

"The previous schedule has burnt me out, I cannot efficiently keep operating at this throughput without sacrificing my mental and physical wellbeing. You will need to either accept that this will take me longer to complete at a reasonable speed, find additional people to help me, or accept cutting corners on the final product."

Maybe something along those lines, perhaps?

Atari called, they want their deadlines back 😋

Seriously though, engineers in India need to be collectively unified in demanding higher quality of life and better compensation.

@HiFiWiFiSciFi sounds good, doesn't work. Asking Additional time is looked as if dev is trying to make excuse. 😒
It's really frustrating.

Just ask for extra person for help who will take some load. Some companies are more flexible with number of people on the project than with the timing.

@blindXfish that's actually a great suggestion. Thanks, man.

Find a new job.

Be slow at first, not speedy.

The faster you are, the more it screws you over in the long run. You’re always expected to perform at your highest demonstrated pace, save maybe those rare super overtime crunch times.

If your accepted pace is fairly leisurely, you can easily wow your boss on the rare occasion where it’s warranted. You can also easily take time off by focusing and jamming through your projects quickly. Just don’t let your boss catch on, as his job (as given by his bosses) is probably to squeeze every ounce of productivity out of you, and replace you after you’re dry.

So work slowly at first (sell it as learning the codebase/etc.), find your comfortable pace, and add in some buffer. You won’t be the boss’s “rockstar,” but they usually aren’t treated any better (let’s be honest: often worse), and they burn out so much faster. Instead, you’ll be comfortable, less stressed, and can survive in the same pit of misery for so much longer.

All because you don’t give your all to someone who simply doesn’t care. Fair trade, eh?