Becoming an indie developer

News & General Discussion
1

So lately I’ve been seriously considering becoming an indie developer as a full time job. Right now I’m a web developer, doing games occasionally as a hobby, but I’ve been noticing that the ideas are starting to pile up and if it’s only a hobby, I’m never going to have time to make the games I really want to play.

Here’s where I am right now:

  • I have a few years of experience in web development, specifically in the front-end/user-experience department.
  • I’m comfortable with pretty much any language commonly used in game development except C++ :confused: I’ll learn eventually if I have to, but I’m repulsed already by the little bits of it that I do know…
  • I don’t currently have a degree, but I’m going into a Computer Science program next year.
  • I am a horrible artist. It’s bad. For real.
  • I have not finished any games worth showing (except for one arcade game in XNA that was actually pretty good, but it’s actually a fangame for a really obscure fandom so it’s hard to show off)
  • Judging by my ideas notebook, strategy games are where I particularly want to focus.
  • I’m mostly interested in gameplay and interface and maybe a bit of AI; graphics and networking are not how I want to spend my time. (The latter makes things difficult for me, because strategy games are almost always more fun to play with a friend)

Needless to say, if this is going to be my job it’s going to have to make me a living at some point. I’m not in this career to get rich, but it’s got to be able to pay my bills.

I also don’t really want to work in the AAA games industry - since I’m in this to make the games I want to play, I’m not really into the idea of publishers breathing down my neck to make another sequel.

So… what’s the best way to do this? I have a couple of potential plans but maybe the right approach is something I haven’t thought of yet…

  • Try to find a job with an indie dev shop in my area (I’ll be in Austin, TX; will I be able to find one that’s hiring?). Start out as a code monkey and try to work my way up to making actual design decisions and eventually leading my own projects
  • Devote any and all free time while I’m in school to creating a modest strategy game that I can use as a portfolio (and sell it), then apply for a job directly in a design position
  • Stick with web development until I have a heckton of savings, then quit my job, hire an artist, and start my own indie dev studio out of my garage

I’d love to hear your ideas and advice.

2
3

Try to find a job with an indie dev shop in my area (I’ll be in Austin, TX; will I be able to find one that’s hiring?). Start out as a code monkey and try to work my way up to making actual design decisions and eventually leading my own projects

This is a very long term strategy, additionally designers and company heads generally don’t let programmers lead game design. They keep it very separate. This is least likely to happen.

EDIT: MooseMouse is right, the experience you can get from a company is invaluable, but don’t expect to be making your games within 5 years.

Devote any and all free time while I’m in school to creating a modest strategy game that I can use as a portfolio (and sell it), then apply for a job directly in a design position

This isn’t a bad idea, if you want to be a straight designer, then maybe prototype the idea with programmer art, but have a full developed idea.

Stick with web development until I have a heckton of savings, then quit my job, hire an artist, and start my own indie dev studio out of my garage.

If you truly believe in your ideas and have the metal to go through with it, then i’d consider this idea, coupled with the second one. I’d develop the idea, fully develop, complete plan. Then look at prototyping the game with basic art. Once you’ve got enough money think about bringing an artist on board. Maybe pay them a days work and see what they come up with.

I currently work for a simulation software company and in my free time myself (along with another programmer from the same company) have been working on a game. We’ve spent maybe 4 months on it, using mainly programmer art (or free art we found on the web), we recently hired an artist to come in and give the game a professional look, but the general mechanics are their. Hopefully after this (or more likely a second/third title) we’ll have enough to go freelance.

Be careful about just quitting your job, discuss you ideas with others (maybe on here, but face to face is better and more trustworthy), get a feel for what you’re in store for, i guarantee it’s more than you think. see if you can find an artist who wants to expand their portfolio, they generally work for free, although not the most reliable for deadlines.

Good Luck

4

well maybe u can find someone near you to work with. so when u quit ur job u wont have to pay him per say but to asociate with him.

5

Thanks for the advice! Let me reiterate what stands out to me to make sure I understand:

  • I can take a job in the game industry (indie or otherwise) to gain experience while making some money, but I shouldn’t expect to work my way directly up the ladder to designer and project lead - to work on my own games, my only option is pretty much to start my own studio.
    MooseMouse seemed to have a different idea than KyleHatch85 on this topic: does anyone have any real-industry experience that would suggest one way or the other?
    Also, how would I go about finding an indie studio in my city, and finding out if they’d here a programmer?

  • When the time comes that I need an artist, I could try to find a business partner or co-founder rather than just hiring an artist. This actually works out quite well for me because I’ll almost certainly have more potential than cash at that time :slight_smile: and while I have a lot of ideas for unique gameplay, those ideas are often not paired to any particular world or art style, which in theory would give an artist partner virtually equal creative freedom without us stepping on each other’s toes too much.

6

Actually, I agree with KyleHatch85. If you want to make your own games your best bet is to be an indie (that is why I took the “climbing the ladder” part out of your quote). But as a first step it would be very beneficial to learn the ropes by working at a game company. There are so many things that you will learn that you didn’t even know you should know. I have real-industry experience working at both game companies (large and small) and animation studios (large and small) and being a self employed indie… yep, I’m old :wink:

7

There’s another option you might not have considered yet. With current experience in web development, you actually have a decent number of options for employment. I’m in the same field, and I’ve found that at the moment, there is a lot of work to be had for web developers who are willing to work contract jobs.

Contract jobs place the burden of insurance on the individual, which can be bad if your health sucks. If you are young and healthy, though, paying for your own health insurance is actually quite affordable. And contract jobs offer considerably more options for employment flexibility. It shouldn’t be hard to find a part-time contract gig that would only require around 20 - 30 hours a week. And web development usually pays pretty well, so most of your bills could be covered by a job like that.

That would leave you with plenty of extra time to devote to your game development. I’m sticking with a 40-hour a week contract gig at the moment, but I’m still able to scrape together plenty of time and enthusiasm for my game development efforts.

Having all the time to devote to game development doesn’t actually mean that you will devote all that time to game development. There have been numerous instances of developers quitting their day jobs and not actually being any more productive than they were before. Sometimes having down time where you’re not developing or designing can actually help. I have some of my best ideas and insights when I’m working the day job, or cleaning up my house. Sometimes you need to let things stew. All game development all the time is not always the best solution.

8

And man are there several good reasons for that =-)

Honestly, the best way to become an Indie Developer is to just start making your own games in your spare time. Sell lemonade during the day and make games at night. The moment you write your first line of code, or place your first art asset in the engine - you’re an indie developer.

Ultimately, if you make something cool - even if you don’t finish it - you’d have gained significant experience. Having something nifty to show off could get you a job, or just help you feel more confident in your ability to self-produce and publish.

9

Thanks for the advice! This seems like an excessively sane approach and it seems like a good idea - although I’ve never understood how people can manage a 40-hour job and have time for side projects, family, sleep, etc. The only explanation I can think of is that my time management really sucks.

Since I’m a programmer looking to get into game design, what are some of these reasons? I can think of a couple - programmers will often choose what’s easy to implement over a decision that might make a better game; and they may implement overly complex game mechanics that make sense to them but nobody else.

Does this mean that if I go into design, I’ll be discouraged from doing any programming? One of my favorite parts of game development is tweaking a control system or feature or interface until it feels just right, and it seems not only inefficient to offload that to somebody else, but that it might hurt the overall quality with too much friction to iteration.

Although, a couple of you have mentioned prototyping, which could fall under a designer’s responsibility… actually that sounds pretty cool - all the fun of programming gameplay features without any expectation that your code will be in production! … no… that sounds too good, there’s no way that can be right…

10

Among others:

  • Of all game developers, programmers have the rawest and most pure view of the “magic” that happens in the background of the game. Designers are strictly concerned with the player’s experience, but as a programmer it becomes very hard to separate your knowledge of what makes the game tick versus a player’s lack of knowledge. Designers pay no attention to the man behind the curtain… in fact, their job is to create the curtain.
  • If you’re part of a team of developers in a post-prototype phase, the director(s) will want you programming with as few distractions as possible. This doesn’t mean you won’t be asked to, or allowed to, give input here and there, but they won’t want you to be distracted by having that as a secondary focus.
  • Often times things that you would consider to be a bug, the players couldn’t care less about, but since you know it’s there you’ll probably stress yourself out trying to fix it.
  • You won’t have the time to do extensive research on the latest trends and techniques for both Programming and Design - actually, you won’t even have enough time to keep up with programming stuff alone.

Now, obviously I’m not saying you can’t do both, I’m just saying that there’s a reason those jobs are listed separately.

If you go into design, it will almost be expected that you know some amount of programming. Sometimes this just means knowing a node logic editor like Kismet (UDK), but the main point is that you need to have a good grasp on logic. Often times, programmers will create tools for you to use in creating gameplay elements, and especially in the case of missions/quests they usually need you to demonstrate your logic skills.

Many designers will help out with basic programming during prototype phases, but as more features get locked down they’ll become more hands-off with the code.

As for making tweaks to gameplay feel - programmers are usually expected to provide very clear access to the variables involved in this so that designers can mess with them. In Unity, this means making good use of the inspector and editor scripts. If you’ve ever seen a job listing for something like “Tools Programmer”, this is exactly what they do. It actually drastically cuts development time down because the only time you’ll need a programmer for changing the gameplay is when a feature is missing from the tool or if the base logic has changed or needs improvement.

Yeah, prototyping is my favorite kind of programming - in my opinion, it’s the most creative phase of development for programmers. You get to code rapidly, and you don’t need to worry about making everything 100% bug-free/functional.

Anyway, my point is that while it’s fine to do both (and there are many who frequently do, myself included), it’s usually best for developers to have one core focus at their job while helping out with other areas as needed. Human nature tells us that 20% of your time isn’t going to be focused on the tasks outlined by your job description anyway.

11

Have a read through this article.

Basically, if you want to work in any reasonably sized game development company, there are only two jobs worth trying to get: programmer or artist.

The chance of you getting a designer job at a decent size game development company, without knowing someone very high up in a game company, is almost zero.

If you want to be a designer, you have to make games. You need to be able to show someone something that you have designed. Have a job/work contract work while you are making games in your spare time.

You may not like AAA developers/publishers but if you get a job at one, while still being able to work on your own games in your spare time, this will be the best way to go IMHO. The MOST important feature of any game is shipping it. Finishing and shipping a product is a huge skill to learn and one that a lot of indie developers fail to do. Working at a large game development company will teach you a huge amount of what is required to ship a game which you can then take away with you to use on your own games.

12

I personally will never go full time indie unless I make something that earns me 1 million or so…
I still work for two other companies while working on my own projects too; there are just too many indies nowadays, too many games released all the time and the chances to earn a stable profit every month is becoming smaller every year.
Even for the super big companies is harder to retain players because of so abundant offers these days.
There are a few bunch of saudosistas who are still buying only console games, but overall the scene is not like a few years ago anymore.

13

I wanted to post the same link. Glad I didn’t have to search for it.

While I think the author of that article goes a little overboard, I think that on principle he hits the nail on the head. Game development is an incredibly competitive industry where people with high skill are willing to work for relatively low pay (similarly talented and experienced software engineers get paid way more for work in other areas) in often crappy conditions. Most of the people who work in the industry at large studios want the job in the first place because of their love for the product, not love for the work - which they often know little about.

Being an indie developer as a career is a lot like being in a band as a career. (I think that article may even say something similar.) The vast majority of bands don’t make enough money for this. You have to be really good or really lucky to be successful enough to derive a meaningful income, and that can all come to a sudden stop as soon as you release something with less than stellar commercial response or popularity moves on to the next big thing.

Being in a commercially successful band / indie game studio isn’t something you really plan for. It’s something that you start doing out of love or passion which, if you’re lucky, picks up enough steam on its own to become successful.

I don’t buy the idea that your fan game is hard to show off because of an obscure IP. Indies make games based on their own IP (i.e.: IP previously worth nothing) all the time. The fact that nobody’s heard of it is irrelevant. What matters is how well the game is crafted, whether it’s fun, and whether your next game can be better. What I’m saying is, show it off anyway. Also, much of what there is to learn about game design can’t be learned except by getting other people to play your game. If you’re not actively getting people to play your game then you’re not learning as much as you should be if you want to be a game designer.

14

If you make a game that earns a reasonable but not astronomical amount, and assuming it sold well because its a good game*, then you have removed the biggest barrier to indie game success. You already have an audience. If you release another game, particularly one targeting a similar audience, you have a much, much, greater chance of success than a studio without an audience.

The worse that could happen is your subsequent games fail (and even then they are likely to make some money on the weight of your previous success), and you have to find a new job, which given the inclusion of a successful game on the resume, shouldn’t be too hard.

  • As opposed to managing to sell while still being crap … for example the first iOS slender clone :slight_smile:
15

I like this comparison, from what I’ve experienced/read/seen it is quite close to the truth.

The difference I see is that you can plan to be a commercially successful indie game studio… if you have a lot of experience and released games behind you. For someone trying to go indie as their first game development experience, you have to produce something super amazing and be really lucky, like you say. For a solo developer, or a group of developers, to leave their jobs at a big game development company and go indie and be successful, they still need to produce an amazing game but they have the experience, history and contacts to make it less about luck.

Indie development is very hard and super competitive. There is a reason that the average revenue for the first game from any company on iOS is so low. As low as only $500 according to some surveys.

16

Thanks for all the advice! I’m starting to develop a new plan:

  • Stay on my current career path, i.e. web development. Get super serious about making games in my spare time (of which I might not have any until I’m done with school) and try to sell them. Using those games as a portfolio, join a game studio (indie or AAA) as a programmer to learn how to do it right. Once I have enough savings, experience, and contacts, find a partner and start my own game studio.

Next step, world domination.

Just a few more questions:
How might I go about finding help while I’m still a hobbyist? Dare I venture into the Collaboration forum? For that matter, might it be a good idea to join a Collaboration project to gain the experience of developing games as a team and the potential for a higher quality portfolio-padder than I could produce on my own, knowing of course that the project could implode at any second?

17

On the contrary, I’ve found that most people, when faced with excess time, fill it up so that they just barely have time to do what they need to do. They fill it with things they don’t really care about, like TV and napping and inane banter.

When the situation changes, they’re left off-balance for a while and feel like they don’t get to do a lot of their old ‘fun’ activities. Then they eventually realize those activities weren’t fun or necessary at all, and they optimize them.

For example, my ex-girlfriend worked a 30-hour week, walking distance from the store. Yet she never, ever had free time. Why? Because she’d work overtime (for cigarettes or free), sleep, watch old DVDs of The Simpsons, etc. She’d even go to the grocery store every single day. Can you imagine what a time-waster that last one is, all by itself?

As I’ve gotten more busy, and more serious about gamedev, I’ve been watching less TV and playing fewer video games. The ones I’m eliminating are the ones that I didn’t really enjoy, but were better than doing nothing. I didn’t think of them like that at the time, but it’s true.

As you get better at developing, it’ll start to become entertaining as well, instead of just stressful. Sitting down to prototype out a quick physics game will feel like playtime instead of work. The more familiar you are with it, the easier and more fun it is.

18

Have to agree with most here.

Its hard to do this, but the problem is urself.

I have stopped playing games, i never watch TV anymore, ive ditched some of my “less interesting” friends, keeps coffee visits less frequent, and i found a programmer who shares the same passion.

The goal is simple, get good enough to make “THE” game by doing alot of small ones, like we’re doing now. Be able to quit ur dayjob and know u have enough motivation and experience to make a larger game.

Im a dental technician, the money is mroe than i need, but do i enjoy it? no.

Im painting my ass off wvereyday getting better at doing ingame artwork, and we’re making 10 small games now to practice. Onc ethose are done, we go for the big one.

Beeing indie requires hours of hoooours watching tutorial videos, reading docs, learning assets, and sacrificing things in ur life that can be ahrd, like friends and activities. Working on games only in weekends gets u nowhere, i tried.

Its hard when u know little baout what ur trying to do, but like Crawford said, it gets very fun when u realize u are starting to know this, rather than stressing urself because u dont.

Conclusion, make small games, leanr as much as u can, and be on the lookout for someone like urself. Im the artist guy, i dont code, so i need a programmer by my side. Ive been through 5, this is my 6th one, and i think he’s the one. find ur bestfreind developer and make tons of projects u’ll never finish, and money isnt even something that should crawl into ur head at first, because u wont earn any until u’r good enough to finish the “big one”

19

Some great advice in this thread.

I’m in a position where I can’t afford to be a AAA game programmer, because of the low pay (so I’ve read).
I’m fortunate to work full time as a programmer, but in the manufacturing sector. The pay is good, great benefits.
Very low cost of living where I live, a smallish city. No game studios!
I just can’t pick up and move to the big cities (in Canada, that would be Toronto, Montreal, etc), take a pay cut, and double the cost of living.

My only option is the indie route. And after I worked 8 hours. And I can’t create graphics to save my life!
Very tedious, but slowly my game is taking shape. Four more months? Said that a year ago!
I wont be able to quit my day job any time soon. Maybe after a few games, and one catches on. Nothing I can bank on.

I do it now simply because I love game programming, and the satisfaction of seeing my ideas come to life.
It’s a very creative process. Much more fun and challenging than Sudoku!

Good luck with your career.

20

I don’t understand this. People always say “don’t quit your day job” when it comes to indie development…and yet… every successful indie game I can think of is made by people who do it full-time. Actually, I guess Cave Story was part time…over many years… but that seems to be more the exception?

All the other indie teams (super meat boy, braid, limbo, fez, bastion, journey) tackled it seriously and went full time… put their money up, found grants, found publishers, and while they all got the funding different ways, they all went for it 100 percent.

If you are doing a mobile app ripoff of fruit ninja, then yea you don’t need to go 100 percent on the project and be full time. But if you are doing a project of any size? I don’t see how you could do it just part time without it being bonkers. Bastion took a couple years full time with a team of 6 (i think). Try to do that part time??? Without a budget? By yourself???

I don’t know. It seems the industry is more what you make of it. Most people seem to fail because, well, they honestly don’t put much work into things. Rushed crappy artwork, rushed buggy code, broken game play… those are the hallmarks of a LOT of the games out there (and of course you aren’t going to get anywhere like that).