Can you realistically make money with Unity if you dedicate 2 full days a week learning something?

News & General Discussion
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I had a discussion some years ago about building a game to earn a living all by myself however I was advised that it would be a very foolish idea as games are hard to make and the chances of it selling and earning a livable salary from it would be practically 0 as a solo dev.

So I did what any sane person would do having failed to learn programming over many years never seem to have the desire to keep focused and motivated on it and running out of time at 33 years old, I went to school for 2 years and completed an HVAC course and just completed it at 35.

I got hired immediately, they pay close to Minimum wage as I have little to no experience but the job is relatively easy pz, it’s really interesting and it really makes you feel like an important person in the world even if I did have to work with this hater for 2 weeks, he tried to frustrate me to leave the work because he hates new people and thinks they are coming to take away private jobs from him. Nevertheless I told the boss about it and he gave me something helpful and nice to work with so I am happy and I try my best to work with everyone and be helpful. The HVAC job is such that once I get my tools and my vehicle I could go around the place and fix people’s fridge and service their mini split AC units etc.

It is very scary at first because it looks complicated but the more I get the chance to do things the more comfortable I am. I have been wondering if I should just stick to this trade now as opposed to going back to University to finish my BSc in Computing. It’s a hard decision for me due to our economy and extremely high saturation in the IT field and thousands of people with degrees and can’t find a job.

But when I am home on weekends I don’t know what to do with my time, was wondering if there was a way I could use the unity community to earn money, could I possibly learn a new skill part time maybe creating 3D assets or something? what would be a realistic goal?

At 35 it is probably too old for me to spend 5 years learning programming etc and expect to be hired at 40

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The major issue here is, you want work as IT developer, or relevant field at full time. Then you want go back home and work part time on game dev. Basically doing full day more less the same with focus on problem solving. It is difficult not to get burned out very quick in such pace.

Not impossible, but just to be aware.
That way, you will hate your job soon enough :slight_smile:

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We are a team of 3,me, the CEO and his wife. Me and the CEO work 75 to 100 procent doing consulting in enterprise IT the rest of the time we work on the game. This way we can still make that 200 USD per hour most of the time but work on our passion project too.

Sure it means slow progress on the game but we can also live high standard lives while doing it.

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One of the things suggested to me here was don’t bother with IT and just do the HVAC course get a permanent job and I could do whatever game I want in free time or weekends and if it fails to make any money it won’t hurt me as I would still have a fulltime career.

I always wanted to make something like a super metroid clone.

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I think you first need to take “realistic” out of this and answer that yourself.

Are you just bored? Or do you want to spend time doing specific things related to game dev (do you want to write code, or do you enjoy working in Blender or something)? Or is there a specific game you have an idea for and want to make?

What is your goal?

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just some random ideas (possibly easier to earn from, compared to gamedev, or being “beginner” 3d designer…)
you know about hvac, build something on that (if it interests you)

  • build hvac vr training app (there seems to be few already, so apparently there is market…can make better than existing ones and improve it based on your experience) *maybe need to partner with someone to do the development… but its not that difficult to learn vr dev
  • become hvac streamer/tuber personality (could become popular if people find your channel interesting/useful)
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hmm that actually sounds very good, from my experience there isn’t any HVAC app currently that actually teaches what really goes on in the fields and the kind of problems that are encountered. The HVAC apps I seen only feature generic stuff you find anywhere.

You are indeed right, if I built a HVAC VR I could incorporate stuff into it that would make it very unique.

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You’re looking at this the wrong way. You could spend 80 hours per week developing a game and it could flop - It’s more to do with your skills and project scope.

3D low-poly stylised assets could be something you can sell on the asset store.

  1. spend 6-8 weeks learning the basics of hard-surface modelling, how assets should be presented (ie - their scale should be 1, 1, 1 in most cases) learn about texture atlases, etc

  2. build a few single, high quality models and release them for free.

  3. look at what sells well (synty studios is a good example) or look for stuff missing on the store (low-poly stylised trees, for example)

  4. create low-poly asset packs

  5. profit (maybe)

For example, you could have:

  • low poly rocks pack
  • low poly trees pack
  • low poly modern buildings pack
  • low poly creatures pack
  • low poly aliens pack
  • low poly farm animals pack
  • low poly mountains pack

This would allow you to then have single packs or create combination packs.

Low Poly Environment Pack

  • low poly rock pack
  • low poly trees pack
  • low poly mountains pack

Low Poly MegaPack
Could literally just contain all of your assets.

Another trick could be building stuff compatible with the HDRP or the latest version of Unity.

Low poly packs for the HDRP.
Low poly packs for the URP.
etc.

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Is it that time of the year again for one of these discussions? Just search the forums. All of the concerns and questions you’re bringing up have been answered many times in the past, and while you’re at it you might want to go back and read the thread you’re referring to again because the responses were definitely not that cut and dry.

https://discussions.unity.com/t/692100

Learn Unity. Create one or more simple games and publish them. Once you have at least one game out there start applying for jobs using the games as your portfolio pieces. If the games take off in a way that can make the money you need to be independent you can decide if you want to continue with the job.

Stay with the trade until you’re getting accepted for game development positions or until you’re making sufficient money off of your own games that you can be independent. A degree has very limited used with the primary being to land a fallback software development job but you’re already employed so that eliminates most of the benefit.

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well “bored” is part of it, Dr Jordan B. Peterson tells me that I need to have purpose and meaning in my life and that I should do something useful that will improve my life in a meaningful way before I reach 40 years old otherwise all hell breaks lose when that day comes, he said go learn a trade ASAP and become a good tradesman and get my life together quickly, and having just turned 35 and only just recently put my life together after wasting it all these years I am somewhat terrified of what happens when I turn 40 in 5 years time. my ultimate goal is to make money but I would love to make either a metal slug clone or a super metroid clone, possibly a metroid clone as I like sci fi more.

Now that I finished my HVAC trade school and found a job I feel “protected” in the sense that I have a safe essential fulltime job Monday to Friday. To me this made way more sense than completing a degree as this trade was a guaranteed job which I needed asap and which I got. TO me at the time it was essential that I learned a skill which would make me employable and elevate me beyond “grocery work” which was awful imo and this was despite having an Advanced Diploma in IT and was unable to find a job in that field because the reality is the diploma didn’t actually benefit me in terms of having an actual skill that a company wanted. In stark contrast after completing HVAC Trade school I got a technician trainee job instantly which just blew my mind in all honesty. Listening to Dr Peterson really was the best thing I ever did

Now that I have this new job and am free all weekends, it seems to me that I could invest this time into perhaps learning a new skill which is programming and game development. I mean where I live there are no game dev companies or anything on this little Island but if making a game could very well end up making me employable as a business software developer that would be great. If making this game be it a metroid clone which really is my life long dream could end up helping me significantly in the long run including making money then yes this is what I actually want to invest time and effort into.

Maybe if I get good at this I could probably even work via the internet for companies and stuff? probably allowing me to transition to something even better than a Trade job someday? is what I am thinking

My ultimate aim in life is working fulltime from home as a game dev on my own game.

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I swear nowhere else on the internet could I ever get such excellent advice I shall follow this to the letter, you always seem to have the best answers

Now that I have an ok job that I kinda like and feels pretty rewarding I feel like I can now peruse game development, it has to be all on my own as on my Island there are no game dev companies or anything like that but I would love to one day be able to work as a solo dev or with people via the internet.

I am gonna get started now on my super metroid clone. I am following a lecture from Dr Jordan Peterson on organizing my life setting high goals but breaking it all down in small obtainable parts that I focus on. Because I want to build a game that everybody would want to play, not a simple game but a good quality pixel art game.

I think to sum it up is that my ultimate aim in life is working fulltime from home as a game dev on my own game.

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Brilliant! I can imagine already your future interview with Polygon.
Interviewer: Please tell us how you came up with the concept of your game.
CodeSlug: Well, I had no ideas of my own, so I decided to to make either a metal slug clone or a super metroid clone, or maybe some other clone.
Interviewer: And what motivated you to make your game?
CodeSlug: I was bored, and was afraid of getting old.
Interviewer: And that’s all?
CodeSlug: No. My ultimate goal was to make money.
Interviewer: That’s the spirit! Finally, please tell our readers why anybody would want to play your game?
CodeSlug: Um… next question, please.

And then you people return to this very forum a few years later complaining about why nobody wants to play your “either a metal slug clone or a super metroid clone, or maybe some other clone”. Seriously, just try to read your own posts from the perspective of any potential player. Would YOU, as a player who can choose from thousands of new game released every day, want to play THAT game made by THAT person? :stuck_out_tongue:

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LMAO I think my English came across badly

I meant to say that I wanted to make a really good game that I would want to play and anything I play is a pretty nit picky high level of expectation. But I expected it to take me 10 years to make something decent however I couldn’t risk living of savings and hopes and dreams to make a first game then expect to earn a living so I did what any sane person would do and get a skill and get a secure job to pay the bills and then focus on learning game dev part time incase it turns out to be a pipe dream and makes no money among the thousands of free games being released.

This is what Dr Jordan Peterson told me to do, yes I had to seek help from a professional psychologist I know it sounds crazy but he came highly recommended by millions of people and he didn’t charge me anything he said on a stream he was glad to help…

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I think you’re confusing a couple of things here. Peterson’s advice about getting your life together by 40, as I understand it, is about getting out of the dumps and onto solid ground. It’s about going from an existence that you are ashamed to wake up to every day, to being independent, self-sufficient, having good relationships, responsibility and meaning in your life.

It sounds like you’ve already made a huge step out of it by getting a job. Well done! There might be still some things you want to do before you can feel basically happy with your life, but it sounds like a good start.

But I think it’s a really bad idea to start looking to shipping a successful game independently as the way out of (what you consider to be) a messed up life. It’s like making it in Hollywood. Only a few will manage, against extreme difficulties, and every game might be your last hit. There’s no certainty, there’s no security, and there’s no longevity. It’s a game for ambitious and extremely self-confident people, and even so probably only for a short time.

This is absolutely not what you need to be thinking about while putting the pieces of your life together. What you need is a years-long game plan with certainty at the end of it.

So forget about creating a game as a way to follow Jordan Peterson’s advice. Forget about learning programming if you don’t want to do it. Forget about everything except a career in a job that you would be happy to do for the rest of your life. If that’s game development, fine, but if you don’t like any aspect of game development except the idea of shipping your own game, forget it (for now). Pick something that you would want to do every day for some other company, get the qualifications, get the job, sort out your relationships, and enjoy your life. Go on a holiday, get a jetski, have some fun.

If, once everything is already sorted, you still feel like making a game, then do it on the side. But don’t attach your climb out of the hole to the concept of creating a successful game, unless you want a 99% chance of falling all the way back to the bottom (or worse).

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Not to be mean, or anything, but I got impression, this thread turns into psychologist session, rather than game dev related topic.

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I fully understand where you are coming from, when I had my chance to speak with Dr Peterson during his live stream to ask my question. He was saying that a person needs to have a certain level of IQ to do certain tasks for a living for example programming etc, otherwise you will be miserable and make others around you miserable, his recommendation was for me to advance my career in HVAC “Note he seems to be really big on the idea of trade school for people in their 30’s who wasted their early life” So he suggested that I advance my career in HVAC by educating myself more and gaining more experience which will give me negotiating Power because without the XP and education required to negotiate I will be stuck in lower pay because there will be no way out.
he describes experience and education as carving out and paving alternate roadways through a mountain so that one isn’t enslaved to a single employer. He believes without the ability to negotiate for something better in life you are essentially a slave which often leads to depression and misery.

So I will stick to his advice, further my trade, I will get my tools and equipment required for my job, save up my money and purchase my Vehicle so on weekends I can do my own private job.

In HVAC I noticed when Covid hit the demand for Air-condition technicians went up so I got hired within 2 days of obtaining my certificate, I immediately thought to myself that Dr Peterson was right all along. And although there are some obstacles like people not wanting to work with you because you are slower than they are and inexperienced I managed to find some who are very nice and show me a lot of stuff.
When you meet people and sometimes treat you like family because they had to go 1 night with a broken down AC in a hot climate like this, there is this little feeling you get inside a feeling of such importance and respect.The other thing is the security of such a field like this because AI and Robots can never replace an AC tech

The reason I still come back to this idea of Game Dev is probably because of how obsessed and addicted I am to video games which admittedly destroyed myself and put me in such a bad spot to begin with, “playing 20,000 hours of League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth and another 10,000 hours in Street Fighter” So I always think what it could be like if I could somehow put such effort into creating a game as opposed to playing it.

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I think to sum it up is basically imagining a life I could have which is having my own Game Dev Studio and working for myself from home and not having to answer to any boss. But if obtaining that is far too risky, pointless, difficult relies too much on luck, and I would be better off just focusing on my current career “doing extra private jobs on weekends or playing video games on a weekend, going to the movies etc” well I guess the latter would be better?

Possibly the biggest reason I always considered doing this is because it is a tech field and is like a well respected field it’s the ultimate goal someone can strive for. At the end of the day HVAC is hot sun, heat, sweat, dirty job and almost every educated woman would look down on a guy doing that type of work. It isn’t like an office job working in the cool behind a PC creating something like a game. It’s a dirty trades job that is good and pays decent, but is looked down by high society people.

I dunno how to put it, it’s a million times better than being in the dumpster fire I was in before, but nowhere close to what people actually strive for, not sure if this makes sense?

^ When I read stories like this about sword of the guardian, being developed by just a single person I often think what if I put in the effort to create something like it myself how would I know unless I try.

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The resources you need are technically all in one place. It’s just a case of having the dedication and time to go through each project, tutorial, and example.

https://learn.unity.com/

“With over 750 hours of live and on-demand beginner to advanced content, you’ll find what you need to help you reach your goals.”

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Sounds like you have a pretty solid perspective and you’ve made a good start.

I would just say that there’s a world of difference between creating a game and playing it, and it seems to be something that perhaps gets confused a bit for new developers. I’ve seen a lot of threads saying things like “I want to make X game, but I don’t know/like programming and can’t make good art”. In this type of statement, it’s hard to see the logic.

Imagine if I go “I love movies, and so I want to be an actor, but I hate being on camera and imagining myself as someone else” well the best advice would be to keep watching movies and enjoying them, and do something I actually like doing.

In the end we have a certain amount of time to do things that really mean a lot to us, and there’s no point wasting tons of time in something that gives no satisfaction.

For me personally, making games is much more fun than playing them. I probably play a new game every month or two, for a total of maybe 5-10 game hours a month (usually in one go). I spend way more time than that developing games and having way more fun. If I didn’t like making games, I simply would not do it, and nothing could make me do what I don’t want to. But it satisfies a certain mix of logic and creativity I need that, to date, I haven’t found anywhere else. Even writing, which used to be my main outlet of creativity, pales in comparison to the satisfaction I’ve got from creating an interactive world.

So the point is, don’t let yourself down by getting stuck on an obsession and turning it into a burden. Find what really satisfies you, the kind of thing where when you’re doing it, the sun goes down and then comes up and you didn’t realize. There’s really no point doing anything else.

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The weird thing is even when I was in school everybody always told me all my life I should write a novel or even have a blog.

There is an HVAC flat earther who I work with at my company, when he told me one day out of the blue that he doesn’t believe in circles, I immediately knew where the conversation was going. But I am not sure it would be worthy of a novel.

Maybe I could write a story for a game an Indie game, a game I could build and release let me get started with it.