hehe, same here
I have to pitch in and say it’s possible, but highly unlikely.
In my experience, I made two games. One in 2007-2010 that never saw any lights, and one released a few days ago. Both were professionally done by me (I’m a software dev). I think that the game I released a few days ago is the worst release ever on Steam. I might just pitch it to CNN or BBC to cover this horrible disaster.
As an alternative if you have a partner willing to work full time, you can live off their income while you get established as a game developer. The supportive spouse is a common route to creative industry success that doesn’t get talked about much.
Either way, indie game dev is a wealthy persons pursuit. Its a career for those that don’t have to worry about food and shelter day to day. At least for the start up phase.
relevant and informative video,
few notes:
- survived 11 years as an indie dev, without big hits
- but requires lots of work, part time projects, loans, grants, supportive partner, luck, contacts, patience etc…
Agree with above: Could is the wrong question, of course you could, but you could also win the lottery if you bought a ticket. More importantly success is unlikely.
I would like to elaborate on something that @angrypenguin touched on: “Third… if you’re talking about making money then you’re talking about business. So, if you want to make games for money then treat it like you would any other business!”
You can treat making games you want to make as a business, or you can treat making games as a business. Most people go the first route (or maybe even another route which is not treating it like a business at all) however given you have the discipline the second route is the most likely to succeed financially.
This means building the kind of games that sell, it means building games that can be built cheaply and quickly, it probably means building stuff that you don’t like, and maybe even stuff that you aren’t proud of. It means your main concern is analytics, numbers, statistics.
This doesn’t by any means you are likely to succeed financially, and even if you do, it doesn’t mean you would like what you are doing. It really means your job is much more like being a business person, investor or marketer than an indie game developer.
Of course if your only concern is making money then you should be asking the question whats the best business to be doing that in… it’s probably not indie game dev.
Note: Its worth mentioning its not black and white but some kind of sliding scale between two extremes. Not many here push it to the extreme in the ‘business’ direction, although a lot push it to the extreme in the ‘passion’ direction.
Yep. Wife earning most of the dough is what’s enabled me to do 3d all day everyday for a year now. Sometimes I see people ask, “I work 40 hours a week. How can I make time to study?” and other people who say, “I stayed up till 2am every night after work for 2 years before I got a job in the industry.” I feel very sorry for these people. I imagine by the time they finally got their job, they were well burnt out on it already.
Ours has been somewhat the same. She worked while I did school for engineering. Now I’m working while she is doing school for her next career change. Once that takes off, I’ll probably be back to school for something else.
Haha, same here. Once I get a job, she’s going back to school.
Lesson to the people is, find somebody you like a lot, and marry them. Then you have a buddy for life to help you live your best one.
As hippocoder said, there’s no point even discussing this until you’ve tried. You might make a million, you might make nothing. I could say all sorts of things here but it would not be of any use to you until you have some idea of what you’re capable of.
this.
Ok I think we messed up somewhere along the line because I started this business with my wife and we both jumped in head first as indie developers. No wonder I never was able to afford that McLaren. Maybe with the next game.
It’s always the next game that promises the faster car.
Modern hyper cars are pretty tacky, get a old classic instead! Since you are american maybe a Ford GT40 1968?
I like what I like, and I like McLarens.
Anybody who drives slower than me is an old geezer, and anybody who drives faster is a maniac.
lol who the fuck drives anymore it’s 2018
Allowing machines to take control is a bad idea…
I don’t know the proper response to this question. I love driving and I love cars. Plus, not everyone can afford a personal teleporter. Unless they’re a really successful indie game developer, that is.
She’s just trolling.
You legit can’t tell the difference between a sarcastic joke and trolling?
you don’t see the similarities?