I’d worked on a game for 6 months and released the trailer and the beta test for my solo developed game last month. I gained 4512 Steam wishlists in 30 days and $2500 from pre-orders on my site. I know you can’t eat wishlists and $2500 is way less than I’d make from a full time job, but its enough to make me go for it.
I was making a decent wage as a web developer and now I’ve gone all in. Even though I’ve carefully considered my finances and have the support of my friends and family and I even know I can quite easily get another web dev job after or maybe a job in games… Its still so scary! This game will take two years to finish and that’s a terrifying amount of time.
Anyone else been in this situation where you have a dream knocking on your door and you packed your bags and yolo’d?
The way I see it is even if I make literally no money from the game it will simply mean I’ll pay off the mortgage on my house 2 years later than otherwise, but at least I won’t be wondering “what if I’d put more effort into the game” down the line. Everyone has different priorities but to me that’s more important.
Personally, 2 years without profit is not something I’d be interested in when I’m working full time. Too many things can go wrong or change in that time. But the good news is there are plenty of ways to at least make some income on the side while you work mostly on your game.
I do think the idea of making a game after you come home from work is a bit of a fantasy. It’s been done for very small, minimal games, but it would draw out any decently sized project way too long for my taste. I’m not the kind of guy to potter away at something for years on end. IMO if you can’t spend 6-8 energetic hours working on your game per day you might as well spend your spare time learning how to make more money faster without having to work a 9-5. Time is precious.
My Youtube channel has been gaining traction, but I’m not monetising it yet as its purely for promoting the game and my Patreon is up to $600 which also isn’t exactly a livable wage but definitely offsets my costs of hiring artists. The main reason I felt compelled to quit was to keep the ball rolling with my discord/ beta test community and have more time for Youtube and promotion.
I’d been working on the game from 4 hours every evening including weekends solid for the last 6 months, but a couple months ago I took 4 weeks of holiday just to test whether I could actually work on it 9 hours a day, 6 days a week, so 54 hour weeks is fairly tough especially considering with normal jobs your day is broken up by writing emails, attending meetings, and chatting with work friends, but now I was working alone and writing code for 9 hours straight most days. But I managed it fine, the Pomodoro technique, gym and forcing myself to socialise instead of slumping into bed was a lifesaver. If I’d had trouble staying focused I definitely wouldn’t have yolo’d quite so hard.
I can only suggest that you don’t abandon your loved ones in this time.
Haha, I like to keep them guessing what I’ll do with my life.
I’m aware that there are times when you feel like you have to do this or that thing otherwise you’d regret, but from all the available routes you’ve chosen one that is unsafe, hence the response.
Normal approach would be to switch to part-time work, or have savings that will allow you to pay bills during the development period.
Normal approach would be to switch to part-time work, or have savings that will allow you to pay bills during the development period.
I’m not really disagreeing with you, it’s definitely not the “wisest” route to take, and I actually did ask my workplace if part time was an option which it wasn’t. But I have enough savings to last more than 5 years unemployed so the biggest question for me isn’t necessarily money but more about time invested and career progression paused. If I didn’t have a career to go back to, or didn’t have the savings to support myself the for the entire development time there’s no way I would have done this. I’ve also been making games obsessively for the last 5 years, this is just the first one to gain serious traction.
Why are you telling us this? What is driving you to post your reasons in front of strangers on the internet? You want validation for your impulsive decision? you won’t find it here.
If you read your own posts with an open heart and mind you’re just waiting for people to tell you that it’s a mistake so you can reply with your validations. Even your username is part of this.
Me, one game released (4+ years in development) second in production for 3+ years.
Of course I have bitten more than I can chew (but it is also because of unity - I did not know I would have to build so much stuff that should be already integrated in unity).
Right now I jumped on an production machine automation project since I’m so burnout, I just needed an escape.
Your only chance at success here is to immediately take this very seriously and draw up some really firm boundaries when you work, when you play, and so on. It’s really harder than you can imagine, and will often lead to broken relationships or even stresses in families.
That’s the reality of longer term indie development, no matter your age. Please don’t make light of such a big decision to throw away all guarantees and think so little of the process it’s just for boredom that you post.
Hippo has a very good point. I can tell you, as someone who has not worked a 9-5 for many years, you need to take things very seriously if you want to have consistent output.
Anyone can do something for a few weeks, but what will test you is when your ‘old life’ is so far behind you can hardly remember it, your money is dwindling, and for one reason or another you start to doubt what you are doing. When it’s very hard to go either backward or forward, that’s when you really know who you are.
Staying at home in pyjamas, sipping coffee and working away day and night sounds good when everything is fresh, but the truth is that any circumstances, whether they seem good or bad now, can feel like a nightmare when your head is not in the right place. And in two years many things can change.
If there’s one thing I would advise anyone to do if they quit their job is this: PLAN YOUR DESTINATION. The idea ‘I’ll just stop my career for a few years and just have some fun, if it pans out or not whatever’ does not cut it. You must have a clear vision of a point that you expect to reach that you could potentially stay at indefinitely and feel successful there - in terms of income, work/life balance, personal satisfaction and so on. In short you have to plan a lifestyle from top to bottom, and then live that lifestyle as closely as possible from the get-go.
Otherwise, you will end up with the fatalistic short-sightedness and the slow and steady degeneration of personal metrics and standards that people get when they take a bet that they cannot pull through with, and the only thing that brings them back to reality is when everything falls apart at some point, and then they make a reddit post from the underworld warning everyone not to do what they just did.
Not really… This weekend I have a recording session with a guy who used to have a studio in Nashville but has since moved back to his hometown (where I am). We’ve had a couple already and he’s made positive comments about my music (anyone who hears it does). I have big plans - I have ~3 albums written out, with specific plans for another and general ideas for two more.
But I’m not about to simply drop everything and follow this. I could - I have a lot of cash. But it’s banking too much on something unreliable. I’ll keep working my day job and release a single this summer, with plans for the first album next year. Hopefully get my first game in a state to put up a Steam page near the end of this year with a target date to work towards, and that should give me some experience and momentum to apply to my next game where the story I want to tell really begins.
Something something “fund your passion with your day job”…this seems familiar.
I think that’s great, congrats and good luck with your game.
I would say don’t worry too much about the doom and gloomers, dev jobs are plenty these days and if you stay sharp you can always get another “job” when you need it.
Much more likely to succeed if the effort is driven by logic rather than emotion or pumping oneself up since one can be deflated by life and changing circumstances, and usually will be.
I don’t want to be negative. I didn’t think any of my posts were, just … I’ve seen it all.
I only do this as a hobby and to be honest I already have way too many hobbies to begin with… But I admire those of you who can do it for a living. Good luck!