Hi everyone,
I’m a beginner game developer, self-studying Unity and C# for just under a year. I focus on mobile platforms and have published a few games on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=ppv_games.
I enjoy indie development because it allows me to bring my own ideas to life (e.g., I’ve made a police simulator and a coffee shop management game). However, I sometimes wonder if aiming for a corporate role might be a better path for growth.
One of my challenges is that my English is still a work in progress, but I’m learning and improving it step by step. I also plan to start studying Chinese soon.
For those with experience in both indie and corporate environments: what do you think? Should I keep pursuing indie development, or is it worth exploring the corporate world?
Looking forward to your thoughts!
My take: just go off of what you want to do. And accept that if you just want to make things, you’re not going to be a solo Indie dev and need a team or need to get hired. Otherwise you gotta work with the market and learn sales/marketing
It’s mostly about how you present yourself.
Myself I run my own Indie XR studio, as I am good with both development and entrepreneurship. For art I hire freelance artists.
hi, I am David, a student that really into game developing right now i am thinking of starting a new game and i will be more then happy to help in any way or even create something new together or on some project you are working on right now in any way i can right now i am trying to make my developer skill better by collabing with someone even if it is just a little. So if u wanna collab i would be happy to
This is an extremely tricky and difficult question that I think most professional devs never stop asking themselves. In the end it’s really up to you, and it isn’t an easy choice at all.
Corporate roles: Layoffs are more common and hit you harder. DEI nonsense that may or may not be a monumental barrier. Way way harder to get a position in general, because it pays better and competition is way more fierce. Positions are much more specialized where you’re wearing fewer hats, which you may prefer or not prefer.
Indie: Incalculably more artistic integrity as a whole. The games made tend to be more specific, so while they’re easier to break into, you have to really mesh with a studio a lot better in terms of artistic vision. Pay is much lower. Studios are more flexible with scheduling and remote work. A release failing to recoup investment is far more likely to leave you unemployed.
In the end, solo dev is hilariously unrealistic, and you need whatever work you can get. So likely you’ll need to pursue Indie for now, because at a corporate level, they won’t consider you until you have a ridiculous portfolio. So realistically at least you have tons of time to figure this out.