Just wondering for those people who have managed to make successful games or software such that it is selling at a steady rate that you can live off the proceeds.
Firstly, how did you feel once you saw that happening?
Secondly, what did you do next?
Does money bring happiness?
I watched Indie Game the Movie. And it looked like the moral of the story was, if you spend all your time making games locked in your basement and never talk to anyone. Once you’ve made it. You’ll have lots of money but not necessarily anyone to share it with.
i.e. What was missing from the movie was the big party at the end when they succeeded with all their hundreds of friends wishing them well. It actually seemed to make them quite depressed when they saw other people playing their games on YouTube!
For those who haven’t ‘made it’ quite yet. What do you plan to do if you get a mega successful game?
Make another game. Quite seriously, all of the big successes are straight into the next project.
You’ve got to be happy independent of money or accomplishments. Enjoy the journey and process. Don’t postpone being happy until you are done. Life is never done.
I agree with BoredMormon. The thought of finishing my game makes me so happy. But I can’t wait until I move on to my next project.
I plan to do another platformer, but in space, will require much less art, but has a lot of potential for pretty visuals. And I can use much of what I’ve learned from my current project (which is also a platformer). The very idea of this roadmap makes me very very happy.
It does come with spikes of anxiety, like I’m swimming on honey, not moving, but this feeling shrinks as I mature and realize that almost invariably most problems have a solution right around the corner, you just gotta avoid panicking and learn to debug and get better at reverse engineer your own stuff, lol. So as you learn a better workflow, you get stuck less… and when you do get stuck, you solve it faster.
Regarding the money… I don’t know, any economic improvement is welcome, I don’t think I’d have the blues for making money and feeling empty.
Maybe if I had the winning lottery syndrome, from acquiring too much money too fast, I’d realize human nature makes you take things for granted. Anything you can buy with money will make you happy for a bit until you adapt to it.
Sense of accomplishment will last much longer… not for ever, but hopefully until you finish your next project.
My income comes from the same skills applied in a different area, but I’ll answer anyway: relief.
The paychecks you earn can’t just cover the time when you’re getting them. They also need to cover the time you spent building up towards them, and the time between getting them and getting the next lot.
Which brings us on to…
Like BoredMormon says, the next project. Unless you get a stellar success that gives you a retirement fund in one fell swoop, you’d better start working on earning your next set of paydays in a reasonable amount of time. There might be a holiday or whatever in the middle, but if you’re making a job of it you need to treat it like a job.
I don’t think so. I mean, to a certain level it brings security and enables you to do stuff, which can certainly contribute to happiness and mitigate some stressful things like paying bills. But I think that mostly happiness comes from what you do and whether or not it aligns with your inner motivations, and having a fat bank account in and of itself doesn’t do that. Relatively poor people can be content, and loaded people can be the opposite.
Also, don’t forget that the relentless pursuit of a fat bank account can cost you elsewhere. Working too hard means spending less time with friends and family, less time relaxing, and ironically less time enjoying the wealth you’ve accumulated. Like BoredMormon says, don’t leave being happy until later.
If I should ever “make it big” from a game I’ve made, I will sit back and chill and relax with a cold can of coke. For 5 minutes. Then I’ll start on the next one. I don’t make games so I can make money, I make money so I can make games.
Well, make another game, duh! It is inconceivable for me to NOT do so, no matter how rich I’d get. Of course savings would let me take the time instead of scrambling to make it.
Look at someone like Edmund McMillen he hits a home-run every-time now. Edmund’s Wife: I want to get a pool for our yacht, Edmund: oh okay ill make another game.
Don’t you also enjoy your computer related pursuits, though? If not then why pursue this as a line of income in the first place, given that there are more reliable ways to do that with less effort?