3 ms·

I want to make games, but even some years ago I realized it was not a great path for a multitude of reason (many of which are in this article). My path, and wh

I want to make games, but even some years ago I realized it was not a great path for a multitude of reason (many of which are in this article). My path, and what I recommend, is do something hard and important which pays the bills at a premium. I did infrastructure work, and I was lucky to have a great decade long career allowing me to "retire early". Now, I can work on a game at my pace building the tools that I see fit. I'm focused on board games because they have a timeless quality about them. I'm developing an entire SaaS platform and programming language to make the network goo beyond easy. http://www.adama-lang.org/ http://www.adama-lang.org/ As I'm getting close to some kind of launch for the SaaS, my next thing is to build up my own web based IDE with a release-often ideology such that I can build a Roblox for online 2D board games. Honestly, I'm having a blast because I'm not suffering tools which are going to fade.

uejfiweun 5y ago
I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. Would love to become some kind of indie game developer after leaving FAANG, but no interest in getting worked to death at a big studio. For my understanding, what level of net worth did you reach before pulling the trigger on early retirement? I can't imagine that the indie game dev route can generate income comparable to big tech, except in very rare cases.
- ativzzz 5y ago
  The level is different for everyone, but a really simple model is to spend no more than 4% of your investments every year, so it depends on how much you spend. https://old.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/ https://old.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/ is a reddit community that goes in depth about this
- mathgladiator 5y ago
  I don't imagine I'll ever make as much as I made within big tech, but I use the 2.5% rule (instead of the 4% rule), and I moved back to the Midwest where things are much cheaper.
bckr 5y ago
Uh, can I get some of that board game network goo SaaS?
- mathgladiator 5y ago
  Soon, soon; shoot me an email: hn at mathgladiator dot com I'm going to be building the production cluster soon

uejfiweun 5y ago

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. Would love to become some kind of indie game developer after leaving FAANG, but no interest in getting worked to death at a big studio. For my understanding, what level of net worth did you reach before pulling the trigger on early retirement? I can't imagine that the indie game dev route can generate income comparable to big tech, except in very rare cases.

ativzzz 5y ago
The level is different for everyone, but a really simple model is to spend no more than 4% of your investments every year, so it depends on how much you spend. https://old.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/ https://old.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/ is a reddit community that goes in depth about this
mathgladiator 5y ago
I don't imagine I'll ever make as much as I made within big tech, but I use the 2.5% rule (instead of the 4% rule), and I moved back to the Midwest where things are much cheaper.

bckr 5y ago

Uh, can I get some of that board game network goo SaaS?

mathgladiator 5y ago
Soon, soon; shoot me an email: hn at mathgladiator dot com I'm going to be building the production cluster soon