5 ms·

For all developers who are curious about the solo gamedev lifestyle business, I’m sure there are many, what are the basic economics that can make it work? (Othe

For all developers who are curious about the solo gamedev lifestyle business, I’m sure there are many, what are the basic economics that can make it work? (Other than money saved at MAANG.)

quaintdev 4y ago
The fact that this is on front page with just 1 comment indicates there are not many solo game developers
- rafael09ed 4y ago
  On hacker news
- opyate 4y ago
  Perhaps folks aren't putting their hands up, because they're not all full time, and don't necessarily want to join a community on Discord.
  - drusepth 4y ago
    Especially one with such a high time/mental commitment, as there isn't a lot of that left to spare when you're a solo game dev.
YesBox 4y ago
You need money saved (for yourself and for contractors), and publishers wont be interested in you until you are well into development (unless you have previous experience releasing something). So you're on your own until you can catch the attention of a publisher, assuming you want to work with one. I didnt start receiving publishing offers until 13 months after I started development (and notably, when I started adding serious art to the game).
gabereiser 4y ago
You need a savings. Probably 3x what you think you’ll need. You’ll need a solid plan. Not just a “this would be a cool game”. You need to be open about the development (not open source, but posting blogs etc). You also need to work with marketing and publishers to get your game(s) out there. You need to think about support and community from day 1. In the end, the game is its own thing. It better be fun. It better be enjoyable. Otherwise all the above doesn’t matter.
Cthulhu_ 4y ago
Another route is to work on a prototype and designs in your spare time and set up a Kickstarter to raise funds and gauge interest (and try out game development of course without quitting your day job), but as the others said, you'll probably need a lot more cash than you think you do.
- tokinonagare 4y ago
  This is the route I'm taking, yet I read for a KickStarter to be successful you need the community first: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/why-your-kickstarter-will-fail https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/why-your-kickstarter-...
dananabread 4y ago
I'm also interested in this. Currently trying get a small project off the ground while working full time at a large company. The goal is to get enough momentum on a project to find a good jumping off point. The project is a multiplayer adaptation of frogger, where players are competing be the last man standing dashing across roads and rivers. The USP is allowing players to push each other around, this really adds to the competition (you can push people in front of cars, off of logs etc) The target audience is "skibble.io users" so bored students / employees looking for something to do over zoom. So I'm building it out as a webpage with no login and as quick as possible time to game. I have some info here https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=72732.0 https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=72732.0 And there is an old local-only prototype here https://danslocom.be/gamepages/crossy.html https://danslocom.be/gamepages/crossy.html
dgb23 4y ago
From what I've gathered from listening to and reading from a couple of very successful (at least originally) indie devs that worked alone or in small teams for quite a while: They all had a day job. Sometimes game dev related, sometimes not so much. But they all sacrificed a large portion of their free time at least until they started to generate enough money to survive on game dev alone.
quadcore 4y ago
what are the basic economics that can make it work? Ah i was coming here to warn you about that. Ill brace for downvotes but if i can light a candle for just one person, that would be fantastic. A big misconception about the economy of games is that they are content - economically-wise. An example of content is music or movies, think spotify or netflix. This is absolutely not the case. Economically, games work like software: a handful of games are played for years and represents 98% of the playtime / money. Treat games like a startup: what will make your game still be played 10 years from now? Dont think "im gonna do one game and then another". Think "ill make one game". You wouldnt think "ill make a startup and then another and then another" even though you could its not really how youd think about this stuff right. Do the same with games. One game. One startup. One product. Played for years on end. Diverge from that strategy and chances are you wont have a good life as a game developer like millions before you. That being said, lets say you want to make a "content game", that is, a clone (your 2d platformer with a nice plot and rpg elements). Nothing wrong with that but just understand that on the long run it wont be sustainable economically, even if you take a lucky jump.
- badpun 4y ago
  On the other hand, there's a lot of people wealthy enough to buy games on a whim, try them out for an hour or two, and then never launch them again (and don't refund). So, maybe that helps the situation somewhat? Otherwise, I agree - no one I know is a serial gamer. We all have our favourites which we've been playing for 10+ years. The best game studios can make in such situation is make a game with in-app purchases, or sell a newer, better version every so often.
  - ajkjk 4y ago
    I think the games people are buying on a whim, though, are the games with 10-year staying power that they haven't gotten to yet -- not throwaway projects that aren't good enough to care about.
    - izacus 4y ago
      That is absolutely not how the market behaves. None of the big (or small) moneymakers in last few years came close to "10 years" of popularity and probably won't. Where do you get this stuff?

For all developers who are curious about the solo gamedev lifestyle business, I’m sure there are many, what are the basic economics that can make it work? (Other than money saved at MAANG.)

quaintdev 4y ago

The fact that this is on front page with just 1 comment indicates there are not many solo game developers

rafael09ed 4y ago
On hacker news
opyate 4y ago
Perhaps folks aren't putting their hands up, because they're not all full time, and don't necessarily want to join a community on Discord.
- drusepth 4y ago
  Especially one with such a high time/mental commitment, as there isn't a lot of that left to spare when you're a solo game dev.

YesBox 4y ago

You need money saved (for yourself and for contractors), and publishers wont be interested in you until you are well into development (unless you have previous experience releasing something). So you're on your own until you can catch the attention of a publisher, assuming you want to work with one. I didnt start receiving publishing offers until 13 months after I started development (and notably, when I started adding serious art to the game).

gabereiser 4y ago

You need a savings. Probably 3x what you think you’ll need. You’ll need a solid plan. Not just a “this would be a cool game”. You need to be open about the development (not open source, but posting blogs etc). You also need to work with marketing and publishers to get your game(s) out there. You need to think about support and community from day 1. In the end, the game is its own thing. It better be fun. It better be enjoyable. Otherwise all the above doesn’t matter.

Cthulhu_ 4y ago

Another route is to work on a prototype and designs in your spare time and set up a Kickstarter to raise funds and gauge interest (and try out game development of course without quitting your day job), but as the others said, you'll probably need a lot more cash than you think you do.

tokinonagare 4y ago
This is the route I'm taking, yet I read for a KickStarter to be successful you need the community first: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/why-your-kickstarter-will-fail https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/why-your-kickstarter-...

dananabread 4y ago

I'm also interested in this. Currently trying get a small project off the ground while working full time at a large company. The goal is to get enough momentum on a project to find a good jumping off point. The project is a multiplayer adaptation of frogger, where players are competing be the last man standing dashing across roads and rivers. The USP is allowing players to push each other around, this really adds to the competition (you can push people in front of cars, off of logs etc) The target audience is "skibble.io users" so bored students / employees looking for something to do over zoom. So I'm building it out as a webpage with no login and as quick as possible time to game. I have some info here https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=72732.0 https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=72732.0 And there is an old local-only prototype here https://danslocom.be/gamepages/crossy.html https://danslocom.be/gamepages/crossy.html

dgb23 4y ago

From what I've gathered from listening to and reading from a couple of very successful (at least originally) indie devs that worked alone or in small teams for quite a while: They all had a day job. Sometimes game dev related, sometimes not so much. But they all sacrificed a large portion of their free time at least until they started to generate enough money to survive on game dev alone.

quadcore 4y ago

what are the basic economics that can make it work? Ah i was coming here to warn you about that. Ill brace for downvotes but if i can light a candle for just one person, that would be fantastic. A big misconception about the economy of games is that they are content - economically-wise. An example of content is music or movies, think spotify or netflix. This is absolutely not the case. Economically, games work like software: a handful of games are played for years and represents 98% of the playtime / money. Treat games like a startup: what will make your game still be played 10 years from now? Dont think "im gonna do one game and then another". Think "ill make one game". You wouldnt think "ill make a startup and then another and then another" even though you could its not really how youd think about this stuff right. Do the same with games. One game. One startup. One product. Played for years on end. Diverge from that strategy and chances are you wont have a good life as a game developer like millions before you. That being said, lets say you want to make a "content game", that is, a clone (your 2d platformer with a nice plot and rpg elements). Nothing wrong with that but just understand that on the long run it wont be sustainable economically, even if you take a lucky jump.

badpun 4y ago
On the other hand, there's a lot of people wealthy enough to buy games on a whim, try them out for an hour or two, and then never launch them again (and don't refund). So, maybe that helps the situation somewhat? Otherwise, I agree - no one I know is a serial gamer. We all have our favourites which we've been playing for 10+ years. The best game studios can make in such situation is make a game with in-app purchases, or sell a newer, better version every so often.
- ajkjk 4y ago
  I think the games people are buying on a whim, though, are the games with 10-year staying power that they haven't gotten to yet -- not throwaway projects that aren't good enough to care about.
  - izacus 4y ago
    That is absolutely not how the market behaves. None of the big (or small) moneymakers in last few years came close to "10 years" of popularity and probably won't. Where do you get this stuff?