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> So the competition is intense, and you can never ever match your superiors on price, ie free. That makes for tough business, friend. > [...] Consider me. I'm

> So the competition is intense, and you can never ever match your superiors on price, ie free. That makes for tough business, friend. > [...] Consider me. I'm an OK programmer. I'm not good at art and visual stuff, and I haven't been since I was a kid. > But I can write well. I make good settings and stories, my spelling and grammar are ok, I make addicting game systems, and my systems and stories blend really well. THAT is the product I sell. So, basically, that's the secret to making it in the indie gamedev business?: Finding the small, $10,000 a year of income slot that you were meant to be in? And carefully doing nothing but that, like a robotic drone, destined to do one thing and that one thing really well (as far as your internal programming is concerned and well made)?

zemvpferreira 3y ago
You're describing an artisan/craftsperson. They are professions of slight artistic variation inside a manual product frame, supported by customers who want/need to buy from small producers. My mom is a ceramist, and she would much rather make 100 identical (to me) teacups than one ambitious sculpture. The sculpture might even eventually pay more. I don't get it either, but some people enjoy this path.
- makerdiety 3y ago
  Your mother enjoys stability. That's what this path is. It's stable and predictable. After all, trying to reach for a million dollars is much more unstable than the one thousand dollars you know you can more easily obtain. So, this means that indie game devs and other craftsmen are the opposite of research and development types. Craftsmen are exactly like technicians or nurses who have two year Associate's degrees. The people who do research and development are the real entrepreneurs and four year Bachelor's degree holders equivalents. They're more expensive to start up and maintain too. So, they could use bigger funding for their research labs which enable them to conduct risky and unproven experiments. A traditional startup is nothing more than an open world scientific lab with which to test and validate some macro-economic and business hypotheses. It all boils down to steady and simple paycheck versus risky yet potentially very rewarding research, development, experimentation, and study that has an analogue in decade long secondary and post-secondary education.
  - zemvpferreira 3y ago
    To a point. The thing about craftspeople in modern times is that they are mostly fungible/replaceable by other goods. I buy artisan bread most weeks, but if I don't feel like it I can get decent bread from any supermarket these days. It seems stable, but compared to salaried career? You're always hustling for very little money. My mom is independently wealthy, which helps support the teacup-making.
Lalabadie 3y ago
In comparison to the diverse, fulfilling job of being underpaid developer #5003 at a given position at Ubisoft? What you reductively see as robotic and repetitive can be a source of meaning, depth and passion to someone else.
blargey 3y ago
Calling someone a "robotic drone" for working in a specific genre and having a budget is such a bizarre notion.
- makerdiety 3y ago
  Following a simple instruction set to reach an objective function isn't robotic and drone-like?

zemvpferreira 3y ago

You're describing an artisan/craftsperson. They are professions of slight artistic variation inside a manual product frame, supported by customers who want/need to buy from small producers. My mom is a ceramist, and she would much rather make 100 identical (to me) teacups than one ambitious sculpture. The sculpture might even eventually pay more. I don't get it either, but some people enjoy this path.

makerdiety 3y ago
Your mother enjoys stability. That's what this path is. It's stable and predictable. After all, trying to reach for a million dollars is much more unstable than the one thousand dollars you know you can more easily obtain. So, this means that indie game devs and other craftsmen are the opposite of research and development types. Craftsmen are exactly like technicians or nurses who have two year Associate's degrees. The people who do research and development are the real entrepreneurs and four year Bachelor's degree holders equivalents. They're more expensive to start up and maintain too. So, they could use bigger funding for their research labs which enable them to conduct risky and unproven experiments. A traditional startup is nothing more than an open world scientific lab with which to test and validate some macro-economic and business hypotheses. It all boils down to steady and simple paycheck versus risky yet potentially very rewarding research, development, experimentation, and study that has an analogue in decade long secondary and post-secondary education.
- zemvpferreira 3y ago
  To a point. The thing about craftspeople in modern times is that they are mostly fungible/replaceable by other goods. I buy artisan bread most weeks, but if I don't feel like it I can get decent bread from any supermarket these days. It seems stable, but compared to salaried career? You're always hustling for very little money. My mom is independently wealthy, which helps support the teacup-making.

Lalabadie 3y ago

In comparison to the diverse, fulfilling job of being underpaid developer #5003 at a given position at Ubisoft? What you reductively see as robotic and repetitive can be a source of meaning, depth and passion to someone else.

blargey 3y ago

Calling someone a "robotic drone" for working in a specific genre and having a budget is such a bizarre notion.

makerdiety 3y ago
Following a simple instruction set to reach an objective function isn't robotic and drone-like?