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Thanks for this article, I really needed this! Jeff Vogel was a great inspiration to me, but somehow I'd forgotten about him. I turned 39 today. I have two kid

Thanks for this article, I really needed this! Jeff Vogel was a great inspiration to me, but somehow I'd forgotten about him. I turned 39 today. I have two kids, a mortgage, and luckily a tolerant wife with a good job. I started working on my own indie games in May 2014. Before that I was making 6 figures. This year I'm going to struggle to make 40k. If you count business expenses, that's closer to 20k. I'm in the trough right now.

tarr11 12y ago
Post a link. I'm looking for a new indie game right now...
- JabavuAdams 12y ago
  I'll be demo'ing a new version of Neon Jack at the Game Developer's Conference (GDC) in a week and a half. Currently, the best place for new info is the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NeonJackGame https://www.facebook.com/NeonJackGame You can get an old build of the game off my website (http://www.shinyfish.com/neonjack/ http://www.shinyfish.com/neonjack/), but frankly it's a bit crap. I'd wait for the GDC build.
  - Gbits 12y ago
    Jabavu, put me on your contact list. I wrote this story on Jeff; VentureBeat cares about indie games, and I'd be glad to take a look at yours. I can never make any promises - everything has to compete for limited bandwidth - but I'm always glad to look over something new (and preferably good). Contact info here: http://venturebeat.com/author/heather-newman http://venturebeat.com/author/heather-newman
    - JabavuAdams 12y ago
      Thanks! I followed you on Twitter, but the email address (domain) linked to from your VB profile page seems to be to a place holder site. Is it valid?
      - Gbits 12y ago
        Yep, because all I use it for is email (I have a day job, so I'm lazy about updating the brochureware.) Thanks!
- corysama 12y ago
  For anyone looking for an indie game to play, but doesn't know where to look: Here's a place to look https://itch.io/ https://itch.io/
  - Immortalin 12y ago
    I am also creating something similar, probably going to do a show HN soon!
Tloewald 12y ago
Good luck! I released an indie game in 1994. Three of us worked on it and two of us had high pressure jobs by the time it shipped (we'd worked on the bulk of the game in easier times). For its time, the game was pretty successful but it didn't make us very much money and so we went on to more lucrative pastures. It's very tough just to get noticed -- and it's far harder now. We were in Australia at the time, the web pretty much didn't exist (we released initially as shareware, later as "commercial", although the shareware release made us more money).
percept 12y ago
It sounds like you're well on your way--good luck! (It must be harder to go from 0-40k than from 40-100k+.)
ivanca 12y ago
Hi there Javabu, I'm starting a similar path, I have not released anything but I know a lot of Unity and Unreal programming by now. I'm interested in working together with people with greater programming experience than me and you sure are one of them, so if you can get in touch that would be great (ivanca => gmail) One of things I can offer is access to great 3d/2d artists cheaper than those in the US, I could even cover the 100% of their costs if we agree something out that benefits us all.
- eropple 12y ago
  I noodle around with indie game development on the side, and one thing that's remarkably hard to find are good, reliable artists. I've had them drop off the face of the earth before even getting paid! (Which is to say, if anybody happens to be or know art folks looking for a little bit of work, get in touch? Email's in my profile.)
Immortalin 12y ago
I really feel that this is a good time to advertise the website I am creating. Basically, it's an indie appstore for indie developers who feel that they are not getting enough exposure on other platforms and wish to go one step further. Contact me at <myusername> at outlook.com if you are interested. I will probably do a show HN soon. Links in my profile!

tarr11 12y ago

Post a link. I'm looking for a new indie game right now...

JabavuAdams 12y ago
I'll be demo'ing a new version of Neon Jack at the Game Developer's Conference (GDC) in a week and a half. Currently, the best place for new info is the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NeonJackGame https://www.facebook.com/NeonJackGame You can get an old build of the game off my website (http://www.shinyfish.com/neonjack/ http://www.shinyfish.com/neonjack/), but frankly it's a bit crap. I'd wait for the GDC build.
- Gbits 12y ago
  Jabavu, put me on your contact list. I wrote this story on Jeff; VentureBeat cares about indie games, and I'd be glad to take a look at yours. I can never make any promises - everything has to compete for limited bandwidth - but I'm always glad to look over something new (and preferably good). Contact info here: http://venturebeat.com/author/heather-newman http://venturebeat.com/author/heather-newman
  - JabavuAdams 12y ago
    Thanks! I followed you on Twitter, but the email address (domain) linked to from your VB profile page seems to be to a place holder site. Is it valid?
    - Gbits 12y ago
      Yep, because all I use it for is email (I have a day job, so I'm lazy about updating the brochureware.) Thanks!
corysama 12y ago
For anyone looking for an indie game to play, but doesn't know where to look: Here's a place to look https://itch.io/ https://itch.io/
- Immortalin 12y ago
  I am also creating something similar, probably going to do a show HN soon!

Tloewald 12y ago

Good luck! I released an indie game in 1994. Three of us worked on it and two of us had high pressure jobs by the time it shipped (we'd worked on the bulk of the game in easier times). For its time, the game was pretty successful but it didn't make us very much money and so we went on to more lucrative pastures. It's very tough just to get noticed -- and it's far harder now. We were in Australia at the time, the web pretty much didn't exist (we released initially as shareware, later as "commercial", although the shareware release made us more money).

percept 12y ago

It sounds like you're well on your way--good luck! (It must be harder to go from 0-40k than from 40-100k+.)

ivanca 12y ago

Hi there Javabu, I'm starting a similar path, I have not released anything but I know a lot of Unity and Unreal programming by now. I'm interested in working together with people with greater programming experience than me and you sure are one of them, so if you can get in touch that would be great (ivanca => gmail) One of things I can offer is access to great 3d/2d artists cheaper than those in the US, I could even cover the 100% of their costs if we agree something out that benefits us all.

eropple 12y ago
I noodle around with indie game development on the side, and one thing that's remarkably hard to find are good, reliable artists. I've had them drop off the face of the earth before even getting paid! (Which is to say, if anybody happens to be or know art folks looking for a little bit of work, get in touch? Email's in my profile.)

Immortalin 12y ago

I really feel that this is a good time to advertise the website I am creating. Basically, it's an indie appstore for indie developers who feel that they are not getting enough exposure on other platforms and wish to go one step further. Contact me at <myusername> at outlook.com if you are interested. I will probably do a show HN soon. Links in my profile!