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Afloof.dev4 years ago(+5)

As mentioned above, there are ways to monetise a project.

However, if you want to start earning money, from doing indie projects, you’d have to spend a lot of time working on them and building reputation. It’s easier for users to buy a game from someone that has made awesome games in the past, than from someone who just released their first one.

Most indie devs makes games out of passion, and that lets them keep making games, even if they make zero profit. Are you willing to accept that your first few projects might not generate any profit at all?

If you really want to make a living out of Game Development, the best option is to work in a team/company that makes games, and have a stable salary, until you build enough experience to do it on your own.

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Xcrypt4 years ago (4 edits)

I suppose I will have to accept that.
Other than giving it time, implementing the features, and making good games: what are some specific things I can do to start (as indie)?

I could do some freelancing if the job and pay is right, but I don't want to work fulltime for a company. The goal is to be independent/entrepreneur. I am most into programming but I have understanding of game dev as a whole.

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Afloof.dev4 years ago(+3)

Freelancing is a good option, unfortunately I don’t have a lot of experience on it, so I don’t know how easy or stable it is.

Big games, that have bigger budgets, usually have full-time people working on them, as it makes things easy. From my experience I’ve seen freelancers being hired for smaller projects only.

I’m doing indie work myself, working full time for a company. The best advice I could give to succeed as an indie, is keep making games, and do your games to make sure your newest project is better than your previous one. When I say “Better”, I don’t mean financially, or amount of downloads. “Better” can be, using new technologies, or experimenting with a new idea.

The first step to take as an indie, is to finish and publish a game, regardless how good it is. The second step is to make a better game.

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Xcrypt4 years ago (1 edit)

Well I've done step one twice now. But these kind of publishments on itch and kongregate get maybe 100 plays each. There has to be a better way?
I worry that, even if I made a bigger/better game, I won't get that much more plays/income?

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Afloof.dev4 years ago(+2)

Sounds like you are on the right path. Keep in mind you are competing with plenty of game devs world-wide. Since you’ve made a few games already, when working on your next project, try to make something that will stand out from the rest of the games.

I took a look at your games. They look good as a first-time project, but not something that people will spend a long time on. You can explore options like monetising with ads, but I’d suggest you strongly focus on the game itself, to learn the right techniques and make games that are more engaging.

I know its hard to judge something you made yourself, I’d say try to find friends/relatives, that are not afraid to be honest, give them your projects, and ask them for feedback.

My advice would be, keep making games. Try to make different games, to explore different genres and ways of making them.

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Xcrypt4 years ago (4 edits)

Should I look into getting professional help starting up my company (one man thing for now)?

I'll have a bigger game in a month from now. Making it succeed financially in this period will be highly unlikely, but it might be enough to show some of my abilities to people. I decided to make the shift to Unity and C# recently, but I do have two years of experience making game-related things in C++

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Afloof.dev4 years ago(+5)

Depending on your country, you can start your company even now. I don’t think that’s the hard part. The hard part is making a product users would like to pay for.

Unless I see the game, I can’t comment on if it will generate any money or not. Not sure if you have any budget available for other people, if you do I’d strongly suggest contacting an artist to help with the graphics.

Apart from that, I’d say keep making games, and either add ads or sell the games for a price. Then move to the next game, and let the first game generate money. Over time you will get a better grip of how to find the perfect balance of having fun making games, and earning enough money. All successful programmers that I know have made plenty of failed projects before they made a good one.

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Xcrypt4 years ago

Alright thanks!

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