I tried and failed. My dream was to be an indie dev, but 1 year and I only made $14,000. Can't live off that.
I've been doing contract app dev on the side to pay the bills, but it's clear to me now the making games pipedream is just that.
I'm ready to commit to a real career. What should I do Sup Forums? Try to get hired at big companies? Or go to startups and get equity? Is silicon valley still the way to go or is it a dead end these days?
>but 1 year and I only made $14,000
That's not too bad actually. My friend calls himself an indie dev and in the last 3 years he's made a total of $2,000 off 4 different games. Still doesn't want to "give up".
Not in tech but having worked at big and small companies before I've always found small ones to be more stressful.
>send out CVs
>...????
>profit
Why not keep making indie games on the side while applying for a programming job?
Not bad. How many games did you make in that year?
that's not too bad for an indie dev. barely below poverty levels but still livable. $600 per month to rent a room in someones house with access to everything including laundry. $200 per month for gas and car insurance, $200 per month for food leaves you with $166 for misc stuff like the doctor and alcohol to numb the pain of being poor.
Because his "indie game" was probably just an rpgmaker piece of shit with tits in it.
People I graduated with are making at least 50k/year, at most 140k/year. 14k is not good.
It's actually a lot of work to finish and ship a game. I was working 60-80 hours a week. Art, promotion, paperwork, not to mention actual development.
1 Steam game, 2 few "free" mobile games which made some ad revenue but basically nothing.
Think about it OP. All you need to do is produce 4-8x the amount of games you produced in that year and you will be making a lot of money.
$15,000 * 8 = $120,000
So basically you'd be getting at least 6 figures. Your revenue would also probably be higher than that because the more games with your name on them, the more people will look into you and purchase other products. You could basically make $1,000,000 (one million dollars) over the next year if you just stick to it and octouble your work output.
Unity for all of my games. RPG Maker is for artists/newbies. I'm a programmer, so I wouldn't be effective with that.
Diminishing returns. A game will make its most in the first year. After that you can't expect the same income unless you're doing regular updates which will cut into dev time for other projects.
Just try it OP. You could make Billions of dollars if you get it right.
I made about 5k on various iOS apps and used the experience to get a nearly six figure job in Austin. Working for yourself is nice but if ya need to eat, go get hired. Employers fucking love deva who've made money on their own. Shows initiative.
Over what time period?
What kinds of apps?
Do you know if iOS apps generate greater revenue than other platforms?
Dude, thats not bad at all. Get a full time wagecuck job, and work on games on the side, keep advertising for that passive income. Did you use an engine to make it or rolled your own?
What game(s)?
I could make millions from the lottery, it doesn't mean it's a good idea.
I decided to give it 1 solid year. It didn't work. Maybe in the future, but I can't live off of 14k a year
Add trading cards if you haven't.
If it had been a few months ago you could have earned six figures making achievement and trading card games.
you should start a youtube career as a professional streamer
>Employers fucking love deva who've made money on their own. Shows initiative.
Yeah I've found this. I've had a few job offered from bullshitting with friends about the game I was developing. Shipping a game is hard, and anybody that has respects it.
>Get a full time wagecuck job
Then I wouldn't have sufficient time to make the games I want. I could do games part time, but them I'm going to make part time games.
Since I posted steam income I can't dox myself. Steam could remove my game. It's in the ToS.
> My dream was to be an indie dev
Found your problem.
You dont dream to be an indie dev. You dream to make games.
I have trading card, achievements, and my last big update will have limited mod support and steam workshop. I have a few very dedicated players and reasonable activity. Pic related.
The spikes are updates.
What genre is your game?
My dream is to make games, that's what being an indie dev is.
Post it, maybe I'll buy it you fag
This isn't a shill thread
shooter
can i get a key
>What should I do Sup Forums?
make iOS apps like me. I made ~ $85k from Jan - July of 2017 selling on the app store. If I can do it, anyone can (since I'm not a genius and not a 10x programmer).
Just shill you idiot, I'll buy it
>shooter
If you want to generate revenue you need to design your development strategy around that. Low-end shooters probably don't generate revenue. Clickers on iOS probably do though.
I'll buy your game user.
Figure a way of telling us the name without violating the ToS.
That's more than what I earn in a year you fuck.
Meant to reply to OP
>believing anybody on this site isn't a piece of shit
Guarantee there's going to be that one faggot trying to fuck with OP by immediately reporting him for violating the ToS.
It's not your fault it's steam. There's so much shit on the store good games barely make it. I've seriously considered going back to retail and brick and mortar stores.
I have unity experience as an artist but no c# experience (have coding experience but don't remember any of it).
If I wanted to do some bullshit like "make iOS apps" like you did, any reason to learn something other than c#? Would python be better to make a generic app?
Unity can build for iOS and has game templates on the asset store. I'm in a desperate state financially and would be looking for a quick turnaround, so this bullshit appeals to me. I am not above exploiting normies if I can.
>A year old
>Indie shooter
>Achievements and trading cards
I'm sure that's enough information to find out
bro get a job with feral and backport games to linux for us
get them to work with the VULKAN API which is compatible with mac/windows/android too
make tux proud bro
unity has a vulkan capability :D
How much are you selling your game for? From those numbers it's 2.60 a pop, I'm wondering how much steam has made from you. Have a game I've been working on for almost 3 years now, will be ready in the next 4 to 6 months and was thinking to price it at around 7.99. Worked on it around my full time job, put in 15 to 20 hours a week, at this point I'm just adding in content, the core game is finished and playable now.
Could you please give me any more information? Single player ? Co op? Online multiplayer
huh? I think you responded to the wrong post?
Link to repo.
>$14k
>For one years worth of work
I could probably take a picture of a poo and post it on kickstarter and generate more funding.
He probably wants to actually make some money on it, so I doubt it's open-sores.
What kind of apps do you make?
There's no repo, I've got a fair few completely unique features and I've been completely silent about the game itself online as I think it could be pretty big. Also as other user said it's not open source.
1. long tail
2. consider living in a lower cost country
How many hours/week did you invest on average?
You would live a very good life with that kind of money on the Balkans.
Nobody has a good life in the balkans, he'd just be a slightly better off depressed alcoholic than his neighbour.
>If I wanted to do some bullshit like "make iOS apps" like you did, any reason to learn something other than c#? Would python be better to make a generic app?
you should learn Swift. it's very similar to C#. apple has a free book on swift that takes your from someone who doesn't know what a for loop is all the way to intermediate. you can get an app into appstore that way.
>What kind of apps do you make?
lifestyle apps mostly. I have a fairly successful organization/GTD app that keeps on making me 60% of money. I also have two free games that make me the rest through IAPs and merch sales (t-shirts, mugs etc).
Post link to beta version.
Start ups = long hours, high stress, but you have a *small* chance of getting rich
Big companies = higher base salary, better hours, and you will likely have enough spare time to keep doing game development on the side
Also don't come to Silicon Valley, the cost of living here is astronomical. All the extra money you make here will go straight into your landlord's pocket. Consider Austin or Seattle. Neither place has state income tax.
What kind of shooter op? Does it have a story? What's the art work? When exactly will it have mod support?
Sometimes it takes more than a year op. Follow your passion, ignore money. Hit it bigger than ever.