People seem to be clamoring for more creative, indie-driven games that they can sink their teeth. We all know Minecraftand The Binding of Isaacbut how do you make money off of these great and creative titles? This is somewhat an anomaly in the gaming world, as Stardew Valley exploded, being ported to nearly every platform. The most recent release on iOS in Octoberand Androids at a later date. This should motivate game developers with a vision and a dream to bring an indie game to life and perhaps launch it on Steam to critical and commercial acclaim. Stardew may have sold 1. Not bad for a one-man project. The tricky part of this is making your indie title sustainable, scalable, and ever present like Stardew Valley is. And the many ports to other systems keeps it always relevant, always on the dashboard, literally and figuratively, of gamers every day. I stumbled upon the blog of game developer Cliffskiwho regularly posts tips, stories, and helpful advice for game developers. I made more than k from gratuitous space battles, from democracy 3, from gratuitous tank battles and from production line still in early access. But it can be. Luckily with the rise of game engines we no longer need to worry about porting games or building our own engines. Together you can create a work of art that can pull gamers in, connect with them, and help the game to become mainstream.
2. Know Your Game Development Community
Search Unity. Log in Create a Unity ID. Unity Forum. Forums Quick Links. Could I make a living being an Indie Game Dev? Joined: Jan 17, Posts: I’ll admit, I’ve been doing a lot of google searches lately about how much new indie game devs make, or the average, but for a different reason. I’m not trying to make thousands of dollars, although it’d be nice it’s not what I’m expecting. I’m not asking for numbers, as of right now I work at UPS, 3 days a week 5 hours a day. I’m not making very much money, I want to go to college to get a degree in Computer Science which UPS will pay for so I don’t have to worry about that, but I still have a lot of other things I have to pay for, and getting a second job as well as going to college would make things really difficult for starting my career as an indie game dev. I see a lot of people asking this question but for all the wrong reasons, I have a few questions to ask and I’ll list them below. I want to note, I know these questions can be difficult to answer as there isn’t a direct yes or no, depending on different things to take in to account it can be different for everyone, so statistically speaking: Could I make a living off being a new Indie game dev? I ask because if I can make a living, I could power through this tough time barely making enough and develop a game and not worry about having to get a second job, giving me more time to continuously work on this If I can make a living, even if it’s very small, where would I start? I mean like, would the best place to start be steam greenlight? Or what sources are out there to put a game out What would be the best way to go about making this a thing til the point I can make it a full time thing? Being able to quit my job at UPS and work on games full time, maybe this is pushing it, idk. That’s why I’m here asking and lastly, how long does it typically take an Indie Game Dev to start growing? I know this isn’t really apparent to my question «Can I make a living off being a new indie game dev» but it would help give an idea on how long I should expect so I can take necessary actions meanwhile to maintain financial stability. MrSanfrinsisco , Sep 28, Joined: Nov 12, Posts: 6, Do not bank on being a successful indie. The dropout rate among game devs in general, let alone indie devs is really high. Keep working, go to school, work in dev time when you can but don’t overexert yourself. Maybe take part in game jams when possible.
Stardew Valley- a Million Dollar Game
At the time of writing, a quick check of stats on steamspy for player unknown:battlegrounds reveals this chart:. So the average income per employee there is a million dollars. Include sequels, potential DLC, merchandise and so on, and you can probably round it up to 25 million. But the problem is, the chances of Joe Indie game developer achieving this are close enough to zero as makes no difference. Taking the mid point, and looking at the top game I wont pick on it publicly, so lets not name it.
Cliffski and Solo Game Developing
Most people who have played video games have thought, «hey, I could do. But what does it take to be an indie dev? In elementary school you’re taught to «Reach for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. Making games isn’t easy. Even if you’re a genius coder, chances are high you’re not going to be able to sit down and make a science based dragon MMO. Chances are honestly rather high that you’ll never make a MMO — it’s about scale. Say you have an idea. It’s a great elevator pitch both of those games are incredible but, and this is especially true for your first game, that is way, way too high of a goal.
For one, consider studio size. Team Ico? One of the main things that people interested in game development do is underestimate how long games actually take to make. Granted, that’s a protracted development cycle, but it’s necessary to point out as an example.
A project, especially a first time project, can get way outside of your means really quickly. What I mean by «aim low» is to set realistic goals. Figure out how to make a one room platform game. Set release for something like Kongregate. Yes, these goals are boring and non-money making. But if you’re like a lot of the indie devs I know, then this isn’t your day job.
You can love making games, you can make your own fighting game engine, but chances are you’re still a code monkey. In order to reach any measure of personal success, you’ve got to set reasonable goals or else you’ll burn yourself.
Communication is probably one of the primary skill-sets you’ll need to foster to work in the indie world.
If you don’t like working with people, you should probably look at finding another job. Even supposed one-man operations like Polytron Fez or Jonathan Blow Braid hired out or employed more people than you would think. But your game development community doesn’t just include the people working on your project. I hail from a small-ish midwestern city, Lexington, KY for those taking notes and there are a slew of independent developers.
And through a local organization called Run Jump DevI’m able to interact with them multiple times a week. If you can’t find any local developers, then there are so many online communities to take part in.
Reddit, the so-called «front page of the internet,» has many resources for indie developers to take advantage of. Take part in jams. These are not only a great way to test your time management skills, but also a great way to interact with other developers on Twitter and through the jam forums. My last jam I made a really basic card game because I wanted to work with card game mechanics, and I had some really great online interactions about how to make the mechanics function better.
Interact with non-AAA developers at cons. I’ve learned more from Frogdice about running a successful Kickstarter than I’ll probably ever need to know, and I learned that from talking with them about it. If you’ve actually got a degree in the topic, even more so. But there are some fantastic free tools out there for small-time indies like us to use. Another trick is if you happen to be going to college or university right now, you can look at getting discounted versions of certain softwares.
I commonly use Photoshop, and through my university, I can get it at a discounted price. One of my favorite, underrated free tools is Twine. Twine is a system that can help you plan out multiple choice gaming options, especially if you’re planning something like a dating sim or a text-adventure. Personally, I love to actually make games in Twine. In fact, Twine-games are going to be featured at this years Indiecade through developer Porpentine. They’re a super easy, low barrier to entry game type that allows those who don’t code to participate in game-creation.
As an indie developer, you don’t have access to the finances that major AAA studios. This is where the community you build comes in handy. A great example of this is my boyfriend. A small time developer with a game hopefully coming soon to the OUYA, one of the best assets he’s managed to utilize in the last few years has been the game development community.
One of the developers we’ve interacted with a lot has been Tim. Your community is a fantastic asset for building word of mouth.
Learning to make Facebook and other forms of social media work for you is equally important, and definitely doable. Post regularly on your indie dev blog — make sure people know that things are happening.
You are your best ally in getting your game played. Be that guy who tells all of his friends about your game. A local developer I know carried around free-to-play codes in his wallet to pass out to interested parties while promoting his Kickstarter. Become a broken record about your game, but do it politely.
No one is going to sell your game as hard as you. The hardest part to game development is taking that plunge. It’s one of the reason I highly suggest jams for your first game. There’s room for failure. You’re never going to make the game you’ve dreamed of until you’ve taken that first step. I’m not saying to quit your day job and jump into the deep end, just that if you don’t get started Hopefully this has provided some insight into being an indie developer! Good luck, and comment below if I missed something important or if your experience says I’m totally wrong on.
Amanda Wallace Former Staff Editor. Twitter Facebook. Tags frogdice devs indie developers team meat. Published Sep. Rothalack September 26,pm. Awesome article! I really enjoyed that video.
It’s amazing how many thing you need to consider when making games. I knew it was a lot but that video brought up many sides of it that I didn’t consider. Big Chief 1 September 25,pm. I’ve always wanted to create an Indie Platformer. I’ll start following these steps and others. Thanks for the helpful post. Mat Westhorpe September 25,pm.
Thanks for the shoutout Emmeline. Oh. I set myself the goal of creating a finished body of work in Twine and I was happy with the result. It was a really enjoyable creative experience and I’m now dabbling with GameMaker Studio for my second game attempt. There is some great advice here I should probably take heed of. Thanks for the article.
1. Aim Low
By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Cookie PolicyPrivacy Policyand our Terms of Service. How exactly do they make money their money? Do they go by a paid-per-copy system, or some other form of compensation? Edit: To clarify, I just saw «Indie Game — The Movie» and was wondering how developers like Team Meat get compensated for every copy of the game they sell. In-App purchases : Mainly mobile apps, in app purchases can be character upgrades, xp bonuses. Dontations : Releasing their game for free, and asking for donations. Dwarf fortress does. Subscriptions : Recurring fees to play their game, typically in an online setting. Their day job : Many indie developers don’t make money from their games. They have to work a real job to get paid. The world of in-app purchases is huge.
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