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[Sik]

(or what the fuck, you can gamedev as a hobby on unemployment if you live in a cool socialist country for cool people)

Or if you happen to live with somebody else who is employed (which gives you some leeway).

[oodavid]

Kickstarter projects seem like a really inefficient and stressful way to fund projects - the majority of them would get better returns working a normal job, saving up and burning the midnight oil to ship their products.

But even before indie there was a saying I was told in gaming, that was a kind of sturgeon's law:
90% of game idea never get made
90% of idea made are never finished
90% of finished project don't get to market
90% of marketed project don't get a return that cover cost
90% of project that have a return are not hit

...snip...

That was before the digital era, I'm sure it's still true. Making games is teh hardest, also survivor bias is strong in game dev.

This is impossibly rife when you consider peoples opinions of success in any industry, everyone should carry a bag of salt and apply it generously to their reading material. Meekness is underrated; I work for a company that is dull as anything (Asbestos contractors), but we're industry leaders in the UK and a global up-and-comer - our competitors all drive flashy cars, do fancy press releases and congratulate each other on how fabulous they are, they're losing money hand over fist, but daaang they look good while they're doing it! A waste of resources that only serves to present an incorrect image of success.

[ANtY]

But even before indie there was a saying I was told in gaming, that was a kind of sturgeon's law:
90% of game idea never get made
90% of idea made are never finished
90% of finished project don't get to market
90% of marketed project don't get a return that cover cost
90% of project that have a return are not hit

that could've been partially true years ago but now in the digital era the cost of releasing a game to market is close to non-existent

[gimymblert]

early access son, not bad in concept, especially for the game it was invented for, but abused? everything get abused! coin op was abused, retailed was abused ... there is no escaping the exploit dogs  they are everywhere! 

[ANtY]

considering the early access

90% of projects go to the market before they're finished

[gimymblert]

And then there is beta, alpha, game jams, devlog demo, etc ...

[JWK5]

I take interest in video game development because I find the development interesting. I am okay with the flood of unfinished games (not so much okay with selling unfinished games, though). If one person crafts an idea and takes it only so far before abandoning it there is always a possibility the next person in line will pick it up and take it further (in some form or another). It is interesting to see all the things people come up with along the way (especially the concept art and such).

On the other hand, I don't tend to have "anticipation excitement". I don't really concern myself with playing a game until it is actually finished and available (other than play testing, but that is a different mindset).

For me personally, the process of making a game (even though I've yet to finish one of any real worth) brings me enjoyment so I am okay if it doesn't bring me money (I am not interested in selling).



EDIT: Holy shit, I can't type today...

[ViktorTheBoar]

I love building prototypes. I just call them "prototypes", they are really unfinished games because I suck at programming. Luckily, now I'm a part of the team that has an actual programmer

[hydroxy]

I love building prototypes. I just call them "prototypes", they are really unfinished games because I suck at programming. Luckily, now I'm a part of the team that has an actual programmer

For me I put them "on hold", a kind of indefinite cryo-sleep. Someday I hope to return and give all 4 of my abandoned projects new life. I'm working on my first abandonned game again now and it feels so good.

I take interest in video game development because I find the development interesting. I am okay with the flood of unfinished games (not so much okay with selling unfinished games, though). If one person crafts an idea and takes it only so far before abandoning it there is always a possibility the next person in line will pick it up and take it further (in some form or another). It is interesting to see all the things people come up with along the way (especially the concept art and such).

On the other hand, I don't tend to have "anticipation excitement". I don't really concern myself with playing a game until it is actually finished and available (other than play testing, but that is a different mindset).

For me personally, the process of making a game (even though I've yet to finish one of any real worth) brings me enjoyment so I am okay if it doesn't bring me money (I am not interested in selling).



EDIT: Holy shit, I can't type today...

Yeah, there's something great about developing gams. For me, its the feel of creating something from nothing. Doesn't matter what the idea is, you are the creator of it, you know the entire history of it, its an entire journey just making all the parts and fitting them together.

[gimymblert]

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/JackHendrik/20141205/231640/The_New_Class_of_Developers_Are_Turning_Games_into_Their_Playground.php

game are totally dead, long live game

[Boreal]

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/JackHendrik/20141205/231640/The_New_Class_of_Developers_Are_Turning_Games_into_Their_Playground.php

game are totally dead, long live game

This article is far too easily giving the benefit of the doubt to ROBLOX users.

[gimymblert]

ROBLOX is used as an example, but the trend of kids making their own game culture is real, and I have absolutely embrace the term obby!! I know How I gonna cal my sonic clone character now 

[Sik]

Zero (do a search if you don't believe me)

But for the record, stuff like this is why I still don't get why there are so many commercial indie games that don't have even remotely any support for modding. That's like one of the easiest ways to get people hooked into your game for longer (and encourage their friends in) without resorting to dirty tactics, and can easily be made to work with just about every business model.

[Boreal]

Zero (do a search if you don't believe me)

But for the record, stuff like this is why I still don't get why there are so many commercial indie games that don't have even remotely any support for modding. That's like one of the easiest ways to get people hooked into your game for longer (and encourage their friends in) without resorting to dirty tactics, and can easily be made to work with just about every business model.

Personally I think a game that would greatly benefit from modding is the Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.  It would be easy enough to disable achievements on non-vanilla runs like it does for challenges or seed runs.

[Leon Fook]

Modding is not really for most game. Some might be good with modding, others not really. Also programming tool is also part of the reason most game is not moddable. Tools like game maker is just not modular enough to include modding tool(thank to unchangable file location), and having modding tool is another challenging part for programming.