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[SplinterOfChaos]

I'm facing rather typical problems as a developer, personally. Lack of motivation, bleak outlooks, finance troubles, etc.. So for about a year now, i've been putting pressure on myself to really get out there and make a little money. My biggest problem right now is finding some way to bring the game in my sig to a level of professional quality.

It's not that i feel it will help my own situation, but i want to hear from other developers about how they transitioned from making games for free, academically, or only for friends, to making money making games. Not looking for success stories, just stories. Did you make games for years before producing something you sold or did you try and sell your first game? Did you do it alone, with help, or did you just have a friend as dedicated as you were? Was it from scratch or using a pre-built engine?

One of the reasons i'm curious is we hear a lot of the few successful, but little of the average. It's one of those "many will enter, few will win" type deals in my mind. So please share, be average.

BTW: I would have named this thread "From hobby to pro", but if a professional is one who makes money, then i'm a pro! Gamejolt owes me literally one penny for a couple hundred page visits...   Obviously, you can be pro without selling a single copy.

[moi]

Gamejolt owes me literally one penny for a couple hundred page visits...  

When you'll reach 200,000 page visits you'll realize that the Gamejolt "revenue" never actually goes over one penny.

[SplinterOfChaos]

I better cash out then! If i do this 100 times, i'll have made a dollar and can go buy a burger!

[dustin]

I'd say I might be average.  That said I do flash games so I've never sold a game to players just to sponsors.  Here's my timeline

In college studying computer science.  I've made games as a hobby for a while.  I made a text adventure game in freshman year of highschool and a bunch of unfinished other games.  Then in college I made a game for a compitetion here called angry balloon 3000 in java + slick.  After that I learned flash and pumped out a bunch of smallish games.

Senior year I got more busy for a bit and did a couple 1 hour games.

I graduated and did nothing for a summer.  Then I did what I've always wanted to do and started making flash games.  I was really slow when I should have been coding much harder but I spent a bunch of time learning cooking so that's not bad .  I really like finishing stuff so all my stuff is pretty small but I got a game out in a couple weeks but it didn't sell.  Then I made a game that I thought was interesting in 3 days or so in a couple hours.  It was a simple avoider where you had to live 60 seconds but it had a bunch of interesting facts about things that happen every 60 seconds.  You can play it here...

http://www.kongregate.com/games/nitsud/every-60-seconds?acomplete=every+60+seconds

It made me a couple hundred in ads (which another game had also done) but more importantly I sold a sitelock for it.  This gave me confidence that my games could be sponsored.  I made 2 more games each in ~ 1 week.  Each of these sold for ~$200.  This was still not enough for me to live off of but I had started to gain experience and confidence.

With that in mind I started work on a slightly longer game.  This one I playtested a lot and found some fun.  After a couple of weeks of work (could have been 2 probably but a lot of other stuff was happening in my life as well and now I could do it in 1 week) I made a game and put it up.  This was my first game to receive multiple bids on and I ended up getting $1500 for it.  Since then it has earned me ~$500 in other revenue also.  WIth this game I had made enough to support me while I worked on it.

Then I made the decision that I could do this.

I made one really bad game that didn't sell at all.

I had a brief break while christmas happened and I moved but then I made three games each in a little over a week.  I put these up but sadly got no bids.  This was super depressing.  I emailed a bunch of sponsors with the three games and eventually sold all three for a total of $3000.  That was again enough for me to break even so I was happy.

Since then I've made 6 more games and am still alive and eating food/living under a roof so yeah.  I'm doing ok.  I don't spend any money really but I also don't work super crazy hours or anything.  I'm never going to make as much at this as I would at a normal job but I don't really care.  I don't need money for much and I really like making games and have a flexible schedule.

Good Luck!

[Evan Balster]

Me and a friend have been making games as a hobby for 7+ years each.  We're 21 and 20 now, and last year we wooed another developer to produce us as we made a handheld console game.  They bit, and I've moved to California (where my friend lives) to be a game developer.  (I make my money from contract work.)

Livin' the dream.   

[MattG]

"welcome to the future" was my first indie game. It looks like a super highres version of johnathon blows new game except I made it in the 90's when I was a kid. It was point n click not realtime 3d. Broderbund bought the rights for a nice chunk o burger buyin change (a few hundred g's)  

http://www.mrbillsadventureland.com/reviews/u-v-w/wttfutureR/wttfutureR.htm

at the time I was developing it it was the first 24bit color 16bit surround sound game on earth. All you haters and mods with no games bite on that  

http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Future-pc/dp/B000J4IODW   STILL find it for almost 40.00 on amazon almost 20 years later and it Still loks better than a shitload of brand new games

[Jay Margalus]

Delve Deeper is and was our first game.  It certainly hasn't made us rich, but it's been a strong first title.  I'd say a lot of the success stories you're talking about didn't happen overnight, but came from folks busting their butts over and over again to build a reputation for themselves and learn the trade.

Like I said before, DD has certainly not made us rich.  Most of us still have other jobs, but we work 15+ hours a day, live on ramen (and beer), and make whatever other sacrifices are necessary to make the dream happen.  I think we're very lucky at Lunar Giant that we have 4 people who get along well and are willing to do whatever it takes.

I understand that it can get frustrating sometimes, but I've got to believe that consistent hard work pays off.

[moi]

"welcome to the future" was my first indie game. It looks like a super highres version of johnathon blows new game except I made it in the 90's when I was a kid. It was point n click not realtime 3d. Broderbund bought the rights for a nice chunk o burger buyin change (a few hundred g's)  

http://www.mrbillsadventureland.com/reviews/u-v-w/wttfutureR/wttfutureR.htm

at the time I was developing it it was the first 24bit color 16bit surround sound game on earth. All you haters and mods with no games bite on that  

http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Future-pc/dp/B000J4IODW   STILL find it for almost 40.00 on amazon almost 20 years later and it Still loks better than a shitload of brand new games

Nice, it looks like the game that would take full advantage of CD-ROM and MULTIMEDIA.  

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

cd-rom is the future yo, welcome to it

but more seriously that game looks interesting, is there a youtube video of it anywhere mattg?

anyway, back to the main topic: sold my first game on may 31 2007 after i released immortal defense; i think it sold 100 copies in a single day, but then sold less than 100 copies over the next month (and would go on to eventually sell 2000-3000 copies overall over the next 4 years)

[MattG]

cd-rom is the future yo, welcome to it

but more seriously that game looks interesting, is there a youtube video of it anywhere mattg?

the ultra high res exploration content was the future, the cdrom part was the only way to deliver to the masses at the time. Of course like all my games the people that bought loved it, and the pressed slammed it, while sucking the teet of the exact same FPS they still do. WTTF was way pre youtube. Shit I dont think Ive EVER made a youtube promo for any of my games. Im too busy MAKING NEW GAMES

[Oddball]

Hi MattG, are you angry all the time, or just when posting on TIGForums? It seems like you have a lot of pent-up aggression that is boiling over, and is about to explode in a hail of bullets and co-workers running for cover. Try to relax and enjoy life a bit more.

[moi]

Hi MattG, are you angry all the time, or just when posting on TIGForums? It seems like you have a lot of pent-up aggression that is boiling over, and is about to explode in a hail of bullets and co-workers running for cover. Try to relax and enjoy life a bit more.

MattG fights nazis for your freedom, that's why he's angry.

[MattG]

LOL I thoght all good artists were troubled souls. I actually have a shitload of fun, but its usually of the intense variety to balance out the intensity of my anger. think charlie sheen on a jetski in a hurricane

If you knew the shit I know youd be a little more sour too. I wouldnt wish that on anyone

[Shackhal]

cd-rom is the future yo, welcome to it

but more seriously that game looks interesting, is there a youtube video of it anywhere mattg?

the ultra high res exploration content was the future, the cdrom part was the only way to deliver to the masses at the time. Of course like all my games the people that bought loved it, and the pressed slammed it, while sucking the teet of the exact same FPS they still do. WTTF was way pre youtube. Shit I dont think Ive EVER made a youtube promo for any of my games. Im too busy MAKING NEW GAMES

Your games will tell you "THANK YOU!!!"-> if you make a youtube promo or another type of promo. After all, the games are made to "give enjoyment to the gamers" more than our self

[MattG]

my fans are like a secret fraternity. you actually have to be TUNED IN to know about my work. Hell I was banned from TIG within the first week here.

I am an internet outlaw banned everywhere for speaking my mind (gamesindustry.biz suspended me this week for a nonquote about games for women, and I BOUGHT ADS from those pussies!)   

[Shackhal]

my fans are like a secret fraternity. you actually have to be TUNED IN to know about my work.

A bigger secret fraternity is welcome, don't you think?

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

i do hope mattg is real and not a made up persona, but it's almost too good to be true

in any case "welcome to the future" is only $4 if you buy it used, so maybe i'll do that and make a video of it for him

[MattG]

dude Im as real as it gets, and theres nothing too good to be true about me. Im just a guy whos worked his ass off for a long time and made some cool things and got about zero good press. G4 tv did run the Metal Combat trailer for a while though ( Thanks G4!) Then some douche at PCgamer reviewed a half working beta and gave it a final review of 1.5/10 and they ran the review even after I raised hell about it being a beta with bugs not release version. That pretty much killed all press for Metal Combat

Too good to be true would be if I was a billionaire and the press loved me and praised all the breakthroughs in technology I made. Sadly all the fame went to ID, Epic Games, John Romero, Valve, etc.. The guys who made 50 FPS got all the glory while Ive been trying to push in other directions like character physics, weirdness, and actually shipping games that I love without major backing. I cant even get a no from steam, just nothing. So Fuck you fatass gabe newell. You may run valve but you aint got respect for MattG and you aint got SKETCHBRAWLERS

I basicly dont get emails returned, like ive been blacklisted or some shit. But I STILL make some killer weird games with awesome tech IMO. And there are still some heavy players that give me respect like Intel and guys from the film biz.

[M]

Can we have links to your games?

[tametick]

Can't tell you the exact details yet, but Cardinal Quest will provide me with enough income for the next few months (I'm getting 65% of the money from it, the rest is divided by a couple of other people).

It still needs a good 2 months of work or so before I'm done with it (*) and hopefully by then it would have made enough money for me to finance my next game.

That said, even with my new found success I'm still 1 flop away from bankruptcy.

(*) depending on many factors maybe more.