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[diegzumillo]

I'm in a bit of a situation right now. After I finished my PhD and came back to my country I discovered my new diploma needs to go through a stupidly lengthy re-validation process. More than a year of waiting. I have things to do meanwhile, I am continuing my research, also working on my game, but these things don't make money (yet). I have an extremely supportive family and a working wife, so I'm in no real financial risk. But I feel like a freeloader though, and I definitely am it's not just feelings. I would be ok with this for a little longer until things sort out, but I also have a baby coming next july! So, yeah, I don't want to wait for things to sort themselves as it might take too long. It has been hard finding a traditional job where I live, at least with my skills.

So I realized I could turn my current hobby into a temporary solution! And I have ZERO clue on how to proceed. The game won't be done as soon as I'd like, so selling it won't happen in a useful time frame.

A kickstarter campaign seems too much. I think these are better left for serious indies investing their future in game development, as it needs planning, investment of time and money, and comes with high risks. But how about a patreon or something similar? I'm afraid this kind of funding only works for 'influencers'. People with a following already. And even then it probably takes many months or a couple of years to have a workable monthly income.

I could use some experienced suggestions.

[litHermit]

How about freelancing with your current skills?

I'm in a sorta similar situation - a supportive working partner while I spend most of my time working on a game.
I do graphic design freelance gigs though. While they do eat up some time, they bring in money. (The upside for me is, I live in a cheap country so I don't need a lot of these gigs. Additionally they don't require as much brainpower as programming, so I can listen to audio books while working)

I have no experience with Patreon, but feel (and may be wrong) that it works for people who bring in steady useful content to others; or are already established artists.

[diegzumillo]

How about freelancing with your current skills?

That's not a bad idea! Even though I live in a small place with few opportunities, freelancing is something that can be done from distance.

And I do have some experience with it. Many, many, years ago I did freelancing with 3D animation. It wasn't a great experience, I'll tell you that, but it's totally feasible. I'll do some research, see how people do things today.

[litHermit]

Freelancing is something that can be done from distance.

Yeah, that's the major upside. I'm in central Europe, and the majority of my clients are somewhere in the states. I've been using Upwork.com for the past ~8 years. Don't know how it compares to other freelance networks (there are some programming exclusive that I heard about at one time or another and forgot since), but it has been decent to my needs.