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[nihilocrat]

If you want the big bucks, video games in general are a pretty crappy industry to work in, unless you manage to make a hit title. I would suggest you go into the Silicon Valley startup culture of making websites about throwing sheep at each other and selling off the company for $1M+ in the pocket. Bonus points if it has a flakey or non-existent business model but still manages to make headlines. At least games are pretty straightforward.... make something fun and valuable, then kindly ask people to pay for it.

What's with the Snood hatin'? I gotta tell Dave about it

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Nobody wants big bucks, most indies just want enough to live on. I'd be happy with 15k$ a year to live on instead of the 5k$ a year I'm currently making through them

[gunswordfist]

Nobody wants big bucks, most indies just want enough to live on. I'd be happy with 15k$ a year to live on instead of the 5k$ a year I'm currently making through them

Completely agreed.

[Tom Sennett]

F that, I want big bucks

[gunswordfist]

F that, I want big bucks

WHAMMIE!!...sorry, I had too.

[GregWS]

F that, I want big bucks

Big enough to cause a...FRACAS!!!

[professor dead]

F that, I want big bucks

Big enough to cause a...FRACAS!!!

an indie fracas

[Tom Sennett]

Look, all I'm asking for is to be able to afford groceries, some beer, rent, a PS3, maybe a new TV or two, tuition, a phat-ass party mansion, three private jets, a professional football team, and maybe some textbooks.

That's not unreasonable, right?

[Inanimate]

The textbooks are definitely hard to get. I would suggest saving up for those for a while get a mansion every once in a while with the money you don't save, ya know.

[GregWS]

phat-ass party mansion

Most certainly a necessity, 

[Farbs]

is the biggest reason why I haven't gone full time indie. That and my generally risk-averse nature. Also I fear that if I created my games for profit I wouldn't get to make the kinds of games I like. Then I'd be all 

[GregWS]

is the biggest reason why I haven't gone full time indie. That and my generally risk-averse nature. Also I fear that if I created my games for profit I wouldn't get to make the kinds of games I like. Then I'd be all 

That's the reason I'm still going into architecture.  It's funny though, even now when I think about 10 years from now I can't see myself just doing architecture.  I'm thinking now that if I could be a part-time architect part-time freelance designer I'd probably be happiest.  I love architecture, but I love a lot of other design-based things as well, and it would be such a shame to not explore those too.

And when it comes to games, of all mediums humanity has invented, none is more tied to architecture than games.  Both have designers and users that interact with the created spaces, and interaction doesn't exist in film, images (drawing/painting/photography), or literature.  The only huge differences are that games have digital spaces and architecture has physical spaces, and that the function of gamespaces is usually "fun" as opposed to something else.  If VR ever takes off though, those differences could become quite marginal.

[professor dead]

is the biggest reason why I haven't gone full time indie. That and my generally risk-averse nature. Also I fear that if I created my games for profit I wouldn't get to make the kinds of games I like. Then I'd be all 

That's the reason I'm still going into architecture.  It's funny though, even now when I think about 10 years from now I can't see myself just doing architecture.  I'm thinking now that if I could be a part-time architect part-time freelance designer I'd probably be happiest.  I love architecture, but I love a lot of other design-based things as well, and it would be such a shame to not explore those too.

And when it comes to games, of all mediums humanity has invented, none is more tied to architecture than games.  Both have designers and users that interact with the created spaces, and interaction doesn't exist in film, images (drawing/painting/photography), or literature.  The only huge differences are that games have digital spaces and architecture has physical spaces, and that the function of gamespaces is usually "fun" as opposed to something else.  If VR ever takes off though, those differences could become quite marginal.

i'd be happy as a part-time indie developer and part-time millionaire

[gunswordfist]

Look, all I'm asking for is to be able to afford groceries, some beer, rent, a PS3, maybe a new TV or two, tuition, a phat-ass party mansion, three private jets, a professional football team, and maybe some textbooks.

That's not unreasonable, right?

lol I thought you were going to sound reasonable until you said the phat-ass mansion. An indie career will promise you a small-ass shcack though.

[astrospoon]

Teaming up is great!  Along with development going faster, it makes it sooooo much easier to finish.  I know so many solo designers that just keep starting new projects and never finishing them.  Either they lose interest in their idea or they get bogged down in little details.  Or feature creep!

Word of advice to anyone wanting to make games (or anything, really): at some point in the development cycle you WILL get tired of your idea and want to quit.  The ones who succeed are the ones who can plow through those tough times and get the job done.  The benefits of having a finished project outweigh an unfinished one to the point that I'd go as far as to say that a good finished game is worth more than a great unfinished game.

That first part is totally me I must admit. I started and stopped a million little projects for about 10 years. And I really think my biggest problem was working alone. It is very hard to stay focused and motivated when alone in your basement. How huge a difference it would have been to have another person striving along side me and cheering me on.

It wasn't until I left my (extremely well paying) job 6 months ago to force myself to focus and make something that I was actually able to get to the finish line... I should be releasing my first project in about a week now.

Without jumping off the scary as crap cliff that is unemployment, I don't think I would have been able to get through the many sleepless nights, doubts and personal terror that cropped up during development. It is still a struggle to make even an inch of progress, even right now at the bitter end. If you plan on making games by yourself, be prepared for a battle against yourself the likes of which you have never faced.

/puts viking helmet on head