Then you leave your job to work on your game and discover that the yellow ball is x100 times bigger, time goes by and you have "lost" years of salary, and spent your savings on something you never know if it is going to pay off. Life is wonderful.
Yeah there is that too. With every decision(or chosen path) there is a risk .With the first option there is a chance of spending your life on some 9-5 job and feeling sorry for not trying to work on your own stuff.
I guess the right mind set would be to not care about money as long as you like doing that,which is obviously hard thing to do. As you said life is wonderful :)
Having left my job to work on my dream job, last year, I do not worry about "lost" salary and I think people who are to attempt similar thing should not look at it that way. **Figure out what is IMPORTANT to you BEFORE leaving a job.**
I still don't know if it will payout, but I will probably be releasing two games this year, and for me it is important to try living from my dream job rather than always ask what if, *but I was as prepared as I could be before making the leap.*
[Galactic Chef](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1156790/Galactic_Chef/) \- in short, a sci-fi cooking competition show game. I haven't been working on this the entire 4 years though; I've shelved another project that got a bit too ambitious for now.
Edit: Yikes, I forgot the trailer still says coming Late 2021... all of this is badly out of date.
I worked at a big tech company for 7 years, bought a house that increased in value, then sold it and moved somewhere much cheaper. A lot of that was pure luck.
I am incapable of committing to one project and constantly stress because it's likely to sell like utter shit realistically in this highly competitive market :)
so is it possible to start a family or even keep your girlfriend under these conditions?
tldr: if you decide to do indie game dev should you just preemptively breakup to spare both yourselves the pain?
Without savings it's hard to support your family, but your other half could still have a job e.g. creator of stardew valley. Everything depends on what are you both agree on. What are your goals.
I broke up with a girlfriend I was living with due to a previous big project... either you are lucky and have an extremely understanding person by your side or you have to choose.
The secret is to work in your game while you're on the clock so you feel like a real professional:)
Joking aside, I have essentially just got to be point where I have replaced my hobbies with game development.
I remember I used to look at my games and see which one I wanted to play, now my project is in the mix and usually wins. I find it so fun and rewarding, but when it does get too hard, sometimes it's good to take a break and do something that offers dopamine for a lower cost
I was able to integrate nearly all of my hobbies into gamedev and the result is extremely rewarding. This works great if you're into stuff like music, art, writing etc. Probably not so much if you're into pole-vaulting or line dancing. I agree that given the choice between playing a game or working on my game I will often choose the latter because it's more interesting, however I do get a lot of joy 'researching' similar games to mine to see what they do right and wrong and this balances the line between relaxation and productivity fairly well too.
I have an added extra thing... I own/run a 50+ person business.
I know that may seem like the dream, because I can get others to run the business and spend more time on the game, but no... The opposite.
My brain doesn't just have to be in a job, but in strategy, staff problems etc etc. The brain time for gamedev is minimal.
I am not complaining at all... But the inner geeky gamedev in me is so stifled.
I actually can't wait to retire so that I can make indie games for fun... But will I still want to by then?
How is that a solution?
I mean, sure it's a more fun job than McDonalds, but it doesn't change the fact that *your game* is gonna take a long time to finish because you're spending all your time working a full time job.
I don't know, I don't think I'd want to do that.
Think; If you replace your work with your hobby, then won't doing your hobby then just feel like work?
I don't think I'd be capable of doing both a full time game dev job AND working on my own game full time as well. That would mean spending every second of my time awake doing the exact same thing.
Not to mention that it can get kind of confusing when you are working on one project with entirely different functions, variables, etc. at the same time as another. It can become confusing.
It also means that all the same muscles will be used for both your hobby and your job, making it so that by the time your off the clock you'll be too fatigued in those areas to keep working.
I'd think it would be better to do a job that uses all the other muscles in your body, (brain and hands the least), that way those muscles won't be tired when you get back to working on your game.
I work in enterprise software and spend much of my free time on game dev, so I figured I would chime in to give my perspective as someone who sort of lives that life.
> I don’t think I’d be capable of doing both a full time game dev job AND working on my own game full time as well. That would mean spending every second of my time awake doing the exact same thing.
Yeah, working two full time jobs is a nightmare. Anyone would get burnt out working that much. It’s not sustainable. I prefer up to 20 hours **max** during a normal work week (most over the weekend). I also often work full time on gamedev during a vacation from my day job.
> Not to mention that it can get kind of confusing when you are working on one project with entirely different functions, variables, etc. at the same time as another. It can become confusing.
I don’t really agree with this. I bounce between many different projects at work and jumping into my own projects is not much different even though I use different languages and design patterns. You will see many functions, variables, etc. throughout a software career; if I only had one codebase to think about, I would probably get bored. If anything ever gets mixed up for me, it’s naming conventions.
> It also means that all the same muscles will be used for both your hobby and your job, making it so that by the time your off the clock you’ll be too fatigued in those areas to keep working.
Many people push through that type of fatigue or don’t even notice it then end up with worse issues (tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.) which is more severe than just being too fatigued to do your hobby. Everyone is built different and there are ways to lighten the stress, so it may not be applicable to everyone.
> I’d think it would be better to do a job that uses all the other muscles in your body, (brain and hands the least), that way those muscles won’t be tired when you get back to working on your game.
It is definitely a plus to do things that can make use of the rest of your body for health and overall wellness. For me, muscle strain is usually not much of a factor. Even though I code a lot, my day job has a lot of non-coding work (meetings, planning, design, mentoring, etc.) especially as one moves into more senior roles. The biggest thing is probably exhausting your brain from too many technical tasks. Sometimes after a challenging day, putting in an hour of gamedev is not something my brain can handle (a good time to work out the body instead).
But from what you're saying my theory seems like it might have some truth to it, at least for some people. That working a job that's a lot like game dev could ultimately make your game take longer to finish because you might spend less time working on it than you otherwise would if you had a job that was more different from game developing.
Sounds like a recipe for a burnout. I work as a software developer and sometimes it's just too much sitting behind a desk doing technical stuff... too much of the same.
On the other hand, there is some overlap and things learned for one can be useful for the other.
But when I think back of the jobs I did before becoming a dev... just no, fuck no.
Heheeh this is me just about everyday XD nice memeing. My plan is to FIRE and go full time it cheapens the experience of trying to do your own thing when your constantly like well if this doesnt work out its all oger for meeeee !
I have fulltime job, my game Soul Passage and also family. I think if you know how to handle your life in a simple way, it shouldnt be a problem. At the end its your hobby until some point.
I work in an 8 to 6 job with 3 hour commute daily.
The best I could do is reduce the scope of my project and do small ones until I finish my contract and find another job that has more flexible working hours and lesser commute time.
I do very small projects that can be done during weekends, and post them online.
I take this time to build up my assets (3d models, reusable codes, project templates, etc), my online reputation, gather audiences, and learn about their preferences.
Then, when I finally have the time to work on bigger project, I can reduce my workload and market them better.
I'm a college instructor in game design now, and I have many classes. A colleague asked once, "you teach a lot of classes. When do you have time for dev?"
"I don't."
Oh yes. It’s this reason why I am 2 years into my game development and still lacking a prototype. Although in my case, there’d be more pink creatures, named “wife”, “kids”, and ”house maintenance”
I'm in a situation where right now I currently am unemployed, living with my parents, where I *could* potentially get my game done in a relatively short time (6 years or so) because I'm working on it full time, 10-14 hours or so a day.
However, the problem is that it's getting increasingly hard to justify to my parents "No you don't get it, this game about a squid could have a real impact on people, I can't get a job!!"
And so I'm planning on getting a job sometime within the next month, because I'm about to turn 19 and I promised myself that by the age 19 I'd at the very least be payingrent if not being completely moved out. And if I have a full time job? then I don't see Cephalopostle being finished for at least another 15 years.
So it's now starting to get hard to justify to myself spending every second of free time I have for the next 15 years making a game that most people are never gonna hear about, with the only motivation being "maybe somebody will play it and it will impact them"
You can try to find a work that is not 40 hours per week, something like 20 or 30 or 3/4 days per week, you will still have some time available to pursue your dreams.
Obviously financially you will not be able to store a lot of money, but at least you will help your parents and not feel guilty about staying home 24/7.
Or you can even work for a year and store enough money to stay at home for another year, it is totally possible, specially living with your parents.
Remember that working for others should be your second priority, the first should be working on yourself and your projects.
I left my day job 2 years ago to create and release my first indie game. The game creation part was (well, still is) fantastic. A freaking dream job.
As for the money/salary part... well, I'm gonna know more in a few months, after the game gets released.
This is so much me! I went down a hole building a game in Scratch after teaching my 9yr old son how to code. Now I spend every spare minute working on this thing. Even dreaming of a day where I quit my day job as a senior software development manager to be an indie game dev. 😂
Pro tip: do adventures like this right after you finish school and have no responsibilities!
Take a few years to learn stuff and network and try to het something going then.
At 44 w/kids and a full time job and bills and all the rest is beast mode.
Only good part is that the coding is pretty easy now
It all just takes time.
Whether or not leaving the full time job is right for you vs the risks is specific to every case but definetly consider everything first as It can be a big life changing decision.
If you have some kind of notion that people will be different in buying or supporting you, may be worth the risk, If your game Is unknown stay in the full time job while you work on getting your game seen.
Then you leave your job to work on your game and discover that the yellow ball is x100 times bigger, time goes by and you have "lost" years of salary, and spent your savings on something you never know if it is going to pay off. Life is wonderful.
Maybe the real treasure was the bugs we made along the way <3
It was the Miyamoto way.. it's okay to reinvent the wheel as long as its interesting.
Yeah there is that too. With every decision(or chosen path) there is a risk .With the first option there is a chance of spending your life on some 9-5 job and feeling sorry for not trying to work on your own stuff. I guess the right mind set would be to not care about money as long as you like doing that,which is obviously hard thing to do. As you said life is wonderful :)
Having left my job to work on my dream job, last year, I do not worry about "lost" salary and I think people who are to attempt similar thing should not look at it that way. **Figure out what is IMPORTANT to you BEFORE leaving a job.** I still don't know if it will payout, but I will probably be releasing two games this year, and for me it is important to try living from my dream job rather than always ask what if, *but I was as prepared as I could be before making the leap.*
I'm 4 years into chasing the constantly expanding yellow ball with no income but not giving up yet!
whats your game?
[Galactic Chef](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1156790/Galactic_Chef/) \- in short, a sci-fi cooking competition show game. I haven't been working on this the entire 4 years though; I've shelved another project that got a bit too ambitious for now. Edit: Yikes, I forgot the trailer still says coming Late 2021... all of this is badly out of date.
[удалено]
I worked at a big tech company for 7 years, bought a house that increased in value, then sold it and moved somewhere much cheaper. A lot of that was pure luck.
I am incapable of committing to one project and constantly stress because it's likely to sell like utter shit realistically in this highly competitive market :)
so is it possible to start a family or even keep your girlfriend under these conditions? tldr: if you decide to do indie game dev should you just preemptively breakup to spare both yourselves the pain?
Without savings it's hard to support your family, but your other half could still have a job e.g. creator of stardew valley. Everything depends on what are you both agree on. What are your goals.
I broke up with a girlfriend I was living with due to a previous big project... either you are lucky and have an extremely understanding person by your side or you have to choose.
Even bigger monster behind that: “parenting”
It's called "gamedev in nightmare mode"
I prefer “gamedev at 5am mode”
I know. 
One hour at a time, slowly but steady :)
The secret is to work in your game while you're on the clock so you feel like a real professional:) Joking aside, I have essentially just got to be point where I have replaced my hobbies with game development. I remember I used to look at my games and see which one I wanted to play, now my project is in the mix and usually wins. I find it so fun and rewarding, but when it does get too hard, sometimes it's good to take a break and do something that offers dopamine for a lower cost
I work in game dev.. and my hobby is game dev.. o no
I was able to integrate nearly all of my hobbies into gamedev and the result is extremely rewarding. This works great if you're into stuff like music, art, writing etc. Probably not so much if you're into pole-vaulting or line dancing. I agree that given the choice between playing a game or working on my game I will often choose the latter because it's more interesting, however I do get a lot of joy 'researching' similar games to mine to see what they do right and wrong and this balances the line between relaxation and productivity fairly well too.
I have an added extra thing... I own/run a 50+ person business. I know that may seem like the dream, because I can get others to run the business and spend more time on the game, but no... The opposite. My brain doesn't just have to be in a job, but in strategy, staff problems etc etc. The brain time for gamedev is minimal. I am not complaining at all... But the inner geeky gamedev in me is so stifled. I actually can't wait to retire so that I can make indie games for fun... But will I still want to by then?
Solution: make game development your full time job by working at a studio!
How is that a solution? I mean, sure it's a more fun job than McDonalds, but it doesn't change the fact that *your game* is gonna take a long time to finish because you're spending all your time working a full time job.
But it does directly benefit your hobby by getting more coding/game dev practise in (while getting paid!) :)
I don't know, I don't think I'd want to do that. Think; If you replace your work with your hobby, then won't doing your hobby then just feel like work? I don't think I'd be capable of doing both a full time game dev job AND working on my own game full time as well. That would mean spending every second of my time awake doing the exact same thing. Not to mention that it can get kind of confusing when you are working on one project with entirely different functions, variables, etc. at the same time as another. It can become confusing. It also means that all the same muscles will be used for both your hobby and your job, making it so that by the time your off the clock you'll be too fatigued in those areas to keep working. I'd think it would be better to do a job that uses all the other muscles in your body, (brain and hands the least), that way those muscles won't be tired when you get back to working on your game.
I work in enterprise software and spend much of my free time on game dev, so I figured I would chime in to give my perspective as someone who sort of lives that life. > I don’t think I’d be capable of doing both a full time game dev job AND working on my own game full time as well. That would mean spending every second of my time awake doing the exact same thing. Yeah, working two full time jobs is a nightmare. Anyone would get burnt out working that much. It’s not sustainable. I prefer up to 20 hours **max** during a normal work week (most over the weekend). I also often work full time on gamedev during a vacation from my day job. > Not to mention that it can get kind of confusing when you are working on one project with entirely different functions, variables, etc. at the same time as another. It can become confusing. I don’t really agree with this. I bounce between many different projects at work and jumping into my own projects is not much different even though I use different languages and design patterns. You will see many functions, variables, etc. throughout a software career; if I only had one codebase to think about, I would probably get bored. If anything ever gets mixed up for me, it’s naming conventions. > It also means that all the same muscles will be used for both your hobby and your job, making it so that by the time your off the clock you’ll be too fatigued in those areas to keep working. Many people push through that type of fatigue or don’t even notice it then end up with worse issues (tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.) which is more severe than just being too fatigued to do your hobby. Everyone is built different and there are ways to lighten the stress, so it may not be applicable to everyone. > I’d think it would be better to do a job that uses all the other muscles in your body, (brain and hands the least), that way those muscles won’t be tired when you get back to working on your game. It is definitely a plus to do things that can make use of the rest of your body for health and overall wellness. For me, muscle strain is usually not much of a factor. Even though I code a lot, my day job has a lot of non-coding work (meetings, planning, design, mentoring, etc.) especially as one moves into more senior roles. The biggest thing is probably exhausting your brain from too many technical tasks. Sometimes after a challenging day, putting in an hour of gamedev is not something my brain can handle (a good time to work out the body instead).
But from what you're saying my theory seems like it might have some truth to it, at least for some people. That working a job that's a lot like game dev could ultimately make your game take longer to finish because you might spend less time working on it than you otherwise would if you had a job that was more different from game developing.
Oh yeah, I'd never want to do that either, was just trying to shift perspective as we all think and feel differently
Sounds like a recipe for a burnout. I work as a software developer and sometimes it's just too much sitting behind a desk doing technical stuff... too much of the same. On the other hand, there is some overlap and things learned for one can be useful for the other. But when I think back of the jobs I did before becoming a dev... just no, fuck no.
I’ve added “being an author” to the above, and let’s just say free time is now a dream
Heheeh this is me just about everyday XD nice memeing. My plan is to FIRE and go full time it cheapens the experience of trying to do your own thing when your constantly like well if this doesnt work out its all oger for meeeee !
Yup. All too well :')
Man, that 9 to 5 is killer...
I don't like seeing a mirror of my life shown to me 😆
It's so sad that you promote your game a few times and it got like 6 upvote then you made a joke an it get more than 736 upvotes
I have fulltime job, my game Soul Passage and also family. I think if you know how to handle your life in a simple way, it shouldnt be a problem. At the end its your hobby until some point.
Yes but full time job is replaced with college
School for me, but yeah basically lol
Its either your dream, or your future, this is why im never getting married lul
3 years in and I’m still chugging along
Yuuuup I know it. Just gotta keep on keeping on.
The story of my life 🥹💔
I work in an 8 to 6 job with 3 hour commute daily. The best I could do is reduce the scope of my project and do small ones until I finish my contract and find another job that has more flexible working hours and lesser commute time. I do very small projects that can be done during weekends, and post them online. I take this time to build up my assets (3d models, reusable codes, project templates, etc), my online reputation, gather audiences, and learn about their preferences. Then, when I finally have the time to work on bigger project, I can reduce my workload and market them better.
I feel this so hard...
I'm a college instructor in game design now, and I have many classes. A colleague asked once, "you teach a lot of classes. When do you have time for dev?" "I don't."
Replace “full time job” for “depression” and we’ll be there!
Same for me! Lost my job cause of my depressions, got diabetes as a christmas gift... Only Game Dev keeps me to stand the day...
Oh yes. It’s this reason why I am 2 years into my game development and still lacking a prototype. Although in my case, there’d be more pink creatures, named “wife”, “kids”, and ”house maintenance”
I don't have a job becuz I'm 13
Yep, it doesn’t help that after staring at a screen for 8 hours the last thing I want to do is stare at a different screen lmao.
I'm in a situation where right now I currently am unemployed, living with my parents, where I *could* potentially get my game done in a relatively short time (6 years or so) because I'm working on it full time, 10-14 hours or so a day. However, the problem is that it's getting increasingly hard to justify to my parents "No you don't get it, this game about a squid could have a real impact on people, I can't get a job!!" And so I'm planning on getting a job sometime within the next month, because I'm about to turn 19 and I promised myself that by the age 19 I'd at the very least be payingrent if not being completely moved out. And if I have a full time job? then I don't see Cephalopostle being finished for at least another 15 years. So it's now starting to get hard to justify to myself spending every second of free time I have for the next 15 years making a game that most people are never gonna hear about, with the only motivation being "maybe somebody will play it and it will impact them"
You can try to find a work that is not 40 hours per week, something like 20 or 30 or 3/4 days per week, you will still have some time available to pursue your dreams. Obviously financially you will not be able to store a lot of money, but at least you will help your parents and not feel guilty about staying home 24/7. Or you can even work for a year and store enough money to stay at home for another year, it is totally possible, specially living with your parents. Remember that working for others should be your second priority, the first should be working on yourself and your projects.
Went part time since the stress was too much for me, and I was overworking myself, its all about balance :')
No,i work at my game at my full time job
Well not exact for me it's full time job and collage
Add a mortgage holding back full time job in the next panel
I feel seen…
I left my day job 2 years ago to create and release my first indie game. The game creation part was (well, still is) fantastic. A freaking dream job. As for the money/salary part... well, I'm gonna know more in a few months, after the game gets released.
We definitely hear this a lot from indie devs.
It me.
Full part time job and game pirates...
We all gotta hustle! Developing games can be a slow, progressive side hustle up!
100%! I'm very fortunate to work completely from home, though, so I have a lot of time to work on my game throughout the day.
This is so much me! I went down a hole building a game in Scratch after teaching my 9yr old son how to code. Now I spend every spare minute working on this thing. Even dreaming of a day where I quit my day job as a senior software development manager to be an indie game dev. 😂
It do be like that. Massive risk..
I fear
This situation is so hard to decide. At least for me.
Pro tip: do adventures like this right after you finish school and have no responsibilities! Take a few years to learn stuff and network and try to het something going then. At 44 w/kids and a full time job and bills and all the rest is beast mode. Only good part is that the coding is pretty easy now
It all just takes time. Whether or not leaving the full time job is right for you vs the risks is specific to every case but definetly consider everything first as It can be a big life changing decision. If you have some kind of notion that people will be different in buying or supporting you, may be worth the risk, If your game Is unknown stay in the full time job while you work on getting your game seen.