just don't.
i wasted 18 months on creating a game. it was an awful time with millions of boring-but-necessary tasks and sales on mac+linux+windows were basically zero.
if i had a time-machine, this would be the one decision i'd reverse.
Ask HN: I'm quitting my job, will create a game – any advice?
11–20 of 122 posts
Re: Ask HN: I'm quitting my job, will create a game – any advice?
#12How do you plan to execute better than your competition? Keep in mind, any great game idea you have will be instantly poached by others who know how to execute quickly.
Re: Ask HN: I'm quitting my job, will create a game – any advice?
#13Try working on the game 20 hours a week while keeping your job. If you truly love the concept and love working on it while still working full time, that'd be a good sign to potentially scale it up with your full 60-80 hours you'll be spending.
Re: Ask HN: I'm quitting my job, will create a game – any advice?
#14Make an io party game - the genre is super fun to create in, was growing rapidly before COVID, turbocharged during COVID and remains underserved. Growth is built-in because of inherent sharing. Use a game engine like Playcanvas so you can publish it to web and wrap it into a mobile app if you'd like (Unity is fine too, but doesn't work on mobile web, whereas Playcanvas works everywhere). Ads monetization is of course…
Curious, what is an io party game?
Re: Ask HN: I'm quitting my job, will create a game – any advice?
#15You might want to watch this for inspiration: Short Hike Post-mortem (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW8gWgpptI8) about single developer struggles. Of course, this is one of successful stories, so your mileage might (and will) vary.
Give yourself tight deadlines and see if you can stick to them. Do not be afraid to bail out early, if you see that game development is not working out.
I'd suggest keeping your daily job until you at least have minimal working prototype of your game and get positive feedback.
As for games on mobile platforms, be prepared if you will create something new and unique - it will have dozen of clones on day three after launch.
Re: Ask HN: I'm quitting my job, will create a game – any advice?
#16[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: I'm quitting my job, will create a game – any advice?
#17It's a terrible plan, which is why you must do it.
Re: Ask HN: I'm quitting my job, will create a game – any advice?
#18You'll only know if you can succeed if you try.
Even if you do succeed, expect growth to take 1000x more energy/focus/time than you realize. How will you get your game to stand out? Organic growth is like planting a seed. It grows slowly. But within a couple of years you'll have a tree.
When I launched my side project I had this dream of hundreds of people signing up within the first days/weeks. In reality, 1 person did. Who cancelled a few days later. However I'm now 3+ years into it and it provides for me and my loved ones.
Also... be prepared for a lot of mental games. Thoughts like "what am I doing?", "you're going to fail", etc. Being on your own takes a mental toughness I never imagined.
Re: Ask HN: I'm quitting my job, will create a game – any advice?
#19Having done exactly this, I say have a blast and enjoy the freedom to create, but be prepared to re-enter the industry because that’s almost certainly what you’ll have to do.
I put my time working on my game on my resume, and it did help me get good jobs in gaming and VR, that I probably wouldn’t have landed otherwise.
Re: Ask HN: I'm quitting my job, will create a game – any advice?
#20Speaking from many, many years of experience:
Cash is king. Nothing is more important than cash flow. A runway is not a development budget -- it is a loan in the form of opportunity cost. Always look for income at all times. And never, ever borrow money for the project.
Regarding people, keep active contacts with other people. Do not shelter behind closed doors. The world moves quickly, and if your team withdraws into its own bubble for 12 months, when you emerge you will find the world to be very different.
Regarding tech, Unity will work better than Unreal because a small team needs to reduce technical overhead as much as possible.
Regarding gameplay, favor simplicity over complexity.
Regarding art, maintain a cohesive and unique style across all elements of design.
Regarding players, start looking for them from day 1. It takes a long time and a lot of work to build a following. And remember, the players are not your customers -- they are your new boss.