Did I just waste 3 years?

Post by adamnemecek » Sun, Sep 30, 2018, 11:55 PM UTC

chongli wrote: post #181

Nokinside wrote: post #150

Game industry is the economics of superstars. The Macroeconomics of Superstars[1] >Abstract >Recent technological changes have transformed an increasing number of sectors of the economy into so-called superstars sectors, in which a small number of entrepreneurs or professionals distribute their output widely to the rest of the economy. Examples include the high-tech sector, sports, the music industry, management, fna…

Yes. At this point, recommending that a 9-5 programmer quit their job to work on an indie game is equivalent to suggesting a PR writer quit their job to write the next Great American Novel.

Post by Morizero » Sun, Sep 30, 2018, 11:58 PM UTC

ehsankia wrote: post #58

jtchang wrote: post #9

What is the target market for the game? I played Metroid when I was a kid on NES and the original gameboy. Games these days are a lot about marketing and huge budgets. The indie ones that do well need to be targeted as well as refreshing. Some hard thoughts just watching the video and reading a bit about the game: 1. I don't really like the graphics as much as I liked the original Metroid. This is probably just a per…

That was my first thought too. The author talks about the indie explosion, but I don't think they realize they are part of the problem. Clearly the author is a great programmer, as coding something like this definitely isn't trivial, but it lacks in other places, such as design, art style and sound effects. I understand programmers often like working on their own projects, and sometimes we end up with complete packag…

Post by ALittleLight » Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 12:03 AM UTC

adamnemecek wrote: post #271

chongli wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. At this point, recommending that a 9-5 programmer quit their job to work on an indie game is equivalent to suggesting a PR writer quit their job to write the next Great American Novel.

It’s not actually because even if you fail, you’ll be in a better position skillwise.

Post by LrnByTeach » Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 12:05 AM UTC

aphextron wrote: post #137

You made the mistake of thinking that anyone would care how many hours you spent optimizing some C++ function that does something already solved a hundred times in a hundred different game engines. It's a natural tendency for all programmers. But making a game in 2018 is far more of a creative endeavor than anything to do with programming really. You need a massive amount of top notch artwork, music, 3D modelling, sh…

Post by echan00 » Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 12:09 AM UTC

woolvalley wrote: post #88

I learned this painful lesson 8 years ago indirectly, working a mobile app studio. The app store, like games and music are superstar markets and the vast majority will fail, even if you've spent 3000 hours on it. That what makes stardew valley so crazy, because the %99 outcome of someone who works like him is failure and wasting 3-4 years of your life. At this point, I would do the 'test if there is demand method' be…