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Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

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Re: Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

#221

Post by ascorbic »

billconan wrote: post #139
famahar wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you considered switching careers rather than quiting. I took a two year break from tech and did English teaching. The pay was low but it sustained me with my savings and I had tons of mental energy to work on my side projects. Any job that's easy to clock in and clock out, where the work gets done on the same day, no deadlines. Can do wonders for your mental energy. When I returned to tech I had a pretty impress…

Thank you so much for the suggestion. I’ve thought about it, but I don’t feel like I have any strong skills outside of coding. I can draw decently as an amateur, but not at a professional level. I genuinely love coding and often do it in my spare time. My burnout isn’t caused by coding itself but rather by poor management and working on assignments that feel meaningless.

In that case, switching employers may be what's needed, rather than switching careers (I know, easier said than done but easier if you already have a job). But if you do switch careers or have a career break, you can still code! If you're not maintaining a big project, working on your own side-projects is more like a hobby than work for most coders I know, so it wouldn't necessarily be incompatible with a break from the industry.

Re: Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

#222

Post by autoexec »

myl wrote: post #219

I never felt more like a grandpa developer since having to google every word in the description of what this game is :)

These days grandpa developers (and many grandpas in general) grew up playing rogue/roguelikes and watching plinko played on TV while being reminded to help control the pet population by having their pets spayed or neutered. I don't know how popular pachinko is outside of japan though. All the pachinko video games I've played to date were old and intended for a Japanese audience.

Re: Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

#224

Post by theanonymousone »

randfish wrote: post #125

Incredible work, Brian! I'm in awe of what you've done in such a short amount of time. I started an indie game company (still working on our first title) and had a few related questions if that's OK? 1) If you didn't need a salary or marketing help, would you still have signed a publishing deal? My sense is most of the publisher value lies in getting paid before the game launches, and with marketing around launch, bu…

> most of the publisher value lies in getting paid before the game launches, and with marketing around launch

Reading this, I'm wondering if there is something like a publisher for other types of Software than games? Looks a decent deal. No?

Re: Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

#227

Post by SXX »

kleiba wrote: post #215

How hard was it to get in touch with publishers? I've always imagined that without prior contacts, cold calling a game publisher is as promising as sending your screenplay to Hollywood.

Not author, but fellow indie gamedev company founder. Getting in touch is not hard at all and there are several avenues:

1 - Majority of publishers do have public submission forms and they do look though what you send. There is a few existing lists that you can use [1].

2 - Industry is generally very friendly so often you can also reach out to publisher game scouts on Linkedin and even ask for what kind of projects they looking for.

3 - And obviously there are industry events where again it's totally okay to pitch to people, get their contacts, etc. If you're good at followups you'll easily be able to reach right people.

4 - Also fellow gamedevs will happily made an introduction if you have worthy project.

There of course some requirement what you need at very least is:

* Prototype for 5-15 minutes of gameplay. Prototype must be playable and fun, not just tech demo. There is no way to make any deal without one.

* Short and very juicy gif or video representing core loop that sells.

* Pitch deck. The farther your build is from final game the better pitch you must have. There are some examples of game pitches you can find on internet, but if you curious reach me I'll share ours.

Whatever you will actually sign with publisher will depend heavily on how close is your game to release. If it's something nearly complete you'll have more chances than with prototype.

Actually getting funded though can be very tough and for small game it's hard to find budget over $300,000. Yes you read this right - whole games are being made by teams with only publisher budget of one FAANG SWE annual salary.

  [1] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15AN1I1mB67AJkpMuUUfM5ZUALkQmrvrznnPYO5QbqD0/edit?usp=sharing

Re: Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

#228

Post by [deleted] »

kbenson wrote: post #115
codetrotter wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose that when your previous employer has over 3B users (FB alone, not even counting IG and WA and whatever else they have going on), 200k might seem like a small number of people :P But I agree. OP, 200k is a hugely respectable number for a game or any piece of software for that matter. I’d be happy if 200 people used any of mine, never mind the k :p Congrats! :)

Hey, Meta has something like 67k employees for those 3.35 billion users (for simple stats I could find), and thats. That's 50k users to an employee. I think this dev is doing quite well by those standards. :)

[deleted]
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