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Confessions of a failed indie developer

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Re: Confessions of a failed indie developer

#61

Post by mattmanser »

tieTYT wrote: post #43
jiggy2011 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once you've put it out there though, you can't really take it back.

You don't have to release it to the WORLD when you put it on a forum. For example, if it's web based, you can whitelist usernames/IPs. If it's a downloadable app, you can make it self destruct after a period of time or something so that people can't keep playing it.

If you've got slated at the beginning and it's had an impact on the web you could always change its name. Which is unlikely anyway as people just aren't going to care enough to do that.

Or start off with a codename if you've a name you're especially enamoured with and switch to the preferred name when you're starting to feel happy with it.

Re: Confessions of a failed indie developer

#62

Post by erikb »

In my eyes this is not an article about a failed indie, but about one who never started. And yes that is exactly what is the biggest source of failure: Not starting.

You still didn't make that iOS/Android game with simple mechanics! You still didn't earn even 1ct by selling any kind game! You still didn't start to be an indie developer. Maybe it's still too hard to finish a 3D game with so many different programs and IDEs. But maybe it would be easy to make a Candy Crush clone for Android and sell it for $0.5

edit: Btw I'm sexist, but living off your wife's pay check with a mortgage and children in the house? Wtf?

Re: Confessions of a failed indie developer

#64

Post by wpietri »

tieTYT wrote: post #42
marijn wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you should probably not think in terms of the release that ends the project Yes. I want to stress this some more. I know several people who are/were working on big ambitious projects in a kind of stealth mode, citing concerns that their idea will be stolen, or emphasizing that it isn't "ready yet". I suspect this is usually rationalizing a fear of criticism. A single-person personal project shouldn't be worked on i…

Do you have any advice on how to put it in front of users to get feedback? Friends are good for a while, but they're biased. Just go on IRC and ask a few folks?

Some friends host a games night, which I expect nets them a good number of testers.

You could also just go to a coffee shop. The pitch I'd try: "Hey, I'm making a game. If you try it for 5 minutes, I'll buy you another drink." If people keep playing beyond the minimum, you know you're getting somewhere.

Personally, I wouldn't use IRC much, because then I can't watch people in action. I don't make games, but I regularly watch people using software I've made. Their words may lie, but their expressions and actions usually tell the truth.

You might also have people try a few games, with only one of them being yours. People like to please, so you can just say, "Hey, I'm doing some market research on video games; would you try these?" If they don't know which one is yours, you may get much better answers.

Re: Confessions of a failed indie developer

#65

Post by Impossible »

tieTYT wrote: post #42
marijn wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you should probably not think in terms of the release that ends the project Yes. I want to stress this some more. I know several people who are/were working on big ambitious projects in a kind of stealth mode, citing concerns that their idea will be stolen, or emphasizing that it isn't "ready yet". I suspect this is usually rationalizing a fear of criticism. A single-person personal project shouldn't be worked on i…

Do you have any advice on how to put it in front of users to get feedback? Friends are good for a while, but they're biased. Just go on IRC and ask a few folks?

The TIGSource forums (forums.tigsource.com) are a good place to get feedback online, and has sub forums dedicated to both playtesting and devlogs. Quite a few well known indie games (Minecraft, Fez, Cube World, Papers Please) first appeared on the TIGSource forums.

Re: Confessions of a failed indie developer

#66

Post by wpietri »

unz wrote: post #10

Doesn't this guy realize that asking for money they way he did with flex funding defies logic. If you only raise some of the money, how were expecting to finish the project, and what about the people who gave you money - you just scammed them. He still hasn't paid them back yet, instead saying he owes them a game! Trying not to be harsh, but this guy is obviously clueless - built his own game engine - maybe he should…

> Can you not open your eyes to the multitude of problems that exist out there, in the REAL WORLD, and fix those?

Yes, original author! You should be spending your time on forums bitching about things, not trying to bring a little fun into people's lives! Can you not see how anonymous abuse of strangers VASTLY IMPROVES THE WORLD?!?

Re: Confessions of a failed indie developer

#67

Post by elnate »

"Building my own engine, whilst fun and a great learning experience, was an expensive mistake. For six months’ work all I had to show for it was a short proof of concept demo. I should have used UDK, Unity or one of the other available game engines and got on with building a game, but my pride as an experienced game engine programmer didn’t let me!"

This has been my biggest mistake. I have to keep chanting 'Build a game not an engine'. It would be silly to start building a house by building a brick factory but that is, unfortunately, what I find myself doing.

Re: Confessions of a failed indie developer

#68

Post by vacri »

I was way too ambitious with the game I was trying to build.

In the days of yore, I became one of the admin staff for a MUD I played, and you had to write an area. My proposal was for a vast frigid wilderness, and was 500 rooms big. I was significantly talked down in scale by one of the other admins, who'd written half the areas himself. The area ended up being 330 rooms in size (and the MUD prided itself on atmosphere) and it was quite a feat to write at that size.

At completion, I was very grateful to have listened to the other admin - the extra size wouldn't have changed the quality of the area, but would have meant 50% more work. It certainly made me more humble in accepting advice from more seasoned folks.

Also interesting at the time - I was going to school and working in a sleep lab. Semester break came at the time I was trying to finish the area. For a period of two weeks, apart from the sleep lab shifts (10-12 hours) it was a weird 'natural' cycle of 4 hours sleep, 4 hours awake and writing. I was glad I did it... and that I don't have to do it again.

Re: Confessions of a failed indie developer

#69

Post by rgbrenner »

tieTYT wrote: post #44
pjungwir wrote: post #38

I really enjoyed and appreciated this article. So many harsh comments! Yes, what he did was foolish, but thank god for foolishness. And these things are easier to see from outside and after the fact than when you're following a dream. I've had a lifelong dream of building my own game, and I'll be sad if I die without trying. I'm way less prepared than the author. I've done web dev for 15 years. My last game was an AS…

Do not build a game engine unless your goal is to be selling a game engine. If you're going to make a game that requires a game engine, use another engine that's already built. Lets put this in terms of web development: You wouldn't start building a webapp by building your own web framework first.

"You wouldn't start building a webapp by building your own web framework first."

If I were starting from scratch TODAY, then I agree with you.

I started a small ecommerce site back in 2003, and django, etc didn't exist. So I did develop a framework from scratch in C. 10 years later, it's the engine my new data storage startup (Nuevo Cloud).

Point is, things like web app engines and game engines aren't things that pay off immediately. They require _a lot_ of development, and during the entire time that you're working on it, you're basically handicapped until it catches up with other engines/frameworks. But after it's far enough along, it can be a big advantage, letting you do something unique compared to your competitors.

Re: Confessions of a failed indie developer

#70

Post by tieTYT »

rgbrenner wrote: post #69
tieTYT wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do not build a game engine unless your goal is to be selling a game engine. If you're going to make a game that requires a game engine, use another engine that's already built. Lets put this in terms of web development: You wouldn't start building a webapp by building your own web framework first.

"You wouldn't start building a webapp by building your own web framework first." If I were starting from scratch TODAY, then I agree with you. I started a small ecommerce site back in 2003, and django, etc didn't exist. So I did develop a framework from scratch in C. 10 years later, it's the engine my new data storage startup (Nuevo Cloud). Point is, things like web app engines and game engines aren't things that pay…

First, yes: You can only tell someone, "Don't reinvent the wheel" if the wheel has already been invented.

Re: your last sentence: Isn't it even more likely that it could end up being a complete waste of time and effort and be inferior to other frameworks/engines?

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