PhilsComputerLab wrote:Don't know about you, but for my videos, I'm fully aware that I could earn a lot more if I'd put the time and effort into something else, like a second job, but that isn't the driving factor for me. I do have a full-time job though.
I do indeed have a Plan B if all else fails which involves doing a daily video series, which I have several ideas for, none of which have anything to do with Minecraft, and a couple of which aren't even related to digital games. :o
PhilsComputerLab wrote:Setting yourself a time-line with goals can help deciding if it's worth continuing or not. In the end of the day, one needs a roof over the head a food on the table...
Right now, I provide the food and Dad provides the roof. In the future, I'd like to be able to provide my own roof, but one step at a time. :B
In terms of setting goals I actually do this every day, as my initial thoughts always go towards, "What do I have to accomplish and what steps do I need to take to get there?", then I plan a step, figure out if it can be done in a day provided there's no major issues, and if I can't, I split it into smaller steps. If something goes wrong though, this throws things out of whack, and is ultimately what leads to my taking longer than I expect to do things, because sometimes the problems just don't make any sense. One such problem occurred only a few days ago. I was completely thrown off of my current coding task because of something which made absolutely no sense and I spent nearly three hours trying to debug it... and the solution literally came down to adding one line of code. x_x;
Actually, most of the delays with my current project come down to writing more and more foundation code so that future games for the project will go faster, as well as changing things I already implemented as per recommendations from the people helping me test the thing. That... and I'm actually really freaking bad at figuring out how long my projects will take, as the few people who've been tracking me since the early days of my website can attest to. ^_^;
Also, I pretty much had to make my own graphics mode in a sense and my own blitters for this project to even work. I was extremely delighted back in late 2014 when I finished this code, loaded up a test routine and saw it working perfectly. It was that moment when I realized, "I absolutely MUST make this thing..."
HunterZ wrote:I hope you can get traction as an indie developer. It's probably easier than ever to get a game out there, but there's now a glut of competition, so it will be hard to stand out from all the noise.
Trust me, this project WILL stand out, even just by its name alone. It's THAT unique yet recognizable, both at the same time, and is a massive reason why I've been keeping it under wraps. I've done more than one Google search to ensure the name hasn't been taken yet either and it still hasn't been, so I'm hoping I'll be good all the way up to launch! ;)
Actually... let's do another one... *does so* ...nope, still nothing on Google! :D
HunterZ wrote:Building a small portfolio of indie games to get some experience and notoriety under your belt might be enough to get a modest Kickstarter project funded?
I want to avoid Kickstarter as much as possible. Not because I don't believe in the power of it, but because I don't want to become that guy who takes a whole bunch of money and then fails to deliver, which I fear could happen if I bite off more than I can chew. Running a successful Kickstarter with a project I lose faith in partway through would put me in an extremely uncomfortable position and I'd rather not take the chance of that happening.
While I do have bigger game ideas I want to tackle eventually, I'm going to wait until I'm positive I can make them happen on my own accord before attempting them.
HunterZ wrote:Even though I've dabbled in game development almost my entire life (although not as much in the second half, unless you count porting), I never had the drive to try to make a living off of it. Working for myself would be too scary (especially now with a family to support), and working for a company means working tons of hours for crap pay (because they know most people working in those jobs are doing it out of passion) - which also means not being able to see my family as much. Instead I design and write software in a more boring industry for 40 hours a week (plus occasional paid overtime), and then use my free time to pursue personal projects and be with my family.
That's kinda where I was in 2002~2004 when writing math software. However, that's also when the realities of my sleep disorder started to really come into play, and after I bought my house in 2004 and ended up with a 1 1/2 hour commute (one-way) to work every day, it became extremely difficult to fulfill my professional obligations without just completely running myself into the ground.
I ultimately got another job in 2009, this time just a lackluster call centre job where I bothered business people to take 20-minute-long surveys, and there were many days when I thought I was just gonna die from going 72+ hours straight without any sleep due to not being able to sleep when I needed to and barely being able to stay awake for work. For the entirety of April 2010 I had lost my voice and it was during this time I started prep work for my second attempt at ADG, with May 2010 being when I started it. Then, sometime in June or July my sleep issues just completely broke me and I had to be escorted out of work barely awake, barely able to walk, unable to think straight... I remember the experience itself perfectly and the only thing I remember saying to my supervisor before I completely broke down was "I'm done", beyond which I have no recollection of any of my thoughts... I may not have even had any. :/
So basically... I'm in a position where if I want to make a living for myself, it has to be by my own accord through my own business efforts since it's impossible for me to hold to a regular schedule. I've attempted to apply for disability and pretty much everyone I've spoken to, including medical professionals are like, "Yeah, you should be on disability", but the roadblock is I didn't have a family doctor for the longest time and after getting one his opinion was basically that my problem is curable, even if it takes forever, and thus doesn't count as a disability. >_>;
And of course, because I found a doctor at all, the same resources which I could use before to find one are no longer available to me so... yeah, I'm never getting on disability. Which in the long run is fine really, as it just means I don't have to have the government breathing down my neck if and when I start making thousands of dollars a month from my own efforts. :P
HunterZ wrote:My dream would be to come upon a large enough sum of money (by legal means of course) to be able to join the investor class (i.e. live my current lifestyle purely via investment income), and then spend 40+ hours a week contributing to whatever open source projects catch and hold my interest. Yeah right!
My dream is to just make games people enjoy and to be able to enjoy my own modest lifestyle as a result of that success... in my own custom home design of course! (Hey, I have no desire to own a car so might as well have a good house which perfectly suits me! ;D )