You aren't ready to be a fulltime gamedev

[@itay7884]

I worked on a survival game for about 3 years as a hobby, I did some Fiverr work (made about 100$) last summer and I now working on a small scoped cleaning game which I hope to get a demo for on November 1'st, do some marketing and steam next fest and then release it around the start of December/late November. You guys were the reason I started game dev again after some rough times of making slow progress on a never-ending game. I want to really thank you because I never thought someone like me who is only 17 and has no special skills yet, can make money out of game dev. Thank you very much!

[@Laverous]

Yeah, games as a business here. I've done the hobbyist thing for years on and off and now using some of the evil MBA skills with a runway and made a studio with the wife. The bootstrapped life means we can focus on business and games without the timesink of trying to date publishers. Time will tell if we'll get there, but that guy Dave and his video "Game dev for 11 years without a hit" is solid advice for those trying the business approach

[@xxkillbotxx7553]

It's so interesting that there are people out there who genuinely consider marketing or treating games as a business evil. It's like, "I want to do this full time, but nobody actually wants me to make serious money". Such a strange mindset for people.

[@Rauschen]

In the video you mentioned Thomas has been making games for 10+ years. Just curious, is there a catalog of games he's made since starting? Understandably, most will be small hobbyist or arcade-style games. I think it would be a cool concept for another video to go through them, especially for driving home the "don't start with your dream game" (or any game with a huge scope) point.

[@HorseshoeSW]

I’m retired from AAA game dev, and I have a Navy pension. This is allowing me to work “professionally”, but at my own pace.

[@BigCatsBite]

I've been building my game dev skills over 10 years now, and quit my day job last year to be a solo game dev full time. So far I've put in close to 5 months of time into the game and hope to release after the feb 2025 nextfest.

[@WeenieWalkerGames]

I am making games as a hobby and while I'd love to work on them full time, I just can't see replacing my higher-than-median salary with game development, much as I really hate my job and would love to quit. I started playing around with making games after I started my full-time career and now with a wife and kids, it just would be financially irresponsible to give up the career. So yeah, unless I find something I'm excited about publishing and it goes crazy in sales, I'm stuck in my job with games as something enjoyable to do in my limited free time.

[@Dailyfiver]

Hey man, I’m a full time engineer and I’m making games to sell on the side too. I released my first game on steam for free, so I realized it’s possible, so I might as well sell my next games. I encourage you to do the same!

[@kwcnasa]

Same here

[@adamcolon]

I'm in the process of making my own game on the side also. It's ambitious, but i'm building essentially a gameplay engine that i can build on for future games, not a one off cheapo. I had to teach myself 3D modeling, Substance texturing, as well as a handful of other skills. Initially i was just gonna buy assets off the marketplace and pop it in... but it didn't feel right... it didn't feel like it was my game. So decided to learn ALL THE THINGS myself. And it's working. I now have the flexibility to do whatever I need at any moment. There are two areas where I will compromise: music/audio and character rigging. Those are going to take a good chunk of time to learn, so i'm focusing on coding my gameplay engine first. Each evening and weekends, while i'm working on it... it's like therapy... no stress... just learning and creation. If I quit my job... I'd be doing this with a bucket of acid in my stomach... constant feeling of existential dread. No thanks, i'll pass on that noise.

[@WeenieWalkerGames]

@adamcolon Good luck! Sounds far too ambitious for my schedule but more power to you! I've been trying to get into creating my own limited 2D artwork in various game jams, but still learning Affinity Photo so most stuff is created in PowerPoint first and copied over as layers.

[@I.mAlicia]

I’m one of the many currently out of work in the games industry. Fortunately my partner has an income stream, because hiring right now is brutal. I’m considering making the hobby a full-time thing for the next year or so to establish a portfolio project and have something to point to in the future when needing to explain a resume gap.

[@1_Man_Media]

Great vid guys, and I can't help but smile when I see you use one of my games footage in your videos. I love watching your guys journey, and I appreciate the honesty and fearlessness to show your fails as well as successes. I am honored that you sort of know mine as well through my games. I try to stay focused and work hard, the idea of doing dev logs or anything like that makes me feel like it would double the amount of time for me to make games. So, I love when you play my games and shit on my trailers and games pages :) You can bet after I make my next trailer using your feedback it will be submitted to get ripped apart again. Good honest criticism as well as ideas to potentially fix weakness's is invaluable. I hope you guys find the success you want and keep this channel going for years to come.

[@Nick-pt2px]

I make them as a hobby and frankly don't want to go beyond that. For me, I like what I do in my career and this is how I get to be creative and make something special and unique on the side. That being said, the information you have for full time devs is incredibly helpful to understand how to better approach and look at things. For instance, I'd never heard of Trello before you all...that replaced me using random scraps of paper in a folder and trying to find my notes about what I wanted to happen where in game somewhere in that random folder of notes.

[@mandisaw]

Started my games business during the '08 Recession as a skill-building portfolio project. Found I really like running a business, even the "boring" parts 😅 Have a great job, so that allows me to make progressively more ambitious games. Strategy RPG in production will be my 5th game since formally starting the business, but only the third to [hopefully!] go to market. Game-dev sits at the intersection of tech and art, so you get myths from both sides - "all artists should starve", or "tech genius will automatically make money". I think both areas undervalue the value that basic business skills bring to the table. Having a little business acumen allows the art to reach its audience, and supports better tech. [Also props to Marnix for sacrificing comfort - being outside in that suit must've been hot 🥵 ]

[@adamcolon]

or.. .don't quit your job. Build your the game YOU would want to play. Learn what you need to learn. Make your game... release it... do the nex thing... maybe a DLC expanding on your game. Take the core gameplay engine you built and make another game. If your game is successful, maybe quit job then. You don't have to go all in full risk, that turns what would be a good experience into a stressful new job.

[@javacpp2525]

I have a full time job as a game developer and I try to make small side projects as a hobby. Now I spend I very little time to my pet projects because the "main" project is very interesting and I work with pleasure, so the main job takes all my time and all the energy. I get back to my pet projects only in the periods when I have boring tasks on my main job. But of course my dream is to become an independent dev and work only on the games I like.

[@jakecassar6554]

I'm very much a hobbyist towards the beginning of my journey, but a couple friends and I have started working on a small game (already had to reduce scope once haha) and wish to publish it next year. However i was already intendingnon trying to swap careers and have a pretty long runway so I'm going into it with the mindset of trying to make it my full time thing. I'm your age and also tired of my job working for a bit corporation, making good money but unhappy. Hopefully gamedev hits the mark.

[@tyisamess]

I am putting in several hours a day to learn game dev. I started a few weeks ago and am still going strong. My goal is to make a living by making and selling my own games. I’m committing to it and am giving my self a 3 year window to make this a reality. I want to make at least enough to get by and do what I love.

[@jystudiosdev]

I’m a hobbyist game dev and have no desire/plan to go full time. I released my 1st game earlier this year and it barely sold any copies, but I’m proud of releasing a finished game and I learned a ton along the way. Currently in the early stages of my 2nd game, and my only goal is to use what I’ve learned to (hopefully) create a better game than my previous one!

[@matt1871]

Typical dad hobbiest, released 1 game, made over $2k in revenue, and working on my second. Would love to go full-time, but not financially viable. Have created a few prototypes in-between.

[@chooseareality]

Right now making something as a hobby, but my goal is to prove out I an make a whole game solo or with very few paid resources to prove out my idea that someday when I retire from game dev I can supplement my income with some games of my own creation. I do work professionally as a gameplay programmer so this isn't as much of a stretch for me as other, but I have a very high wall to climb to support the art side of games.

[@dinokknd]

I hope to one day be in the position where I can safely hobby without having a care about financials as long as I live frugally.

[@middleway1704]

What is valuable can be traded with what is also valuable. If you make a valuable game you can exchange it with money. The question is what is valuable? Value can be defined as "An amount, as of goods, services, or money, considered to be a fair and suitable equivalent for something else; a fair price or return." That's the funny part, what is considered fair and suitable for someone may be absolutely unfair and unsuitable for someone else. So what ACTUALLY makes something valuable is a combination of appealing to a specific demographic AND providing them something they can't get anywhere else; essentially a balance of scarcity and targeting. If you find a specific demographic of gamers who love a certain type of game/genre, and provide them a game they can't find the equivalent of anywhere else, then you cannot lose. No amount of marketing, advertising or financial/monetary witchcraft will EVER save your game no matter HOW "good" or how much "effort" you put into it. There is no amount of makeup/graphics/advertising/marketing you can put on that pig that will ever change the fact that it is still a unvalued game (concord losing $400 million with zero revenue after 8 years game dev). If you want long term success from game dev, focus blindly on creating what is valuable. Find a specific group of gamers that are asking for a SPEICIFIC kind of game, and make that game better than anyone else in that market. If you do that, you simply cannot lose.

[@Am3ricium]

I'm making my game part time, while working full time. And even though I take my game very seriously, I will quit my job ONLY after I start getting roughly same amount of money from game or other sources as from my current job. Even if I had a big runway (which I don't), no way in hell I would quit my job until I did something that is relatively successful/profitable. In my opinion, quitting dayjob before securing something else is just gambling and then racing against the clock under constant stress of your funds continuously running lower and lower.

[@sealsharp]

I have a dayjob and it will stay like that probably. As a younger person, making games was a thing i wanted to do, before indie games where something, so the assumption was a studio because thats how games were made. But that was when gamedev schools where thing for rich kids and so i took the road of normal boring software dev, which is not actually that boring. Now, decades later we all know how the games industry actually works. The idea of working in the games industry is: half my pay, horrible overtime, constant layoffs and running around begging for a chance to work your life away doing some predatory monetized franchise stuff. Not only do i not want to work there any more, i do not even want to play that shit. I'm following channels like these to get a feeling for what works. Channels recommend making many short games to be successful. And it's the types of games i see on steam in the hundreds and my interest is zero. It's the same issue. I don't want to play that, why should i want to make it? I have an opinion on dream games that is kinda a bit different than what you would usually get. No you can not make World of Warcraft or GTA5 but bigger and better as a 1 person dev, which is the dreamgame, it's someones favorite game plus something. Some people are lucky that their dream game is based on something that was made by a team of seven people in 1994, so you can reasonably assume that with all the technical advantages that may be possible to make now. But i also do not think just abandoning your dream and do some stuff that you don't care about but you assume it may sell is a great idea. There needs to be something you really care about. As i got older, my perspective on that changed as i played more and more games from different times. The "dream" does not need to be in excess. It does not need to be the biggest most amazing thing ever seen. The dream can be some element you really care for. One moment i remember was when i played random Quake maps and it felt like i was exploring a place that was meaningful to someone. Shooter community mappacks are a box full of surprises because they are made by people who really care but there's no corporate guidance that makes it all smooth and uniform so they can feel truely raw and unique. So it is not about the "dream" game. It's what you care about.

[@Udjin80]

I will skip you the path that brought me to this wonderful hobby, but I would like sooo much to turn it into a business asap (though it is f***ng hard as I have a mortgage and two kids) and I want to thank you all for the value you share through this channel that helps me to clarify a lot of game design concepts and business pearls

[@libertarianterminator]

I am making a VR game as a hobbyist and I started collaborating with some friends from university to make a 3d game(not VR). I don't plan to be full time working on these. I either work for years as a programmer until I have f u money or until my games make enough to live off of that work.

[@flamart9703]

Oh, I'm totally ready for a full-time gamedev, but there's always something to mess up your plans, you know. :)

[@katherinerollins8903]

Yes, first game hobby. Yes, hope for $$ in the future. Good video!

[@AntaresVids]

I'm working on my game as a hobbyist right now and I do not want to change that. Quite frankly, the thought of having to earn a living from it is quite terrifying. Nevertheless, I hope my hobby game makes a million dollars. I'd be happy with 500, though.

[@foorman2837]

Im working 60 hour a week job and making games in the night and the ultimate plan of attack is make about 3-6 games (full games not just fun buggy prototypes) and then convert the mechanics of those games into my little rpg idea later on. Hopefully that will sort of suceed and i can start working for a game company in my country. I have been learning to code for a year now and am about month and a half out from finishing my first bigger project all on my own (art, code and design) 😅

[@superbtelevision]

Like many I started as a hobbyist and then fell in love with it. I didnt even mean to start the hobby, it's just that nobody else was making the game i wanted to play 😂 the problem with making it myself though is that now i wont really get the full experience the way people who buy it will 😅 hopefully it inspires someone so i can play games like it some day

[@chrisbruce9497]

I’m a hobbyist, but I also run a business. My first game made nothing, we gave away our second game for free. The third game is purely commercial. It is funded through contract work, and needs to make target income in its first year of sales. I have zero interest in doing game dev full time. It will never afford the kind of lifestyle my family needs in order to survive.

[@trvkv]

That's interesting. Is making a free game gain you a big enough audience? Asking because I'm considering to make the game I'm currently developing (first "serious" one) completely free just to gain an audience and "street cred". Wondering if this approach makes sense.

[@chrisbruce9497]

@@trvkv It really depends on a lot of things, and I think every situation is different. We built our second game for an already established community, so that made marketing really easy for us. I think there is definitely an advantage if you are trying to build a community with a free game versus a paid game, but the community has to want the game in the first place, and it has to make sense in people's minds why it should be free. Our game is a robot combat simulator built for the robot combat community, and it fit nicely in with the robot combat community ethos of sharing.

[@trvkv]

@@chrisbruce9497 Ok this makes sense. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer :)

[@TheCraftyAutistic]

I love watching your videos. I'm very much a hobbyist at the moment because it lets me take risks and not care too much if I fail as long as I learn something valuable, but I do want to try full time one day and I can't survive homelessness or crawling back to warehousing again, so I've got to stack the deck in my own favour.

[@tov8714]

The main problem I see is people who start working on a game as a hobby, enjoy the process, and think "maybe I could do this fulltime." Then instead of thinking like an entrepreneur / small business owner (aka, doing market research to figure out what types of games are profitable and making those), they just try to make their hobby game profitable. It's the wrong way to approach the situation, but a really common one. Then they make sad videos about not making any money upon release. Personally I have a fulltime job and I want to make and release games as proof to myself I can do it, but also because I think some games need to be made (Insaniquarium 2, anyone?). When I consider new projects I do consider their profitability but it's not the only factor.

[@lionart5230]

I don't think it's wrong way. If their game is good and people like it, it can sell well. There are people who do only X genre or continue same franchise and do well or good enough to sustain themselves and do what they love to do.

[@dobrx6199]

Great video thanks!

[@ginevraplays]

I like my job & don't want to quit it, but I still want to take gamedev seriously & actually have people play my game. So yeah, I need to think about marketing & sales

[@LesJeuxDeMilen]

Let this sink in : their game is on Number 1 possition in "New and trending" and it has only 2 723 copies sold *. What are the sales of the number 10 game in "New and trending"... what about all the others 1 083 games released in the same month and not even be on the "New and trending" list ? ... * is the number correct - is it with or without the 601 lifetime returned copies ?

[@GohanScholar]

looking good Marnix. I like the suit

[@ironthumbdrew]

You mentioned earnings shares are bad. I've seen a few of these pop up recently, was thinking about joining one, what's the problem with them?

[@bitemegames]

The shares aren't bad itself, equal shares are bad imo (eg. 4 members each have 25%). The moment you hit a discussion the company can get locked up. Not everyone will work fully equal either, and this will leads to issues down the line. We have an unequal share division (not income profit share! There's a difference) and it has allowed us to have better business decisions. -M

[@Ashkandi88]

It's better scene than a bed.

[@a6gittiworld]

im a hobbyist but im working on my game as if i was paid. mission to relese a mobile game before 2025 on play store

[@xordodo]

no hobby; i wanna my studio

[@nickm2856]

Current salary is too high to justify the risk of going full time. Happy to just make a bit of money on the side and do it as a hobby

[@barneylegendary1]

Hobbyist right now :) i don’t think i’d leave my job without publishing a successful game. But i do want to publish a game in the next 2 years for fun

[@channyh.221B]

I was the 42nd person to like this video so here's my answer: I don't know

[@SuperDutchrutter]

Hobbyist. Old family man (36) with the mortgage etc. so 99.42 percent chance will remain hobbyist.

[@MrOmega-cz9yo]

Heh, I'm kind of cheating. I am a retired DBA, and learning game dev just for fun.