Would you do it again?

[baegsi]

If you had the chance to go back three years in time (I'm working hard on a time machine!) to start all over, would you still choose to develop indie games?

What if I give you a guarantee that, if you develop a very boring banking software, you will be rich in three years, would you choose to do that instead?

If you would do something different: why is that? Did you have assumptions/hopes that weren't fulfilled?

Or do you still think developing games was the right choice?

[mahlzeit]

For what it's worth (free therapy):

Three years ago I stumbled on Dexterity Software and the then-new developer forums, which made me realize that it was still possible for a small developer to make money with games. Not only that, but good money too. I had just started selling my shareware utility, which went well, but games are simply more interesting than applications.

So I started working on my first game in years. I didn't finish it. Nor the five or six games I attempted after. Each time the initial satisfaction died down much too quickly. Earlier this year I realized that maybe I had outgrown games (and computers and programming in general) and the time had come for something else. So now I'm trying on a new career.

If I could go back in time three years, then I would be doing the new thing instead of games. For the reasons stated I didn't succeed in breaking into the games biz back then when it was still "easy", so I don't think I would succeed the second time around. Maybe if the time machine went back as far as 1995. :) Then again, the past is the past and irrelevant.

But even with the career change I'm still here and recently finished some small games. So who knows... :)

[ManuelFLara]

If I could go back in time three years I'd sure start making games. Casual games, actually. I would carry copies of Zuma, Big Kahuna Reef, Diner Dash, etc. back in time and I'd clone them :D

I think you can't get more money doing boring corporate software (at least alone and in three years) than what you'd have earned if you had done the 3 or 4 top selling games of the last three years.

On the other hand, maybe I'd start a VoIP company, which I'd call.. I don't know, Skype or something.

[Cogin]

Hey, I'm working on boring financial apps but I'm not getting rich :)
Not complaining though, it's paid well for Serbia...

[Raptisoft]

Dude, if you told me I could get rich in three years then I'd drop everything and do the boring banking software.

Later, with no money worries, I would set to work on Indie-Ablo, or you whatever game you can think of that I can't do right now because it'd have too long a dev cycle and/or wouldn't make money.

[Didier]

If I could go back in time three years I'd sure start making games. Casual games, actually. I would carry copies of Zuma, Big Kahuna Reef, Diner Dash, etc. back in time and I'd clone them

Forget about the games, i would play the lottery every week with the (we now know) winning numbers from then

I would be rich in a week or two without having to bother game dev :D
After that, i would buy Popcap, Bigfish and probably download.com

Didier

[Raptisoft]

Actually, re-thinking: If I could go back three years, I might stick with what I have. Chuzzle isn't doing so badly.

[Mike Boeh]

I would in a heartbeat. Maybe I would make Zuma instead of Bugatron though :-)

[papillon]

Sure, I'd do something else for a while if I *knew* it would make me rich - then take the money and go make better games with it. :)

I'm not in this for money! Je suis une artiste! (And boy, is my french rusty.)

[Ricardo C]

Well, I DIDN'T write Chuzzle, so I would take the boring banking software gig, THEN make Indie-ablo ;)

Or just make version 2 of Boring Banking Software and get richer :D

[princec]

Yeah, but I wouldn't take it nearly so seriously next time around ;) And I'd start with the minigames.

Cas :)

[ErikH2000]

It's an interesting question. I'd have to go back farther than 3 years to get past the point where I was married to making games, but say 5 or 6 years ago...

I'd be extremely reluctant to spend another 5 years getting to the unimpressive place I am now. It's not that those 5 years were bad, but doing them over again would be horribly tedious.

Things I might try instead:
* Making software that runs on handheld devices that coordinates LARPs.
* Writing this wiki-style DBMS I've had in my head for a while.
* Study law.
* Run porn sites. (To make money which goes into other things. I don't want the stupid bank software job, because it'd be boring and I'd have to work for someone.)

The really useful question is: what would you be doing right now if you returned to this point in time from 3 years in the future? ;)

-Erik

[Nexic]

Hmm tough call, as I actually enjoy doing the odd contract for 'boring' applications. Though I think getting rich at doing apps is a little easier, but not much. If I was selling them via the shareware model like now that would be good and I could 'sit back and watch the money roll in' but if I was rich only because I spent 10 hours every day doing contract apps then I'd choose games.

Really I don't regret anything I did. I've learned so much and gotten so much better, and now I'm starting to get into the realms of *real almost able to live off of in the UK* income.

[svero]

Id still make games.. but probably all different games. Mine did ok, but I could certainly have made some better decisions and choices along the way. Still im not unhappy with how it's gone.

[wazoo]

Time travel will summon the unraveling of civilization, I swear.

Anyways, since I'm on the brink of finishing my book and continuing with my overall plan of releasing the small type of games (*cross fingers*), I can't say I'm that disappointed.

Am I the only one though who is shocked at how quickly these 3 years have sped by?

When I was in school, each year seemed to drag. The moment I get married, it feels like I'm trapped in a Time Accelerator field..

it's damned annoying I can tell you that.

[Nexic]

I know how you feel Wazoo, this time since I left school (2 years or so) has gone by in a real blink. My parents always used to say "The years get shorter" but I never believed them. Now I'm scared I'm gonna be a wrinkly old man before I know it! I seriously feel like I need to get rich before I'm 30 or I'm not gonna have any time to do anything fun with my money :D

[Indiepath.T]

I'd have started in this business then instead of 6 months ago... wow has it only been that long...

[Curiosoft]

If I could go back 3 years,

I would balance all of the game development I did with *game research*...I would spend more time reading some of the books and playing more games.

I would also spend more time prototyping/researching new gameplay ideas.

Additionally, I would spend more time building a network of people that could help me make better games. This would mean finding people within the industry and up-and-coming students to help create cool games.

In the past year, I've addressed many of these shortcomings and am excited about the current projects I'm working on...with some of the new folks I've found.

Later,
Curiosoft

[Geom]

I'm not an indie yet, so for me the question might be: if I could go back three years, would I quit my current job (of 5+ years now), and try indie development full-time?

Hard to say. On the one hand, I am really looking forward to trying out the indie thing, and I wouldn't have missed many of the tedious aspects of my current software development job in the last 3 years. On the other hand, I do own a nice car now (well, except for the hail damage) that is paid for, I've made great progress in paying down my mortgage, I learned many aspects of programming Windows while getting paid, had some great coworkers the last 2-3 years, and could live on my savings for a while if I were to go indie full-time and not have any revenue til that first title came out. Tough question.

[Anthony Flack]

I would plan better and do a smaller project (I have been working on the same game for three stupid years, after all) - but yeah, why not?

Banking software? Nah. I'm not the programmer type anyway.

Besides, three years ago I came to Japan, explicitly to make more money. Nothing to do with making games. And it's starting to pay off. And I still intend to keep on with the games.

However, if you told me six years ago (I think it was), when I was just getting started, that six years and countless thousands of hours later, I would only have one finished game, and not made any money worth mentioning, that may have made me pause. But hey, maybe next year I'll go back to five minutes after my first meeting with myself and say "hey, don't listen to that guy!"

[baegsi]

Interesting answers, thanks for sharing!


I think you can't get more money doing boring corporate software (at least alone and in three years) than what you'd have earned if you had done the 3 or 4 top selling games of the last three years. Comparing total revenue of those two industries, this might be true. However, there's a huge difference: corporate software is much better manageable. When developing a new application I can go to potential customers and ask what they need/where the problems are. Corporate software solves a concrete problem/fills a need. Games too, but they are much more "transient" and it's harder to predict what players want.

I'm currently in the position where I've to decide whether I want to make games or develop applications, at least for the next coming years. I only know that I want to start a business, and figured out that this needs my full attention. Developing games aside won't work for me. I also like developing applications, banking software doesn't have to be boring, but games are more fun, no doubt. On the other hand, running a successful lemonade booth is probably much more fun than a bankrupt games company. Difficult decision.

Reading your answers it seems that most of you could sustain your enthusiam about games. Good to hear.

[Anthony Flack]

I think you can't get more money doing boring corporate software (at least alone and in three years) than what you'd have earned if you had done the 3 or 4 top selling games of the last three years.


Trouble with this argument is, of course, that lots of people can claim to make a living writing boring corporate software. Who can claim to have written all the 3 or 4 top-selling games of the last three years?

It's not a very good comparison. You might be able to make more money playing the guitar in a top-10 band, but that doesn't necessarily mean you should quit your job to take guitar lessons.

[svero]

By that same token though how many people can claim to have originated a top selling utility in the last few years? I think any business is hard if you want to be the person in charge or the first one doing it. To go into the businsess software market as your own boss and create a new product that is a hit seller I'm sure is no walk in the park. I've been involved in the creation of new business products with the backing of top firms with literally billions of dollars to throw around that haven't succeeded.

[sparkyboy]

I'd go back about 8 years.With what I know now (still learning mind) and what I believed back then, I would not have listened to the assumption that games were a waste of time!!
Now, I'd have the confidence and self assurance to put all those prototypes into finished articles and then some!!

As always, with hindsight, we would all change something about our past.It's that self-doubt and lack of confidence (plus peer pressure amongst other things) that has, I would say, put me into the predicament that I find myself in today!!!

I feel pretty confident that I would have at least been earning some decent money!!!!!
Ah well such is life!!!!!


All the best


Mark.

[Anthony Flack]

By that same token though how many people can claim to have originated a top selling utility in the last few years?

Well yeah - I was working on the assumption that doing boring corporate programming meant writing custom software on contract to big companies, not trying to make a smash hit utility for general sale.

[Black Hydra]

Ah, I'm at the other end of your "three year journey" so I'll just have to see. :D