Indie gaming a long term solution?

[ninjasamurai]

Do you plan on making games for the rest of your life?
Do you see yourself living of this 'til you are 65 (if you aren't already)?
Or do you have a plan B?

[ggambett]

I plan to continue making games while I enjoy making them AND it's a profitable business. I also have some sort of "plan B" which I intend to pursue in parallel, which is to create a special effects company.

Hey, let me dream, OK? ;)

[Ricardo C]

Heh. My plan B is becoming a porn star :D

[TimS]

Making indie games is what I do to while away the hours whilst waiting for it to be somewhat more reasonable to start a career as a space pirate.

yarr.

[ninjasamurai]

I plan to continue making games while I enjoy making them AND it's a profitable business.
It's always gonna be a profitable business, people will always want more games, the problem is we may become to old for this shit.


I also have some sort of "plan B" which I intend to pursue in parallel, which is to create a special effects company.
That sounds like a good idea. I guess you are talking about tv commercials and stuff like that, it has many things in common with game development, the problem is you are changing from a virtual business to a "real world" one, so getting clients can prove difficult.


My plan B is becoming a porn star
I think that ship has sailed my friend, you are pushing 30 and putting up weight :D .


Making indie games is what I do to while away the hours whilst waiting for it to be somewhat more reasonable to start a career as a space pirate.
hmmm. That conflicts with my plan C: becoming a space videogame merchant.


Now seriously guys, don't you ever worry you might wind up ten years from now flat broke with nothing in your brain besides game code?

[Abscissa]

My last resort right before street bum is corporate IT. Ick :(. I've done it before, and I can do it again, but not if there are still any (*ANY*) other options left.


Now seriously guys, don't you ever worry you might wind up ten years from now flat broke with nothing in your brain besides game code? Man, forget ten years. For the last three years, I've been worrying about winding up like that after ten months.

[Fry Crayola]

I want to do it for the rest of my life, and I'd like to be both critically and financially successful.

But there is a plan B. I intend go to back to university next autumn and study Physics, as I find programming without creativity to be the equivalent of asking Da Vinci to paint your house white. Mind numbingly dull and frustrating.

I intend to do a PhD in Astrophysics and probably go on to research. An academic life is probably one I'll pursue if things don't work out on the games front.

[TimS]

hmmm. That conflicts with my plan C: becoming a space videogame merchant.

Perhaps we can work something out... maybe a general "indiegamer forum posters are safe" clause will work... ;)


Now seriously guys, don't you ever worry you might wind up ten years from now flat broke with nothing in your brain besides game code?

If game code was all I had left in my brain I'd have to give up on life... :confused: As for going broke... I guess we just have to keep ourselves useful in some manner. Crayola's PhD in Astrophysics seems to be about right -- I think everyone should have a PhD in something they enjoy as a plan B.

[ninjasamurai]

My last resort right before street bum is corporate IT.
And that would be my plan B. I've worked in a bank before, programming queries for a database until I quit and now I fear nobody is gonna hire me after spending years in my room making games.

Maybe I should have listened to what my mother said...


If game code was all I had left in my brain I'd have to give up on life...

I guess your right, I'm worrying too much. I guess this kind of questions arise from the desperation of having commited to a too big game as a first project...

[DGuy]

There will always be a need to program games: be it for computers, consoles, handhelds, phones, etc. If, in the next 5 to 10 years, the casual game market goes bust, or I bomb at it, I'll just take my collection of games, redo my resume, probably get a head-hunter and get work at a small to medium-sized game development company.

Programming and, in particular, game design/ development is what I really enjoy, so I'll always want to make a living at it one way or another.

[e-funsoft]

Yes, I want to make games as long as I can. But I know that I won't be able to keep making game codes when I'm 65. But I think I want to stay as long as possible in this game industry. Perhaps there will be changes in how I do this business in the future, perhaps I will establish a game company with programmers, artists, etc, and I can just talk about the game ideas with someone who've been helping me in this area :) This way, it's not necessary to work too hard, but it's still possible to stay in this game industry, while making lots of bucks.. ;p

Well, my plan B is to invest the money from my games into property like housing, etc. And I think I can just enjoy my life while doing something I really love as my job, for the rest of my life.. :D

[Travis Dorschel]

I hope to eventually get into AI, Robotics and Intelligent Design research (all research into what is information, intelligence, metaphysical). For me I don't see games/desktop enhancements as a long term career. I have a long term plan (if the Lord provides) to work on my small ventures (Living Desktops, Games, ...) for the next few years while working full time before I launch my business full time. I also work for my church and hope to continue and increase in that and missional work as well. That's the plan anyway - we'll see what happens:)

[Jesse Aldridge]

My backup plan's always been to get a job in the "real" games industry. I get the impression that if you have a completed project to show, it's not hard to get at least an entry level job.

[soniCron]

I'd probably try to make money in some other capacity, most likely through investments. (Live a few years at a near-poverty level, but with a normal income, and you'll see what I'm talking about.) In the end, I'd really love to foster a community like Erik does with D.R.O.D. That's my dream, anyway. :)

[Jack Norton]

My plan B is to become a famous pornstar.
Rocco Siffredi? pfui! here comes Jack Norton! :D

edit: damn Ricardo beat me on time (didn't saw his post)!

[rioka]

My Plan B: Take over the world. After that, it'll be much easier doing Plan A. :D

[cliffski]

My backup plan's always been to get a job in the "real" games industry.
SHUDDER. Please don't use phrases like that here. It uspets those of us who fled that industry... ;D
check this out and see if you still feel that way:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/ea_spouse/

grrr firefox still doesnt work with the editing...

[Ratboy]

SHUDDER. Please don't use phrases like that here. It uspets those of us who fled that industry... ;D
No, no, let him go. It's the only way he'll learn... ;)

[Jesse Aldridge]

Yeah I've read that. But it can't be like that everywhere, all the time... can it? Anyway, it shouldn't be an issue, as I'm planning on doing well as an indie :)

[Jim Buck]

No, it's not like everywhere all the time, but it will be hard to find a job where you can just kick back year 'round (meaning purely 9-5 5 days/week 52 weeks/year). Your best bet is to get on a tools team or something similar. If you are on a game team, you will most likely be pressured to stay in the office more than "normal" even if you are caught up on your work.

[baegsi]

The thing is: as you get older/more experienced/move on in life, your priorities are likely to change. Maybe it is not a bad idea to have an exit/change strategy instead of a plan B, just in case ;)

[gpetersz]

I am just making my first million. Okay, I am within the first 1000 but I'll make it. :D

Actually, why Plan B? When I'll be 65 (for god's sake I hope I'll be!), then I'll be THE OWNER, and youngsters will make games in my company, I'll only golf around and chasing the nurses when they set my pacemaker...
What else?

[ManuelMarino]

Well, I own a recording studio and my plan B is to... set up a videogame dev team ;)

If anyone is interested, let's talk about it using MSN messenger... contact is vanethian@tin.it

[AVataRR]

Blah, I'm getting close to graduation and my parents are already pressuring me to get a job. I want to continue studying but it looks like I'm going to have to relegate that as a part-time thing as I do what I'm expected to do and join a good company.

My Plan B is Indie Gaming!!!! I sure hope my first release goes well. I hate getting up early enough to arrive someplace at 9. On the other hand, I might be able to meet some girls who aren't goths or hippies.

[Sysiphus]

At 9? Well, been at some game dev places I needed to get up at 5:45 ....In a country where usually ppl get up at 7:30.


probably get a head-hunter and get work at a small to medium-sized game development company

Try to avoid that as much as you can. I have worked like in 4 exactly of that, and man, choose a letter for your other plans, 'cause is gonna be such a better letter.

If you get into that, put in the contract you only work 8 hours, and you don't stay whole nights after whole days of work at the company, even when your stuff was ended in time and ur doing some extra -not needed- crap some boss put in your milestones suddenly..

Anyway, at least in my experience, some of the middle and specially the small ones, will even pick u only for good skills. I would not worry. But in general, I'd say showing the title you did as shareware author, even only one, will open you a job in many companies, specially those bigger with lots of staff , which often aren't as qualified as some people think...

My plan B is getting full indy. As the way I am don't have the needed time(usual 10 hours a day in job now, near 12 for meal, etc). I could be making quite better bucks, for what I am seing. Imho while you're in a game company you can only be indy with the sharing profits way , doing it with some very good friend coder(/s) with no timeline/milestones.

BTW, I have many other "plans" , as been really busy all my life building other proffessions profiles, as since the first day suspected the main aspect of videogames was non stability, at least in the huge games field.