Hacker News Reader

Comment by skariel123 | Hacker News Reader

if I build a gam then what is it as shovel? people will not makemoney out of it. I'm also not a middleman because there's just me and the end customer, I vuilt it from scratch. So who am I?!

View on HN

No, you are a manufacturer. You are producing a product from raw materials with the goal of turning a profit. The issue with this model, when applied to digital products, is that the tolerance for execution is diminutive. A good idea for a game with great art and music can easily turn into a failure if some of the game mechanics are off (See no man's land). Video games are one of the hardest products to produce.

It's important to keep in mind that selling shovels and being a middleman are not the only options. There are certainly others. Its just that my exoeriences and studies have pointed to those two being the most profitable in the current cultural setting.

And for games, becoming a middleman like Steam is where the profit is. They have less risk since they are just facilitating connecting game "manufacturers" to consumers. They aren't heavily invested in one game. If it's a flop there are others.

That is an astute observation. Steam's success pivots on its ability to develop and strengthen a marketplace.

I wouldn't say "where the profit is." There is steam...what else is there? Microsoft/Sony/Google/Apple marketplaces? Those don't really count because they control the platform and essentially kill all the alternatives. Gog, humble bundle, and itch.io are a tiny fraction of steam.

One of thousands of people entering into the highly competitive Indie Games market and hoping that you have the right combination of a desirable game and effective marketing that will get you enough sales that your time spent making the game is justified.

Or in other words, a gambler. Your profit from the game relies on convincing people that your game is fun and worthwhile; two ill defined concepts that vary from person to person.

With a business idea (shovels or middleman) your profit comes from convincing people that your product will help them make more money than they're paying you.

You bring a up a good point. A poorly designed game might qualify as a gamble. However, there are ways to build games that have well grounded revenue predictions. Though those are hardly built by indies because they are not very innovative.

A game is a shovel. People don't want to play games, they want to have fun, or disconnect from the real world for a period of time, or they want to connect with their friends. Games enable them to do so.

Agreed. So shovel for dopamine?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com