Strictly hobbyist here. There is nearly zero overlap between game genres I like to work on as a developer and genres I enjoy as a player. I get the itch every now and again but the stuff I like best as a player is either art-intensive (so well outside my skills) or a huge technical undertaking.
What style of game is it that you're working on?
Casual tower defense style
what would you do with the money and how much would you need?
In fact, to be precise, it takes time. Now I trade my time for money to support my family. If there's enough time, I'd like to write a game engine in Rust that's good enough to take out cocoscretor's game engine. Use this engine to realize the Sutra of the Mountain and the Sea, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Feng Shen Ban, the Romance of Sui and Tang dynasties... all kinds of scenarios as well as interactions I dreamed of.