Comment by socialist_coder | Hacker News Reader

Comment by socialist_coder | Hacker News Reader

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socialist_coder

These guys are making the classic indie game dev mistake- making a funky indie game that doesnt monetize well, has no virality, isn't freemium, etc.

Game developers like these aren't professionals, they're hobbyists. They're making games like its a hobby, not a professional job. They do no market research, experiments, etc. If you run a normal business or a normal startup like that, you will have similarly terrible results.

Be a professional. Look at the market. What monetizes well? What works? Hint: it's not the linked game.

Go look at the top grossing charts in the various app stores for an idea of what type of game you should be making.

I co-founded a small game company 2 years ago. We took 10 months to make our first game and have been releasing updates for it ever since. We're all working remotely. And, we're making enough money to pay ourselves a Bay Area salary.

I love video games. I love the game industry. I started as a QA tester and worked my way up from there. I will never do anything different. You can make money making games, but you can't be an indie game developer / hobbyist. Be a professional.

You made some really good points, but the game that you developed is... a casino game (slots vacation, from your profile). No game can show all that's wrong with the game industry more than a free-to-play mobile casino game. If that's being a professional, I don't wanna be one.

Very capitalist for a socialist_coder.

I want to pay taxes and receive good benefits =)

For me, living in Germany instead of the US while founding my startup was a dream come true. I got very affordable health care, health insurance, and child care when we weren't making any money. I never had to stress out about how to pay for those things while we worked for a year without getting paid.

Now that we are making money, I'm happy to pay more for those things.

And, it's nice to know that if we went bankrupt tomorrow, I could continue to get those social services at a price I can always afford.

Video games are (or can be) art as well as business.

And artists in any medium, if they want to support themselves through their art, are a business too.

Some (stereotypical, not video game) artists do make art like it's a business, focusing on what will make them the most money. Sometimes it's good art too.

But most good art isn't driven mainly by what "monetizes well".

100% agree. But my point is that if you want to talk finances, don't talk about it like it's an art project.

You can always make a game that makes money first, then make your artsy game later. That's our plan.

If Notch had done what you said Minecraft would never exist.

Special cases do exist, but for the vast majority of people who want to be developing games, they need to be treating it like a business, not like art.

You can always make a profitable game first, then use that money to make your 2nd artsy game.

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