Fulltime game programming

[Life Path 122]

Hi, just want to send this out to game-programming veterens who might read this, and to anybody else who might have an opinion about this. While not mentioning details, I''ll start off by saying this. A game of mine was published about 6 months back as a part of a budget package. I worked on the game for about 3 months in the evenings (after work). I didn''t expect it to get published, let alone sell, but it did and now in total I have made about $80,000 in royalties. While that is not a lot compared to say Unreal or Sims, the making of the game didn''t cost a penny to make since I have been writing programs for fun and didn''t need to buy any special equipment. Now, ebarrissingly so, I have made much more in royalties than my full-time job. My question to any one out there is, do I dive in completely into game development by looking for a job in the industry or try and make good(if not AAA) games for a while and try my chances as an independent? -LP

[DavidRM 270]

First off, congrats! That rocks. :-)

Secondly, make sure you get an accountant. Your taxes for next year are going to be seriously screwed up.

Thirdly, to answer your question, the trick is creating another title with as little effort that generates as much revenue. If you can do that, then you''re good to go. Otherwise, your current path seems to be working. Content yourself with working on the side and having a good chunk of extra income.

Best of luck!

-David


DavidRM
Samu Games

[monkey8751 388]

Good job. 80,000 for three monthes of work is awesome.

Some things you should know about the game industry. First thing is the average salary is about 60,000 (see www.gamasutra.com) so don''t expect to be making any where near 80,000 in your first year. Second most companies expect you to work long hours with no extra pay for over time. Third you probably won''t get to work on one of your own ideas and may end up working on something you don''t like for monthes at a time. If your happy with your job now I would suggest staying with it and continue making games in your spare time. Now that you''ve got one game published it will probably be easier to get any future titles you make published.

If you don''t mind me asking what was the game and who was the publisher?

[lakibuk 128]

What game is it?
Do you have a webpage with information?

[spikey 122]

"about $80,000 in royalties" in 6 months?
How is that possible?
Which publisher is this?
I know alsmost every publisher on the globe. And
I doubt very much that it''s possible what you are saying.


>about 6 months back as a part of a budget package.
You will be payed mostly as pro rata.
That is the guidline for games which are part of a
low budget package.

My game will be sold as a standalone arcade package in a couple countries, with all my own games. So no games of any another developer. And what you are saying isn''t possible, in relation to my experience. Even with publishers who sell your game worldwide as part of an package, like eGames. eGames use
the pro rata formula for there collections. Ask cliffski if you doubt my words. He also got some games published by eGames on there collections.

So again I doubt it. Otherwise give me the name and website of the publisher. You earned your money, so you haven''t to be afraid if you are right.

quote:

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Original post by Life Path
Hi, just want to send this out to game-programming veterens who might read this, and to anybody else who might have an opinion about this. While not mentioning details, I''ll start off by saying this. A game of mine was published about 6 months back as a part of a budget package. I worked on the game for about 3 months in the evenings (after work). I didn''t expect it to get published, let alone sell, but it did and now in total I have made about $80,000 in royalties. While that is not a lot compared to say Unreal or Sims, the making of the game didn''t cost a penny to make since I have been writing programs for fun and didn''t need to buy any special equipment. Now, ebarrissingly so, I have made much more in royalties than my full-time job.
My question to any one out there is, do I dive in completely into game development by looking for a job in the industry or try and make good(if not AAA) games for a while and try my chances as an independent?

-LP

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[Guest Anonymous Poster]

1st, Congrats on the success!

2nd, you really need to decide what you WANT to do. If you were happy making this game, then perhaps you should just continue in this line. It sounds like it can be a lot more rewarding monetarily than working for someone else, as you arent going to get $240,000 working part time for a game company

Dont expect to make that much every game though, but I really wouldnt see a reason for you to join a company if you can get those kind of results on your own. If after a few more similar projects youve ammassed enough savings, you can always try bigger projects on your own.

You should have more experience dealing with publishers than as well, to get full funding for a team after youve made a prototype if you want to go that route though.

[Guest Anonymous Poster]

I also don''t believe you!

You are a big lyer!

Have your mom told, that you don''t may lie to adults!

You can''t prove your statements!

[Guest Anonymous Poster]

Yes, I also think this is not possible at all to make $80K
in 6 months, for a game that is part of a budget collection.

Go somewhere else with your lies.

[Guest Anonymous Poster]

It is possible to make 80k off a game if it sells well enough, no reason to get into all this doubting and derail the original topic posters very valid question.

Bunch of babies on this forum. Just deal with the topics or shut up. Theres no reason to start demanding proof for everything and derail EVERY topic posted here.

[Guest Anonymous Poster]

And it''s these jerk off''s that will eventually be the downfall of GameDev.net.

It won''t take long before any respectible member of the gaming community won''t have anything to do with this site.

It''s a real pitty. There is an amazing wealth of knowledge to be found in the content of gamedev.net and the experience of some of the regular members. It just takes a few idiots to make all that meaningless and to ruin the reputation of a great site.

To GDNet Staff - Eliminate the Annon posters. It might reduce the number of crap posts. (I know, this post is annon, but why cause a personal war).