I remember talking with someone on how his friend decided to just up and go to SF with no potential job and just a few month's worth of savings. He's gonna be in for one rough awakening, I thought. That would just scare me, and you can't even guarantee other non-programming related job offers to come up within that span of time.

I decided to just up and go to Thailand from America with no potential job and 2.5 months’ worth of savings and no prior experience.
That’s why I now have a nice game-development job here in Tokyo and have lived/worked in 3 different countries around the world making video games.

Things always work out, or else you would see a lot more bums than you do. Nothing comes to those who take no risks. Everything comes to those who do.

You should probably find out how that guy is doing right now. He is likely much better-off than you think.


L. Spiro

I probably should, a few others and I were mostly under the impression that he wanted to only apply directly for his desired profession instead of additionally trying simpler, shorter-term jobs like a grocery cashier as a stepping stone for living within his means.

I considered doing something like this a few years back, though to Ohio, rather than Kansas City. The internet speed wasn't a draw, but the low cost of living was: at that time, during the mortgage crisis, I could have bought a bank repossession (4 bedroom, in an decent housing development) outright for ~$15,000 cash. Food and other living expenses are between 1/4-1/3 of what we pay in Boston.

Ultimately, though, Spiro has a point about networking. While I could have covered living expenses by working remotely part time, and spent all the rest of the time on gamedev stuff, I would have been living in the arse end of nowhere, and getting back out again would have been a nightmare...

I think that at this point, if a really good idea for a game strikes, I'd rather go broke in a co-working space in Boston or New York.

Just curious:

How would you guys sustain yourself and pay monthly expenses? Im sure you guys would have to do indie game dev as a part time gig for the first few years and hold other jobs to make some money untill your games start generating revenue. Also when people live together, disuputes can make ventures go sour.

Long time no post.

ISDCaptain01: I, personally, would not work, and I would hope those working with me would not work on anything other than the games. Well, I do have an online translating business which is demand based, so when there is a demand, I would be doing that. However, I have actually made some progress on this issue and think that I am going to go out to KC for 1) the internet, and 2) the really cool tech and startup community there that just makes things feel "nicer." I am NOT going to invite random ppl to live with me as I was considering because this would end up being a bad move on a number of personal fronts, as mentioned above.

The great thing about going somewhere cheap (and btw, KC is not middle of nowhere anymore, its surprising but it does have a tech scene and even a small gamedev scene) is that I will have enough cash to travel anywhere I want to, anytime I want to i.e. for conventions, which I would not have the luxury of doing in, say SF.

Still no decisions made here, but after much ado I have come to the conclusion that, like anything else in life, choosing where to live is a very personal decision and there really is no "right" answer. It just requires one to know ones self and to be true to said self :D