@Orymus,

By decent I mean a game of quality that is good enough for it to be released on something like Steam (most likely). I am not shooting for consoles or mobiles, just PC, as it seems the easiest to publish a game on. The scope of the game is not too large, I think. It's basically a 3D fighting/action-adventure (as in, you walk around the environment, talk to some NPCs, fight some baddies, and eventually there are some harder, boss-type, battles) with 2-3 levels. As stated above, I use Mixamo Fuse for the animated 3D models which makes it very easy and much faster (not to mention cheaper) than hiring a 3D artist.

To answer your last question, it's not a criterion for me for the game to be profitable. I am not counting on any potential income from it to pay my bills, etc. At this point I plan to keep my day, bill paying, job. So basically, I just want to finish the game, have it released on a PC, and if somebody buys it, that's fine. If not, that's fine too. I look at it more as an artistic venture than a business one. I want to implement my vision for a game and put it out there and see what people think. Making any profit from it would be a secondary bonus.

@Orymus,

By decent I mean a game of quality that is good enough for it to be released on something like Steam (most likely). I am not shooting for consoles or mobiles, just PC, as it seems the easiest to publish a game on. The scope of the game is not too large, I think. It's basically a 3D fighting/action-adventure (as in, you walk around the environment, talk to some NPCs, fight some baddies, and eventually there are some harder, boss-type, battles) with 2-3 levels. As stated above, I use Mixamo Fuse for the animated 3D models which makes it very easy and much faster (not to mention cheaper) than hiring a 3D artist.

To answer your last question, it's not a criterion for me for the game to be profitable. I am not counting on any potential income from it to pay my bills, etc. At this point I plan to keep my day, bill paying, job. So basically, I just want to finish the game, have it released on a PC, and if somebody buys it, that's fine. If not, that's fine too. I look at it more as an artistic venture than a business one. I want to implement my vision for a game and put it out there and see what people think. Making any profit from it would be a secondary bonus.

Hey, from your answer up there, why are you even asking if it is possible?

If its just a hobby for now, forget about what is possible or not. Find out yourself!

To make this post maybe a little bit more helpful:

From what you write, that sounds quite doable... I never really used Fuse, but I know Mixamo (tried their online service way back), so I am sure they can deliver. IF these character models will then be unique enough to still look interesting is something I would question, so you certainly might need to invest some more down the line to make sure your mixamo characters fit in with your game, either time or money to create or buy the needed props and outfits, hair and body parts. Even so, with the animation and rigging taken care of, you are right, a good portion of the character 3D modelling woes are gone.

There is still a very good chance you completly underestimate the amount of work the level design for your game is... if your action-adventure has at least a normal length, that is an awful lot of content needed. You might be able to buy most of the models (though for a large world with many different zones, you will need a lot of different models, or you need to be good with modifying the models you bought).... still, creating the levels from all that will take quite some time, not to mention scripting events, enemies, coming up with a story and the dialog system, and so on...

But in the end, nothing of it sounds really like uncharted waters. You will most probably find help without problems online if you get stuck. So yes, very doable until releasing the game...

Then you have to manage to get on Steam, which is more a marketing and community building feat. Others have managed it before, so not out of reach clearly, though different skills are needed for that.

So if you have a day job that pays the bills, and are not too fussed about being successfull, or how long it takes to release it... just do it! Give it a try... worst that can happen is you give up on this game idea of yours after a year, having learned a lot, most importantly that Indie dev-ing is not for you. Which is something that nobody can tell you, you will have to try out yourself.

And even if you do not manage to release this game in a sensible time, maybe continuing building it is still fun 5 years down the line, maybe you start a new game project after a year that IS successfull... as long as you have a blast along the way, why not?

3D fighting/action-adventure

3D can be overwhelming on your own.

If you are to use 3D, may I recommend focusing on an arena-like level (enclosed) as opposed to actual levels?

A lot of recent games have minimized scope while retaining a good core experience by doing so.

To answer your last question, it's not a criterion for me for the game to be profitable. I am not counting on any potential income from it to pay my bills, etc. At this point I plan to keep my day, bill paying, job. So basically, I just want to finish the game, have it released on a PC, and if somebody buys it, that's fine. If not, that's fine too. I look at it more as an artistic venture than a business one. I want to implement my vision for a game and put it out there and see what people think. Making any profit from it would be a secondary bonus.

It can be frustrating to work on it alone, but given the right level of motivation, this sounds like a somewhat realistic end. Just need to consider any tool license you might acquire and try to break even on sales if you can, so that you're left with the experience of the process and no debts.

From personal experience, it is easy to start, it gets harder as you go, and the final stretch to complete it has absolutely nothing to do with game development (and this is a part where a lot of indies fail and die hard). Putting a game on the market (even without marketing effort) can be tiring, and often involves you learning a bunch of stuff about a bunch of things the very hard way.

Best of luck though!

(am perhaps you should really take a look at my article on Getting Games Done, as this references a fairly similar setting as yours).

3. Build the CORE game play first, then add on to it. Don't invent the core game play in your head and add on to it in your head. Add, test, iterate.
4. You should use Unity or Unreal Engine. It's going to take you several months to get proficient enough to bust out a game in a weekend. DO NOT build your own game engine.

Yes and yes.

I just made a game over the weekend.

What about the big project now? I probably need to catch up on your journal...