Yeah, that''s about how much I figured... :-P Thanks for the reply. And thanks for not making it into a flame :-P I swear I was a bit paranoid that someone would.

There is also this thing... I live in Russia so it''s super easy to get my hands on bulk materials at almost nothing. So that''s always a plus. :-) Then there is the small problem of me trying to ship the finished product back to the states. (I am a US Citizen, and therefore my first market is the US Market) It takes anywhere from 3 weeks to a month and a half to send a letter. UPS and such kinda works all up until it gets onto Russian Soil, then it takes about 4 days from there. (This is how the ''overnight'' delivery usually turns out...)

Well anyway... I''m just talking mindlessly now... It''s midnight, so that''s my excuse. :-P Thanks again for the more than welcomed reply. :-)

Alex Ford
PointSoft EA Co., Ltd.
http://www.pointsoftonline.com

A week has passed since the latest post in this thread, I just hope I''m not too much late for this post

I''m currently developing an action game with the shareware market in mind. I''ve been investigating that market for some months, and what I saw about it impressed me so much that I''m now going to make my try on it. I''m currently working full time in this development (if you don''t count the university, that doesn''t take me much time anyway), and I''m working real hard on it. I''ve also worked hard planning the way I will market my game in the future, and even when it surely will take a lot of time (maybe more than the development time, as usual), if it''s the way it has to be done, I''ll do it that way.

I still have no screenshots, neither I''d like to speak about the game itself until its development phase is near the end. If any of you would be interested in being noticed as soon as it''s released (and as soon as there are news about it, beta testing, first screenshots, etc), just sign up in my site''s monthly newsletter at http://www.hhm.com.ar/newsletter.htm and you''ll be noticed in time.

As you can see in my site, it''s not going to be my first game ever I''ve been making game development since 7 years ago, and have already finished plenty of games (and other kinds of software as well). And I''ve seen the shareware is one of the only ways to keep you working in game development, full time, and without losing the creative control over your creations. I think, at least for me, that''s the way to go this time.

And no, I don''t think it''s easy at all. I understand it''s very hard and risky, but isn''t it always? The problem is solved just by being courageous, smart, and persistent over fails.

I hope you all (myself included) the best luck with your shareware developments.

Best regards,


--DK
--H. Hernán Moraldo
http://www.hhm.com.ar/
Sign up to the HHM''s developers'' newsletter.

Hard work is right! From the posts I''ve seen on this thread so far I don''t think the work is going to be the problem, or that people have underestimated the work involved. Pretty much everyone seems to be committed do doing what ever it takes to achieve their goals (dreams). Trolling the "Help Wanted" forum, we all have a pretty realistic idea of how many game projects come and go, and are determined not to be another statistic.

I watched the movie Gattica again yesterday. Man, that''s a motivational movie, If you haven''t seen it go rent it! You can find it in the sci-fi section of your local hollywood video, even if you don''t like sci-fi you''ll like this movie (my wife did!).

It just re-affirmed my belief that if I try hard enough and persist long enough all my goals are within reach. As long as I have that hope I know i''ll never stop striving to achieve my goals.

I don''t think everyone here has the ultimate goal of merely making money; our goal is to work on our own games full time. Since we have bills to pay and mouths to feed we need a somewhat steady income. Once we have that we can quit our boring 9-5 jobs and do what we love all the time. So yes, naturally our goal is to figure out a way to make some money selling games. But the end goal is alot closer to your goal, to make the games we love and want to play and do it full time.

On a somewhat related topic, just this last weekend I got the biggest reward from this so far. I''m getting very close to finishing my first complete and polished game. My wife has always been a little iffy and curious on what exactly I do with all my time. She knows I''m working on a game and I tell her the general details of the game and she sees it on my screen when I''m running it, but thats it. So, this last weekend, I decided to bring her in as my first alpha tester. I set up my game with 2 levels for her to play. She got really engrossed in it and just loved it, and when she finished the second level she was very happy and proud of me. That made me feel good. What felt even better was the next day, when out of the blue she asked me "Didn''t you say you were going to let me play 3 or 4 levels?" and when I told her I only said 2, she got this disappointed look on her face and said "oh....", like I cheated her out of more levels.

And to me, thats what its all about. The money would be great, and if my hobby let me retire from my 9-5 job within the next 3 years, I would be very happy. But its mostly about the feeling you get when a person (especially someone you love) just cant get enough of your game.

Anonymous Poster: If you offer something to a man and he refuses it, to whom does it belong? Your hateful comments and disparaging attitude I refuse to accept in my thread. Neither I nor anyone else here will regard anything you have to say.

LordKronos: I think that rocks dude, and I know what you mean. Our little AP here is obviously a very lonely person, sounds like it’s been along time since anyone has shown him any love. He obviously doesn''t know what it''s like to have your creation appreciated by the ones you care about. That’s a huge reason why I love games in the first place, because through them we can experience fun/enjoyment/entertainment and even learn something occasionally. I think that''s a great accomplishment if you can bring that experience to people you care about. (even better when those people are in your target market!)

You''ll definitely have to let us know how it goes, Your blazing the trail out there. I''ve decided that I want my game to be reasonably complete for entry in next years IGF (Sept. 1st). Seems like a good deadline, and it would be a great excuse to go to the IGF/GDC.

quote:Original post by Ironside
I''ve decided that I want my game to be reasonably complete for entry in next years IGF (Sept. 1st). Seems like a good deadline, and it would be a great excuse to go to the IGF/GDC.

Thats definitely one of my goals. Actually, I expect my game to be totally complete even before the Setp 1st deadline. That even gives me a chance to (hopefully) get it well known before judging time comes around, and to get it totally bug free. That will also give me plenty of time to get feedback on issues like user interface, playability, etc, and fine tune things up to the end (assuming I make it that far).

With any luck, I''ll see you there. At the very least, I just need an excuse to go. This is the second year in a row I promised myself I''d find a way there next year, only to not find a way there. If I were to get into the finals, I''d really have no choice but to find any way to get myself there.