Making Games for a Living?

Hey fellow game makers,

I've seen a few topics here and there on monetizing the games. So I figure that yeah, it can be done.

I see people's attitudes towards money can vary, some might even consider it as an "evil" thing. Personally I don't think that making a game with a "financial" end in mind is a bad thing. After all, it has to be a great game that people really enjoy, in order for it to make money, right?

That being said, what I'm wondering is: is anybody on this forum making games for a living?, As in, not having to go to a job, and earning enough to "pay the bills"?

I would love to hear back from such a person <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />.

Cheers!

Nope.

Game making is a hobby for alot of people

Reason : Before starting , you need a job . Imagine your game won't sell

And you don't have a job !

What you will do ?

That's it

I mean I'm sure it's possible but I've only seen 1 or 2 commercial games made in CC, and they weren't anything big. Plus it seems a lot of people have a difficult time running CC games. What happens when hundreds of people buy your game and can't even run it? It would be a disaster. Then they'll want Mac and Linux and other versions which CC can't make. C2 solves these issues but marketing C2 games sounds very complicated and difficult.

On top of that I'm fairly positive CC/C2 games will never be allowed on Steam, Desura, etc. If you want to make a living off your games, you're probably going to rely on them.

edit: I guess you could take the ad revenue route with C2 games but imo that's tacky and will get you nothing but pennies unless you have thousands and thousands of visitors.

I'm not trying to be a downer or anything but I just don't think there's a whole lot you can do when it comes to marketing games made with such programs. I would love to be proven wrong though.

I mean I'm sure it's possible but I've only seen 1 or 2 commercial games made in CC, and they weren't anything big. Plus, and I don't know all the details here, but it seems a lot of people have a difficult time running CC games. What happens when hundreds of people buy your game and can't even run it? It would be a disaster. Then they'll want Mac and Linux and other versions which CC can't make. C2 solves these issues but marketing C2 games sounds very complicated and difficult.

I'm getting around the DX9 problem by simply using an installer, merging the game's and DX9's EULAs into one screen, and installing the necessary DX9 components and the game at the same time.

On top of that I'm fairly positive CC/C2 games will never be allowed on Steam, Desura, etc. Which you don't NEED to sell your games, but they really help, especially if you plan on making a living from them.

GM and MMF games have been put on steam, so there should be no problem with CC games.

GM and MMF games have been put on steam, so there should be no problem with CC games.

Would you mind sharing which games?

I hear this a lot but often find out later that said games were remade in C++ or something before being accepted (See DustForce) or were never actually made in GM or whatever to begin with.

-I think VVVVVV is a GM game that got on Steam

-Noitu Love 2 was rejected by Steam and it's by far the best MMF game I've seen.

-Crystal Towers 2 was rejected by Steam but accepted by Desura.

Basically it's a serious hit or miss. I think a game being made in CC/C2/MMF/GM drops the chances of it getting accepted by 99%

I work as a game designer in a video game company. One month ago, I tried C2 and showed the possibilities to two workmates and friends. They're both graphical artists/animators but they have been pretty seduced, so we've decided to give a try to this interesting software, just to see what could happen...

Our objective is to make a professional quality game (something simple but well-polished and fun), but once done, I still don't know what we will do with that game. Currently, this is a challenge, for fun and eventually "more".

Actually, I know what it takes to make a good game as a game designer but not as a developer and my technical skills might be not good enough for the very last steps.

Everything linked to the gameplay doesn't worry me much, but when it will get more "technical", like social and monetization features (everything that can make earn money), I don't know... It will depend on what will be available in the next C2 releases.

In 2 months, I'll be able to let you know about our game and whether we continue with C2 or not.

> GM and MMF games have been put on steam, so there should be no problem with CC games.

Would you mind sharing which games?

I hear this a lot but often find out later that said games were remade in C++ or something before being accepted (See DustForce) or were never actually made in GM or whatever to begin with.

-I think VVVVVV is a GM game that got on Steam

-Noitu Love 2 was rejected by Steam and it's by far the best MMF game I've seen.

-Crystal Towers 2 was rejected by Steam but accepted by Desura.

Basically it's a serious hit or miss. I think a game being made in CC/C2/MMF/GM drops the chances of it getting accepted by 99%

MMF: Saira

GM: Legend of Fae, Serious sam: the random encounter

I don't think using one of those tools has that much to do with the selection process. I could be wrong, though.

I make games for a living, But I do not use C2 to make them.

I love C2 is makes my life easy and I am working on some independent projects with C2 that I hope to sell.

I cannot say I make games for a living meaning only games, games is a part of my life, But I also make apps, website, anything techy really. I would also consider myself somewhat a artist. Im not so good at things like character design, I have artists for that. But user interfacing is something I do.

Being just a games developer is not a reality in my opinion, not unless your Rovio making something like 120 million on a project, they can afford to make only games for the rest of there lives.

C2 is a great engine, But it's a long way from being something to fund your life + projects.

Being just a games developer is not a reality in my opinion, not unless your Rovio making something like 120 million on a project, they can afford to make only games for the rest of there lives.

There are plenty of small teams who make a living making games, some of them are even simply one person. It's quite possible to make a living making games as an independent developer, though it's not easy.

C2 is a great engine, But it's a long way from being something to fund your life + projects.

I don't think it's that far away. The main problem is a lack of a decent EXE wrapper, but there are people working on that.

Wanderlust a GM7 game recently made it on Desura and GamersGate. It is the best "made with a game maker" game I have ever played.

It's definitely possible. If you're good enough and your game is good enough. Of course there's other factors involved but they're a minority. The thing is that you must be an artist to make true money with games. A programmer artist, a drawing artist, a business artist, a storytelling artist etc. Most people can't be all this things. That's why it's so important to have a good team. The starting point i think is creativity and persistence. If you don't have this two skills you'll probably fail.

It takes a lot of work and time. I'm 25, been indie since forever and couldn't work on anything else so i'm still poor. By now i'll probably never get a "normal" job anymore so my way is game dev.

I make games for fun but not for profit , Would like to though but i would need more people to help which can become quite expensive.Steam is also very picky when it comes to selling your games through them.

I intend to make some money of my game once it is finished :)

But being my only income? No.

You can be certain that i inform the Forum once i made my first sell ! :D

So why is Steam so damn picky? I don't get it.

And back on topic... It is possible to make money off yer games, and I agree with Kiyoshi, the more you can do by yerself, the better. A team looks all professional and dandy, but it can be expensive or impossible if you do not have money. I personally, can do everything, BUT not character sprites. I do sprite, but I have a very limited skill in it, and only that it's still a big set back ( more of a fear of getting any further into spriting, as I know how time consuming it is ). I do not make games for money, though. Probably never will. If I were to sell something it would be assets, mostly music. But certainly not enough for a living. Spriting is a great way to make money, as they are high in demand. A really good and professional spriter, makes around 20 an hour, but of course, unless you are rich or work for a company, that is extremely unrealistic.