On the doorstep of everything I have wanted for the past 8 years.
Back then I had big ideas and even bigger ambitions, and after years and years of work and determination, planning and learning. I find myself professionaly employed as a Game Developer(my dream), and the head of my own game development effort, on the threshold of our first release, which some(many?) are anticipating.
In short, I have 'nearly' acomplished my goal(s), and im thinking back to when I was 14, and noticing how much things have changed (in the gaming industry), and I am wondering where exactly I am going to go from here.
Hypothetical Scenario:
Morning's Wrath is released this summer, and sells 2000 copies.
$60,000.00 gross income
$30,000.00 for me
$6,000.00 per developer
and top it off with some good acclaim.
Now what?:
A few basic scenarios come to mind
The Accomplishment Scenario:
After making a successful game, against all odds, leading your team to victory, you decide to 'throw in the towel', because indie game development no longer holds any allure. Your fans grow to hate your guts because they want Morning's Wrath 2.
The Next Generation Scenario:
We move on to the cutting edge of game development, build a new engine, and prepare to develop another great Adventure And/Or RPG, but using current technology to it's fullest. Die-hard 2d fans hate you, and chances are your next game will never be quite as good as your first, since you've lost that 'underdog-drive'.
The Less is More Scenario:
We make use of our existing engine technology, and work to create smaller adventure/rpg games, alike to that of short novels (think some of Stephen King's short works), and release more, smaller games at cheaper prices meant for week/weekend play.
Lots of possibilities, naturaly, The Cutting Edge/From Scratch(tm) is most appealing(that is how I got here in the first place), but I have learned, first hand, that 'rolling your own' takes LOTS of time.
The last scenario is most likely, and here is why:
means smaller development scheduels, and that means not working on a game for years-on-end(boring/fustrating), variety is the spice of life.
we have a perfectly good(sorta), game engine(built by yours truly), that at it's core can handle any 2D game, and at it's extremeties can do isometric games in a snap.
we are sort of a niche developer at the moment, what with doing 2d adventure games, jumping up to the Big Leages, would undoubtibly mean, more headaches while trying to stay on top; as far as I am concerned they can keep their market share=)
This is all just speculation, but the time is drawing near where I will have to decide where EDI Games is heading, and I am weighing the potentials.
oy, I need a break =)
YMMV, of course =)