Who makes here a Living of Games?

You can''t live from developing games, even quality games.
The chance is very little! So look for a job in the industry and make a good portofolio. There is too much competition out there from the big boys who are also selling there games for budget prices on compilations. Look at expertsoftware, it is now owned by activision. Also another software firm.
Some games sells well, but the most don''t. You need much luck!

You can''t live from developing games, even quality games.
The chance is very little! So look for a job in the industry and make a good portofolio. There is too much competition out there from the big boys who are also selling there games for budget prices on compilations. Look at expertsoftware, it is now owned by activision. Also another software firm.
Some games sells well, but the most don''t. You need much luck!

snif snif!

it''s right you need much luck within this industry.
In the past when there wasn''t much competition there were more possibilities for starting developers then nowadays. So I am afraid that you need to work on a protofolio. It isn''t that if you develop a 3d shooter you can live from it. The publishers gets enough 3d quality games to choose one from, where he in is interested. Also when you look in the productlines of value publishers you see almost everywhere good quality games. porblem is that most of those games don''t sells well enough to make profit, to break even. This happened also to wizard works. Mostly there are some other products which sold well to continue with a sequel like hunting games. What you need to do is, to develop a game for mass marketing. Easy said, but in real world difficult. It isn''t that if you are able to develop a 3d game, you can live from it. It''s more the question in how many (12) months sells the game in x units to live from. And what will you get nett profit for each sold copy. Is it enough to live from?
Most development studio''s have financial backup, they have an invenstor. Also most development studio''s are bought up or get bankrupt (ionstorm etc). You noticed this also for the publishers (hasbro, micropose, headgames etc.) side.
So the short answer, you need to have luck. Publishers controls the market in relation to the developer.You need to find a good publisher. And fist a good mass market product. And that is difficult.There are plenty games who don''t stick in retail, only some sells well and will stick with new versions.The publishers tries to evaluate which games will sell well, but that is difficult. We all know.So again this is a though buisness. C I for instance is in big trouble. You noticed it.

When you go to a game/toy/music shop or perhaps a bookstore, you''ve enough choice of various games to choose.How many 3d shooters or 3d platform games are there in retail. Enough to choose from for the consumer.This illustrates the problem. How do you know they will pick up yours?
Good marketing and a mass marketing game.

You can make a very good living out of games. I''ve now been working in the industry for nearly 10 years full time and 17 years of having games developed.

Yes, it is hard to get into the industry. Developing small games is not easy. You need to know the correct publishers. And sometimes it does not work out, But like any other job out there, you sometimes get your fingers burnt.


Phil Harvey

quote: Who makes here a Living of Games?

Yep, I do and quite a good one at that. But I only really manage to do it through prostitution - I sell my services to the highest bidder (or the most interesting product), but I say when, where and how much.
I''ve found having a pimp (ie. an agent) bad news - duff contracts/products and companies which go bankrupt - and they also make you cost more, since the client has to pay a precentage (10%+) back to your pimp.

Unfortunately the days of one guy making a top notch product at home are gone except for the low end platform (GameBoy Adv, PS1, etc). The big fishes have too many resources to call on to make their product a hit.

Resources==marketing,sound engineers, artists, and other programmers.

It''s a shame but marketing does come really high the list of priorities - with out a good set of them, your product isn''t going to stand out from the masses.

O.k. but how do you need to sell over the internet.
I read internet sales are mostly low.
Isn''t it better to sell in retail through a publisher?
I also heard that you only see the advance when you develop a game for a pblisher and not more then that.
But if you develop the game your self, you need to see royalties each month or quater. I develop a game I fund myself.
Also I have a dayjob. I want yo quit with my dayjob when I got enough Income from the games. How do you sell artifact, if it''s free to play? I appreciate when you give some tips and advice.
Is there in your view a good market for puzzle titles on the internet and in retail. Which publishers can you recommend?