Making a Living on Game Programming
Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Beginners Area/Making a Living on Game Programming
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| hello, I just wanted to know if it is possible to program games fulltime as a homebussiness or is game programming like a hobby? Do you guys know of anyone making a decent living making games? I would appreciate any comments or suggestions. thx |
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| Short answer : yes. Long answer : Since this is posted in the beginner's forum, I'm assuming you're relatively new to programming games ( or at least in Blitz ) in which case you're running before you can walk. Finish a few games and worry about it then. But to be frank, if your only interest is making money, and you're not prepared to fail miserably, find another job. The games industry isn't even a reliable source of income for those who work for big developers, and it's certainly not a reliable source of income for indies. You would have to be A) Very good and B) very lucky. |
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| Post this in the off topic section. you'll get more responses. But Sybixsus has a very good point :) |
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| I've been self employed for almost a year, coding games in Blitz. 30th September is my 1st anniversary. So yes, its possible. I should also add that I've been involved in programming since 1986, and it didn't start to pay dividends until a couple of years ago. Its no way to make a quick buck if that's what you're looking for. |
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| Good to know, GfK (I've also been coding games since the 80s and dreaming of doing it full-time). I'm becoming increasingly fed up with my "day job" (graphics department at a print & copy shop). Lately I've been setting aside 3 hours in the morning before I go into work for Blitz programming. A friend and I have an (IMHO) pretty good game universe going and are getting ready to start selling games set in it on the Web within the next few months. I also plan to market other, simpler titles on another site. However, the numbers that I crunched (based on best available data) suggest that it will be hard to make an above-poverty living doing this. So, I plan to continue going in to my "real" job for the next several years, while continuing to expand our Blitz "product line." Perhaps one day it'll be profitable enough to devote all my time to, but if not, it's good to have a steady source of income. So, my conservative advice (based on a situation that's still developing) is: program away, but don't quit your day job (though acknowledging successes like GfK, who gives me hope of eventually doing just that). |
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| I live from making games and working on game projects of other people (freelancer basis) for 9 months now. It is not the way to become rich, but it is surely more fun than anything else. And enjoying life is what counts :) |
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| I would love to not have to work at my job so I had more time to devote to Blitz, thereby getting better at Blitz programming and eventually make something of marketable quality. Unfortunately it is simply time-resraint that prevents this. Still, I enjoy writing stuff in Blitz all the same |
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