Are we in it for a quick buck or because we like gaming

Hola guys,

browsing this and other game developers forums and looking at all games being publicized on the web I have the feeling that the majority of them are out for a quick buck instead of a good game.

I understand you follow the flappy bird tutorial, and that you are proud it's working and share it with friends, but really.....add it to the app markets?

Just starting to work as a game developer and the first things you ask on forums is how to implement adds and in-game buy options?

Uploading every week a game into the appstores....

Selling game ideas and pitches.... [ create them first I would say ]

For me the game and gameplay should come first and looking around I am kind of missing this.

What are your thoughts on this?

I could not agree more, in fact I was think of starting a topic very similar...

It constantly amazes Me, that on a game developers forum the topics involving general game discussion, feedback on other members projects, or basically anything involving imagination or ideas, have few if any response...

— Funny you think the same because when I was thinking of the few good games I saw recently it was your defender style game in the top of the list;-) Fun, cool looking and good gameplay. All what I look in a game. As for me, I'm working on a simple platformer but level design takes a lot of time But will soon have some screen shots..

I think people that believe they can just throw something together and add some ads to them are in for a big surprise if they think money will just roll in. You will get a much higher salary per hour by collecting empty bottles and cans from the street and turn them in for recycle than you will from ads on such type of game.

Most ads will if you are lucky maybe give you around 0.02 cent for 1000 impressions or something like that, and to even get 1000 impressions is hard, so making a very bad game and get money out of it is near impossible if you ask me. They use other methods as well, but none of them will give you a big return unless you actually have some quality product.

Thanks, glad You like the game, I will look forward to Your platformer, any game with pride in the job should be well worth the wait...

For me, it's just genuine interest of why there's a dearth of good and solid Tactical Role-Playing Game in the market recently.

One can only play Xcom: EU and its expansion so many times before boredom started to set.

Other indie tactical games are very light on the tactical side, very simple or very buggy with bad implementations and broken exploitable rulesets.

So, instead of constantly complaining about it, I try to make a change about it by creating my own TRPG, one that me and like-minded people would have fun playing for both the gameplay and the story itself.

Hence all my previous attempts until my recent one, Gangster Tactics.

I won't say that financial gain is not considered by me since that will be false but when I concentrate in this genre, I pretty much already understand that tactics RPG have low mainstream appeal due to people consider it time consuming and hard. The profits won't be good and I prepared for that.

Even so, I am still driven to at least create a game in the genre that I like the most.

So, in short, I like tactics RPG and therefore is creating one.

Sethmaster Exactly my point. I love to play games, for years now. And now I have the option to build my own I think about all the games I wanna play. Ofcourse, everybody hopes that their creation will be the big smash hit, and there's nothing wrong with it. Even commercially exploiting your game, nothing wrong with it, but at the creation of your game their should be one important thing central, do I wanna play this game

Well some people do enjoy some of those games and some people really need the money more than they need to make the games of their dreams. But these smaller games make up a larger group of users so you see more posts about those topics.

But once a lot of the bigger games get going, they don't usually need to ask as many questions, so you see less of those posts. And some of these larger games take a very large commitment so not as many get made.

Mobile games with monetization are the current "thing", and many view it as a lower barrier to entry with less risk (they're right), but look a little deeper in the creation forums and you'll see stuff. Of course it's the usual list of Airscape, Penelope, Loot Pursuit, Shards, Dream Journey, and Courier, so the content is there. That other stuff is just trendy.

I guess judging from the games one creates....or publishes....you can tell the difference between those that love games but need to make money, and those that love money by making a game.

I think that if you enjoy gaming and love classics and well made games you might earn more money(?) than if you just think "let's make any random game and earn lots of money".. Because it shows if you are not interested in games.

Honestly it is a cross between them sometimes. The game you really want to make may require a lot more resources (money, time, etc...) than you currently have. So if you have time to make some simple games that are following whatever the current popular trend is, then you may be able to make enough to get yourself to the point where you can make the game you want.

The other side of this is that you often don't have the skills when starting out to make your dream game. Creating multiple small projects is a great way to get your skills there. And if you are already making smaller games, why would they not try to put them up on the markets?

Though it does have the possibility of causing more flooding of lesser quality games. I also think it means those games that are well built and polished will stand out even more in the sea of mediocrity.

Just my 2 cents...

I have made three games all on android

whilst none of them are going to set the world on fire i am proud of them and the fact that after years of talking about making games i have finally been able to make them.

I have used these as a learning experience and have now started to work on a bigger project

Sandly it tends to be a double edged sword. I for example have like 5 games in development. One of which is actually FOR work. The others are personal/fun games. (like the quicky chocolate hearts eating day which I made to mess with a few friends and made it available here in the arcade)

The "For work" game is in need of some implementations to make it to the social aspect of the market although, as a game, its already working. I wish I could just post it for everyone to play since I had a lot of fun making it.

Sadly this one depends on "boss decision".

My games don't ... and I can post all or part of them when I feel they're playable enough that I can get a helpfull feedback that will aid me in polishing them further like many "blog like" development posts I've seen around.

The fact is however at some point I'll need some way of paying for the time I'm investing in them not because I'm out for the money but because otherwise with my current life priorities the game will take second stage which for the artist/creator in me is unacceptable. I support plugins and projects that aid speed up this process like spriter and such which become real assets in production.(tho personally I like animating frame by frame everything I can)

To me its a matter of perspective and as always they'll always be ones who make it "for art's sake" and some who will try to exploit a market.

I think the dream is to be able to make money doing what you love in a career that is entirely your own, not having to answer to a boss or something. People naturally are curious about monetizing and ads and making a quick buck because they want to dip their toes in the water. Most know that they will spend more on C2 than they will make on their first game. As for me, I'm dreaming big, but I wouldn't ever dream of monetizing or selling a game until I'm satisfied with it. I think it's too shameful to release a half-assed app with ads enabled or anything like that. You won't see me release unless I can personally assure you of its quality, and I may be a year or more away from such a release, but it'll be worth it when I get there.

Of course everyone likes making games and playing them, otherwise they wouldn't be here.. Right?

It's just awesome to actually make money doing something that you love --