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

I got two words: Flappy Bird.

That should be enough. Let me elaborate though.

For such a simple and dare I say fugly game it has raked in tons of cash-money. There are other similar games that have also got massive amounts of downloads from Google Play...

Being that we operate in a market driven economy (mostly) it logically follows that the market decides what kind of games succeed - monetarily = get loads of that good cash-money.

That being said - a game being good is completely subjective. Simple games can be good, complex games can be bad. It doesn't matter much. What matters is...

good games don't always make tons of cash-money

bad games don't always make tons of cash-money

sometimes good games make tons of money

sometimes bad games make tons of money

For what I'm looking for is getting to make awesome games but I realize that I may have to make a few mediocre ones first to get the process down pat. And also I'm looking for a source of income to get me there. Money is what gives artists like everyone here the freedom to create what they want. (imagine how much more one can accomplish if one doesn't have to slave away ones precious hours to an employer [making that employer tons of money])

And it brings me great joy to create something.

good games don't always make tons of cash-money

bad games don't always make tons of cash-money

sometimes good games make tons of money

sometimes bad games make tons of money

Bad games are easier to make than good games.

Therefore, the logical conclusion is that you should make bad games.

But we all know it's not so simple, right? Well apparently not, since like OP said, most beginners ask how to integrate IAP before they ask how to make a player jump.

I don't know what to say. I agree with OP.

I'm on the same boat as most of the other responses here.

I work full time doing database consulting but would love nothing more than to make my dream games all day. But with life costing so much money it is hard to just jump and do that, and it is even harder to try and balance my full time job with trying to make a full fledged game on the side...and keep the girlfriend happy all at once.

That's why I like the idea of smaller games monetized to try and bring in a steady (but small) amount of income to warrant the extra time put in to make more games.

Also my biggest thing is the fear of failure. It's easy to pump out small games and if they don't do well it's just..meh on to the next. But when you commit to a large game and then no one buys or downloads it...it's pretty painful.

In the end of the day I think most of like games enough that I wouldn't say we are all just in it for the money. There have been hard days where I wanted to give up but then I realize it really IS my passion and it's almost impossible to give up on that.

full time doing database consulting

would love nothing more than to make my dream games all day

keep the girlfriend happy

Are you me?

I'm a BI Analyst and DBA. We should talk some day

> full time doing database consulting

> would love nothing more than to make my dream games all day

> keep the girlfriend happy

>

Are you me?

I'm a BI Analyst and DBA. We should talk some day

Haha that's funny! I will have to take you up on that!

Then you should know my struggles of balancing all of it. Especially after a long day of clients calling with database issues and having to fix a bunch of things, then trying to get home and fix some BS iOS issue with resolutions between retina display and regular display iOS devices..lol.

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.

Excellent post, spot on summation for most indie devs I would imagine.

It is a dream we are chasing, being able to feed ourselves, take care of loved ones, paying the bills and rent by doing something we love: making and playing games.

For me, it's all about the art and design, with a view to either getting noticed or earning enough to quit my day-job and make games indie fulltime. I have fond memories of the hundreds of hours I poured into Final Fantasy and Legend of Zelda games on the Gameboy and Snes, and being able to give somebody else that same enjoyment through something I've created is my motivation to keep going.

While it breaks my heart to see C2 being used to make "me too" clones of viral successes, it also makes sense that some people are just in it to make a $/£/€ and couldn't care less about making something with a little bit of soul in it, and others are trying to get money so that they can make their dream project. If I didn't have my current job to support myself with financially, I too would probably be making smaller games in an effort to get money quickly. Luckily I have that support, and was able to work on Dungeon Buster without needing to sacrifice time to other smaller piggybank projects.