Hi all I need your advice and or thoughts. I am looking to start up my own game house ( shareware strategy ) sometime this year. I would like to go full time, I am aware that I might have to take a huge salary cut. Is there anybody here who is making a living doing so ? I also can fairly assume that I would have to pump out games at fairly rapid rate, every 2-3 months ? In order to facilitate money flow. Also, the more people I have 2-4, the less money to share around. I would like to hear from all of you, what your thoughts on this is, how feasible it is etc... Thanks so much

I suggest reading: "The Indie Game Developer Survival Guide"

From what I''ve read attempting to make your 100% income from game development will either require you to make games very fast (around the timescale you mentioned) or have a sound ability of being able to create a single game which will sell very well even through your rather limited channels of distribution (The Internet).

Despite all this you can make a decent profit because, unlike big time developers you don''t have to have as higher sales boundry just to break even.

A single game that you could sell for £10 (US $18????) only needs to reach 100 people and you''ve made a £1000 straight away, those kinds of sales are pretty bad so if your marketing goes well and you get a lot more people interested you could easily make £2000 just off of one product if not more.

Stay away from independant publishers offering to market your game, they''ll want royalties, this will cut the profit of your business considerably, a quick wizz round the internet posting on a few boards, sites and e-mailing a few gaming mailing lists will get just as much attention and you''ll turnover 100%.

Until your on your feet try to do as much of the work yourself to avoid paying others, design games that may not rely heavily on sound and music, then all you need is artwork and coding.

Using third party libaries and engines is a real bonus that you should accept until your off the ground, maybe then you can work on that trademark 3d engine that most developers have these days.

Don''t expect the attention of a publisher unless you are already in the business or know someone who is, don''t plan your businesses activites around the hope that you will get a publisher it''s unlikely that you will until you have a well proven track record in development of games that sell.

With all that said, have fun, and good luck to you!
Adam

PS read http://www.dexterity.com/articles/going-full-time.htm

Thanks so much for your great reply ! I am definately going to get that book. I will read that article now too.

Thanks again.
Erick