Since here is no real offtopic Forum I will post it here and hope not to anger anyone. Ontopic: Whenever I start with game design I start with an idea, think about what will be fun to have in a game like that and do some brainstorming etc. . I find out interesting features, ask some people about their ideas and always think about ways how I can handle this (with my bad coding skills) But there is always the point when I start to surmise that this game could be that cool to make money out of it... Usually I think about ways to sell it as shareware etc.. At this point I kill usually my own idea, because I think some features are a must have for this purpose, but i am not able to do it on my own. The project grows and grows and in the end I am angry about myself for doing it again :) My question is... am I the only one with this thoughts? I know that this is very counter productive and in addition I really dont need that money from games (My job is fine and I will never get rich because i release some shareware crap.). But I do it always again... is this human or am I just too greedy? :)

Greedy, but maybe I'm too idealistic and you're a realist.

How are your ideas not going to make you money? Even a simple shareware game should bring in a little income. I like the game industry because it doesn't seem hard to get an idea that someone will pay for. If you find it interesting or fun then someone else will too.

Something I was thinking about as far as making money off small games is getting them up on something like Steam. Was just looking around on their website for what their service charges are.

One of the main things I've noticed in corporate game development (or any corporate software development) vs my hobby projects, is that in all corporate settings there will eventually come a time when somebody forces you to stop adding features, cuts out a big chunk of what you were planning on doing, and tells you "Finish this game NOW and stop putzing around or you're all fired." When the people holding everyone's paychecks are telling you the game is fine as is, and that you need to let it go and just bugfix and release, it's easier to do than when you're working on a solo project.

I don't really have a solution yet... I still tend to be overly perfectionist when working on anything solo, which eventually leads to just giving up on that project because it's taking too long. I have been told by many friends that the key is to stop working on things solo and involve at least one other person, even if all they really do is keep you on track and bug you about actually finishing the game rather than moving on to something else.