David RM & I will be speaking at IGC 2003 this year on "Surviving Indie Game Development". No, this isn't a plug for David and I, so keep readin' - I'm setting the stage for a set of questions :-)

To me, the most key point about Indie game development has become surviving the process - as in, seeing the project all the way through development to marketing to the day you kill off the product (to release it's sequel? ;-) I've noticed and talked to a number of groups over the past year, and am amazed at the number that fall apart or just quit.

David and I put our heads together, and are gonna speak about it to other Indies, particularly those who are still working on thier first product. (As in, still may not be aware of the collosal headaches ahead ;-)

Now for the question. We've got most of the management, etc., type stuff covered. What I'd like to hear, particularly from indies that have survived thier first product: from a personal standpoint, what helped you get through the development of your first product (or your 3rd, 7th, whatever)? What helped you get through the times where it seemed like no one was buying your product? Friends, family, massage, playing games?

Thanks in advance - I'd love to hear it all, mainly so I can help carry the message to other Indies better ;-)

Burning the ship does make a difference, you have no other choice than succeed.


pat.

My ship's got a hole in it.

Cas :)

When it comes to burning the ships be sure to stock plenty of ulcer medication and keep your credit lines open ;)

I burned my ships and all I can say is that the pressure to go back to a "real" job is UNBELIEVABLE, especially when sales aren't what you had hoped.

All you can do is have faith that this *is* how it's done and that at some point you were going to have to go through this transition from a "secure" 9 to 5 life to being independent. Better to see it through and get the transition over with than to jump back to a safe office job just because things got uncomfortable.

The transition is never easy so be prepared to face whatever secret fear is lurking in your brain because it *will* pop up and try to scare you back to a "normal" life. Whether your fear is losing your apartment, getting ill and running up a hospital bill or having a loved one leave you - SOMETHING is going to try and push you back into line with the rest of the herd.

Something I've been thinking about a lot recently, with regards to surviving as an indie, boils down to this: Realize that you are more than just an indie game developer.

It's easy to get caught up in the thrill (or torture) of development to the exclusion of everything else. But that's seldom a good thing. We've discussed on these forums before, but I think it needs restating. You must have balance.

If you consistenly spend all of your time only on indie game development, eventually you won't have much life left.

Before 1996, I had three primary hobbies: programming, writing, and role-playing games. I cycled through them, usually, with one of the three being dominant. If I was in a programming jag, writing and RPGs (and I mean *real* RPGs, not these goofy computer versions of the same) sat in the back seat. If I was in an RPG mood, those would take over and writing and programming would hang out, waiting their turn. And so on.

In 1996, though, that dynamic was upset. My programming hobby resulted in The Journal (http://www.davidrm.com/thejournal/) and the original Paintball Net. Suddenly, one of the three hobbies was making money.

Nothing, it seems, will kill off a hobby than having another hobby start making money.

The writing and RPGs didn't stop. They just got smaller and smaller resource/time allocations, and they got them a lot less frequently. But even then, they were affected by the dominent hobby. My writing became articles and documentation for the games. The RPGs shifted to board games, which required much less prep time and commitment.

It wasn't until I was working at home as a fulltime independent software developer that I realized how two-dimensional my life had become. I was clocking 12-16 hours a day on my computer, week after week, month after month.

That got old really, really fast.

Since 1999 I've worked to re-establish some kind of balance in my life. Taking weekends off helped. A lot. I got to hang with the family some that way. I made it a point to talk to my wife about what I was working on, as well as what she was doing. I started making sure that I got out of the house at least once a week to play RPGs and/or board games. I try to read fiction so that I don't lose touch with the world of writing. I even took over cooking dinner each evening to provide a cutoff point for work each day, and have another chance to interact with the family.

I'm not sure if my examples are applicable to a lot of people, but maybe they will be useful.

I think we could all stand to be a little less obsessive-compulsive and broaden our horizons, take in a bit more of the world and even improve our lives. The journey might be just as important as the final destination.

-David

KNau makes a great point about the pressure to get a real job, not only becauses of finances, but other 9-5 people that can't imagine this working and consequently pushing you to quit this nonsense. People think that just because you are home all day you can't possibly be doing anything productive.

This may sound harsh, but I think it's helpful to avoid 9-5 people like the plague when you go the indie route. Attitudes and mindsets are infectious. The more you hang out with employees, the more you'll become one of them. It's been said that you can predict your future by looking at the six people you spend the most time with today.

When I talk with people who've been employees for many years, it often feels like talking to an alien from another planet. Employees talk about things like office politics, promotions and raises, their boss' unfairness or stupidity, etc. In other words they talk mostly about problems instead of solutions, and the problems are the same year after year. As an entrepreneur I don't understand why they don't simply solve those problems and move on. It's far more refreshing talking to fellow entrepreneurs, since they spend more time working on their own goals and dreams instead of someone else's. To an entrepreneur, a problem is a challenge or an opportunity; to an employee it's a burden or a thorn.

It is possible to be an employee with an entrepreurial mindset. This means that you are working on your own goals, which happen to coincide with your boss' goals. But most employees I know just aren't clear about their own goals at all.

Employees will generally be discouraging of entrepreneurs, usually very discouraging. I think the main reason is jealousy. When you go the entrepreneurial route, you're stating boldly that you're taking charge of your own life. And this is very threatening to employees; it makes them aware of their own fears and insecurities. Employees will try to stir up your fear, since that's what they're feeling. But if you give into fear, it will simply grow more prevalent in your life. Entrepreneurs will challenge you to be bold, to face and overcome your fears. And if that's the route you take, then your courage will grow instead of your fear.

So don't be surprised if you encounter violent opposition. I sure did. But I also noticed that the employees I knew were very negative and fearful, while the entrepreneurs I knew were very positive and confident. So I dumped the negative people from my life and made more room for the positive ones. The positive people were getting the results I wanted. When I got the negative people out of my life, my own confidence soared, and I started focusing on solutions instead of problems, eventually adopting the entrepreneurial mindset.

My favorite technique for dealing with negative people today is to simply raise their awareness about their own negativity. So if someone says to me, "Aren't you worried about going broke?" I might say something like, "Hmmm... that's a funny question to ask. What experiences have you had in your past that led you to link fear to taking financial risks?" I just keep reflecting their own fearful attitude back to them until they start to become aware of what they're doing. This actually has the benefit of helping the other person to overcome some of their own fears too, so they take steps to start working on their own goals if their awareness is high enough.

Burning Boats / Bridges: I'm not so sure about advocating that :-) I think most people would be wise to have a transitional phase - build up knowladge, financial backing (IE - put money in savings), etc. It's not that it removes the possibility of failure - it just raises the stakes on failure. Higher stakes means people do work harder, but, if you do fail... it could be much worse. I'm a proponent of David's comment from last year's IGC: "The Day Job is your friend."

I say this, and I'm setting up my strategy for quitting my day job in Dec. of this year. I'm getting the torches all laid out, makin' sure the island is secure, etc. before I do it though :-)

David: Good point I hadn't thought about really. Part of my strategy includes some of the consulting work that I do (sometimes for money, sometimes for work exchange like Phil C. and I have been discussing), plus I've got some side stuff that I'm working on that are Internet related products for end users and for resale. I'm doing it all ready, but the exact remark you start off with fits it best.

Steve: I've known some people who have the problems you mention. Lots of bitchin', and no action to do something else instead. I've been luckly though - everyone I know (in Real Life) has been very supportive and encouraging about going full-time Indie. Some have mentioned being envious of the idea, and I think part of it is that they envy the idea, but also want to see if I make it. If I do, I think it will be an encouragement to some of them to quit the bitchin', and start working towards a goal instead. However, you are doin' a lot better than me - if someone asked the same question about fearing the financial realities, I'd probably say "Heck yeah!" ;-)

Originally posted by DavidRM
I think we could all stand to be a little less obsessive-compulsive and broaden our horizons, take in a bit more of the world and even improve our lives. The journey might be just as important as the final destination. Nice post. It helps to be reminded of this now and again.

Originally posted by Midnight Ryder
Burning Boats / Bridges: I'm not so sure about advocating that :-)

I do advocate it. He who chases two hares catches none. :)

The day job is your enemy. Look at animals, you can easily kill a rat if it has an easy escape route nearby. Drive it into the corner and it might kill you.

On the original topic, I do agree with David that having a life outside work is very important. This is the precise reason why it is more cost effective for me to rent an office instead of working from home. The rent of the office are offset by much higer productivity levels. The daily trip helps to clear my mind, both for work and home.

I have also been very surprised by the mindset of many non-entrepreneurs. It is scary how you can easily disapear from someones world when you aren't working as an employee. Like you jiffed the channel and suddenly changed into some obscure wavelenght of light .. :)

Burning the boats TODAY! It's been a long time coming.

"Burning the boats" holds an appeal for a number of reasons:

* You get rid of your boss and those horrible time-wasting activities he assigns you.

* You get to focus exclusively on your own project.

* You set your own hours.

And so on.

On the other hand, it brings with it considerable risk.

The first risk should be pretty obvious, but most people discount it: unless you already have money coming in, or have significant savings, you now *have* to succeed. It may not seem so at first, but you've just dropped 2-3 steps down Maslow's famous "hierarchy of needs" and put your own survival at risk.

You're gambling, basically.

* Gambling that you can get the project done and profitable before your resources run out.

* Gambling that your project will be successful enough to live off of.

* Gambling that you'll be able to learn everything you need to know about project management, project completion, marketing, sales, and more, all while simultaneously working on the project.

* Gambling that you will be motivated enough without either a boss or an externally applied deadline.

* Gambling that you will lose all of your consumer habits, never eating out, never going to movies, buying as few books/DVDs/games as possible, and not upgrading your computer.

Is it possible to do all of this? Sure. People win the lottery every month or so. So gambling must work out every now and then.

But if you keep your "independent spirit" in check, and your "independent attitude" from annoying your boss, you can do all of that while still employed full time. You can eat at home or anywhere you want, you can sleep under a good roof, and you can even go to the movies and buy consumer items like books and DVDs. You can buy a new PC to replace the clunker you've been using 3 years now.

With some minor time management, you can work 8 hours a day at your job and still clock 2-4 hours per day on your project.

If that seems like too little, stop and look at how many hours you *really* work at your job, and how much is lost to administrative overhead, meetings, etc. Take all of those out of the equation, and you can be amazingly productive in just 2-4 focused hours.

You can also take the time and work to reduce your own financial overhead. Get used to living on less than you make.

No one wins a marathon by sprinting. And no one gets rich, and keeps it, by gambling.

-David

I'm going on the side of working full time and coding my games on the side. This works for me because I have an employer that doesn't want me to work over 40 hours a week, is pretty flexible, I can code a little of my own stuff on the side, and the pay is good. This presents me with the ability to spend time at night working on my creations and still living a life my wife and I have become accustomed to.

To show a comparison, I thought I'd share the experiences of a friend of mine. He was layed off over two years ago. He decided he would write an Enterprise wide application and get venture capital. He was able to finally secure Angel Investors to give him money to keep him afloat for a year. The guy is one of the best programmers I know. Unfortunately, he is easily distracted and is too detail oriented. This resulted in him never shipping the product and constantly rewriting code. So needless to say, he's now back in the market working full time and his dream product is on the back burner. My point here is that you have to be very focused and organized to succeed on your own. Out of this he did learn some very valuable lessons I want to share with you:

1. You would be surprised how easily you can learn to live off of a smaller income. Most of us aren't aware of how much we spend on things and how we can cut those costs.

2. Setting business hours for yourself is very important. Don't take breaks to go ride your bike, etc. If you start treating this like it's not a real business, you will fail. Some people can get by without the strickness of this, but most can't.

I'm sure I have more points he told me, but I can't think of them right now. Just wanted to share my friends business endeavors with you guys.

DavidRM's advice IS the most sensible and exactly the kind of thing your parents or friends would recommend when they try to talk "sense" into you.

On the other hand:

Game development bears no resemblence to the lottery or gambling and clinging to a job to protect your comfort level in this day in age is as much a gamble as anything else. At best it slows a person down when they spend 2/3 of their time working to support dead weight (DVDs and dinners out have no intrinsic value). At worst it can prevent progress altogether.

I took a survival job "just for now" and that "for now" turned into 2 years. Once I quit, it only took 4 months to get my first game out the door. "For now" solutions have a way of eating up the rest of your life and the question becomes how important are dinners out, going to movies and buying DVDs in the big scheme of things? In the end I would worry that a reliance on "comforts" would limit my ability to succeed.

If anyone here has the fortitude to work 8 hours a day and then spend another 4 hours coding when they get home then more power to you! I work 4 hours a day and take my weekends off and that freedom provides more "comfort" than anything I could buy.

Which method you choose really depends on your risk tolerance level and we're fortunate to be in a business that can be approached in either way and still achieve the same result.

Nothing's worse than burning the ships without a plan or clinging to a ship that's slowly sinking. The most important thing, whichever path you choose, is to recognize when your plan isn't working and adapt quickly.

I think there may be some misunderstanding of what it means to "burn the ships." When I wrote this article (http://www.dexterity.com/articles/cultivating-burning-desire.htm), I included advice about burning the ships, but I didn't suggest quitting your job immediately if you can't really afford to do so. I advocate making a commitment to quit the day job, and I mentioned one concrete way to do that in the article, which doesn't mean quitting your job right away.

"Burning the ships" means eliminating your escape routes; it's a way to increase your commitment -- if done right, it isn't gambling. You don't want to burn the ships while you're still using them to cross an ocean. If you do, you'll go down with the ships.

Originally posted by KNau
Game development bears no resemblence to the lottery or gambling...

That's the funniest thing I've heard in months. :)

If you actually believe that, though, well...OK...


Originally posted by KNau
...and clinging to a job to protect your comfort level in this day in age is as much a gamble as anything else.

No arguments here. Anyone who counts on job security or other forms of "corporate welfare" is taking more risk than someone who's building their own future.

My advice is to *not* count on job security. If that was the case, why bother doing independent development at all? Just call it a hobby and move on.

No, my advice is to use a job and its regular paycheck to create the foundation you build your security on.


Originally posted by KNau
...At best it slows a person down when they spend 2/3 of their time working to support dead weight (DVDs and dinners out have no intrinsic value). At worst it can prevent progress altogether.

No argument here. Consumerism is a lot of dead weight. My point was mostly that taking this step *requires* a significant shift in lifestyle. Ultimately, you discover you didn't need most, if not all, of the stuff left behind, but unless you stop to think about it, you'll list a lot of things as "necessities" that really aren't. And unless you recognize those non-necessities, they will chew through your savings and soak up the little income you do manage to setup.


Originally posted by KNau
"For now" solutions have a way of eating up the rest of your life...

I agree about "for now" solutions. It's easy to lose sight of the end and get caught up in the day-to-day trivia of the means.

But that doesn't change just because you quit working for "the man." The day-to-day trivia of being an indie can and will suck someone in exactly the same.

My point is, do what you need to survive, and use the rest to do what you want. If you have a full time job, you can leverage that to get independent projects done without the stress of having to face late bills, home foreclosures, and starving children.


Originally posted by KNau
If anyone here has the fortitude to work 8 hours a day and then spend another 4 hours coding when they get home then more power to you! I work 4 hours a day and take my weekends off and that freedom provides more "comfort" than anything I could buy.

Again, how much of an 8 hour work day is actually work? Even in hands-on blue-collar jobs, the amount of work done versus time logged is seldom better than 50%. The rest gets lost in meetings, filling out time sheets, getting coffee, and chatting with co-workers. Or have you never wondered why productivity in the US and the world hasn't really gone up much, even with all this automation and computing power we have?

The trick is to not have a job too close to what you do in your off hours. If you have a game dev job you work at full time, it would be damn hard to go home and do that for another 2-4 hours after work. If your day job is maintaining corporate databases, though, or mowing lawns, that's a long, long way from game development. One provides a "break" from the other, actually.

Finally, that 2-4 hours a night isn't that big a deal. There was a guy I used to work with who would ask how I found the time to work on games in the evenings. He could've done it too. All he would've had to do was cut his time spent playing Quake deathmatches in half, and he'd have 2 hours a night. We all know someone who has a hobby that soaks up at least 10-20 hours a week. That's 2-4 hours a night, 5 nights a week.


Originally posted by KNau
Which method you choose really depends on your risk tolerance level and we're fortunate to be in a business that can be approached in either way and still achieve the same result.

Absolutely. The problem is that I have seen far more people advocating "go for it" than "make a plan and go for it". My point was to demonstrate some of the risks (and perceived risks).

I've been a work-at-home indie since 1999. Obviously, I took the step. But though I took a 60% paycut that first year, that was 40% income I already had coming in that point. I had no real savings when I left. I had only the income I had built up over the previous 3 years.

You stepped out with no net and you advocate that approach because it's working for you. Congrats.

I built up over time and then stepped out. It's working for me, so I advocate that.

Originally posted by KNau
Nothing's worse than burning the ships without a plan or clinging to a ship that's slowly sinking. The most important thing, whichever path you choose, is to recognize when your plan isn't working and adapt quickly.

I agree with you 100%.

-David

I guess we fear failure so much that it has become a disease. I ask why not embrace failure and see how bad it can be as much as one would embrace success and enjoy it. There is no permanent failure. And no one succeeds forever too. You fail many times. Then you succeed. Your success will make you fail too.

Personally, I have decided not to devote one minute to uphold another man's vision. I will work what is my vision however crap or amazing that might be.

And I want to see how far I can go with that.

It's not a simple matter of choosing to either "face the fear and quit your job" or "live in fear and hold on tight to your job security." That's a lot like saying you must choose between being a "starving artist" or a "comfortable sell-out". Those aren't the only choices you have.

The essence of being an independent is doing the best you can with what you have available, using all resources you have at your disposal to achieve the desired result.

A full-time job can be valuable resource to the indie who's just getting started. Besides the regular paycheck angle, there are the benefits like health insurance, paid vacation, retirement plans, and so on, as well as automatic tax withdrawals.

With most of the sundry responsibilities of living taken care of, you get to focus on your project. And isn't that what this is all about? Getting your project done?

Keeping your job, leveraging the money and benefits it gives you, does not make you less of an indie, or less of a success, just like quitting your job doesn't guarantee success as indie. Either way, it's up to you to do what needs to be done.

It's not your job holding you back, in most cases, and getting rid of it isn't going to turn you into some highly productive, intensely creative wunderkind.

Your attitude, more than anything else, makes the biggest difference. If you look at your job as a drag, a complete waste of time, then that's all it ever will be. And quitting it probably won't help much. Your next gig, be it another job or fulltime indie status, will become the same thing to you.

Imagine, though, if you take a positive approach and see not only what your job does for you, but what you can do for it. Sure, you still plan to leave in a month or six months or a year, but with a positive attitude, your employer might actually miss you when you're gone, and you'll be that much further ahead.

-David

DavidRM is making a lot of sense. :^)

i don't know if I could ever quit my full time job to become strictly an indie game developer. At least it's only a 37.5 hour a week job, as opposed to my last two that sometimes would get into the 60's. Even if business picked up tremendously, I kind of like the balance between what I do at work, and what I do at home (indie gaming). Maybe that's just the fear of failure speaking though.

When I said I was burning the boats, I fudged a little. I got a layoff notice last April that gave me 5 months to live, and they came back in July and asked if I wanted to stay, at which point, I said no because they gave me a huge severance payout and a bonus for completing the work they needed finished. Without that money (which gives me a little more than a year of time) I wouldn't have left, but I realized that it was the opportunity I'd been looking for, and if I didn't try, I would kick myself later.

So, in April, I switched projects and started something I thought I could finish by the time I would no longer have a day job. I had a plan ;) David's right. You need to have a plan, and preferably a completed (or nearly completed) project before you start burning cash. We'll see if my plan works, but if it doesn't, I can still get a job at the end of the year, and keep on working on my business part time.