How can I make money from games? I want to create my game, but I also want to make profit. Is that possible?
With the stats I currently have, it does not look like it. But I am looking for realistic advice. What can I do?
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You should definitely have a marketing program. You could make the next Skyrim . . . but if nobody knows about it then it doesn't do you any good. Likewise, you could make a really awful game, but if you have a large audience you're still almost guaranteed some downloads.
My two cents on ads: Avoid them. I feel like all they do is annoy players and detract from the look of your game. Besides, most people by now have seen so many ads that they automatically look for a way to get past them. Sure, you could add a feature where you have the player pay to get rid of the ads, but by doing that you're basically saying, "Pay me to get rid of something that shouldn't have been there in the first place."
I've seen a couple good marketing blogs/books, some of which are here on Itch.
https://svperstring.itch.io/game-marketing-manual
Also you might want to check Youtube for game marketing tips.
As mentioned above, there are ways to monetise a project.
However, if you want to start earning money, from doing indie projects, you’d have to spend a lot of time working on them and building reputation. It’s easier for users to buy a game from someone that has made awesome games in the past, than from someone who just released their first one.
Most indie devs makes games out of passion, and that lets them keep making games, even if they make zero profit. Are you willing to accept that your first few projects might not generate any profit at all?
If you really want to make a living out of Game Development, the best option is to work in a team/company that makes games, and have a stable salary, until you build enough experience to do it on your own.
I suppose I will have to accept that.
Other than giving it time, implementing the features, and making good games: what are some specific things I can do to start (as indie)?
I could do some freelancing if the job and pay is right, but I don't want to work fulltime for a company. The goal is to be independent/entrepreneur. I am most into programming but I have understanding of game dev as a whole.
Freelancing is a good option, unfortunately I don’t have a lot of experience on it, so I don’t know how easy or stable it is.
Big games, that have bigger budgets, usually have full-time people working on them, as it makes things easy. From my experience I’ve seen freelancers being hired for smaller projects only.
I’m doing indie work myself, working full time for a company. The best advice I could give to succeed as an indie, is keep making games, and do your games to make sure your newest project is better than your previous one. When I say “Better”, I don’t mean financially, or amount of downloads. “Better” can be, using new technologies, or experimenting with a new idea.
The first step to take as an indie, is to finish and publish a game, regardless how good it is. The second step is to make a better game.
Sounds like you are on the right path. Keep in mind you are competing with plenty of game devs world-wide. Since you’ve made a few games already, when working on your next project, try to make something that will stand out from the rest of the games.
I took a look at your games. They look good as a first-time project, but not something that people will spend a long time on. You can explore options like monetising with ads, but I’d suggest you strongly focus on the game itself, to learn the right techniques and make games that are more engaging.
I know its hard to judge something you made yourself, I’d say try to find friends/relatives, that are not afraid to be honest, give them your projects, and ask them for feedback.
My advice would be, keep making games. Try to make different games, to explore different genres and ways of making them.
Should I look into getting professional help starting up my company (one man thing for now)?
I'll have a bigger game in a month from now. Making it succeed financially in this period will be highly unlikely, but it might be enough to show some of my abilities to people. I decided to make the shift to Unity and C# recently, but I do have two years of experience making game-related things in C++
Depending on your country, you can start your company even now. I don’t think that’s the hard part. The hard part is making a product users would like to pay for.
Unless I see the game, I can’t comment on if it will generate any money or not. Not sure if you have any budget available for other people, if you do I’d strongly suggest contacting an artist to help with the graphics.
Apart from that, I’d say keep making games, and either add ads or sell the games for a price. Then move to the next game, and let the first game generate money. Over time you will get a better grip of how to find the perfect balance of having fun making games, and earning enough money. All successful programmers that I know have made plenty of failed projects before they made a good one.
By the sound of it, you are in the same boat as myself, and plenty of others I know of here on Itch.
It sounds like you have already got some good advice from helpful people, but I think I add a few things.
Here has been my strategy and philosophical approach to starting up as an Indie Developer.
* Make friends with other developers, and be genuinely kind to them, helping them with there projects and providing feedback without a demand for them to do the same. This kind of behavior invites real relationships, not transactions. I've found that having a slowly building web of Developers that can help each other is quite valuable for all people involved. You learn about new websites, what has worked and not worked for others. Making this thread was a good starting point for this.
* Set the price quite low to begin with, and expect no profit from your first, second and third games. As others have said, its so hard to download a game from someone who has no reputation, especially if they have to pay for it or endure ads. At the moment, I have experimented with setting my game to $2 here on itch, and selling it on steam for $3 (on 40% off sale to start tho). I just want to get my feet in the water and see what its like, I expect that this will bring in little to no money, the point is to learn from the experience and have a better understanding from the start for development of my next game.
* Treat Indie game Development as a long term venture. I don't see a problem with working a part time job and living frugally to make ends meet. I have no expectation to make a decent amount of money from game development for at least a decade. Sounds grim right? Well, there isn't even then there is no grantee you will ever make good money from this, if your not doing it because you love it, find another job. If you mentally prepare for this to be the case, you can't be disappointed, only pleasantly surprised or completely prepared for what happens.
This is just my 2 cents, take it with a grain of salt, I'm still new to this just like you mate :)
Be patient, as Dark Dimension said, most successful programmers have plenty of failures along the way. This is just the nature of the beast!
Enjoy the process friend!
Link me one of your games if you want some feedback! :)
I think you are undervaluing yourself. Programming can be a well paid activity if you know your value.
I know it takes time to do a startup and has risks involved etc, but don't accept a shitty life, because people will take advantage of that.
My two cents.
Yes you are right making friends with other developers will be a great help. I'm not sure if I want to fully commit to game dev, as I also have other interests. But it's something that I've been interested in for quite a few years.
You can play my first published games at https://xcrypt.itch.io/,
or on https://www.kongregate.com/games/Xcrypt
Tell me what you think. Note I'm more of a game programmer than a full rounded developer. I want to learn the other skills too but I wanna work mainly around creating good games by programming them well. My next projects will be an RTS and an arena combat game, I'll make them a bit bigger and more polished, with multiplayer, enemies, game mechanics and graphics.