Going to dedicate a few months to games...

[Technocrat]

...and not just playing them, I'm not quite *that* lazy. I've already had a gapyear, thanks.

Well, my year of teaching in Korea is about to finish, and I'll have saved about £5000 from it, which from my budgeting, would last me about a year before I desperately needed to find work again. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to be looking for "proper" graduate work as well, but the way the UK seems to be at the moment, I'll probably end up back in teaching by 2012 again.

So, from May --> Other job, I'm going to be trying to improve my skills a whole lot, whether it's art (which AGS can help me readily make use of) or programming (for which I'll have to learn something else). My ideal goal is to have something commercially available by the time I finish, something fairly decent being *sold*. That'd be nice.

So, has anybody else ever saved up and taken a few months out for some serious game-making?

[Igor Hardy]

So, has anybody else ever saved up and taken a few months out for some serious game-making?

A guy who's name is Jordan Mechner. In his case he quickly lost control over the scope of the project and the few months transformed into a couple of years.

Anyway, I wish you best of luck. Out of selfish reasons of course - I'd like to play more great stuff like Technobabylon and Operation: FORKLIFT.

[Technocrat]

Well, one of the crazy ideas is to remake Technobabylon in a 3d XNA way, kind of like mixing it with a Heavy-Rain style. As I see though, that's the crazy idea.

If I did eight hours a day on Technobabylon, I could make it a weekly thing, if there's any potential for that!

[Dualnames]

I'd totally buy anything close to Technobabylon. Whether it's part 3 or someone goes like "Hey, this is more/as awesome as Technobabylon".

[tzachs]

All of the games that I played and were made by you (TB, Operation: Forklift and 1st Drop) could have easily been commercial. They're all top quality.
So, while you obviously can always improve graphics & programming wise, I think you might give practicing in marketing a go.
It seems to me that your games didn't get very much attention outside the AGS community, while they appeal to a very large audience.

As for going commercial, I think it's risky in the beginning to put a whole year on a game. Of course it might work, but since you don't have any experience in selling games (afaik), it might be a good idea to start small, so a weekly TB sounds to me like a fantastic idea.

I have yet to take a few months out of work, but I am definitely planning to. In fact, my dream (silly silly of me) is to become full indie.
My plan for now is to make small flash game and try to sell them to sponsors to see if it really is a viable market. If I'll see I can make a living out of it, then I won't stay in my job for much longer. If it won't work for me, I'll have to come up with a new plan...

[theo]

It is very good news hearing you are considering getting into selling your games, they certainly deserve to come with a price tag attached.

I'm 100% with tzachs regarding safety of sales. Putting everything into one pot for you would be madness. You turn stuff over so fast, it would be crazy not to aim toward several smaller releases instead of one big risk project. With that said, I think a shiny version of technobabylon would, to say the least, be very intriguing... Maybe there's some middle way to go there. On the other hand, if you aim toward a small, retro crowd, maybe the look you have now is just plain perfect. A weekly chapter thing would be plain awesome, I'm confident it could get quite the crazy following if you can keep that mad pace.

Remember though, living on games means putting a lot of time into selling them. This is in no way something that happens by magic, it requires A LOT of time and dedication. It's hard work, but it can be done. Hell, I've lived on making games for almost three years now and I'm still alive and kicking.

These years have no doubts had their ups and downs, for an instance there have been several months without salary and we've taken A LOT of dirty jobs. On the other hand, several months have rocked my socks off and I have learned one hell of a lot from all projects I have been involved in. I can't say that I wouldn't have traded it for anything but I can certainly say I'm happy with the decisions I've made and I'm proud of how far I and the rest of the company have come. Me and my three colleagues at SLX Games now have a relatively steady income from our main project, and enough time to spare to spend nearly half of our man-hours on the project of my dreams. 

Being able to wake up in the morning and go to OUR office, work on OUR games, and do it under OUR supervision is to me, pure magic. And now that I have experienced it this way I'll never fit into a cubicle job again.

Enough ranting. Best of luck with whatever you chose to focus on!

[Technocrat]

I'd totally buy anything close to Technobabylon. Whether it's part 3 or someone goes like "Hey, this is more/as awesome as Technobabylon".

Part 3's definitely going to be free, it's almost finished too! After tidying up and getting the music finished, of course, but I'll just have to keep poking ShiverMeSideways for that.

All of the games that I played and were made by you (TB, Operation: Forklift and 1st Drop) could have easily been commercial. They're all top quality.
So, while you obviously can always improve graphics & programming wise, I think you might give practicing in marketing a go.
It seems to me that your games didn't get very much attention outside the AGS community, while they appeal to a very large audience.

I think the biggest boon (or at least head-inflator) for me about Technobabylon was getting the mention in PC Gamer, but I'm not really sure where to start on publicity, in ways that aren't shamelessly spamming forums. What do other indie folk do for advertising? Come to think of it, the only games I can ever recall seeing being advertised are those lousy browser MMOs.

Maybe I should try and make Technobabylon into a weekly smartphone episodic game!

[ThreeOhFour]

Here is a guide Mike Rose wrote about simple indie games marketing that could be of some use: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/MichaelRose/20091212/3798/The_Idiots_Guide_to_Marketing_Your_Indie_Game.php

[Dave Gilbert]

Reading your post is like reading about myself, circa 2006!  I had just come back home from teaching in Korea, I had about 10 grand saved up, so I took the plunge and started selling games commercially. I've been living off making AGS games for five years now so I know it's possible.  I can't say it's easy (be prepared to live like Ghandi for awhile!), but judging by your previous work you've definitely got the chops to make it happen.  Drop me a line if you want any specific advice.

-Dave

[m0ds]

So, has anybody else ever saved up and taken a few months out for some serious game-making?

Replace months with decade...

You're an artist. You'll be able to make money. Good luck!

[theo]

Replace months with decade...

You're an artist. You'll be able to make money. Good luck!

Sums it up beautifully!

[Technocrat]

And worst comes to worst, there's always doing pornography as a backup sideline for extra income!

[theo]

And worst comes to worst, there's always doing pornography as a backup sideline for extra income!

How about a weekly porn game instead? 

[Dualnames]

And worst comes to worst, there's always doing pornography as a backup sideline for extra income!

How about a weekly porn game instead? 

YES PLX.

[Technocrat]

And worst comes to worst, there's always doing pornography as a backup sideline for extra income!

How about a weekly porn game instead? 

YES PLX.

New Leisure Suit Larry! Except not sucking!

Then again, my parents practically raised me on Carry On movies, so innuendo is probably something to have a go at!