08-09-2017, 04:51 PM
(08-09-2017, 04:01 PM)Davin Wrote: Some of us aren't big enough to make a living from it these days in any case. In that case, we just do the development for fun and earn our living somewhere else. Unfortunately, that has the disadvantage of being able to work on the game only as time permits, so development is much slower than a dedicated team. So the trade-off looks like cost (scaring many players away) vs. development speed (not getting stuff done quickly enough for players to want to play).
I have been working on Cohorts in my spare time, in its various incarnations, for about 20 years. Trouble was, the technology was evolving faster than I could produce the game. I kept rebuilding and redesigning it as I was going. About 2 years ago, I decided to make a go of it. I stopped working to devote full time effort to making the game. Even as a full time job, I couldn't produce the game fast enough, so I started hiring help. Could I afford it? Perhaps not. But, I was at the point that I couldn't afford to not hire the help.
Whether it is a success or a failure - I have to get the game finished. If I lose money (a lot of money) as a result - well, I have been having the best two years of my professional career. After 35 years of building computer systems "their way", I'm finally getting to build one "my way" - and I'm having a blast doing it.