[Mindem]

Hello everyone!

I am new here. A week ago i began learning C++ language. I have always been intrested in games creation and i would like to create my own games.

I could be very grateful if someone could tell me about making money from games. I am more like a hobbyist (i don't have computer class in my school) Is there a posibility for me to gain some money from games i created?



P.S sorry for my bad english.

[girasquid]

There's definitely a possibility - but you'll need to finish at least one game for that to happen. Typically (at least as I've been told) developers will negotiate deals with game publishers, and then the publishers will pay the developers based on the total number of units sold. There's sometimes a pre-payment(for example, your game is expected to sell 25000 copies, and you get $5k upfront in addition to anything over top of the 25000 expected sales) - but that varies from publisher to publisher.

[Core]

Quote

I could be very grateful if someone could tell me about making money from games. I am more like a hobbyist (i don't have computer class in my school) Is there a possibility for me to gain some money from games i created?

It all depends on what kind of games you are creating. It also depends on what do you mean by 'gain some money'. Sometimes, even big commercial projects are not successful just because people don't buy them, so your chances may vary. Most likely, you won't be able to acquire a contract with a major game publisher to sell your game, mostly because you are a hobbyist and will not create big projects, comparing to big teams of professional developers. However, there are several small games that are distributed as shareware and are later successfully sold (but the revenue is not even comparable to the one of the major projects).

[Hyper]

Don't create what you like, create what the customer likes, the buyer.
That's the #1 way to sell!

[no2pencil]

There are two ways to make money with anything in the computer (software) industry.

One would be selling your completed game.

The 2nd would be to get a job, & be an employee.

I would think that these two situations would both offer a different series of steps to achieve your goal.

[Hyper]

You could also sell the source code, to interest another crowd.

[no2pencil]

That's true. That also works both ways. Game engine sales are big business for ID Software, as well as it'll save time with home-brew applications.

[Hyper]

I think designing your own stuff is more fun than using somebody elses. Gives you a sense of accomplishment, fulfillment, n' something else.

[red_4900]

Hyper, on 26 Jan, 2009 - 09:02 PM, said:

Don't create what you like, create what the customer likes, the buyer.
That's the #1 way to sell!

I would like to think it would be better to create what you like. There's a possibility that there's someone else out there who also like what you like. When you create something that you like, you would be better motivated to finish it, create it better, and it would end up better too. Creating what the customer likes is... well, it's just too common, don't you think? Anyone is welcome to disagree.

[Hyper]

I wouldn't pay you $.5 for the game of Spore. Not even the source code.
It's a trashy game.

Motivation? Your "motivation" is getting paid, if your aim is for $$$, then the only way to get $$$ is to sell what the buyer wants. Going to a house that's under construction trying to sell a pig when they need wood won't get you very far.

[Core]

Quote

Motivation? Your "motivation" is getting paid, if your aim is for $$$, then the only way to get $$$ is to sell what the buyer wants. Going to a house that's under construction trying to sell a pig when they need wood won't get you very far.

I would say this is a quite wrong approach - doing something targeting the revenue first, while you are at a starter level. I would recommend creating something you enjoy and find interesting. Many of the small games and application are currently successfully sold and are quite popular, and those were created not because people wanted that, but because the developer had an idea he liked to implement.

Of course, when you get in a big team of developers in a serious company, you will develop something that the market requires. but not at the starter level - targeting for big incomes first when you did not do anything big yet will get you in a lot of issues, one of them being transforming the job from something you like, to something like 'I just have to do it'.

[5thWall]

I think the game market is actually looking up for indy game developers, thanks to online distribution. You don't need a company to print CDs for you if your game goes right to the console.

You might find this interesting reading: http://www.gamasutra...man_medias_.php

It's a postmortem about a WiiWare game from an indy game company run by a friend of one of my professors.

This post has been edited by 5thWall: 27 January 2009 - 10:16 AM

[Hyper]

Mindem, on 26 Jan, 2009 - 12:18 PM, said:

I could be very grateful if someone could tell me about making money from games...
Is there a posibility for me to gain some money from games i created?

He didn't ask anybodys valuable opinion. He asked if there's a possibility of him making money from a game.
The answer to that is simply yes. How do you get there? That's up to the programmer, he who takes his own path shall succeed.

[KYA]

Hyper's right on the money (hahaha pun indeed intended) with this one.

If you look back at the brief video game histories, you'll notice the companies that went under weren't making necessarily bad games, they weren't targeting the demographic correctly, they were marketing poorly, in short they did not understand their consumer base.

So yes, if you are solely doing this to make cash then you make what the consumer wants. You can't take the "games are art" position and the "I'm only in this to make money" position. Generally, those are mutually exclusive, depending on how well one advertises/markets their creation.

[Mindem]

Thanks for your post everyone.

But what about online games? About making users to pay for additional features and so on. Is it possible to get some money or this will be spent only on server's maintenance?