I'm not sure if this is too personal to ask... You don't have to answer if it is, but do you "need" to make money from games right now? What if you just spent the next few years or so making really cool games (like Divine Dreams)? and didn't worry about making more money for the time being
Maybe one day of your games will sell enough so that you can live off of making games, but maybe for now it would be possible to not worry about the money too much and just make all the games that you want to? As a thought experiment, let's say that you decide that you can't keep doing this right now. What would you do instead? Is the alternative to solo game development something that would significantly change your financial status ≈5 years from now? Maybe for you, you would like to continue doing what you are currently doing compared to all the alternatives you can think of?
Perhaps you could also get some sort of part-time job, like freelance website development? or being an online tutor for psychology classes? if you really need more $$$ and you can still spend the majority of your time making games
2
Tobias 1102~4Y
I'm currently 32 years old and I still live with my parents because I can't afford to move out. They're in their sixties now, and if they were to drop dead for whatever reason tomorrow, I have no security and don't know what I'd do. I don't even have any friends to move in with or anything. I'd probably just start seriously thinking about suicide again, knowing me.
Technically my parents are allowing me to live here rent-free at the moment, so I'm lucky in that regard (even if it makes me feel like a loser). But I've got no security, and this isn't an ideal situation at all.
I've thought about doing something on the side, freelance work maybe, but the thought is horrifying to me, plus I just simply don't have the time. I spend all the energy I have working on games, and it still takes forever to finish anything. If I divided my time even further, I can't imagine I'd have the energy left to finish things.
1
xXDivineDreamerXx12~4Y
What are you afraid of for freelance work? I think you could make websites for people relatively quickly, and you don't have to interact with people in person. You can also decide to not accept any jobs if you really don't feel like doing freelance stuff? Besides making websites, I think you could also do film/video editing or compose music for people potentially? I also think tutoring would not be a bad idea, maybe even tutoring English for people learning English as a second language, unless that would be too much social interaction.
If you really do need to get a job--say tomorrow, I think there would still be multiple good options for you!
-library monitor
-data entry
-online customer service
-test proctor/administrator
...
I think you could get much higher paying jobs because of your psychology degree, creativity, and game design skills but any of the jobs mentioned above--I think--would have minimal social contact and maybe you could do them part-time and still have plenty of time and energy for making your own games?
Knowing your struggles with self-perception, you probably cringed when I mentioned those "minimum wage" jobs. I hope I didn't make you cringe too much lol. I am just wondering if those are things you could do for say ≈1 hr a day or 1-2 full days out of a week and you can make some extra cash on the side. Also keep in mind that these are options if you don't want to try freelance work.
Maybe one day of your games will sell enough so that you can live off of making games, but maybe for now it would be possible to not worry about the money too much and just make all the games that you want to? As a thought experiment, let's say that you decide that you can't keep doing this right now. What would you do instead? Is the alternative to solo game development something that would significantly change your financial status ≈5 years from now? Maybe for you, you would like to continue doing what you are currently doing compared to all the alternatives you can think of?
Perhaps you could also get some sort of part-time job, like freelance website development? or being an online tutor for psychology classes? if you really need more $$$ and you can still spend the majority of your time making games
Technically my parents are allowing me to live here rent-free at the moment, so I'm lucky in that regard (even if it makes me feel like a loser). But I've got no security, and this isn't an ideal situation at all.
I've thought about doing something on the side, freelance work maybe, but the thought is horrifying to me, plus I just simply don't have the time. I spend all the energy I have working on games, and it still takes forever to finish anything. If I divided my time even further, I can't imagine I'd have the energy left to finish things.
If you really do need to get a job--say tomorrow, I think there would still be multiple good options for you!
-library monitor
-data entry
-online customer service
-test proctor/administrator
...
I think you could get much higher paying jobs because of your psychology degree, creativity, and game design skills but any of the jobs mentioned above--I think--would have minimal social contact and maybe you could do them part-time and still have plenty of time and energy for making your own games?
Knowing your struggles with self-perception, you probably cringed when I mentioned those "minimum wage" jobs. I hope I didn't make you cringe too much lol. I am just wondering if those are things you could do for say ≈1 hr a day or 1-2 full days out of a week and you can make some extra cash on the side. Also keep in mind that these are options if you don't want to try freelance work.