Don't be short-sighted as an indie gamedev

Comments · 86

• BE

  @BeanJuiceStudios · 4 months ago

  Nah dude I couldnt agree more, the hourly wage thing makes no sense considering all the factors involved lol People tend to forget that you're making a product to sell and games on Steam generate revenue even decades after release. It's all about building up a back catalogue for passive revenue

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• EX

  @ExpensivePizza · 4 months ago

  You're creating assets. That's the difference. When you work for someone else for an hourly rate, you are the asset making assets for someone else.

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• TG

  @TGameDev · 4 months ago

  Agreed. Thinking in the same vein as a worker when you're an entrepreneur doesn't make sense and, historically, has never worked that way (likely never will). Maybe when you're making a consistent income then that's a consideration, but otherwise it feels more like the excel style of procrasterbation.

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• WI

  @winner_joiner · 4 months ago

  If someone really cares about the hourly rate, one should not go into GameDev. GameDev is more like being an artist. <br>That said, I personally would always record the hours, just to be better in estimating: gameIdeas, prototypes, scope-creeps, ... and also when to cut your losses, ... . 👍👍👍

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• SU

  @SundayBrunchStudios · 4 months ago

  I can get on board for the idea that tracking an hourly wage is not a helpful metric. It is still beneficial for developers who want to go full time to have some kind of financial tracking to understand their runway and spending, even when your income is primarily coming from a job. Getting in the habit of tracking cash flow will help in many different aspects and it can help set up for the future when you might be paying others for their work too.

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• AT

  @AtomicNugget · 4 months ago

  Thinking in dollars per hour only makes sense if you&apos;re working for someone

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• ER

  @eric81766 · 4 months ago

  The good thing is to have a catalog of product that you can keep selling all the products. Back in the day I financed my magazine&apos;s growth by selling back issues - each new issue, new people would find the magazine and want to buy the back issues and the more and more issues there were, the more a new reader would buy from us right away. <br> I think Jake Birkett made a video talking about his hourly rate per game (because he keeps very accurate time records) and the best dollar-per-hour games were surprising but it was because some of them had themes that made them sell year after year and thus keep raising their &quot;hourly rate&quot;.

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• PE

  @peterj.2114 · 4 months ago

  If you&apos;re asking &quot;what is my hourly rate&quot; you&apos;re in the wrong field. Lmao.

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• TH

  @TheFoxKnocks · 4 months ago (edited)

  Considering passive income from previous projects is frequently overlooked. If you keep on keeping on, just keep making games, it will start to add up. What&apos;s more, you start being able to bundle with yourself, meaning if you release a game that gets some popularity, you can share some of that popularity with your previous projects. It compounds.<br><br>There&apos;s a lot of people where if you asked them what they&apos;d do with an extra 20, 30, 40, 50 bucks a day, they&apos;d describe it as practically life changing.<br><br>I&apos;m getting that by doing nothing. That sort of financial freedom cannot be described as a wage.<br><br>&quot;Wouldn&apos;t you have made more working a normal job?&quot; Surprise, I can actually work a normal job whenever i want, and I still get the passive income from my games on the side. It&apos;s not exclusively either or.

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• AR

  @Arkenhammer · 4 months ago

  Preach brother. When running a business, most kinds of value aren&apos;t (easily) measured in dollars. Cash flow is what keeps your business running but other kinds of value are how you succeed.

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• TR

  @TrashyDoTio · 4 months ago

  110% agreed this is my solo strategy. I&apos;m looking to ideally get some collaborations going soon after some steam released.

• MY

  @MythicMoonStudios · 4 months ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuufF__6LTk&amp;t=609">10:09</a> we are super negative so far. Damn Adobe subscription 😢

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