Comments on: Pragmatism vs Idealism? http://www.streamingcolour.com/blog/2009/05/08/pragmatism-vs-idealism/ The trials and joys of indie games development Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:32:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: DadGuy http://www.streamingcolour.com/blog/2009/05/08/pragmatism-vs-idealism/comment-page-1/#comment-3185 DadGuy Tue, 12 May 2009 04:32:16 +0000 http://www.streamingcolour.com/blog/?p=606#comment-3185 THink of it this way. At some point in your life you'll have the time and money to write the game you want to write for the joy of writing it -- assuming you actually want to write it. =) Just make sure the bills are paid. I think it's absolutely true that you are able to do both. But then I've been called an idealist before. As Fred stated, it's different if you're doing it to do it than if you're doing it for a paycheck. If you can combine the two, so much the better, but like everything each side of things will require effort. Looking forward to an announcement. THink of it this way. At some point in your life you’ll have the time and money to write the game you want to write for the joy of writing it — assuming you actually want to write it. =) Just make sure the bills are paid.

I think it’s absolutely true that you are able to do both. But then I’ve been called an idealist before. As Fred stated, it’s different if you’re doing it to do it than if you’re doing it for a paycheck. If you can combine the two, so much the better, but like everything each side of things will require effort.

Looking forward to an announcement.

]]> By: Fred http://www.streamingcolour.com/blog/2009/05/08/pragmatism-vs-idealism/comment-page-1/#comment-3073 Fred Sat, 09 May 2009 13:48:07 +0000 http://www.streamingcolour.com/blog/?p=606#comment-3073 Very interesting article once again ;-). As for being surprised by the numbers of people who suggested go for the money, I think you shouldn't have been. Since most indie developer have decide to leave their current paying jobs they will still to pay for their living (for example mortgage, grocery, etc...). So if the developers decide to only concentrate on some very artsy project he love but have no market, this might become an issue later on. But like you said I don't think those are necessarily mutually exclusive. It should be possible to combine both, but this will depend on the market. Can they be attracted to your new concept, will they enjoy it? If you succeed doing that then it could be sustainable to do this kind of projects. Maybe if you could find investors to invest in those projects (either individual or a publisher) then you could definitely concentrate on your ideas without worrying too much about the financial. I know those kind of decision aren't easy to take, for us (me and my 2 other friends) our current philosophy for our gaming project is to make something we enjoy and think other will find fun. If we make some $ out of it, great, if we don't then we would have still had fun doing it and gave us some great experience. We are able to do this since we do this in our past time as a hobby. The situation will be different if those project were what will pay our salary at the end of the month. I think what you could do, is try to balanced time pass on the project that are dear to your heart and the project that market wants. Maybe working on the regular project during the days and on your special project in the evening and/or week-end. Also you could do maybe some contract/consulting work for let say 2 days/week (just enough to support your finance) and the rest of the week work on the project you love (I once worked with a consultant that was working hard for 6 month, then took 6 month off to travel around and do thing he enjoy in life). I sincerely hope you can find that right balance and do thing you really enjoy without feeling too much stress from the finance. Sincerly Fred Very interesting article once again ;-) .

As for being surprised by the numbers of people who suggested go for the money, I think you shouldn’t have been. Since most indie developer have decide to leave their current paying jobs they will still to pay for their living (for example mortgage, grocery, etc…). So if the developers decide to only concentrate on some very artsy project he love but have no market, this might become an issue later on.

But like you said I don’t think those are necessarily mutually exclusive. It should be possible to combine both, but this will depend on the market. Can they be attracted to your new concept, will they enjoy it? If you succeed doing that then it could be sustainable to do this kind of projects. Maybe if you could find investors to invest in those projects (either individual or a publisher) then you could definitely concentrate on your ideas without worrying too much about the financial.

I know those kind of decision aren’t easy to take, for us (me and my 2 other friends) our current philosophy for our gaming project is to make something we enjoy and think other will find fun. If we make some $ out of it, great, if we don’t then we would have still had fun doing it and gave us some great experience. We are able to do this since we do this in our past time as a hobby. The situation will be different if those project were what will pay our salary at the end of the month.

I think what you could do, is try to balanced time pass on the project that are dear to your heart and the project that market wants. Maybe working on the regular project during the days and on your special project in the evening and/or week-end. Also you could do maybe some contract/consulting work for let say 2 days/week (just enough to support your finance) and the rest of the week work on the project you love (I once worked with a consultant that was working hard for 6 month, then took 6 month off to travel around and do thing he enjoy in life).

I sincerely hope you can find that right balance and do thing you really enjoy without feeling too much stress from the finance.

Sincerly
Fred

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