5 reasons to become an indie game developer

So you want to become an indie game developer?

Well, welcome to the club, is not an easy job but you will have a lot of satisfaction.

But in this article, I want to tell you some very good reasons to be an indie game developer.

Although there are a lot of reasons to not be an indie game developer that I will discuss in another article, here I’ll just focus on the bright side of this amazing job.

Let’s start with the first point: bee free.

Reasons to become an indie game developer: 1 Make games and be free

So one of the reasons that pushed me toward the world of indie game development, is the freedom behind this job.

Let me explain: when I wake up in the morning, I have the joy to work at something that makes me happy: make games.

But I can also manage my time and live a much stressless life.

For example, after a few hours of hard coding, my brain becomes fried and I really feel the need to have a break.

So I walk outside of my office (which is also my room) and go for a run, this is so regenerating and when I go back to the desk, I’m ready for another session of hard work.

But it is not over, freedom come in a lot of aspects and since I really love to travel, this job also gave me the freedom to travel across the world and make games while doing it.

I can lay on a beach in Thailand, write code for my games, go for a bath and then come back again at work.

But freedoms comes in a lot of aspects and one of the main things that I really love about being an indie game developer is to have more time to spend with my family and friends.

I can manage my time and for me it is fundamental to have the chance to make my own daily schedule and enjoy life as much as possible.

Also, you need to be aware that this job is very stressful so you need to be really good at managing your time and your productivity and since this aspect is very important, I will go into the details in another article.

2 Make money with your own games

ok , who does not dream of making money with their passions?

Well, making games and making money by doing it is a very good way of living.

I must say that achieving the goal to make money and become an independent game developer is not an easy road.

Indeed, you can make a good game, be successful and make money but then fail with your next title and start all over again.

In any case there are a lot of successful indie game developers who make a living off making games.

And if becoming an indie game developer is what you have all dreamed about, then you should go for it.

There are some people like Jonathan Blow who have made more than 4 million dollars with his first independent title called braid.

But remember one very important thing: Making games is very different than being an entrepreneur.

You can be a very good game developer but a shitty entrepreneur, if that is the case, you have 2 choices:

Acquire some entrepreneur skills that will be extremely helpful to develop you career.
Partner or hire someone with the skills that you need.

If you want to start with to acquire some skill in the world of the entrepreneurs, I suggest you start with these 2 books:

With these 2, you’ll have a good insight into the world of money management and you’ll start to think more like an entrepreneur than a simple game developer.

3) Make other people happy with your games

There is nothing more satisfying than seeing other people happy by playing with your games.

Making other people have fun with your games should be the main driving force for all the game developers all around the world.

Just so you know, most of the people get into the game dev industries because they want to make money, this is a common mistake and it will probably lead to failure and burnout during your career.

So if your main goal is to make incredible games, then money will follow otherwise you are more likely to fail.

4) Follow your passion

I remember playing video games when I was young.

I should have spent thousands of hours in front of the Nintendo playing Super Mario, level after level, jumping on the clouds or inside those pixelate green pipe

For me it was like magic, all of those pixels moving in front of my face… it was so much fun.

Now it is not just a passion but an honor having the chance to make my own games and mastering all the “magic” that there are behind the creations of games.

I can follow my passion, have fun and make money.

5)Is so f****g fun

Sitting at my desk, creating all of these magic worlds and seeing other people playing with it is so much fun.

I must say that I have bad days sometimes.

Bugs to fix, laggy UI, finical struggling and all sorts of problems that all the game developers sooner or later have to face

But besides that, I really enjoy making games and should be the same for you, if not, then you will probably have a really short career in front of you.