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Funding if you're a freelancer

AJNJ
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AJNJ null
Hey, so long story short.

I'm a beginning gamedev. As in I am quite profficient in C++, but have nothing to show (yet).
At the same time, I am getting my bachelor's next year. I'm wondering what should I do.

Should I do boring stuff, but have safe income?
Should I chase my dreams, but be less stable financially?

That's the thing. Funding. 
The money is the issue. I come from a normal family. As in my father won't give me "a small loan of $1mln" (the first to guess who said it originally, wins). 

These are the options I am considering
  • Patreon
  • Kickstarter
  • GetGame (it's something I have came across by accident, not so popular yet)
  • GoFundMe
Do you guys know something more about GetGame? It looks very interesting. But I presume it's a very new service.

Also, what's the easiest (as far as coding is concerned) game to make? A 2D platformer? 

Replies

  • Brian "Panda" Choi
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    Brian "Panda" Choi high dynamic range
    Have you reached out to indie developers about this?

    Like I could get you into contact with friends have mine who are or have gone indie in LA.  They have OODLES of information on this.  Heartmachine, Glitch City LA, Vlambeer, 17bit Games, Numinous Games, Lab Zero, Sirvos Games, etc.

    You can probably find a stable income and chase your dream.  You'll just be at a split velocity on both ends.

    If you want something easy in terms of coding, you're looking at script based stuff like GameMaker.  Hyper Light Drifter  and Death's Gambit are GameMaker games.  That doesn't make it any less harder though to develop on.  You may find yourself wanting more access to low level code to do some things you want to do down the line.

    You can conceivably make a game from only Blueprint Script in UE4.

    Unity may be more scripting than coding to some engineers, but C# is a pretty capable language nonetheless.  Many indie developers have found much purchase from Unity since the early days.
  • RN
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    RN sublime tool
    What are your dreams, exactly?
    AJNJ said:
    I am getting my bachelor's next year. I'm wondering what should I do.
    Use this time right now to do projects focused on your area of interest.
  • AJNJ
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    AJNJ null
    Like I could get you into contact with friends have mine who are or have gone indie in LA.  They have OODLES of information on this.  Heartmachine, Glitch City LA, Vlambeer, 17bit Games, Numinous Games, Lab Zero, Sirvos Games, etc.
    That would me much appreciated
    RN said:
    What are your dreams, exactly?
    I want to do something innovative. Something new.
  • Kevin Albers
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    Kevin Albers polycounter lvl 18
    Getting any sort of funding as a beginning, unknown game developer is almost impossible. 

    A more realistic plan would be to make small projects, and try to generate some money from those to use to fund larger projects. Or make something larger with no funding, by getting an unrelated job to bring in money while you work part time on your game project.  

    Crowd funding was somewhat easier during a very short window of time, a few years ago. Now it is very difficult, unless you already have a fan base.

    It kind of sucks, but it is reality. Funding for the arts has ALWAYS been difficult, unless you are part of a rich family who gives you money to pursue your interests.
  • Brian "Panda" Choi
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    Brian "Panda" Choi high dynamic range
    Email me with questions you want to ask and I can forward them.
  • sacboi
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    sacboi high dynamic range
    If you're OOP competent, with an interest hitting the indie gaming scene I'll also suggest on an introductory level, checking out resources such as:

    - Game Code School

    - Gamedev.net


    ...etc, basically a few I've utilised getting my coding somewhat back up to spec. And as for scripting out of the box via off the shelf middleware solutions then Unity may suit your needs better. Either JS (UnityScript) or C# plus try self funding your aforementioned pathway? My friends and I manage too hold down casual/partime/fulltime jobs paying bills whilst financing our collective dreams on crackin it big one day...so MacDonald's, Burger King...?

    ...just a thought.

    EDIT:
    Oh...and by the way Flappy Bird is my personal benchmark, something simple with addictive gameplay, pure f'ing brilliance.
  • Larry
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    Larry interpolator
    Stability is your base. Start from something stable, and take small risks at a time. Going all in from the get-go is not worth it. You are in real life and not in a game where you have multiple chances.
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