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Are there any hobbyists here

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by 121, May 3, 2015.

  1. 121

    121

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    that use Unity as a creative outlet and not to make money?
     
  2. N1warhead

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    I'm sure there are, but far and few between lol.
     
  3. Not_Sure

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    Yo!

    I consider myself a hobbyist, but I'm still looking to make some money if I can.
     
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  4. Kiwasi

    Kiwasi

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    In the loose sense of the word most of the forum users are hobbyists. Especially in the discussion section. The professional developers are too busy making games to come on here and chat.

    In the strict sense I'm a hobbyist. I have a comfortable job that pays the bills, and spend my evenings and weekends doing game development because I like making games. Any money I make in this will be entirely incidental. I don't throw anywhere enough effort at this to make it a full time job.
     
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  5. zombiegorilla

    zombiegorilla

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    I consider myself both. Even though professional game development is my career, building my own games is my main hobby as well. I have no interest in the 'business' side of games (publishing, marketing, maintaining, etc), so my personal games are purely for my own amusement and exploration.
     
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  6. Not_Sure

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    This has ALWAYS killed me. Everyone I know IRL that does this for a living doesn't ever have their own thing going on. How is that possible?

    Is it because of work agreements?

    NDA's?

    And if so, what's stopping people from using an alias or someone as a front?
     
  7. zombiegorilla

    zombiegorilla

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    Well certainly there is a non-compete clause in my contract, and more importantly my job is simply phenomenal, so I wouldn't do anything to risk it.

    But for me it is mostly that I love making games. As a hobby, I don't have to worry about deadlines or marketability or even finishing if get bored with the idea. Also I like to build and move on. I don't want to get "tied" to a game for to long. If I went back to publishing my games, I would get stuck doing all the boring bits like marketing and maintenance. As a hobby I just enjoy the fun parts. ;)
     
  8. npsf3000

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    Well for me I use my professional life to achieve my personal goals. For me, my work *is* my hobby in a sense.

    I don't have my own personal game in the works because A) that doesn't interest me and B) I'm much more interested in working with a team of people to achieve real products that achieve real world value.
     
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  9. Teila

    Teila

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    I would guess most of the people using Unity are hobbyists. While I have worked on commercial products elsewhere, we have not made money off our game yet so we would still be designated as hobbyist. Either way, we do this because it is fun not as our main source of income.
     
    Last edited: May 3, 2015
  10. GarBenjamin

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    Why would this be so hard to believe? Your post makes it seem like the only good thing about game dev is to make money from it. First, not everyone is so driven by money to spend all of their time trying to get it. Second, a lot of people I am sure, just as @zombiegorilla said, do this for the enjoyment because they have a real passion for game development and experimentation.

    My job isn't in game dev but I am the same way regarding no desire to chase money from this. That is what my job is for. Any free time I spend on game projects is done only because I have always enjoyed making games and just playing around with game dev in general. Anything I make is generally shared only with close family and friends. Sometimes I release something and it is for free. I wouldn't put ads or IAP in it because as a gamer I hate that crap but unfortunately the web portals seem to do that automatically. Some day I will take a shot at selling a game again and all of the work that goes along with that. That business venture will be a game in itself. An experiment working on marketing, customer support and all the related business crap tax filing and so forth.

    And to the OP, that is what it is for me. I have been an avid gamer for the past 30 years and during that time I had the same degree of passion for building games or at least building engines and experimenting. I enjoy the creative aspect very much. It is very cool to be able to dream up a game world and then build it being in full control of all of the laws and so forth. It's fun just to experiment and play around. Come up with an idea for a play mechanic and test it. Figure out how to do something or even improve upon something you experienced in another game. There is a lot more to game design and development than just focusing on money.
     
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  11. Tomnnn

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    I'm a hobbyist. I will never make money off of the games I create for fun. At best I will make a little money from being hired to tutor or build assets for others.
     
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  12. Velo222

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    I found it funny asking "Are there any hobbyists here?". There are probably a ton of hobbyists here :) But they may not all be looking at the forums right now.

    I am a hobbyist. Although I use Unity for both creativity and trying to challenge myself in terms of programming and problem solving, I would also like to make money from it. But even if I make no money at all, it's something I like to do as a hobby.

    I'm still considering whether or not I should apply for a "real" job in game development. But then I think this might actually kill my passion for it, if I had to work for someone else. I don't know though.
     
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  13. Not_Sure

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    @GarBenjamin : Don't get me wrong, the money matters to me, but who doesn't want to be the next Schafer or Miyamoto?

    Also, solo is the only way to truly do what you want.
     
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  14. Ryiah

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    You may have a better chance of making money going down those routes as well.

    How about the next Tarn Adams? Developing an unusual pet project that no one else would ever consider while making enough from donations to live off of.
     
  15. Tomnnn

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    So far I've made like $10 from helping people and $0 from selling games. Your statement is true.
     
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  16. Kiwasi

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    Yeah, 92 cents from Pond Wars. 92 dollars from tutorials.

    Nothing from the random guy that PM'd me offering to pay for a script. I wrote the thing, but he didn't log on again.

    Yet to release to the asset store. So no comment on revenue there.
     
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  17. cl9-2

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    Have you looked at tutoring through Fiverr?
     
  18. Tomnnn

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    Haha I might as well. That $10 is actually 2 $5 jobs :p
     
  19. cl9-2

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    $5 is actually the minimum, and also, of course the most popular price, but it's possible to charge more for larger sessions/tutorials/projects.
     
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  20. Teila

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    I had never heard of Fiverr until now. Some fun reading! :)
     
  21. Tomnnn

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    Well thanks for the information, sounds like it could have a wider reach and more variety than FrogTutor. Might also eat up less time. If there's a way I can browse requests on there, maybe I'll go for it.

    You can find someone to do just about anything for $5 on there. I've heard of people using it to have school work done for them.

    --edit

    Seems there are hundreds of people offering everything. Might be too much competition :s
     
  22. Teila

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    I found a lady who would yell at my kids for me! :) Only $5!
     
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  23. greggtwep16

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    I've used the site and think in general it's pretty nice. I bought a non unique video intro there, our applications mobile icon, and a few other miscellaneous stuff. In general my experience at fiverr has been quite positive. Obviously it's for smaller stuff since it's only $5 but I like the marketplace.
     
  24. Steve-Tack

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    Yeah. Plenty of people enjoy working on games for others for their main source of income, but personally I enjoy the solo hobbyist route of having 100% control of my game designs and working on whatever part of the game I want to whenever I want. I can do things that don't conform to market trends or on features that may have little ROI, just because they're fun to do.
     
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  25. Kiwasi

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    Hmmm. Writing a full game for $5 seems like a great way to join the race to the bottom. I might try putting up reskinable versions of some of my basic games up there. Maybe.

    A quick search for Unity doesn't give me any confidence of the hourly rate.
     
  26. Tomnnn

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    @BoredMormon that it does. I have a feeling for $5, people are instead doing what I have done and prototyped specific features and sold it as a unity package.
     
  27. zombiegorilla

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    But, that isn't really true, is it? It might be, as long as what you truly want to do falls within the limits of your available time, skill set and resources. Even as a "solo" you are technically collaborating with UT and probably asset store developers. Unless you are independently very wealthy, there huge limits on what you can actually create.

    Making games is a team sport. And like everything is game dev, it is full of trade-offs. Every member of your team beyond yourself reduces on some level the amount of control you have, but it also dramatically increases your options/resources. The ideal situation is a small team with deep talent and either similar vision, or at least focused on different areas that converge.
     
  28. BFGames

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    I work with Unity both professional and as a Hobby.

    As zombiegorilla mentioned then you don't have to worry about all the boring stuff when you make games as a hobby, which is really nice. Often it just ends up as prototypes, and then i throw it away.

    With that said, i have worked on a "hobby" project with a bunch of friends over the last 2+ years, which will actually be released on Steam as an early access game sometime in the summer :)
     
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  29. zombiegorilla

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    Like anything, it depends on who you work for and how good you are. There are good and bad companies/situations. And in all those, someone has to run things. The trick is be to be at a great company and be top in your field, so you are making the calls. ;)

    Personally, for me, I had the same concerns many years ago. I had success on my own, and through work (software development at the time), I met some guys in the same boat. John, our lead (and my first and most influential mentor), talked us into working together on projects. One thing lead to another and eventually it became a studio then pro gigs. But what happened, is it actually fed into my passion. It was one thing to be on my own, but spending all day with equally skilled and passionate developers. And that continues to this day. Every single person is my studio is a hardcore game dev geek (and many other shades of geek). Can't really think of a better way to spend the day. ;)
     
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  30. Kiwasi

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    I don't want to do marketing or deal with customer complaints. In my day job this is taken care of by a dedicated marketing function.

    As a solo developer I either do it myself or it doesn't get done. Cutting other people out of the project means I can't hand them work that I don't want to do. Bizarre as it seems, there are some people that actually like marketing and hate the development process. There are people called artists out there that love making textures and models.

    If you want to be a specialist you have to work in a team.

    Edit: And don't forget the guys at Unity that love to figure out how to implement physics across 17 different platforms.
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2015
  31. zombiegorilla

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    Exactly. And often amongst specialists you don't have conflicting desires/goals. For example, I will often create events/interactions, and the engineer that implements it will have goals that don't impact mine at all. (Internal structure and performance). I get exactly what I want, they get to do it exactly how they want. We all win.
     
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  32. angrypenguin

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    That's a crazy sharp double edged sword you're wavin' 'round over there! Solo might give you immense personal freedom, but it also ridiculously restricts your capacity. I know this because I've deliberately given both types of project a shot, and I can assure you they both have their pros and cons.
     
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  33. Not_Sure

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    Sorry,when I said 'solo' I meant away from a large studio. Not just you.
     
  34. RichardKain

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    Yeah, I can't ever really say that I work "solo," despite the fact that I work on my game projects on my own. I have acquired Assets from the Asset Store in the past, as well as had some of my technical questions answered before on forums and such. And in a way it would not be unrealistic to say that all of Unity's development staff are a part of my "team." I certainly wouldn't be able to do a fraction of what I am doing without their contributions. It's always good to maintain a certain amount of perspective. If we see further than other men, it is because we stand on the shoulders of giants.

    I consider myself a hobbyist. My day-job is in a different, largely unrelated industry. I work on game development in my free time just because I like doing it. The area I live in has almost no large-scale commercial game development presence. So a salaried position isn't really possible without moving. There are a few small indie devs in the area, but any one of those would require crazy overtime and would pay half as much as I'm currently making. And due to personal reasons I have no desire to move. (mainly due to my family) So for the time being the hobbyist route is simply the best option for me.

    I also like being able to experiment. And that is one thing that is a lot easier to do when you are a hobbyist. I can try out different designs and approaches that would be too risky to attempt in a fully commercial setting.
     
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  35. zombiegorilla

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    Depends on the large studio. ;)
     
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