I've been thinking about freelancing 3D and 2D game dev. What skills do I need to have?

To make some extra money to pay my collage fees, I've been considering freelancing. I don't know if I have the skills to make satisfactory games. I know this varies from game to game, but in your opinion. What's the big things I need to have mastered.

 

Please read recent thread here
https://forum.unity.com/threads/advice-on-making-money-new-dev.820518/
It will save our time, on starting yet another similar topic.

Also, please use search features. There are number of similar topics every month.

 

Thanks, but I'm not new to Unity. I've been with Unity for 4 years casually. I want to be sure that I'm 100% ready to start making games for others

 

Is irrelevant. Question is, have completed any project? Show us your portfolio.

Stil, we had similar discussion on that topic probably just few months back, at least once. So is worth to give a search shot. Just use browser search, not Unity for forum. You will get better results.

 

Don't wonder if you are ready. The market will tell you. Apply for jobs. Put your work out there and get feedback. Make content and put it on the stores.

Your opinion and other peoples opinions don't matter here. The market opinion is what matters and there is only one way to gauge it.

I'd bet if there was some way to test it scientifically, what you would find to be number one reason why people don't succeed in whatever they want to succeed in is fear of failure. Keeps them from going all in. Or procrastinating all the time, etc.

Go all in. If you aren't failing, you aren't trying hard enough.

 

We know that you don't have.
Sorry for the harsh words, but this is the reality.
Making games sounds like a kids play, but the fact is it is a difficult job.

 

THIS

While we all like to vents about the reality of skills in the market, in various form, the truth is that if have no skills and plenty of clients, you are legit, Rob Leifield is often mocked but he has more recognition than many so called skill artist, you would rather be a Leifield than a starving artist.

I'm too has been slowly insecure about my skills after chasing some windmill, but in the end what matter is to put yourself out.

 

If you have to ask, you likely won't be able to earn anything.

2d artist - portfolio, few years of experience as artist.
3d artist - portfolio, few years of experience as modeler.
2d game developer - few years of experience, either few titles finished, or at least a demo or to.
3d game developer - few years of experience, either few titles finished or at least a few demos.
C# scripter - few years of programming experience, at least several month of familiarity with unity engine, demos...

Basiclaly, it doesn't work for "I need extra money". You have to possess established skills.

Did you ever participate in ludum dare compo*? Alone?
If you did and successfully finished a submission, then you have what it takes. Maybe.

* Ludum Dare compo is an event where you finish a short game alone in two days and submit it for contest.

 

It depends how much money you want to earn. If you are looking to get $100/hour, your skills are going to be expected to be much better than if you are looking for $10/hour (which some people in certain parts of the world would be very happy with).

There are a lot of people out there who want decent stuff made for their game who just can't pay professional rates, and that means that there's a very broad spectrum of skill level that you can work within. Just don't expect them to be always professional at dealing with problems and communicating expectations - though if you are, that certainly doesn't hurt.

 

This thread feels way too hostile to a pretty fair question from OP.

So recently I've hired some freelancers, and there's a lot of very high skill competition that will work for surprisingly low rates. For paid work, I do think the bar is pretty high. Last time I posted looking for an artist, I got submissions from professionals with legit releases who had rates that were under first world market.

In general, quite a lot of freelancers (in every field, not just games) will not necessarily have the skills they need when they get the job. It's definitely possible to learn new skills while on contract (generally though, its good form to work for flat rates if this is the case).

The problem is landing the work in the first place, and here you generally either need some kind of existing contact (someone to hook you up with the job), a solid portfolio for art, or a resume for code (freelance coders might need a portfolio also, especially if non technical person is hiring).

Right now, the market for freelancers is pretty tough though. If you're serious, you should go hit up some of the freelance boards (like gamedevclassifieds on reddit) and check out the market for yourself.

 

On somewhat related note, I didn't realize that ludum dare compo would make a pretty decent proficiency test. Something to keep in mind in the future.