Going Full-Time IndieDev

So – I finally gave myself the early Christmas present I always wanted – quitting my day-job and going full-time IndieDev!

It’s perhaps the scariest move I’ve ever made in my life… I’ve given up a fairly secure career in the evil world of marketing copywriting (working for The Man) and decided to put all my energy into making games instead, putting my rent payments, bills and food requirements at risk – all this without ever having sold a single game!

But that’s exactly why I’m doing this – I simply don’t have the energy to do a full day at work (usually 10 hours in most of my positions) and then travel an hour home on the underground, cook dinner for me and my GF and still manage to put out a quality product. Quite honestly most days I’m lucky if I manage a few lines of code, or design a single sprite, before my eyes start drooping and I start making careless mistakes.

And I’ve come to realise one thing for sure – if I don’t go for it 100% I’ll never get to be a proper game developer, because I’ll never produce anything of any true merit without be completely dedicated to this career!

So – over the past few months I’ve been saving as much as I can and managed to put away enough to cover my rent for the next few months… (London is DAMN expensive – but luckily I live in rent-controlled housing) and today I officially handed in my notice to my boss – from December onwards I’m a free agent! I can’t describe how great it feels! For the first time since a I was a teenager I feel truly free, and although I’m scared as fvck about it, it’s as though a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders. For over 15 years now I’ve been trying to fit into the corporate business world, and the fact of the matter is – I simply don’t fit. I’ve always been the square peg trying to fit into a round hole. I’ve always had that feeling of being an outsider, an imposter trying to desperately cover up the fact that really, all I want to do is share my creations with the world and bring a little bit of fun into people’s lives…

I simply couldn’t handle it any more – it was killing my creativity and destroying my soul.

Right about now I should say a massive, huge, enormous THANK YOU to my girlfriend Barbara, who has agreed to go full-time at her work to make sure our food-costs and energy bills are covered – without her support and belief there’s no way I could ever do this! It’s her confidence in me that has given me the ability and the drive to make this huge leap! T H A N K   Y O U !!!

So, that’s all for now folks – I’m finally free and I’ve got a few months to try and create something special that will tickle your imaginations enough for you to play my games! It’s not about the money – it’s about putting all my energy into something truly creative and something that’s truly for me!

Wish me luck on my journey guys – I’ll be back with some news about my first project shortly! 🙂

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2 Comments

  1. Fortune favours the brave my friend! Good luck x

  2. Interesting read, I wish you all the best for your journey. Just remember that whatever you do – make it perfect. People are really protective in terms of their money, so if you don’t like some parts of your game, changes are that people won’t pay for it. I will keep my eye on your blog, and hopefully start producing real games of my own some day! 🙂 Cheers.

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