Comments on: Can you make a living developing casual games? http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/ Casual Game Development and Positive Thinking Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:03:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Grey Alien Games » Blog Archive » Xmas Bonus Sales Stats http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/comment-page-1/#comment-2276 Grey Alien Games » Blog Archive » Xmas Bonus Sales Stats Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:22:53 +0000 http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/#comment-2276 [...] year ago I made this post which details the effective hourly wages I’ve earned from 5 of my products. The fantastic [...] [...] year ago I made this post which details the effective hourly wages I’ve earned from 5 of my products. The fantastic [...]

]]> By: Grey Alien Games http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/comment-page-1/#comment-1959 Grey Alien Games Mon, 19 Jan 2009 06:11:41 +0000 http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/#comment-1959 Just wanted to add that these figures are now way out of date. What a difference a year makes! Just goes to show how it's a long term game... Just wanted to add that these figures are now way out of date. What a difference a year makes! Just goes to show how it’s a long term game…

]]> By: Grey Alien Games http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/comment-page-1/#comment-965 Grey Alien Games Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:32:48 +0000 http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/#comment-965 OK got another royalty report for Holiday Bonus. Updated the figure from £7.36 to £9.18, nice! OK got another royalty report for Holiday Bonus. Updated the figure from £7.36 to £9.18, nice!

]]> By: Grey Alien Games http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/comment-page-1/#comment-950 Grey Alien Games Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:58:26 +0000 http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/#comment-950 Just updated the Holiday Bonus figure with my latest royalty reports (more are still pending). It went up from £5.15 per hour to £7.36 which is not too bad now. Just updated the Holiday Bonus figure with my latest royalty reports (more are still pending). It went up from £5.15 per hour to £7.36 which is not too bad now.

]]> By: Grey Alien Games http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/comment-page-1/#comment-949 Grey Alien Games Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:35:42 +0000 http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/#comment-949 You are correct in that I definitely considered making some non-seasonal match-3 games and probably would have made one (had lots of ideas) if I did not get the contract job from Big Fish Games to make Fairway Solitaire. Plus because that was so successful, they now want me to make some more games for them so I'm doing that now. However, I'm not ruling out a match-3 at all, so watch this space ;-) You are correct in that I definitely considered making some non-seasonal match-3 games and probably would have made one (had lots of ideas) if I did not get the contract job from Big Fish Games to make Fairway Solitaire. Plus because that was so successful, they now want me to make some more games for them so I’m doing that now. However, I’m not ruling out a match-3 at all, so watch this space ;-)

]]> By: Seb http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/comment-page-1/#comment-948 Seb Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:32:43 +0000 http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/#comment-948 I wonder why you don't just make some more 3-match games?!? Since you have already done the game framework (3-match games are always quite the same) it seems to be a good option just to hire an artist for a new theme, and "resell" your old game with a new look. you could still add some more elements (in my opinion "treasures of montezuma" is the best 3-match game so far - it still uses the well known 3-match game mechanics but the combos give the game a new twist - absolutely addictive!!!). you wouldn't need to invest so much time, because most of the work is already done. the time-input/money-output rate should be rather good. i guess you have already thought about that. why haven't you followed that idea then? there must be a reason i haven't yet thought of, i guess... I wonder why you don’t just make some more 3-match games?!? Since you have already done the game framework (3-match games are always quite the same) it seems to be a good option just to hire an artist for a new theme, and “resell” your old game with a new look. you could still add some more elements (in my opinion “treasures of montezuma” is the best 3-match game so far – it still uses the well known 3-match game mechanics but the combos give the game a new twist – absolutely addictive!!!).

you wouldn’t need to invest so much time, because most of the work is already done. the time-input/money-output rate should be rather good.

i guess you have already thought about that. why haven’t you followed that idea then? there must be a reason i haven’t yet thought of, i guess…

]]> By: Grey Alien Games http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/comment-page-1/#comment-945 Grey Alien Games Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:42:45 +0000 http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/#comment-945 Well basically with most jobs you want to know your salary or hourly wage and I wanted to know that and other stuff like how much of my time was spent programming, how much communicating with team members, how much marketing etc. So I kept detailed logs. There are in Excel and very quick to make an entry on. Yeah, once a game is made and out there (and pretty much bug free) you can jsut sit back and let the money roll in over the years until the game is non-viable I guess. My oldest game is only 2 years old though, some people have had income from a game for 5+ years! Well basically with most jobs you want to know your salary or hourly wage and I wanted to know that and other stuff like how much of my time was spent programming, how much communicating with team members, how much marketing etc. So I kept detailed logs. There are in Excel and very quick to make an entry on.

Yeah, once a game is made and out there (and pretty much bug free) you can jsut sit back and let the money roll in over the years until the game is non-viable I guess. My oldest game is only 2 years old though, some people have had income from a game for 5+ years!

]]> By: Karl http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/comment-page-1/#comment-944 Karl Sat, 02 Feb 2008 16:03:10 +0000 http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/#comment-944 Interesting read! Very professional of you to relate working hours and profits. If you don't have to update the games much, the numbers can only rise. Interesting read!
Very professional of you to relate working hours and profits. If you don’t have to update the games much, the numbers can only rise.

]]> By: Grey Alien Games http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/comment-page-1/#comment-938 Grey Alien Games Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:37:07 +0000 http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/#comment-938 Xmas Bonus, Easter Bonus and Holiday Bonus are my IP and so if I sell direct I get all the money and if I sell via portals I get 25%-40% depending on the portal. For Oz I get a royalty share from the producer. Fairway I can't talk about. The art and music for my games was either bought in from stock sites (or got from royalty free sites) or commissioned for a fixed fee. I believe the Oz artists are on a royalty share. I think that BFG paid the artist and sound people for Fairway, probably on some hourly rate or maybe a fixed fee, I don't really know. Basically if you are lucky, you may find pro artists/sound people on the forums who will work for a royalty share or a small fee + royalties BUT you must have a proven track record of completing games first yourself otherwise they won't touch you with a bargepole (and who'd blame them). So I go to Blitzbasic.com and Indiegamer.com (which also has people posting adverts for their services) but there are special artist and musician forums around too. However, for quality, in theory you should just hire someone and pay them up front, but you need a budget for that of course! Xmas Bonus, Easter Bonus and Holiday Bonus are my IP and so if I sell direct I get all the money and if I sell via portals I get 25%-40% depending on the portal. For Oz I get a royalty share from the producer. Fairway I can’t talk about.

The art and music for my games was either bought in from stock sites (or got from royalty free sites) or commissioned for a fixed fee. I believe the Oz artists are on a royalty share. I think that BFG paid the artist and sound people for Fairway, probably on some hourly rate or maybe a fixed fee, I don’t really know.

Basically if you are lucky, you may find pro artists/sound people on the forums who will work for a royalty share or a small fee + royalties BUT you must have a proven track record of completing games first yourself otherwise they won’t touch you with a bargepole (and who’d blame them). So I go to Blitzbasic.com and Indiegamer.com (which also has people posting adverts for their services) but there are special artist and musician forums around too. However, for quality, in theory you should just hire someone and pay them up front, but you need a budget for that of course!

]]> By: Jon... http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/comment-page-1/#comment-937 Jon... Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:29:55 +0000 http://greyaliengames.com/blog/can-you-make-a-living-developing-casual-games/#comment-937 Assuming you've taken off the money for resources (Artwork, Music, SFX) - did you have a fixed price for those or did you enter into royalty share agreements. Any advice for getting contacts with professional, talented, reliable artists / musicians ??? Assuming you’ve taken off the money for resources (Artwork, Music, SFX) – did you have a fixed price for those or did you enter into royalty share agreements.

Any advice for getting contacts with professional, talented, reliable artists / musicians ???

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