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How to Survive in Gamedev for Eleven Years Without a Hit

GDC Festival of Gaming · talk · Watch on YouTube

Indie game developmentGame design

What it is

Jake Birkett of Grey Alien Games explains at GDC 2016 how an indie developer survived eleven years without a hit by building a long tail of games and redefining success.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Recommended in indie and solo game development threads as a grounded account of making a living in games.

  • 3 people recommended it
  • 3 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2017, last 2024

What HN commenters said

  1. “TL;DR: prepare for this to happen, and build a long tail of games/sales.”

    Prepare for no hit and build a long tail of games

    angarg12, 2017-11 · Recommendation · in ““I thought I could ship at least 700 units to stay in business””

  2. “Have a look at some grounded experiences from other folks”

    Grounded experiences on surviving in game development

    KronisLV, 2023-03 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?”

  3. “you can redefine your idea of "success" a little and make a comfortable living”

    Redefine success to make a comfortable living in games

    Firmwarrior, 2023-06 · Recommendation · in “Making Games”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: indie games, gdc, long tail, game sales, solo developer

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