Scars of War Development Halted
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Scars of War development is going to be halted for an indefinite time period, at least one year, probably longer. In the next few months, once my business plan and the game spec has been finalized, I shall quit my job to work full time (or nearly full time, depending on whether a contracting gig comes through) on a smaller, 6-month project. Not an RPG, a battling-card game in the same genre as Magic : The Gathering and Spectromancer. The aim is to finish it within 6 months, but with allowances for up to 1 year dev time. Toward the end of that period I will evaluate whether I can keep going full time or need to search for other work (contractual or full time), as I will be near to exhausting my savings. Should the game be finished and making money, I will begin working on expansions (more cards/opponents/mechanics/scenarios) as well as porting to new platforms (made easier by the fact that the game will be dev'd on the Unity3D game engine) to expand my income stream. Should I have failed to finish but be near completion, or not making much money, I will look for contract work to help tide me over during that last stretch. Should I have completely failed.well, I will have given it my best shot. At least I can look back and know that I tried.Totally understandable, and I certainly hope the switch turns out to be lucrative for him.
Scars of War development will resume when my business is stable enough that I feel I can get to the finish line without running out of money. That will probably be achieved in small steps, by building smaller games with sub-sets of the assets or functionality I wanted for SoW, that can then be built upon to reach the full product. For example, a dungeon crawler/arena fighter would allow me to build up the combat system (one of the parts of SoW that needs the most work currently) as its own game and then use that for a more complete RPG.
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So I want to make games for a living, how do I do that? Obviously, I need to make a game to sell.
The most obvious candidate is Scars of War, the RPG I've been working on for ages. But that course sends me slap-bang into the wall that is my current situation. Tackling it the way I do now, around my day job, will take a long time. Way too long, especially given the 80-20 principle, which says I probably have a lot of unanticipated work waiting for me during the polish phase. You think you make adequate allowance for these things, odds are you haven't though. Quitting and working on it full time wouldn't work either, my savings are unlikely to last long enough. I have about 1 year's living expenses saved, thanks to an inheritance I received. That just isn't enough time.
So if the game I have planned would take longer to develop than my savings would last, one of the variables needs to change. Either I save for a few years more or I switch to a game that can be developed quicker. A lot quicker, I don't feel comfortable choosing a game that I think will take a year, as we (everyone, all devs) tend to underestimate timelines. So it must be a 6 month project, to give me a buffer. And it must have a reasonable chance of bringing me an income on release, at least enough money to get an expansion or another game out. That might sound like it doesn't put me in a better position but remember, indie games have long tails. If I can build up a stable of products the effects start to accumulate. I can build up to multiple steady income streams which allow me the financial breathing room to work on bigger titles. I don't expect the first title to set me up for long term dev, but if it can buy me another 3-6 months that would be a win.
A battling card game was what immediately came to mind, mainly because I like them and the market doesn't seem too saturated. I don't call it a trading card game because it wouldn't have the continuous expansion pack model of Magic. You'd buy the game and have all the cards, it's more like Spectromancer in that respect. I think some people like these types of games but get turned off by the purchasing model, honestly.
