I can think of many games that we enjoy which could only be created professionally,
through tens of millions of dollars worth of focused talent and time.
Many of these AAA games are works of art, on par with film, and that is great,
but that doesn't mean that that's the only way to make games.
Today, we're gonna talk about making games non-professionally.
Also, this episode comes to you courtesy of Chris here.
Say hello!
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People frequently lump all non-professionally made games together as 'indie' games.
Others reserve the label 'indie' only for commercial endeavours,
with money invested and profits as a goal.
And I'm not gonna argue for using the word one way or another, but simply to avoid confusion here
let's use some different labels. Let's stick to words like 'hobby', 'personal', 'recreational', or 'non-professional' games.
Because, that's what I wanna talk about today!
Those private endeavours that were never made with profit as the driving goal.
There are hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of personal game projects out there that you have never heard of.
Due to their being made non-professionally, they are never advertised, and are rarely in the running for press attention.
With zero earnings expected, it's also often typical for little or no money to be spent on development.
Because of this, the art and the sound are usually nothing fancy.
Code may be buggy from hacks and lack of rigorous testing,
and design possibilities are often limited by the severe lack of resources.
So these games don't impress, they earn no money, and you probably haven't heard of practically any of them.
Although there are rare exceptions which gain widespread awareness,
like Flappy Bird.
How and why then are so many of these created?
More importantly, why discuss hobby projects?
Well, because they have a focus that we rarely see with major release games.
They aren't made for me and you.
They are made mainly for the people who created them
and for their friends and family or class mates and co-workers to enjoy.
And I won't try to talk ya into playing games that are made non-professionally
but for the same reason that I am not gonna recommend attending a local
clubs sports event if you don't have family or friends involved in it.
These things are often relatively unimpressive.
You're not likely to come away from them feeling inspired.
Local club sports however don't exist primarily to entertain spectators.
They're for the players participating and for their close friends watching.
I mean an amateur athlete coming up to bat is not very interesting
but you coming up to bat or your best friend coming up to bat
that can be more of an emotional investment for you
than watching professionals play at a higher level.
Most recreational game development works the same way.
It's meaningful to the people doing it and to the people who care about those people.
It's not of interest to strangers but it doesn't need to be.
If you make your own non-professional games they will be relevant to you and your peers
in a different way than any multi-million dollar AAA game
or commercial indie game could be.
And this type of development has a long standing tradition.
Non-professional video games made and played by friends
predated the video game industry's birth.
In 1962, when Steve Russel created Space War,
the main source of updates and new features
came from the same group of classmates that were playing it.
As the code reached other campuses,
student groups made their own modifications,
adding mines and cloaking, tournament support and more.
Around the world today, more people than ever
are making personal games with class mates, neighbours, family and co-workers.
In some cases people experiment with putting ads in.
Or giving it a one dollar price tag in an online store.
Mostly just to see if it turns out to be a winning lottery ticket
like Flappy Bird was.
The games made this way exist
primarily for the benefit of the people who made it
and close friends or family they share it with.
Small games are being made non-professionally for school assignments,
game jams, Valentine's Day, birthday gifts, marriage proposals and just personal amusement.
Creating things is satisfying.
Sometimes these games are part of a portfolio
for the possibility of future professional work in commercial indie games
or diving into a studio career.
But often they aren't.
Here is the thing though.
Most people who play any given sport
will never play that sport professionally
and just because they won't be pros some day
doesn't mean that people think they failed or wasted their time
playing that sport.
But for too long there's been a widespread feeling
that if making a game doesn't turn profitable then that game has failed
or that it is somehow not legit.
And that is hogwash.
Much like playing a sport or for that matter learning an instrument,
creating an art, dancing, doing photography, learning martial arts
It's fine to make games non-professionally.
It doesn't need to be professional to be justified.
You can do it simply to expand your world.
Build confidence and discipline,
meet new people, explore a creative outlet,
challenge yourself, pickup some new skills and just enjoy life more fully.
So, here are a few tips for your journey if you decide to make games this way.
First, if the game is not a serious professional effort
then keep your costs low.
It's always tempting to throw money at these things
with the hope that you'll earn it back.
But it's pretty rare for that to happen on a non-professional level.
Professional games cost a ton to make
but that expense represents a highly calculated risk.
What might be a tiny budget for a professional game
would be a recklessly large waste to burn on a non-professional game.
And even for indies today it often takes a budget
in the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to compete
So, yeah! Don't break the bank on personal projects.
Second, keep your expectations modest.
Even with access to today's incredible tools
and engines like Unity and Unreal
there is still a tremendous difference between what
you can make and what a large team of full time professionals can make
Believe me, if it was possible for three people working part time for six months
to make a game like these,
we would be doing that.
So it's okay to start small yourself.
At the end of the day, this is supposed to be for you.
It's supposed to be cathartic and a joy.
You don't want to burn yourself out on a project you started out of love.
Third and this the best part
Have fun! Go nuts.
You can be as bizarre or personal
or local as you would like.
You don't have a boss or investors or customers to appease.
I know of a hobby game that stars the lead developer's cat.
I know of another one that is a physics based game on packing pick-nicks.
I know of another hobby game developer whose game
sends his wife back in time to fight dinosaurs.
She even did the voice-overs.
People often incorrectly assume that having a bigger
budget for a professional game increases creative freedom.
But often the opposite of that happens.
The more money gets spent
the less risk developers can afford to take on
trying weird things.
Again, big budget games are highly calculated risks
and these devs have to play it safe to improve their odds
of paying off on the investment.
But when you've got nothing to loose
and no funding source to answer to,
the only limit is your imagination.
Your personal game may not be cinematic
or even all that pretty.
It might not win many strangers as fans
but it can be about literally anything you want.
That is a level of open-ended creative freedom that
very few of the industries most famous game designers can claim to have enjoyed.
And even in those rare times where a famous designer
does have total creative freedom, they still have to be aware that people's
jobs are on the line if that game doesn't succeed.
So even though non-professional games don't get the same level
of exposure and fame they are often wonderful
and worthwhile to create.
And if you've been thinking about tinkering on your own project,
know that there has never been a better time in history
to jump right into doing it.
It doesn't have to be a world changing game to change the world of the people making it.
See you next week!
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