Ramen Profitability - How To Sustainably Go Full-Time Indie 

I wish more people realized that if they make this... they've made it! Everything else is quality of life upgrades.

One thing that is also extremely important which I don't know if you have talked about yet, (I'm new and trying to watch all your videos as quickly as possible) is the tax part of the business side of things. Making games and making a little bit of money while working would be considered a hobby. (That income still needs to go on your state and federal tax returns) But if you quit your job to do indie full time, then that's a business. You might need to get a business ID with the federal government (not always depending on how you did it) and probably a state business ID. Last time I tried having my own business, I trademarked my company name and registered a business number with the state. Once that number was created, I was required to file state business tax returns every 4 months (whether I made any money or not) or suffer a $400 penalty. I had my own business bank account and everything which I was only throwing my personal money into since I didn't even have a game made yet and everything was losses. I did a TON of research before I got started so I just want to encourage others to do the same. The last thing you want is for your business to go under because you didn't file your taxes correctly or didn't make estimated tax payments. I know it's a boring subject but it's sooo important to stay on the good side of the government. On another note... I'd like you to look at a test of concept level I made for my damn game I am going to publish. It's going to be my first published game. :) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cm0JjaIxwoQ.html

I use to work as cleaner every day (3 hours or so), and the rest of the time I work on games. I keep my living costs minimal, so I could make webgames like 'Interstate Drifter 2000' and 'Foreign Frugglers'. Now I want to take the next step and release games on paid stores like steam (with marketing and proper business plans). Hope to increase my income and rep. day by day.

I love it! It's always a great wake-up call when you remind me of the work you've already put in. 5 or so years of trying different things, but not giving up. Very inspiring.

My dad does this kinda thing with his company. I would never want to live that way if I could avoid it. I don't think I would ever willingly quit my job for game development. Not just for the money, but 8+ hours of programming a day has really increased my proficiency with just the few months I've been working in this position, and I think I'm seeing that most in my game development that I do on weekends for fun.

Good tips. If you have the talent to make what you're making, make it to the best of your ability. Don't cut corners and make a good game. Even if an 8-bit Gameboy style RPG. Whatever you got.

That is my approach, cutting all personal spending. I bought the most affordable car with few miles on it, I'm paying low rent at my parents', I cook all my own meals, drink water, and my entertainment budget is maybe $10 a month at most. I don't spend on entertainment every month but maybe two or three times a year. I'm between jobs and financially floating for awhile to get my creative process going for my Christian educational media. My planning of the user experience and media integration is greatly inspired by game design philosophies. The content is far more complex here than in games, but with very little programming and a whole different approach to visual media the required manhours might be about the same. I need the full plan first, and a complete-enough start, but I can launch and add content from there.

This would be my first hearing about it yes. I think it's interesting firstly because there are some strong grained hard-nose business subtexts in it which is awesome; people (developers) often forget we are, at least should be, in this business to 'make money'. I think it as an incredible oversight to neglect the fact we cannot make games, at least decent ones, without it. On a personal level I love it there is something inherently sacrificial in this service of one's own game Thank you for sharing!

Like the idea and will consider a few minutes to do a calculation. At the moment I'm in the club of those having a daytime job (also gamedev) and creating dreams at night. I hope second goes Ramen Profitable once! ;)

Thank you for this one mate . Very useful

Ramen profitability is my regular lifestyle lol.

I really need to find resources to help find ways to use what I know to make money with my game dev skills.

Awesome Video. Keep up the great work.

Never heard of it but I like it.

what if Im already in ramen profability, but not because Im full-time indie?

Nice idea keep it up

If you want to make games for the sole purpose of making money, it‘s not worth it. Being an Indie-Dev is something you must be ready to suffer for, you need to devote yourself, work every free minute on it and even if you‘re not coding, your mind will be on your game. Earning enough with games to keep on making more is my ultimate goal. I don‘t care about becoming rich, I don‘t even have a car and I don‘t want one. All I want is being able to do what I want, do combine my work with my hobby, which is programming. All I want is enough to keep on going.

I watched that GDC with the guy that made connect games similar to candy crush. Thing is the guy kept making the same type of games (with improvements of course) for 15 years expecting success. He was limiting his range of success by only sticking to only 1 niche but at the same time also increasing his success in that 1 genre because he was making better and better connect games. But yeah I wonder why he didn't do anything new like a platformer or role playing haha.

HTML5 or even native level VM in the browser type games are quite interesting.

8:50 Wait, did you say you can make a game for Adult Swim, using their copyright material, and upload it to their website, and make money? So I could make a Rick and Morty game, using art and sound clips from their TV show and if they like it, they can accept it and pay me? (found answer)YES!!! www.adultswim.com/games/pitch/ www.adultswim.com/footer/submissions