Are there any nomad game developers here?

Question

Are there any nomad game developers here? or aspiring nomad game developers? It does seem to be an extreme rarity. Even moreso since most game devs typically don’t cross over with the web developer or startup crowds unless they have something like Unity3D in common. Also games are typically a lot more work than websites and are usually much less profitable at the indie/small studio level.
Anyway here’s what I’ve found so far.
http://www.chronosoft.com/ - only making $150/mnth on RPGMaker type games, tough even for Chiang Mai 
http://www.gamedevnomad.com/ - seems like he’s trying to support himself creating art asset packs first and work up to building games full time.
Looking forward to blogging about my own journey but I have a ways to go to even catch up to these guys first. Was also thinking that anyone working on even moderately complex Unity games or high res 2d games might have assets and builds that are prohibitive to move around on countries with weaker internet, i.e. sub 5mbit, cough Australia  etc. Would love to hear more experiences if you got them.
There are far more teams collaborating remotely out there just from what I know, but almost none of them are nomads with most AAA and vfx studios not working this way in part due to potential IP leaking issues but it seems not to be a problem with the kickstarter generation.

munly_leong · Accepted Answer

None of that is news to me, I was formerly AAA and also wise enough to know to not try and work the same way as an indie. For me it’s less about being a nomad and lowering my costs to make it worthwhile even though from a business POV I have a much more realistic, yet also ambitious plan. And at the same time for the longest time I’ve seen people work on things way out of scope vs their resources/realistic release timeframes.
Now that I’m more cognisant about things like dropshipping and Wordpress sites in terms of work/reward ratio it is far better to do things like that just to feed yourself instead of depending on the game to hit.
Where I disagree with you is that it is very worth it and pretty much the only way it’s a dream job now is as an indie. But definitely don’t do it for money or at least a basic means of living. If I get there great, but yeah defintiely just about anything else… even web dev for survival.

hydrofog · Answer

Munly_Leong:

Where I disagree with you is that it is very worth it and pretty much the only way it’s a dream job now is as an indie. But definitely don’t do it for money or at least a basic means of living. If I get there great, but yeah defintiely just about anything else… even web dev for survival.

We are talking about living off of it, no? The only way to ever make it work as an indie game dev nomad would be have a game that is already generating income before you go. You know this already though.
Developing for an AAA company I would just flat out never do, I know people in the industry and I’ve heard HORROR STORIES. You have experience with this first hand so you know what is what.
Either way, if you can pull it off, that’d make me insanely happy. I know all the work that goes into games, and can appreciate it more so than anything else. Even if it isn’t as an indie (although that takes the coolness level down alot).

hydrofog · Answer

I’m not a nomad yet, but I can tell you a lot about the indie dev community and such and some of my experiences over the past couple years.
So to begin… the money isn’t there. It is, and it isn’t. It’s there if you want to take huge risks and dump a ton of time into something that may gain you $0 in revenue.
I am close with some pretty successful indie developers, one of which has made over $70,000+ on his indie game on Steam. He’s been working on his game for a little over 1.5 years. He sometimes will do up to 16 hour days. Granted it’s HIS game, so those long hours might not be so bad, since he gets to work with his own stuff.  So that is pretty awesome, I’m super happy for him.
So now that we’ve discussed the 1 out of every 1000 people, lets talk about why indie game dev is probably one of the most risky things you could do. I can easily make a wordpress site for a company for $1000, that will take me a full day or two days worth of work to make it look good and get it to be where the client wants it to be. I want the site to look good for my client of course, so I will spend some time touching it up to make it really nice.
NOW, when making your own game, you are getting paid $0 to work really long days in hopes that your game will be something. You will fall into this loop of “everything has to be perfect”. You want it to be more perfect the more and more you work on it. This turns into an endless cycle and generally most people don’t finish their games due to this reason. They begin to realize the game they are making is way out of scope, and if it is in scope, they try to make it perfect for to long.
There is a lot more I could write, but basically, indie game dev alone isn’t worth it. Way to risky, and literally a good chance you will make nothing and have wasted all that time.

levelsio · Answer

I think if you’re talking game development remotely, you should mostly look into actual game companies with remote workers. And they exist, see https://remoteok.io/remote-game-dev-jobs
Trying to build your own game and launch it successfully remotely I think is the same challenge as doing it non-remotely. The challenge is not about working remotely so much as it is about competing as an indie game in a saturated market with low-spending.

Kotaku Australia – 1 Sep 15

Indie Games Are Changing And Only The Strong Will Survive

I’ve been lucky enough to watch the games industry ebb and flow through a few different cycles now, and it’s clear we’re just about to embark upon a...

we may be headed towards an “Indie Extinction Event” as the number of titles from known indie developers that fail to find their market increases.

munly_leong · Answer

LOL many of those jobs tagged gamedev aren’t actually gamedev. Looks like you still have to tweak the scrapers a bit. i.e automattic wordpress community manager, christian counseling etc 
I see some Unity/VR stuff in there which like I said typically is where the crossover happens. Not so much with say traditional C++ PC dev or anything which is a shame.
Low spending is one factor, the other is too many games competing for time too and therein lies the real problem. There are more quality games out there than most people have time for which is why the mainstream prefers things simple and herds around things like COD and GTA etc. That being said I’m not planning to do the typical indie/Steam type thing.

munly_leong · Answer

yeah that’s a good point about actually making a living from it. Those guys still seem like they’re still trying to get there. Well at least people are trying but unless people are doing exclusively PC/mobile dev , it would be too hard to do it with consoles. Most console dev kit contracts require you to have a secured office etc.  I think though, that and other limiting aspects of console development are going to doom this cycle to be the last one that even matters.
Anyway if I’m the first one to pull this off, so be it. If anything I’m just disappointed that it’s so rare on this side of tech

levelsio · Answer

I know @haxpor from Bangkok is one, he works in Chiang Mai and Ho Chi Minh a lot. See https://twitter.com/haxpor

munly_leong · Answer

Just read your blog. Ouch but pretty much confirms what I’ve been saying for years and my 1 year of a contract shop confirmed. Its nearly impossible to do game dev in the off hrs and actually sustain it since your commitment gets pushed out years and anything longer than 2-3 yrs max of dev can find itself in a dramatically different environment and ecosystem than when it started. The only way to do it is full time and to ship quickly and that’s already hard enough as is.
LOL thanks for agreeing with me about the less computer time. I’ve experimented a lot with it this year but got nothing but funny or suspicious looks when trying to avoid dev myself and what I did find wasn’t very promising. At this point it’s probably easier to do contract dev and arbitrage cost of living to better enjoy the journey and time.

chronosoft · Answer

Heh, just poked my head into this thread… I am @Chronosoft!
Fortunately I’m not trying to sustain myself off gamedev work yet, as I earn plenty of money from my long standing automation consulting business (like multiple orders of magnitude per month more money).
iOS game development was a hobby of mine a number of years ago during a short dry spell of my primary business, but it’s something I have big plans for diving into again in 2016. Already have stockpiled a bunch of custom commissioned sprites and artwork toward my next couple games. I will be winding down my current consulting gigs once I hit my “magic number” in investments, so that I can coast almost indefinitely without worry if I don’t have any huge successes.
The gold rush has been over for a long time, but I am confident enough in my fanbase and contacts to say it’ll be pretty easy to grow from $100+ a month to $100+ per day with a bit of love and attention. That is more than enough to sustain my new lifestyle and let me travel all around asia without touching my investments and savings at all.
I’m in the USA at the moment on business (and visiting some family at the same time), but planning to escape just before winter hits… heading back to Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Cebu City for several months or more. Would be love to talk shop with like minded people if there’s an interest. I agree they seem to be a rare breed, a shame because the digital nomad life is a great fit for game developers!

dan335 · Answer

I’ll be one in january.  Worked in AAA for 11 years and also know web development.  Leaving in january for a year to lower my cost of living and work on my own projects.  Hoping to run into others doing the same thing.

kangasjuha · Answer

I was working on an indie game with my friend (we first started 4-5 years ago) next to my web dev nomading this year. It was going quite slow doing both and I recently decided to put my own part in the game on hold, because basically I want less computer time, be healthy and enjoy my travels instead.
Here’s a link to our blog/site if you’re curious: http://backworlds.com/
Cheers!

anywhereness · Answer

I’m an aspiring game dev and DN. Have started up one moderately sized project, and made some serious headway, but overall the market is very demotivating to put concentrated effort into it.
So, it’s a hobby done out of interest, because honestly… I like it.

munly_leong · Answer

hey good to see you. I was actually meaning to say hi, but its been busy. Have actually just started my first location independent gig this week, its a pretty terrible social media gig but at least low hours while I’m building out a dropship business.  Doesnt pay enough to get me anywhere except maybe Chiang Mai.
Gamedev is very far away and getting further as I go through the hoops

levelsio · Answer

Munly_Leong:

LOL many of those jobs tagged gamedev aren’t actually gamedev. Looks like you still have to tweak the scrapers a bit. i.e automattic wordpress community manager, christian counseling etc

Haha yes, needs some work thanks

kangasjuha · Answer

Yeah it’s definitely been hard keeping it up over the years. My nomading is also of the type where I stay max 1 month and not necessarily in cheap countries, so I have to keep up the work to support my lifestyle. Maybe if I stayed in a really cheap place for long I could work a lot less with web dev and more on the game part.

munly_leong · Answer

LOL well atm I’m trying to not have to do any webdev !  at least I tried this year but I may have to bite the bullet and do at least some mobile dev next year. For me the nomad life is a bonus and an indulgence if I get to have it but gamedev is the priority.

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