Can You Feel the Movement?

Now There's a Concept

Can you feel it? It's been quiet lately, but things are starting to move again. Here's the final concept art, inspired by Detroit's Hart Plaza!

Contract Work

6 months ago I left my full-time job to become an independent contractor. I had 18 months of income saved and my plan was to freelancer and consultant while working on games on the side. It would be just like my previous situation, except as an independent I could scale back my work to put more time into  game development. Or so I thought.

So how has that gone? My plan would've worked in theory, except I massively underestimated the amount of time it would take to find jobs. The reality was that it was like having 3 jobs; one as a producer, one as a marketer, and a significant amount of self-training and context switching. I was losing sleep working extra late and still didn't have time to touch my game projects.

It wasn't all bad though. I've heard many how it was for many successful freelancers and consultants. I've done a lot better than most in my first 6 months. I completed 12 jobs with all 5-star reviews, became Top Rated on Upwork (represents top 10% of talent), have 3 returning clients, and declined dozens of bad fit contracts. I also made a helpful coding YouTube video for self-promo and plan to do more because I found a niche that people appreciate.

What Changed?

Despite doing well as a contractor in my first 6 months, I realized something really important. If I had spent all that time on my game it would've been done, and it could've already been bringing in passive income. I also realized that because freelance/consultant  work isn't scalable, the better I got, the more it would pull me away from my real dream of doing games full-time.

I remembered the wealth of support I got, including free services, reassuring me that my projects will be successes. And I remembered that I saved 18 months income so that I could go without income long enough to release a few games. Contract work wasn't the worst thing I could've been doing, but it also wasn't the best for my situation.

What's Happens Next?

I'm going to flip the priorities to reflect my real desired destination. The bulk of my time will go into game development. I do still have some contract work lined up, but they are all short-term or low hours jobs with my repeat clients.

It's ambitious, but I plan on releasing 3 games this year. Unless I come up with even better ideas, this game will be one of them. In any case,  be on the lookout for more updates and demos! It's time to make things move!!