Michael, I would agree with you that even though a market is small, there is at
least a chance to make some money.
I personally found this out by accident! Swamp had been free for years and I
only resorted to paid accounts when I hit the end of my proverbial rope with
security issues. I just couldn't waste any more time trying to keep people out
who could just find new ways to come back using new free accounts. Giving each
account even a very small money requirement makes all of the difference,
because they can't really be anonymous anymore. Keeping people out got a whole
lot easier, plus people don't find it so much fun to hack when they actually
lose their money whenever I kick them out, Haha!
I made about $12,000 from Swamp, which is about $10,000 more than I was
really expecting, ROFL! So needless to say, I was, and still am very excited
about that! So it is true that you can make some pretty good money, but as
Thomas said, it is not enough to live off of. I originally built the game just
to create something people would enjoy (which is why it was free), but we can't
expect that developers will do that. I am fortunate enough to have a job that
pays my bills, so I had the luxury of making games purely for the enjoyment of
the art.
Many here have already said that life gets in the way for developers. I
agree with them 100%! This time of year is my busy season and I am really
struggling to work on the code I need to be doing. I wanted to have a Swamp
update done in early October, and here it is midway through December and I'm
still not finished. Even when I'm really into a groove and game code is
pouring out of my head like a waterfall, the clock will say I have to go to
work. When I am back home I am usually too exhausted to pick up where I left
off, and it ends up being a whole day I couldn't spend coding. Then of course
there are days when I just don't feel like coding and can't get myself to do
anything productive, even if I happen to have the free time to do so.
- Aprone
From: Thomas Ward <thomasward1...@gmail.com>
Hi Michael,
I'm not sure about actual figures on how many blind people there are
in the USA that are interested in games since that kind of information
often gets excluded from surveys. Plus since a lot of blind computer
users in the US often get their computers through government sponsored
state agencies many of them are afraid to install games and other
recreational software on their PC. I've met my fair share of blind
computer users who were specifically told by their counselor that
their computer was a tool for work, school, etc and not to install
games and other software on it. Since they are afraid of getting in
trouble even though they might want games they won't risk it. So one
thing we face as game developers is the paradigm that computers are
only to be used for work and they can happily be used for both
regardless of what some state agency says.
As for making money of accessible games the issue isn't that one can
not make money off it. Obviously, ESP, Draconis, GMA, BSC Games, and
others all made money off of making accessible games for the blind.
The issue is one can't making a living wage off of developing games
for the blind full time. They have to find some other way to make
money to supplement the income from the games, because making and
selling accessible games aren't enough in of itself.
You mentioned ESP. At the time all the ESP games were originally
created they were developed by a man named James North. Unlike most
audio game developers James North was sighted and had a regular 9 to 5
job. He wrote games like Alien Outback, Monkey Business, DynaMan, and
ESP Pinball in his spare time and made money off of them. While I'm
sure James made a few thousand off those games it wasn't enough to
quit his daytime job and make games full time.
So to get to the point yes a lot of the more successful game
developers like ESP had lots of money to start with. Although, they
did make some money off of the games the funding for the games didn't
all come through sales. Like any other business it took a fair amount
of personal startup capital to get going.
Cheers!
---
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