Full-Time IndieDev Journey (Original Post Not Updated)

Then you are lucky with that one forum client. I have had about 5 of them so far, and halfway trough that project it turned out they would never pay...

Sorry to hear that. I know exactly how you feel (since I've had around 10 clients screw me so far). One thing I have started to do is look into their background. If they have done contract work before and have their own contractor portfolio, I am much more inclined to trust them.

One person mentioned to me that if you have a signed contract and the client does not pay, you can submit the invoice to a collections agency. That may only work with people in the same country. I do not know if collection agencies work internationally. Having an invoice submitted to a collection agency could have a sever impact on the person's credit score. I think the threat of doing that may cause the client to pay.

One person mentioned to me that if you have a signed contract and the client does not pay, you can submit the invoice to a collections agency. That may only work with people in the same country. I do not know if collection agencies work internationally. Having an invoice submitted to a collection agency could have a sever impact on the person's credit score. I think the threat of doing that may cause the client to pay.

considering its a legal and binding document etc etc etc, collection agencies usually work in one of two ways.

either they pay upfront and buy the invoice outright but usually only give pennies on the dollar, or they will give you a more substantial percentage once they collect (however if they fail to collect, you get nothing).

Many people balk at getting pennies on the dollar. My belief is that if you know you will never see the payment, sell the invoice, better to get a very little something then a whole lot of nothing.

One person mentioned to me that if you have a signed contract and the client does not pay, you can submit the invoice to a collections agency. That may only work with people in the same country. I do not know if collection agencies work internationally. Having an invoice submitted to a collection agency could have a sever impact on the person's credit score. I think the threat of doing that may cause the client to pay.

considering its a legal and binding document etc etc etc, collection agencies usually work in one of two ways.

either they pay upfront and buy the invoice outright but usually only give pennies on the dollar, or they will give you a more substantial percentage once they collect (however if they fail to collect, you get nothing).

Many people balk at getting pennies on the dollar. My belief is that if you know you will never see the payment, sell the invoice, better to get a very little something then a whole lot of nothing.

These are all possible only if you're in the same country as your client isn't it?

Many people balk at getting pennies on the dollar. My belief is that if you know you will never see the payment, sell the invoice, better to get a very little something then a whole lot of nothing.

I totally agree. The jobs where I have made $0 have been awful. I don't want to be known as a contractor who goes to collections agencies, but I also hate clients who find loopholes to get out of paying.

These are all possible only if you're in the same country as your client isn't it?

I don't know. That's why I asked if collection agencies existed in countries outside of the US. I would assume they wouldn't care about what country the invoice comes from since they would make a profit either way.

I've been traveling for the past couple of weeks so my log book is a little scattered. I'll clean it up for next month.

$353 in May
$4100 YTD 2016

Sorry to my fans, it has been a tough couple of months. I feel like I'm letting everybody down. I'll double my efforts to make June a good month.

As an addendum to the previous post, here is the money that I am owed right now from clients who are stalling:

$400 - apparently stalled because of finals
$250 (or possibly $500) - stalled because the group is trying to become incorporated
$500 - this one is a new one, so I am not angry about it yet

I have two profit sharing deals that have not netted me any revenue. And then another $2500 for my current contracts that I am working on. If I could just get a little bit of luck for once, I could have a $4-5000 month. Of course, that will never happen

Good to see another person moving over to the passive income route.

I remember making that My Critter app with Stencyl back in 2014 making a revenue of about $700 in about 3 months and having around 135k downloads. It felt good. You can read about that thread below.

http://community.stencyl.com/index.php/topic,28452.0.html


Now I've moved on to creating app reskins and selling app source code on Flippa. It's a great stream of revenue monthly. I can make around $700 to $1000 a month from it.


Keep at it bro, you will make more money. Just keep designing new apps and publishing them and watch the revenue increase!

This month turned around somewhat. I was lucky to land a larger contract. So far the client seems more reasonable than many of the ones I have picked up lately. Since I have had a stream of bad clients, I have started branching out more. I am putting more focus on getting my own games out and thinking outside of the box for generating game development income.

I have said this before, but let me stress it again. This is a TOUGH line of work, especially starting from nothing. I absolutely love what I am doing, but please do not take it as me having an easy life. I am stretched across 7 projects right now while just barely generating enough revenue to pay rent.

And I am one of the lucky indie devs.

Please keep that in mind if you are starting out as an indie game dev and think that you will be a millionaire overnight. You need to have incredible passion for game development to make it work and keep pushing forward.

Ceosol, out of curiosity, what is your end goal here?

Most indies I know take on contract work to fund their own projects and try to find that balance between doing their own thing and doing the work that keeps them afloat, but you seem to go for the contract work 100%. I'm not knocking it- that's a good hustle! But I'm wondering if this is what you want to do as a game creator?

Ceosol, out of curiosity, what is your end goal here?

Most indies I know take on contract work to fund their own projects and try to find that balance between doing their own thing and doing the work that keeps them afloat, but you seem to go for the contract work 100%. I'm not knocking it- that's a good hustle! But I'm wondering if this is what you want to do as a game creator?

You bring up an excellent point that nobody has asked about. My goal is to make a larger RPG. The entire reason I got into indie game dev was for creating my own worlds. However, I started this two years ago with zero experience and zero capital. Since I had already been out of work for almost a year before even starting, my bank account was drying up fast. It took me a while to realize that it was harder than I thought it would be to make a big game. Then Justin told me that my games weren't even mediocre. I was angry at first, but it was the slap in the face I needed to wake up. That is when I started changing my business model.

No, I do not want to do contracts forever. However, I am still learning. Every contract I do helps me learn a little bit more. I just need one lucky break to get a little bit ahead. Then, I can work on my own projects and start weening off of the contracts. While I am learning the system and new skills, I need the contracts to get by

There is always the chance that one of my clients is actually good at marketing and makes a good amount of money. Almost all of them promise to pass some of it back to me. Unfortunately, none of them have marketed their apps 

I think that's a great approach I feel the same way- with every project you learn a little more, and if you can turn that learning process into an income stream, all the better!

I think that's a great approach I feel the same way- with every project you learn a little more, and if you can turn that learning process into an income stream, all the better!

Exactly. I try to stress that to whomever asks me about becoming an indie game dev. Rule #1 - If you are really passionate about game development, do whatever you have to do to get through the tough time(s).

That's really nice to hear from you. I was always wondering a bit how you seemed so passionate about game design yet you did contract work. Seeing it from the angle of "staying afloat while getting better" it makes a lot of sense. I always said the same about my dreams of becoming a writer: I would write braindead romance novels if I got money for it because it would still improve my writing skills.

June Update

Racing Game: $500
Silly Arcade Game: $436.67
Tutoring Stencyl: $60
Drunken Stumble Game: $200

Paid outsourced programming: ($100)

Total June: $1097
Total YTD: $5197

Still $800 behind my goal, but that's ok. I have $900 pretty much guaranteed to be paid in July. I just need to get $100+ and I'll catch up a little bit more.

KramerGames convinced me to start a blog.

http://ceosolinfo.com/ceosolblog/

Not much on there right now. I will try to post at least once a week.