Do you need to make a viral hit to be a successful game developer?
Nope!
This is something I think a lot of devs get wrong because naturally we all see the biggest examples.
- We see Minecraft
- We see Stardew Valley
- We see Five Nights at Freddy's
- We see Schedule I
We see games that became cultural phenomenons, made hundreds of millions (or billions), built huge fan bases, got movies, merch, endless sequels, and everything else. And those are awesome!
But that does NOT have to be your goal.
Personally I have no desire to make some giant cultural phenomenon. I don't want to manage a massive IP. I don't want to build some endless multimedia empire.
What I like is making small niche games that some people enjoy. That's it.
To me, success has always been making enough money to keep doing this. If I can keep making games, keep teaching game development, keep building interesting things, then to me that's success.
- A small game that lets you keep making games is already an incredible success.
- A finished game is already a success.
- A game that one single person genuinely enjoys and makes $0 can also be a success.
Define your own goal, your own definition of success, then build towards that.
Best of luck!
English
