Another Pivot (This Time to Game Dev)

I always have an idea for a side business or side hustle or something to "make money" other than my day job. I've done consulting in the past and even made a few projects (like smolpage and remnant2gear) that I enjoyed and were the start of something. Even this site (readingwaters.com) has been through more transformations than a jellyfish—once a whitewater rafting blog, then a coding blog, then a solo-preneur blog, and now into what I hope will be a game dev blog. As with all the past iterations and ideas, only time will tell if this one will stick.

I have high hopes that it will. The parts and pieces feel like they're aligning this time. I've made some super simple games in the past, worked at a mobile game startup, and have friends who make games. More importantly, I've made a few throwaway games recently and actually enjoyed the process—which feels like a good sign.

The Games I'm Actually Making

Now, when I say "games," I mean text-based incremental games written in React. No first-person shooters or metroidvanias coming from me. I've been playing incremental games for years—games like Trimps and The Shark Game got me hooked, and more recently I've been playing a lot of Progress Knight, Idle Iktah, and Idle Game 2. (Maybe I should write reviews of those games while I'm at it...🤔)

Out of those "throwaway" games I mentioned, there's one I'm going to keep working on. It's tentatively called "Lines: the prototype"—think abstract incremental game like Revolution Idle or Antimatter Dimensions. There will be lines and digons and triangles and squares, oh my! I'm genuinely excited to make it and find myself constantly thinking about the mechanics and progression systems.

Treating This Like an Actual Business

Here's what I'm doing differently this time: I'm telling people I'm making games. Part of that is this post. Another part is treating this like work, like an actual business venture, instead of just another weekend project that fades away.

I'm telling myself—and now you—that I want to make games and build a successful game studio. Now "successful" means different things to different people, so let me be specific about what it means for me: having games that people actually play and making enough money to buy a new laptop or some computer gear. Success does NOT mean paying for my whole life or quitting my day job as a Software Engineer. I like my day job and want to keep it. I want my "successful game studio" to make me some spending money and create games that people want to play.

Using what I've learned

The nice thing about having so many previous ventures is that I have infrastructure lying around. This website, some social media accounts, a bank account, an LLC—they're all leftovers from past projects. Over time I'll consolidate these resources into this new direction. And if this doesn't work out either? Well, that's okay too. At least I'll have had fun making some games along the way.

The difference this time is that I'm being more honest about my expectations and more realistic about what success looks like. I'm not trying to build the next indie sensation or replace my day job. I just want to make cool incremental games that a few people might enjoy, learn something in the process, and maybe earn enough to justify buying that portable monitor I've been eyeing.

Let's see where this goes.