I am super sketched out, 16 years old and I will be going to college in 2 years, majoring in computer science.
I am going full force and I want to have time to study. So my question is. Is it possible to survive off of my apps while in college?
If you mean ‘earn a living’, i.e. pay for food, board, lodging, tuition the answer is probably no, unless you are very very good or lucky a la Flappy Bird.
I recognised your name and I had a look at your apps. Without sounding patronising (and probably failing) they are ‘good for a 16 year old’ - I am three times your age but I was coding at 16, so I remember the learning curve. From what you’ve said and what you’ve coded you look to me to have the potential to be an excellent developer and earn a decent living at it.
The problem is *now* or in two years time, anyway, it will be just you and you are competing in an absolutely huge market. There are umpteen games out there.
In any saturated market there are two ways of making money. One is to be very good or very lucky, as I said above. Flappy Bird is like an hour’s work, almost, but the developer got lucky. It happens.
The other is to provide a niche market that nobody is in. This probably doesn’t exist in gaming, unless you come up with a really brand new game (and it’s arguable, IMO, that the last original game was Lemmings which goes back to the 1980s) but it might exist possibly in other ways, but you might find a use for apps that no-one else has come up with, or a market that is small but there is nobody else in.
Keep on releasing Corona apps, and you’ll get better and better. But are you going to make a living out of it ; probably not. Look at it as pin money.
It is wonderful that you are doing what you are doing now, preparing for college in 2 years down the road and asking these very important questions. I think @paulscottrobson said all I could say on the topic but I would like to add the following link to a recent article I read on the topic :
http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/21/the-majority-of-todays-app-businesses-are-not-sustainable/
This article provides some good (if not depressing…) data points which might help you in answering your own question. A great future awaits you no matter what. Paying off your college tuition, room & board etc through indie game dev might just not be on the cards though.
All the best.
Referencing from the article…
Yeah this all makes sense. Maybe I will be able to produce some small pocket change though. Idk $20 a day just for food or something.
Go for it ; it will be useful for your future career whatever. People are also keener to employ people who have done things that are out there, rather than say they can.
If you mean ‘earn a living’, i.e. pay for food, board, lodging, tuition the answer is probably no, unless you are very very good or lucky a la Flappy Bird.
I recognised your name and I had a look at your apps. Without sounding patronising (and probably failing) they are ‘good for a 16 year old’ - I am three times your age but I was coding at 16, so I remember the learning curve. From what you’ve said and what you’ve coded you look to me to have the potential to be an excellent developer and earn a decent living at it.
The problem is *now* or in two years time, anyway, it will be just you and you are competing in an absolutely huge market. There are umpteen games out there.
In any saturated market there are two ways of making money. One is to be very good or very lucky, as I said above. Flappy Bird is like an hour’s work, almost, but the developer got lucky. It happens.
The other is to provide a niche market that nobody is in. This probably doesn’t exist in gaming, unless you come up with a really brand new game (and it’s arguable, IMO, that the last original game was Lemmings which goes back to the 1980s) but it might exist possibly in other ways, but you might find a use for apps that no-one else has come up with, or a market that is small but there is nobody else in.
Keep on releasing Corona apps, and you’ll get better and better. But are you going to make a living out of it ; probably not. Look at it as pin money.
It is wonderful that you are doing what you are doing now, preparing for college in 2 years down the road and asking these very important questions. I think @paulscottrobson said all I could say on the topic but I would like to add the following link to a recent article I read on the topic :
http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/21/the-majority-of-todays-app-businesses-are-not-sustainable/
This article provides some good (if not depressing…) data points which might help you in answering your own question. A great future awaits you no matter what. Paying off your college tuition, room & board etc through indie game dev might just not be on the cards though.
All the best.
Referencing from the article…
Yeah this all makes sense. Maybe I will be able to produce some small pocket change though. Idk $20 a day just for food or something.
Go for it ; it will be useful for your future career whatever. People are also keener to employ people who have done things that are out there, rather than say they can.