[HN Gopher] Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a mino...
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Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam
I was at FB/Meta from late 2013 to early 2023, mostly working in
the compiler/runtime spaces. I got hit in the spring 2023 layoff
wave. I immediately started making games in my newfound free time
(a lifelong interest, and I even worked in AA(A?) back ca. ~2000),
and in October 2023 I stumbled upon the idea of a roguelike
pachinko/plinko game inspired by Luck Be A Landlord. Things
snowballed quickly, I started talking to publishers, then worked
like crazy through all of 2024, almost the hardest I've ever worked
in my career, and launched the game in December 2024. It's sold
~200,000 units in its first 10 weeks on Steam. So it's no Balatro,
but I'd still say it did very well :) AMA? (my game is
Ballionaire:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2667120/view/5264614...)
Author : newobj
Score : 69 points
Date : 2025-02-26 18:19 UTC (4 hours ago)
| billconan wrote:
| Congratulations! The game looks amazing--its quality is truly
| impressive.
|
| I'm currently feeling burned out. I have an app idea and a
| prototype that I believe could turn into a viable project to
| support myself. However, I don't have the courage to quit my job
| --I'm afraid of the anxiety that comes with paying rent and
| insurance without a steady paycheck. I do have some savings to
| sustain me for a while, but I'm unsure if taking a break to
| recharge, learn new things, and build something I'm passionate
| about (which could potentially become profitable) is a good idea?
| I'm also worried about how a long gap on my resume might be
| perceived when I look for a job in the future.
|
| I'm also interested in making video games, but I often get
| discouraged by the sheer amount of artwork required--something I
| struggle to handle and afford. How did you manage the artwork
| side of your project?
| newobj wrote:
| Thanks Bill :)
|
| I can relate to the first thing you mentioned, and I never
| really took action. Layoff was thrust upon me, with the
| privilege of a severance, and I had been working for decades,
| so I figured "why not try now?" I'm not sure if I ever would
| have been brave enough to proactively try, but that's just me.
| Video games in particular are brutal, economically, and not
| something I would ever recommend someone take a risk on in
| hopes of a payday.
|
| Regarding art: don't get distracted by art. The original
| prototype of Ballionaire was made using Twemoji -- you can see
| a video of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwIwcGewZME
| Later I switched from Twemoji to images sourced from
| https://www.flaticon.com/ When I signed a publisher, I was
| lucky enough for them to hook me up with an in-house artist. I
| knew the style I wanted (the style you see in the game) and
| luckily the artist Hanja absolutely nailed it.
|
| I would recommend avoiding art as long as possible if it's not
| your strength. You will go much further on making something
| _feel_ really _fun_ then making art that 's one click above
| terrible. If you get traction, the art can come later. For
| future prototypes I am working on straight up text mode (or
| near to it, in like stock Godot UI) right now.
| newobj wrote:
| btw this was the moodboard I put together for the artist --
| https://www.canva.com/design/DAF1ZIStuTY/j66Hl6xPyMNU6cfRsw2...
|
| imho even if you can't make art, it's good to have inspirations
| for a coherent vision that hopefully you'll be able to
| articulate to someone!
| switz wrote:
| 200,000 units is a far cry from just a 'minor hit' -
| congratulations!
|
| During the project, what was the biggest instinct you had that
| was ultimately validated by its success, but still surprised you?
| What was a lesson you learned that you didn't expect? How was
| working with a publisher? What did they do right and what did
| they do wrong?
| bobsmooth wrote:
| You do the art yourself or did you hire someone? How did that go?
| newobj wrote:
| I wish I could draw like that! The artist is Hanja Grgicevic
| and she works for a sister dev company of the publisher Raw
| Fury. I gave Hanja my mood board (https://www.canva.com/design/
| DAF1ZIStuTY/j66Hl6xPyMNU6cfRsw2...) and we iterated from there.
| I'm so happy with her work :)
| fdlaks wrote:
| Looks awesome, congrats on your success 200k sales is a huge
| achievement!
|
| What factors led you to seeking out a publisher, was it mostly
| getting art for the game or did the publisher bring more to the
| table that made you decide it was worth it?
|
| What advice would you have given yourself just starting out
| knowing what you do now?
|
| What did you get stuck on the most when making the game? I know a
| lot of people who have great ideas for games but a lot of the
| ideas don't translate well into being able to realistically do
| them in the game because of complexity. Did you ever have ideas
| that you thought would be really cool to do but it ended up being
| too hard / time consuming to do?
|
| How close was the functionality of the game when you released it
| to what you had envisioned at the start? Did you go through any
| major design changes while developing it?
| monideas wrote:
| You should make a youtube series or a long series of blog posts
| explaining your journey from a personal perspective, the
| emotional ups and downs on working on this instead of getting a
| new job, from a technical perspective, and from a business
| perspective. What types of skills did you have to learn, what
| were the technical challenges, what pieces of code are you
| particularly proud of. What was your marketing strategy?
| KaiserPro wrote:
| That might be challenging as large companies tend to hit people
| with strong NDAs which means that any reference to time at
| $company would need to be approved by $company. IF you don't do
| this then you might be rinsed by the court.
| MrLeap wrote:
| Damn nice. Love seeing indies make it! I hope for a small
| fraction of your level of success when I finally ship Tentacle
| Typer.
| rustyspacecadet wrote:
| what engine did you use? anything you would you have done
| differently in hindsight?
| newobj wrote:
| Godot 4.2 with C#. Done differently? Hmm. It was an intense
| duration of work and I set a firm deadline for myself of EOY
| 2024 to avoid it dragging out into a longer-than-it-should-be
| project. Gaining design skills along the way, I could make
| better use of the same amount of time now, just by being a
| better designer. But that's not hindsight. There were trade-
| offs in that aggressive schedule, and a lot of triaging. One of
| the things that probably could have used a little more time in
| the oven, perhaps trading off against content, was the meta
| progression. I wasn't in love with what shipped, and it seems
| to be the main criticism of the game, besides RNG. It's
| something I may still potentially address in a patch though.
| posnet wrote:
| I realise you can make games in any language/engine. But could
| you explain the language/system/engine you used?
|
| How did you go about validating the game is fun? Did you end up
| having an intuitive sense for it, or did you need external
| feedback to refine the mechanics?
|
| My steam deck might as well be a billionaire/balatro machine.
| knuppar wrote:
| Congrats on the game! Did you ever do game jams at all with the
| original idea or was this a larger project from the start?
|
| And a more realistic-adult question lol: how did you handle not
| having insurance from your workplace after severance?
| newobj wrote:
| Thank you! I absolutely suck at game jams. Like, really bad.
| Ballionaire is the one time a gamejam
| (https://itch.io/jam/eggjam-20) went right for me (good idea,
| microscopic scope) - you can see a video from about ~10 days
| into development here:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwIwcGewZME
|
| Normally I either scope way too big, or scope small and lose
| motivation because the idea is too itty bitty to maintain
| motivation. I have no idea how to hit the sweet spot more
| frequently. Some people are just really good at this, but not
| me.
|
| For insurance: private insurance via ACA/Obamacare. I had
| savings.
| rustyspacecadet wrote:
| what engine did you use? what's the best advice if someone wants
| to go down the same route?
| pier25 wrote:
| Godot
| vishalontheline wrote:
| Very cool!
|
| - What choices did you make to give yourself more time to work on
| this project?
|
| - At what point did you begin getting feedback of some sort?
|
| - Were there clearly things you wished to include in the game but
| had to cut out in the interest of time? How did you decide what
| would be "good enough"?
| flunhat wrote:
| Congratulations! How did you get the process started for
| distributing your game? Were there any early channels for
| marketing you found particularly effective?
| tombert wrote:
| Out of curiosity, what kind of margins do you get when you sell a
| game on Steam? Like, what percentage of a sale ends up in your
| bank account (pre-taxes). Also, how do Steam sales affect that?
|
| Congrats on making a game to completion, and doubly so for making
| something that gets fairly popular. Making a real game has been
| on my bucket list for about as long as I've known how to program,
| and I haven't completely given up on it, but I would need to make
| friends with someone who knows how to do art and music.
| brianwawok wrote:
| [delayed]
| pier25 wrote:
| Congrats! This game looks amazing.
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(page generated 2025-02-26 23:00 UTC)