To do indie or to do Mario

[Mariotroid]

I've been conflicted. I can't decide what to side with. A SuperMario Fangame or an Indie project. Both have their ups and downs but I can't seem to decide which one to develop. Mario I'm passionate about but indie I can make money from. Mario I have more ideas for but indie I can see myself working harder at.

Has anyone experienced this? Has anyone decided?

[Clobbah]

Do fangames first. It's good to practice using non-profit games and THEN make an indie when you're good enough.

Plus, it's fun to put your own spin on Mario.

Beware the mighty Wariphant.

[Syaxamaphone]

I don't want to ruin your dreams here but its just not feasible to expect that you'll be turning a profit on your first self-published title. It takes a lot of hard work and effort to get to a level where you can churn out a quality product single-handed. Getting into larger marketplaces like Steam or the Nintendo Eshop will have you paying hefty fees for development licenses, assets and tools. (Steam will be 100 dollars minimum assuming you already have a version of game maker that will export without watermarks).

To put it into perspective, War Girl has costed me over $6,000CAD so far to build. And that's with me handling all of the programming, writing and backgrounds myself.

Whether you pick Mario or an original concept or w/e, give yourself some time to grow and improve as an artist before tackling the exciting world of commercial games.

My games | My twitter | My stream | Sprites Unlimited

[Yrr]

I feel like indie gives you a lot more freedom, personally

[VinnyVideo]

Why not both?



There's nothing wrong with having multiple kinds of projects going on at the same time! However, it's best to start small before trying to make commercial games.

I agree with @RevampedSpider in that fangaming gives you lots of helpful resources you can use to get started. That helps a lot when you're getting started - for example, you can download a bunch of ripped graphics from MFGG and you'll have all you need to make a Mario fangame.

However, as @Syaxamaphone noted, it's difficult to make money with indie projects - in fact, a big chunk of them end up losing money. It's entirely possible to make indie games without spending lots of money, but it is challenging to make an indie game that gets into the big game marketplaces and churns a profit.

Course clear! You got a card.

[DJ Yoshiman]

The best mentality for indie games is one word: passion.

Don't make indie games because you want to make money. A huge majority of the time, you will not make any money, unless your game becomes the exception and pushes its way through to the popularity (and this has many factors, a big web of networking, massive advertising, viral capabilities, original idea, and obviously a good game or so-bad-its-good game).

You make indie games because you have a passion for other people to play this world you'll create, and aren't bogged down by mainstream publishing dictating your direction.

[Kritter]

Also depends what market you want to go for with indie games. Making indie games for the IOS and Google Play stores for example can be a good bit of money if you can get an idea that appeals to a lot of people and is relatively cheap to do when compared to making games for Steam or Consoles, but it's also a crowded market no matter what game you're trying to make and I've seen PLENTY of indie games go basically unnoticed.

You really need an idea that makes your game special and the passion to make it happen. As Jonna said, doing it for money isn't really enough. If you enjoy making fangames then do that until you're ready to branch out and take that enjoyment in an original direction.