Being an Indie is Hard

Zach Waugh of Giant Comet and Flint fame writes:

But even after I released Flint for iOS in late 2013, I was only making about half of what I would need to go full-time comfortably. Building apps by yourself is a grind, and I was starting to wear thin, so I decided to leave Giant Comet as a side-project.

A wonderful product, aimed at a passionate, niche market and it’s still a struggle and grind to make it full-time.

On a different note, Jared Sinclair with advice for the creators of the superb Crossy Road, who he’s afraid might go out of business…

Cross Road is so addictive. It’s a shame it doesn’t seem set up to make its developers a sustainable income.

Crossy Road feels like a paid-up-front game.

Given what the App Store has become, I don’t think they have a choice: either the upgrade characters should make gameplay different, or…

I know that’s not the cool indie thing to do, but are you trying to earn a sustainable living or not?

So much about staying alive as an ISV now depends on intangibles far beyond your design and programming abilities.