Actually, I think that you are in a really good position to go freelance/work independently, and you may get better deals starting out this way. It sounds like you have extensive experience, contacts in the field, etc.
So I would follow through with your goal (e.g. Get out of the city you are working in). Do as much as possible now, because projects can take between a few months to a year to start when you let pple know that you are available for this. Continue planning for contract with your company because it may still work out.
Here is what I would do (and actually did do):
1). Where are your colleagues who went to other companies? Send off an email/you are going contract/freelance/whatever. Do they know companies who could use your services
2) Go to linkedin. Update it with a title that makes it obvious you will take other projects (freelance/consultant/whatever they do in your industry). Fill in all the details on your cv, give descriptions of the project you have worked on (pple search me out on linkedin looking for experience in certain industrustries, assume it will work for you ,too). Do give a link to a webpage or something.
3) Decide on a rate. Figure out what you earn per hour right now and 2X to 3X it. You may want to put it on a webpage if you don’t want to bicker with pple, but that is up to you how you do it. Don’t want to travel or work in office? Charge a lot more to do those things.
4) Go find a list of other companies that do what you do. It may be the library, googling, linkedin…but I emailed many companies offering my services/only approached companies that did what I do/made it obvious in the title/and never contacted them again if there was no response. I got a lot of work this way, too.
You may be surprised re: current company. They will still need someone to do the work and may be desperate. If this happens, the reigns will go to your hands.
PS: If you do want a job, often times companies will respond and first ask will you work fulltime for us, and if not, then they will often times still do contract/freelance projects with you. So if that is what you want to do, you can get a job. In regards to linkedin, even if you state you are independent, recruiters/headhunters will come out of the woodwork -- so you once again have the option for a job if you want it.
You may not feel this way now, and YMMV, but I do think if you want to live where you want to live/etc, this will work better. You also may find that you get a wider variety of projects, etc.
posted by Wolfster at 9:48 AM on February 7 [1 favorite]
App Store Classics: Game Dev Story, a game about making games.
Ever wondered what it’d be like to run your own game development house? Me neither, but don’t let that stop you getting involved with Game Dev Story (iTunes link), a little gem of a game from Japanese developers Kairosoft, currently on sale in the app store for $0.99.
The concept is straightforward – grow your development house from a tiny team of four staff churning out cheap and cheerful PC games to a revered coding powerhouse in swanky offices crafting masterpieces for the latest consoles.
At first you’ll probably be going over budget left right and centre, trying to figure out which game types work best and therefore shift more units, but once you get into the swing of it you can concentrate on hiring and training the best staff and purchasing licences to develop console games, resulting in better made and better selling games with higher profit margins.
It’s not just a question of hiring and firing, coming up with game ideas and watching your staff working their buns off though. Through the use of ‘boosts’ which are periodically made available to purchase as the game progresses (not in-app purchases I hasten to add), you can choose one of your coders to work on enhancing one specific aspect of the game. This pushes up the overall quality of the game you’re making and results in better reviews and sales, adding a further strategic element as you choose the right moment and category in which to use your boosts. At certain points within the development cycle you also get the chance to work on the graphics and sound specifically, either using one of your own staff or hiring in a freelancer, and this too gives you the opportunity to increase the overall quality of your virtual product.
When you make your first million seller it’s a satisfying moment but there’s no time to rest on your laurels. There are always new consoles appearing on the market, contract jobs to take on, new staff to hire and new game types to discover. If you leave too much of a gap between development cycles you start losing fans and therefore a few sales, but think carefully about what kind of games you make – my pirate simulation was a right turkey.
It’s all great fun, but it’s fair to say there are a few things here which need to be addressed by the time Game Dev Story 2 arrives in the app store. I know it’s a tall order on a phone but I couldn’t help thinking how nice it would be if I could play the games my team had made. Even a comedy cut sequence showing some aspects of the latest game would have been good. There are also some hugely expensive advertising options within this game that offer no feedback other than some numbers increasing on a stat page. If I’m sponsoring a racing team I’d like to see my company logo on the side of a formula one car at least!
Finally, the game is perhaps a bit on the easy side. I’m sure if developing a multi million selling game was this straightforward we’d all be at it. Well, maybe not, but it’s easy to make enough money that you don’t have to worry too much about how you spend it, and this negatively impacts the strategy element.
All things considered however, Game Dev Story is great fun. It’s a good natured game and from the cute graphics and retro sound to the amusing titles you can give your creations, it’s a rewarding experience which works perfectly whether in short bursts or longer play sessions. Did I mention that it’s currently only $0.99 on the app store?
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