Is it harder to be a freelance artist today?

Indie bubble discussions

Jeff Vogel's recent blog post about the bursting of the indie bubble has sparked a healthy debate about the future of indie game development.  Funnily enough this same debate was happening right in front of me just a week ago, between two friends who were both in the games industry. Friend A had shut down his studio late last year and was bouncing around different jobs, only one of which was related to gamedev.  Friend B is the business development guy of a medium sized regional dev that's making a move into the mobile free to play market.  Friend A was quietly speculating that he'd be back in the industry at some point, but that now wasn't a good time for a small player in the market, while Friend B was vociferously arguing that this was the best time ever to be entering a market, citing huge market growth estimates in the coming years. Given the context of their situations, it's easy why they've taken up those positions.  My own first attempt at launching a game met with little success, so I'm with friend A on this one.  Far more intelligent people than me are debating this online so I I’m not gonna bother discussing it, but it did lead me to think, would this be a good time to start out as a freelance artist?

Back in my day...

I found myself entering the freelance world in 2008 after my last employer’s game was unable to find a publisher.  Having invested in property (it seemed like the responsible thing to do) and still in the middle of paying the hefty down payment, I was in a rather precarious position.  In 2008 there weren’t a lot of game development studios in Metro Manila, and even if there were I wouldn’t have made anywhere near what I used to, given the relatively low wages here.  I’d been spoiled by earning dollars, so I did what seemed the most sensible thing to do : go freelance.

While 2008 was the year of the financial crisis, it was also during that time that mobile games really started to boom thanks to the Apple app store.  There were numerous articles about employees that were laid off who took to the app store and made millions of dollars creating mobile games.  Suddenly, everyone and their uncle wanted to release an iOS game, and the job boards were lighting up with with ads looking for artists.  Most of these folks were making a game for the first time and weren’t willing or aware of how much money it took to create art for games.  The amounts they were willing to to pay seemed ridiculous to seasoned artists, but I was young and desperate, so I took them on.

Eventually my work started improving and I finally had to start turning down or referring clients.  My biggest break came in the form of Zachtronics Industries’ Spacechem.  I took a chance on a revenue sharing deal for the first time and it paid off handsomely.  I remember getting my first paycheck from Zach while I was on honeymoon in Japan, and feeling like I was on top of the world.  Spacechem didn’t only give me financial rewards, but also got the attention of Introversion Software’s Chris Delay, which led to me working on Prison Architect.  All told, I’ve done surprisingly well for myself.  

A Lot of Luck

I was incredibly lucky that I started out during the app store gold rush.  It meant there was a lot of low level work for me to get paid just enough to survive while improving my skills and building a track record.  To use an RPG analogy, there were a lot of small time freelance gigs out there for me to grind through before I got to take on the bigger jobs.  I essentially built my bones making cheap art for these games that I knew had very little chance of succeeding.

I was also lucky that the rise of the indie gaming scene coincided with and eventually superseded the app store gold rush.  As more and more indies were gaining ground, there was a larger market out there for people willing to pay for indie games like Spacechem. Press coverage of indies also increased, which helped Introversion Software notice my work.

It’s not that these jobs aren’t out there anymore.  There are still quite a few developers hoping to make it big on the app store, and committed indies will always be around.  But the job ads are getting fewer and farther between.  The market may be growing, but supply is super saturated, and many casual would-be game developers are realizing they’d be better off sticking to their day jobs.  Those that still want to take the risk either for passion or a conviction that they’ll be the next Rovio realize that the bar is now much higher. They’re looking for better quality work, and so are their prospective players.

The Future

The me of 5 years ago would not have thrived in today’s environment.  My bank says I’m moderately risk intolerant, so I would have probably caved after a couple of months of not finding work and consigned myself to a lower paying day job that promised security and benefits.  Hell, I’m not even sure the me of today would thrive in this environment.  I’ve been so committed to working on Prison Architect and my own game that I haven’t been on the market in a while, which can be the kiss of death for a freelancer.

That’s partly why I’m in the process of shifting from being a freelancer to a game creator. This year, I teamed up with my friend Erick of Kuyi Mobile to release a game called Elevator Joe, a casual time management game with some tower sim elements.  It hasn’t done too well so far, but if we keep at it I’m hoping the long tail will end up being profitable enough to make me a decent living.  It’s still a risk, but at this point it feels far less risky that engaging in the freelance market again.