I think there is decent enough money in independent game development to be profitable, but I think it needs to either be a side project in which you program yourself (but still hold a full time job), or an investment (others program, you put up the cash), or a combo of both (what I am currently doing).
If you can get a retail publisher to publish the game that is great, just understand that the game is, for the most part, no longer yours. There are many huge advantages to this method if you simply want to create a game and be done with it.
I, honestly, do not like these shareware game download sites. I believe that just about anyone with enough drive and motivation (you already have the knowledge/learning capability if you can create a game) can properly market a game. The real key to indie game marketing is to have others market the game for you. I do not have time to detail this right now, but I might throw up a post on this later.
I would say before the release of your game find some local game forums with a tight-nit community and post/get in well with them (for find members that exist on those sites and talk to them about it). You are more likely to get sales from small forums that you advertise on than the huge forums due to the fact that local small forums usually want to support the site, while larger sites people might feel the site is already so large they need not support it.
You can also utilize your friends, myspace, facebook, and other sites to help draw up interest.
Use the power of social sites and the overall social nature of the internet to attempt to self-market your game (can even be done for free) before you decide to fork over a decent percentage to these shareware distribution sites.
Purchasing a few books on marketing would be wise as well. If you are an indie game developer you are more than just a programmer, you are a business owner and as such you will wear many hats. You need to become proficient at marketing, advertising, public relations, budgeting, etc...
It does not matter how good your game is, if you lack essential business skills the game will either fail or you will get taken advantage of.
If you can get a retail publisher to publish the game that is great, just understand that the game is, for the most part, no longer yours. There are many huge advantages to this method if you simply want to create a game and be done with it.
I, honestly, do not like these shareware game download sites. I believe that just about anyone with enough drive and motivation (you already have the knowledge/learning capability if you can create a game) can properly market a game. The real key to indie game marketing is to have others market the game for you. I do not have time to detail this right now, but I might throw up a post on this later.
I would say before the release of your game find some local game forums with a tight-nit community and post/get in well with them (for find members that exist on those sites and talk to them about it). You are more likely to get sales from small forums that you advertise on than the huge forums due to the fact that local small forums usually want to support the site, while larger sites people might feel the site is already so large they need not support it.
You can also utilize your friends, myspace, facebook, and other sites to help draw up interest.
Use the power of social sites and the overall social nature of the internet to attempt to self-market your game (can even be done for free) before you decide to fork over a decent percentage to these shareware distribution sites.
Purchasing a few books on marketing would be wise as well. If you are an indie game developer you are more than just a programmer, you are a business owner and as such you will wear many hats. You need to become proficient at marketing, advertising, public relations, budgeting, etc...
It does not matter how good your game is, if you lack essential business skills the game will either fail or you will get taken advantage of.