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Why “Starving Artist Syndrome” as a Indie Game Developer Is Bad, but Sometimes Good
But please, do not actually starve yourself. Your game won’t magically sell more copies.
Before I get into this discussion, I want to start with a disclaimer. Please, please do not neglect your physical and mental needs in order to become a better game developer. Don’t do it to become a better anything. I think we can all agree that 2020 has been quite a tough year, and given the current state of society the last thing I want is for someone to take on undue burden.
If you are a game developer or even slightly interested in the video game industry, you are already aware of the state of the industry. Independent game developers (otherwise known as “indies”) are a dime-a-dozen. Tons of new games, of vary degrees of quality, are produced every single day, many of which are buried under the next batch of games. The market is saturated with indie developers that make low quality clones or model swaps of purchase assets.
It is not all gloom and despair however. Indie developers can make a living, albeit an often arduous and irregular living, and I’ve outlined how that’s done in a different article. But if you are not part of a triple-A studio, and are flying solo, there’s likely a reason for that. Either your reason for making games is inherently opposite to that of AAA studios, and you have a dream that you want to execute on without compromise. Or you are someone who does not work well in large groups and organizations. So with freedom comes compromise.
“Starving artist syndrome” is the mentality in which an artist foregoes, sacrifices and sometimes refuses financial well-being for the sake of their art. This mentality usually stems from the concept that “selling out” is akin to selling your soul, and corrupts the artwork and the person. With the indie game market the way it is, it’s not difficult to apply starving artist syndrome to indie devs as well. If you are not working full time in pursuit of your “dream game” — you are likely in this category.
Starving artists traditionally fail, and their art is seldom appreciated in their lifetime. So it goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, it’s best not to imitate the starving…
