Art Over Money

I've never been much of a businessman; that doesn't make me an artist, but the choices I have made over the years certainly indicate as much. My failure to make sequels to my games (with the exception of Balance of Power, which I did as penance for Siboot, which bombed and cost the publisher, Mindscape, a pretty penny). Time and again, I have chosen the noble artistic road, forsaking the path of wealth. I'm sure that, had I been more receptive to my publishers' importunations, I could have made more money than I actually did. In the nearly two decades that I have been a freelance computer game designer, I have earned about as much as I would have earned as a schoolteacher. In the process, I have explored more game design concepts and made more mistakes than any other game designer. All that creative effort, I suppose, uniquely qualifies me to write this book. So go buy some extra copies.

LESSON 85

A more artistic strategy does not obviate commercial success.

This does not mean that my artistic approach has made me a commercial failure. On the contrary, my commercial track record easily beats the industry average. I have published 13 computer games in my career; of these, two (Eastern Front (1941) and Balance of Power) were hits; two (Trust & Betrayal and Guns & Butter) lost money. The other nine were middling; they made some money and so were worthwhile projects, but no more. That's a hit rate of about 15% and a failure rate of about 15%. Industry average during the same period was about 1% hits and 30% failures. In other words, I did MUCH better than the industry as a whole. Another way to evaluate my overall commercial success is to look at my bottom line: Did I make money? If we confine the discussion to the period of my work on computer games, spanning 1979 to 1992, my earnings during that time average out to what any senior professional technical worker would have earned. In other words, I didn't get wealthy, but I made a comfortable living. If we define success to be the ability to earn a living while doing what you think is important, then my career path has been a great success.

There are, of course, other designers who have been even more successful. Their success surely deserves our admiration, and I heartily endorse any personal approach that emulates their strategy. My method worked for me; their methods worked for them; you must learn from all of these examples to decide your own strategy.

LESSON 86

In the games biz, trust no one.