One-Man Goal: A Game That Makes $40 A Day. Realistic?

I used 'realistic' because 'possible' is too ambiguous (since anything is possible).

Is there anyone here who is also a one-man team, and is currently earning at least $40 a day from his games? I'm looking into 2D game development and I'd consider earning $40 a day as my first milestone in game development.

My challenges:
1. Zero coding knowledge.
2. Can only spend an average of 20 hours a week dedicated to game development due to day job.
3. Financially committed elsewhere which isn't negotiable. I have to learn with whatever I can get for free.

What I can do:
1. Graphic design is part of my job (Photoshop & Illustrator) so I can create art (sprites).
2. Marketing is also part of my job (not sure if this helps).
3. I have some really original and fun game ideas (I looked in App Store and there's none like mine) which uses simple mechanics.

For a one-man team, how long (hours) will it take from picking up Unity to having my game listed in App Store? If I'm looking at 1,000 hours, is it realistic? Thanks!

 

Being able to market is going to help you a LOT when it comes to selling your game, but its still going to be an uphill battle, especially in mobile space. If you can make something that uses ad support, it's... possible, but still a bit tricky.

That said, there's no accurate way to predict development times since there's always going to be hitches that can't really be predicted and will affect each developer differently.

 

Yeah it could be possible, you could even make that off ads alone if you got enough people initially and had them keep playing the game -- not a one and done type deal. I dont know how many people you would need to do that, but i think only a few thousand daily active users if its ad supported game.

I would be interested to see if anyone is actually making $40 every day off ads from 1 game and how many DAU they have.

 

I'm sure it has been realistic to some people at some point in time...but not to everyone. Not everyone can jump in with your skillset and lack of skills and expect to be able to pull it off. Otherwise, you'd probably be hearing about that more often. Almost anyone making a game of varying calibur is realistic, whether it makes any money or not is all up to you. So, using the word 'realistic' instead of 'possible' doesn't really change much in this case. The end result is really just up to your capabilities and effort.

There is quite a lot you can learn for free on the internet, so don't feel held back by your financial situation.

Each game varies in development time, skills required etc....No one can tell you a definitive yes or no.

I suggest you give it a try though, because it is possible.

Good luck with your project.

 

Looking for similar stories? Three years ago, I lay awake, tossing and turning, when my wife told me to 'Go For It!' So, with almost 20 years coding experience, I started my own Indie company, Gigi Games. Despite my unrealistic expectations, I worked through a series of prototypes before releasing my first title. Which made ~$50 total. Reflecting from what I considered a complete failure, I started over and released another title, which slowly grew to about $3/day. Certain I could figure it out, I released another, and another, and another.

Until we get to today - six titles, 200,000 users, and EVERY form of monetization. My itty-bitty company is now earning ~$20/day, and I'm hoping my next title will push past $30/day.

Years of deliberate practice (fail, improve, repeat) averaging 20 hours/week on top of a career, wife, and 2 kids, have taken me lightyears from where I was. I've won awards, was hired by a AAA, and after leaving them, ended up as Technical Director at my old job, developing medical training games!

I was right to think that Gigi would make my future, though I was wrong in what that meant. Of the thousands who ask questions like yours, most quit before achieving a fraction of their goal. The reality? It's hard work, it's easy to get lost chasing the glitz, and it's draining to get up after each stumble. And you will stumble.

Your mileage may vary,
Gigi

 

I'm a counter example, I have been working on games with Unity for a number of years now and found that it is an expensive hobby. I have had some limited success but the market is getting heavily saturated with games and therefore the level of quality needed to make enough of an impact to earn a living is rising.

But go for it, with the understanding that it is an expensive hobby and it often takes years for the 'successful' developers to make a hit.

If you only have limited skills then you will need to skill up, either learning or purchasing the skills you lack which will take time and or money.

 

Thanks for your sharing. It does sound realistic, with all the hard work and stuffs... I hope I can keep up and never give up.

 

I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way GIGI, it does look like you put lot's of work into it. But $20.00 a day doesn't seem to be worth the effort, I could make a hack and slash with minimal marketing that would ultimatley dwarf those numbers. Probably in less time than it took you to make them six games, I think the last time I tried it took me three to six months.

I'm honestly interested why people even bother with it?

This whole can it be done thing seems effective if you don't want to be succesful, bare minimum I call succesful is the games you release should be able to cover your house / bills and leave you with some pocket money.

 

Could you point us in the direction of your app or game that proves your point?

 

You do understand I'm talking about the PC / Console market right? What specifically would you like to know!? Three things here:

1. I COULD make one, but I'm doing a full scale RPG that has already made a fair amount in Alpha. (See my signature)

2. If you want an example of a hack and slash that sold over 1 million copies as a first release, just look at the original torchlight.

3. Even if you believe me or not, how does $20.00 a day seem succesful?

I'm admitting ignorance here, I'm not sure how someone could make a living out of it seeing numbers admitted by people in the mobile sector.

 

OH I thought you had a previous project that you had created that would demonstrate your point.

 

Even minimum wage(in most of USA) is $58/day...(assuming 8 hours work, game probably you work longer)

 

I actually did make one, I have some pictures somewhere. It never got released though, when Diablo 3 and TL2 came out I decided to change the scope.

@tiggus

I know, I'm not just saying this to be a pain or be condescending, I genuinley feel sorry for my fellow developers struggling. On top of this with Pro licences and any other asset store purchases you need it feels a little grim.

So to the OP, if you're willing to put that amount of time in ever thought of expanding your scope once you have the basics down and consider IAP?

 

I'm in the same boat with you. I started writing ad-based games about three years ago, right before I graduated college - across various portals I've netted a whopping ~$30 (roughly, and factoring in Euro -> USD conversion rates at the time of writing this.)

I'm thinking that, yes, leaving games up on game portals is a good idea for accessibility, but in the end, selling my games is the way to go. Even at $4.99 a pop, it's better than barely earning $20 after a game has been out for 3 years (I'm referring to Zombies vs. Knights, which is actually my most successful game...)

 

People bother with it because they think they can be successful... kinda like you 'think' you can be / will be more successful then GIGI if/when you release your game.

Until you have released and are more successful then you are in the same boat of those 'trying' to succeed as opposed to those that have succeeded.

Depends on you expectations and goals.

If you are trying to make a full time living at it then your numbers are correct.

However if it's something you love to do and you're willing to devote all your spare time to it then making 10-20K/year is not to shabby as a hobby.

I did websites for people for years and never made more then 12K/year but it paid for a lot of nice vacations for my family that we would've likely not taken otherwise.

 

How do you know how succesful I am? I'm not going to divulge current sales and earnings. I'll say I'm not doing bad for a small Alpha release amongst a lot of other various backing. Don't get me wrong I personally have to cover 70,000 sales just to break even and as it stands right this second I am no where near that amount. But we will see what the future holds.. And that's only one project.

Around 7K a year as hobby covers the cost of tools if you're serious, so one can't complain. But if you are trying to make a career out of the subject which I gather many are. What I'm saying is there must be a better way to earn money in that segment because $20.00 a day just aint enough.

 

uhhh... because of what you posted?

No one is asking you for financials but when you deride other members with the "I COULD do better then the 20/40/XX dollars per day you are doing" don't be surprised if people ask you if you actually have done better.

 

Well you're taking it the completely wrong way, I'm not deriding anyone I'm suggesting we think of ways we can increase this amount. Also I'm saying if you can make more money out of a relatively simple game like a hack and slash, which I was able to give a timeline to due to experience of making one. Then that's another opportunity people can explore..

As for what I'm working on right now, in my signature it's shaping up well both fiscally and practically even though the venture has been a VERY rough ride. I wish I'd of stuck with the hack and slash, but I'm going off topic here.

There is no need to be discourteous, just opening up suggestions here.

 

When I started my 5-year plan, I secretly hoped something magical would happen in a piddly 6 months, just as you hope something magical will happen with Fallen Spirit. In my case, the gains were less financial, and more in the development of skills that led toward awards, new jobs, and a paid speaking gig with the National Science Foundation.

Sharing my stories is not really about me... It's to help the OP appreciate that even though his goal is more reasonable than most, it is still fairly unrealistic, given his lack of programming skills. I offer proof that Trying, Failing, & Improving, again, and again, is a way to find success, even if not in the expected ways.

Gigi

 

I have no understanding of how the mobile market works, I'll admit that straight up. I think in terms of PC and console, as that's the platforms I develop for. The likes of Rust sold 500,000 was it? Copies in Beta and it's not too hard to understand why. Firstly upfront payments, from my understanding due to many games in the mobile segment being free or IAP it's not going to be able to cut it, secondly people are into the whole MMO crafting thing.

So what options does the OP have in way of marketing? Candy crush managed to do well, was that the shotgun approach, where you keep churning out games until one stick? Shovelware as it's known? If you plan to make a career is the mobile market a good place to be? It's a factor of many decisions.

If someone follows suit in what I'm doing I'd probably recommend against it,. I'll be up front I think so far in the 8 months the game has been in development I've received around 100K back in funding / alpha and a few other sources. That doesn't even cover the cost of two staff for a year and there is the potential that I'll never earn any more of it and be 500K down. It's a horrible thought..

I honestly think the best market is small to mid sized games in the PC segment.

So how? How do you hit the sweet spot? I've thought about trying the mobile market myself, but from what I've seen I don't think it would be fiscally approachable, even if I did it for a laugh in my spare time.

The cost alone to cover Unity Pro / Android / IOS would cut into funds for a long time. I'd hazzard a guess that a fair amount of hobbyists would like to make games a full time career.

 

You'd be right (speaking as a hobbyist, and game afficionado.)

I've been advised (by Gigiwoo, no less) to release to mobile, and I took the suggestion seriously - the last few months, in between working on prototypes and refactoring, I've been researching the mobile market, and I'm not confident in it. The vast, vast, vast majority of games are Free-to-Play with microtransactions, for starters. A lot of my ideas, though, are patterned on console/PC games, as that's what I tend to play - and, based on up-front purchase, not microtransactions.

I don't see how people really make money off mobile right out of the gates. It seems unless you've A) got a budget for marketing, B) got cosmetics on par with everything else on mobile, which is admittedly pretty good, and/or C) 'just get lucky', you'll miss (earn nothing on a given day) much more often than you crit (get one sale at your pricepoint.) I guess you could improve your odds by creating shovelware (sadly, my current strategy), but the volatility is just crazy...

Obviously, I'm going to release a project for mobile as I've got nothing to lose (0.01 eurocents per day from Zombies vs. Knights on Wooglie ain't cutting it), but I have to admit I'm really wary of the mobile environment in general - I can't imagine sustaining a household from purely mobile projects.

Similar to what Gigi said earlier, my success came from my Unity work and other experience getting me a higher-paying job, but unlike Gigi one where game dev is still very much a hobby. Granted, this isn't unexpected; I've still got many dues to pay.

 

You're pretty much guaranteed $40 a day if you release 40 games, yeah.

 

I'm not sure about that. I think many want to have a go and know themselves... with Unity Free and the Asset Store you can do a lot for less than $100, 2D wise. Call it slow "passive income", from shovelware to possibly one hit to rescue it all.

In my case, lurker here since 2009, it's just one among a few activities I pursue to earn my crust as an independent professional / lifestyle business.

Just tutoring newbies and helping them to mod a template and release a game is an achievement to many more than you might think, some are so happy they just pay to be followed and fulfil the dream of artistic production.

 

Besides games I guess the asset store has some earning potential. Personally I'm not anywhere near $40 a day though, more like $10. I have 5 or so assets that do fairly specific things for a limited audience/niche, at pricepoints from $15 to $25. I guess I'd have to have like 25 assets to make a sustainable living off it. It seems that if you really want to make a go of it on the asset store you need to either have a really high-demand low priced item that appeals to the masses (3d stuff), or make a much larger more expensive tool in the $70+ range, complete with proper website and documentation and tutorials and videos and constant upgrades and customer support and all that. Getting into a sale is a relatively huge, but one-time boost. I don't know if anyone else has metrics on whether large/high-price items are better to develop than smaller/cheaper items. But anyway.

$0 sales from games so far, yay. That's because I haven't finished any.

 

Yeah you want to sell something that everyone needs rather then that only a few people need, at least in the asset store. Basically you want to make a "brand" of high quality assets at rock bottom prices, because people will begin to "chain buy". Say if you were selling 1 item at $40, you would have to sell 1x unit every single day. Not very likely if its a really niche item.

My best month in the asset store was $750 gross, not that bad for a side gig. I also realized what i did wrong, my kits quality started to really drop and i started to bundle them into 1 asset, anyway i learned my lesson and will be making new and better higher quality kits this time. I also got a guy to do my key images this time and we will see if that has any effect or not. And another guy to do the video tutorials.

 

Hi ShadowK,

I'm a bit like GigiWoo, lots of mobile games out there now over the last 3 years but only one makes me more than $40 per day, all the rest struggle to make a few dollars per day each. BUT all added together it makes me a living and I don't need a day job.

You are right I think it's a struggle for most mobile games to make money or enough to make the development worth while and I really would like to release to PC but can't see how I'd make any money at all that way. Can you share exactly what you had to do to make money on a PC version please, I' sure lots of people on here would like to know.

 

This is my approach!! except my goal is 1 million $ per day. Nearly there, just another few million years to go...

 

Well that's kind of worst case - I mean some of them will be doing better than a dollar a day.

 

Time energy and effort for the most part, initially getting forum communities involved I'd been hanging around at the start back in the days of hack and slash. Some of them donated their time to voice acting, others paid a small amount towards an alpha version so they could add their own little bits and give constant feedback on the promise they would get the full game for half the price and any DLC. As the likes of steam were cut out that saved me 30% anyway so I I wasn't too fussed about doing a deal.

Once I had a demo put together, (Originally in CryEngine not Unity) I sent that out to promoters and also signed a contract with a console manufacturer who backed us. Can't say more than that on the subject but I'd highly recommend putting a good demo / trailer together, I also knew some marketing guys back from the last company I worked at and added more and more people to the alpha. Essentially what I tried to do is a Steam early access without getting steam involved. I also accepted small donations in return for the full game and DLC I do plan to kickstarter to add more to the vault but not until I have a playable demo I can send out.

A small portion of our company is also funded by a larger publisher after we presented our demo, obviously we have to pay them back with interest when the game is sold. But the contract was worded in a way so they don't own any part of the IP.

We also had outsourced work coming in, which further enabled me to expand my team. Even though it was far between, every little helps so Tesco says. Most of the money came from the above..

It's all but dried up now, I can't allow more people into the Alpha neither do I have time to receive outsourced work. Although I'm not in a bad position (for now).

 

I think doing a console, or PC title in the scope of ShadowK's game, is really really risky.

These days, the PC gets also flooded with shovelware and the times where releasing on Steam was the golden ticket are long gone.
Having sales numbers like Rust, or The Forest are the exceptions, not common, I'd think.

I too, would rather focus on PC games.
But more on projects that don't take too long to finish. I guess the best is still 2d games, you can cross publish on PC and mobile devices, like Sword&Sworcery, or Bastion.

Some people dream too big in terms of scope and look of a game.
So I think Gigi's approach is pretty down to earth and it's refreshing to see he's encouraging others with his story.
Even if 20$ a day might not much yet, he gives you a clear message. "Never give up, once you hit the first roadblock" And that's is what most people have to do in order to succeed.
Waiting for the next Flappy Bird, Minecraft kind of success is not what makes you successful. It's persistence and hard work.

 

The problem is that success from games is very unpredictable. Flappy Bird earned a ton of money and was a simple game. But most simple games earn next to nothing and barely get noticed.

More complex games are less volatile, but if you haven't done much coding, they're going to be hard to build alone.

 

Oh I agree what I'm doing is a stupid idea for a team of 15, give me another 35 staff and about 10 million more in the bank at it might start seeming along the lines of something sane.

But I also don't agree with GIGI's methodology either! if you actually want to make something in this market, with the competition being as it is and the amount of shovelware out there. You need to think bigger and take a risk, or as I keep seeing in these threads you'll dump 1000's of hours into what's essentially not going to make any fiscal impact.

The forest isn't an exception, the thing looks bloody beautiful. (Especially for a Unity game) you can tell a lot of love and attention went into that game and it's paid off. That's not guesswork, it's just plain quality and consumers know that, it's not a mystery why the forest has done well for itself..

Some of it's luck, some of it's contacts but the vast majority is a shed load of hard work and a good eye.

 

"Stupid" isn't the right word. I'd call it "daring"

As for The Forest. Indeed your chances are higher to make an impact, if you actually release a game with eye candy graphics.
But it is not a automatic success. There are still a good chunk of great looking games that didn't make the cut. Crusher comes on top of my head. Or promising games made by industry veterans, that never got beyond the alpha state like Warsoup, Pirates of new Horizons etc.

The big appeal of the forest and Rust is the genre, I guess.
Open survival sandbox games doing quite well nowadays. The graphics indeed help to sell that, these days, with hundreds of such games.

But you can also make lots of money with a simple looking game like paranautical activity, voxatron etc.
The question is always how economical the project is. ROI, budget vs. sales etc. While your chances are higher with a triple A like game to succeed, your chances to fail to get that project out of the door are also higher. Even big studios cancel big projects regularly.

That said, It's not all doom and gloom as Rust, The Forest and some other bigger indie games us show.

And I agree with you that you have to make something high quality and polished. Something people actually want to play. Just making some random tiny games, for the sake of an achievement, won't make it in most cases.

So I also don't necessarily agree with Gigi's way of doing this as a business. But the message is the right one and applies across every developer. Work hard and don't give up, if you really want to make it.

I'll quote Eric Thomas
"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful."

 

I'd just like to be where you are now. Can you share exactly how many games you have created so far in 3 years?

That's why I will be focused in much simpler games. So simple that it can be picked up by a 5-year old. I have set some criteria for myself as well, such as the game has to be in vertical format (natural phone holding position), can be played with one hand only, and easy to learn but difficult to master.

I'm not expecting that developing games and earning anything from them to be easy, but out of every other industries, at least this is something that I want to be in. If I'm going to spend time building something, I think game is right for me. I like the fact that I can put my ideas into work, and having the control over how a game should be like.

I'm a community contributor to an over 10 years old game called DOTA and the developer had implemented several ideas of mine, out of the many thousands of ideas that were suggested. I have also won several community-voted 'Hero Idea' suggestions where one has to think of an original hero with unique and fun abilities to fit in the DOTA heroes lineup. Although it meant nothing practical, I know that I can think of ideas that are new and attractive to people. People can put me down, but I'm really radical so it doesn't matter, LOL.

Also, being in this industry means I'm always in the run for a lottery and hitting it big, not practical but it's still a comforting idea because I have something bigger and more meaningful in life that I wanted to do if I became a millionaire by accident.

 

The thing is, lots and lots (and lots) of people are making simple games. So it's quite hard to be successful with one, let alone consistently successful. If you're going to build a simple game, make sure it's an idea that makes you say to yourself: "Holy SH%^!!, that's awesome!". Otherwise, people probably just aren't going to care.

Though it is certainly doable.

 

I'm always critical of my own ideas, even if it's just a simple idea. Whenever I have a new idea, I always find myself thinking of how to make it interesting, day and night. I'd go "nope, it's too boring" or "not fun enough" but of course this is quite subjective. At the end of the day, probably the best of ideas will go unnoticed, and I understand that, and it's OK. I'd rather have simple ideas go unnoticed than spending tons of time, effort and money on a complex 3D title with crazy graphics and still get unnoticed (no offense to heavyweight game makers). I still play complex 3D titles with crazy graphics, just sayin'

 

I came to the conclusion about two years ago that making games by myself to make decent money is an utter waste of time. I'd put it on a par with learning the guitar in the hopes of becoming a rock star.

 

I think you need to find a balance between here. Too simple games like Flappy Bird are definitely nothing more than a lottery ticket.

@SmellyDogs

Nah it's not that hard. It's not easy either, mind you.
But let's face it. No matter what you do, nearly every business is difficult if you start from scratch.

Some people make one game and get rich over night, like Notch, or the dude with Tiny Wings. Other people have to make quite a few games until the money rolls in.
My first very game was Flash based and I managed to sell it to BigFishGames for $400. It really varies.

 

That depends on your definition of 'decent money'. Rock stars make quite a lot...

BTW just read this.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspe...ssons-flappy-bird-can-teach-indie-developers/

If Dong Nguyen just gave up game development right before he made Flappy Bird, his life would have been very much different now. As with anything, I think persistence matters. Thomas Edison got his 1,000th bulb right.

 

I agree with you. I mean, instead of developing games, I've already discussed several entrepreneurship ideas with my spouse. I can do other stuffs and still it's hard to make money, so if everything is hard, I guess it's just better to do something that's just as hard, but at least you like doing it.

Another thing I like about this industry is the amount of global publicity I can get if I happen to strike it big compared to just having a successful local business.

 

Well, it depends on your outlook. My one publicly released game isn't exactly making me rich either, but I loved making it.

I hope for my second publicly released game to be a much larger project with much more income, but even then it's not because I want to get rich from it (though who doesn't?). If my games pay for themselves then I can spend more time on them because I don't need a "day job". But until the point where my games are doing that I'll still be making them anyway, 'cause I love doing it.

 

This story and ones like it are typically false. I'm unaware of anyone who's first game made them rich. Notch, for instance, was programming at the age of seven and making games at the age of eight.

I'm pretty sure the Tiny Wings guy had made a bunch of similarly simple games before one of them finally took off. (Edit: My mistake, I was thinking of Flappy Bird.)

Super Meat Boy is another commonly cited example of overnight successes with games. Only, the guy behind that was cranking games out at something like a game every ten weeks for years before SMB came along.

There's no such thing as an overnight success.

 

Ok Notch was not a good example. I know he made some other games.

Tiny Wings however, was the first commercial game from Andreas Illinger, to my knowledge.

Indeed there are some people who get that lucky, making the right game to the right time.
Zombieville is another example. It was Mika Mobile's first serious game and it made them rich in no time. But these are very rare cases. Especially nowadays.

Anyway, my point was that nobody should bet on the literally overnight wealth, some developer appear to make.

 

My mistake, by brain somehow converted that to "Flappy Bird"...

Still, there's a huge difference between something being someone's first commercial or "serious" project and it being the first game and/or software product they've ever made.

Anyway, I agree with not betting on "overnight success". It's just that I like busting that myth wherever it appears, because there's really no reason to perpetuate it even in this context. It's not just that "overnight success" requires skill, talent, and copious luck, it's also that the things we see as "overnight success" are almost never actually that.

 

Do you want to make $40 a day creating something to do with games, creating games or creating the games you want to make? Does item three mean you can't spend any money at all (as in zero, nada, zilch)?

If you want to make $40 a day I'd think the asset store is the most likely path to that.

If you want to make any game then consider spending one 20 hour week doing freelance. You now have enough money to buy some asset store packages which I think is the most likely path to success via games. Reskin some complete game packages with a modern theme/meme, polish and release then use your marketing skill to get the product out their.

If you want to make your own games (i.e. not based on some common mechanic), then its going to be a lot more hit 'n' miss. You may not have any talent for coding or game design. Even if you do you still need to learn these skills. As others suggest you might need to drop many games before you see much success. I doubt all this learning and building will fit in one thousand hours.

 

Asset store? I can create some music, but is music a demand there?

 

I don't think music is in high demand. Code is certainly the best selling asset type but if you create some large, high quality 2D level construction kits (top-down, platformer, isometric, etc) I think you could get to $40 a day within a reasonable time period.

 

Well, that's what you should be asking about anything you do for any market you do it for.

But... music wasn't mentioned in your "What I can do" section in the OP. Why is it suddenly a thing now?

You're a graphic designer. I'd say get into GUI skins, generic reusable stuff like icons, tile sets or other 2D game assets, offer your services as a graphic designer for hire, so on and so forth. Do one thing well, don't spread yourself thin. (If you can do two things well then rad, but don't dilute your strengths!)

 

Exactly.

Choose something you are good at and enjoy.
You'll need that to keep you motivated during the inevitable difficult sections.

 

Maybe I came across a little harsh, anyone who knows my posts on this forum know I'm not a tactful typer. An initial outlay doesn't have to make you rich, hell I suppose to get your name / reputation out there a loss is acceptable. But I see things formulaic and after a certain amount of time if said process isn't working as required, I'd change and try something else. If I were earning $20.00 a day after 5 years, I'd dump it and try a whole new market and see what the ROI is.

@nipoco

I have to admit some times it feels like a stupid idea , but I throw caution to the wind because I enjoy it and couldn't imagine doing anything else. I think you need a passion for your product to see it through to the end, as for GIGI's message work hard and don't give up. Couldn't agree more, especially if you're aiming big.

As for the OP, explore your options carefully. I think if you're just starting out it's going to be at least half a year of doing nothing but hitting the books and bringing yourself up to scratch with Unity. The API is massive, once you know basic C# formatting go through all the Unity learn videos and without a solid understanding of http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/modules, you'll always be hitting your head against the wall.

Once you have that out the way, you're happy with artwork as well then decide what suites your criteria. Because most people find the whole process much more involved than they originally thought. Personally even though I've been at this a decade and a half, I don't find anything particularly difficult. Just VERY time consuming, feature creep is always a tough one too.. A product is never *Finished* in the eyes of it's creator.

GOOGLE FU!