On July 18, 2024, in the middle of the afternoon, while I was on the train on my way to hand in my old job’s belongings, I received an e-mail confirming that Strigian Studio had officially been created.
Once I’d got over my surprise at how quickly the application had been processed (I’d submitted it the previous evening !), I was left with the exciting yet frightening feeling that a new adventure was beginning, full of both freedom and constraints.
A new adventure, the result of almost a year’s journey now, and one that I wanted to share, a tiny feedback from the creation of my indie developer business in France, in the hope that it might be of use to you, whether you’re hesitant, motivated for a similar adventure, or simply curious.
I’d also like this article to be the first in a line that focuses on a critical but not elegant battle, that of the administrative and its complex strategy, often through choices that aren’t always obvious (be it french administration and all others necessary partners).
But first, I’d like to start with the motivations that drew me to this project.
Journey #
Youth #
Ever since I was kid, I’ve fallen in love with video games like many people, and I’ve always wondered how to make one.
After some internet research, I discovered RPG Maker and tried it, but I was kind of frustrated by the engine’s limited options, that’s why I decided that I wanted to learn how to make one myself.
But came up the logical answer: “Develop it yourself, learn a programming language like C”.
Well, since my little me hadn’t yet reached middle school, it was rather painful to fundamentally understand programming on my own (by the way thanks to the “Site du Zero” at the time), and particularly C !
But, being quite stubborn, I tried anyway, and although I didn’t understand that much and finally gave up at the time, it was my first step into IT.
My teenage years were then peppered with small projects in programming, networking, video games (on Unity in majority), etc.
Professional #
After a somewhat difficult scolarship, I ended up training in a field that is, in my opinion at the opposite of creativity, i.e. cybersecurity.
One lesson throughout my career that resonated with me from the moment I heard it was from my future apprenticeship master during the job interview.
Simply put, he asked me what subject in cybersecurity I was interested in, I have to say that I don’t remember exactly what my answer was, probably something like “forensic”, and he bounced back with a fairly general criticism that sounded something like this :
Most young newcomers in cybersecurity want to do penetration testing, and it’s often a subject they’ll only be doing for a few years ! Why ? Because although it’s interesting, we don’t build anything from it.
I think there comes a time in our professional career when we need to build something that will stay anchored in time, like a bricklayer who, after finishing a job, can walk past and sees his contribution, his work, in form of a finished work.
This bricklayer no matter what he does next, will always have this building as a symbol of his past work.
For he has created something.
No matter how truthful the first part may be, I found this vision of the need for professional creation very striking, and despite having continued in cybersecurity until graduating and worked some few years afterwards, this remark kept running through my head.
And while it did, I continued to work in this field, which is quite interesting, but not fully … Fulfilling.
Then I started developing video games again in my free time, that was fun.
Then I had some personal and work-related health problems. And at one of the darkest moments of my life, I realized that I actually felt this creative urge … To build something.
That’s when I discovered that I wanted to turn one of my hobbies into a profession.
And that’s where my motivation came from.
Motivation #
So, making video games, a dream come true, isn’t it ? Not really …
Between an ultra-competitive industry, often abusive work standards, production based on an insane range of necessary skills, sometimes never ending iterative development cycles, an unpredictable small-scale market… The idea of making a living out of it, especially as an indie, is a tad crazy.
But as I said earlier, creation in general is an attractive subject, and I have this need to create something, against all odds. While I have no training in the field, I’ve always had a shy step in gamedev, whether through projects or gamejams with tools like RPG Maker, Unity or more recently Godot.
I’ve also realized that I have a financial window of opportunity that allows me to dedicate myself full-time long enough to elaborate « The Plan© ».
The Plan© #
My goal is relatively simple : To release one game and ideally prepare the development of a second, over a period of at least a year and a half.
Why a year and a half ? Because that’s how long I was granted unemployment benefit (thanks to the french unemployment insurance).
Why the minimum ? Because depending on the success of the first game, the period could be expanded.
And once it expires ? Then I’ll be looking again for a job in my field, cybersecurity.
It may sound short-sighted, or over-ambitious, but it’s probably one of the best opportunities I’ve had so far, particularly following a delicate personal situation.
That’s why, after thinking about it for over a year, I decided to take the plunge.
Conclusion #
It’s funny to think that this article could be the first and last in his series. That I’d finally be unable to keep up the pace of writing on this blog, or even worse, that the project runs into too many difficulties …
But a vital part of any project is that you have to believe in it. And then, of course, get to work !
I’ll see you then for the next article in this series, a short guide to the administrative steps I had to take, to set up my business, the Steamworks partner account and the various administrative choices I had to make.
I’ll leave you to it, I’ve got work to do !