I'll provide some more background on why I don't want to make Aurora a commercial game.
Firstly, there is a major difference between creating a commercial game vs a hobby game. For example, if I was trying to make money from Aurora I would make it much simpler, so it would appeal to a wider audience. I would spend a lot more time on graphics and UI than mechanics, because its easier to sell something visual. Once money becomes the primary goal, rather than mechanics, the resulting game would not be Aurora in its current form
Secondly, I think one of the disconnects here, and why the topic comes up regularly, is that not everyone places the same value on a higher income vs other considerations. I've had periods of low income and high income and been pretty happy throughout. The high income is usually because I find something interesting that happens to pay well
. My last job lasted 12 years and was in the eGaming industry, which followed playing poker professionally for 6 years. This was very enjoyable, especially working with a great team, until 2021 when the company was taken over. The new management was not interested in evidence that contradicted their own opinions, so it was frustrating from that point onwards.
I was made redundant in late 2023, which was not unexpected, and spent most of last year travelling with my wife while working about 12 hours a week remotely. My income was a fraction of the previous year and yet I enjoyed it far more. We had the time and freedom to go where we wanted, when we wanted, and spend that time mostly outdoors in scenic places. It was a very full life, despite the low income. I've just agreed to go full time with the same company, still working remote. We spent the last few weeks looking for a house and a car, so we could return to a 'normal life', with me wondering if I had made the right decision despite tripling my income. Last week, we decided to try to have the best of both worlds, so in 10 days we are back on the road with me working 5 days a week. We will see how it works out
Thirdly, going back to Aurora, you might think that working full time on a game would be enjoyable and I could do it for that reason, rather than any money I might make. However, I have had previous hobbies that became jobs. I used to play keyboards and started working as a musician at 15 in clubs, providing backing for singers in the days before backing tapes. They turned up with sheet music and the drummer and I would play. No sounds checks, no rehearsals - just five minutes to look at the sheet music and then on stage for two 40-minute sets. Definitely character-building
I went full time, but within a few years I quit. When being on stage is a job and you are checking the clock, it isn't fun any more. These days, I hardly ever play. Playing poker was a hobby. I went full time and made a good living from it, but in the end it was just another job. Now I hardly ever play.
Programming was originally a hobby that turned into a job in the early-to-mid 1990s, but over time as I moved into the management side, it was more of an occasional novelty and so it has returned to being a hobby. Besides, Aurora is really more about game design and enabling AARs. I spend more time playing, writing and researching than programming. It is also entirely enthusiasm-driven, which is why more boring work, like improving the UI, doesn't happen often. If I went full time, Aurora would become a job. Generally, anything you can choose to do is fun. Anything you have to do is work. If I went full time and got bored, or started to resent having to do it, that would be the end of Aurora. Besides, I am really happy with my life as it is right now.
So in summary, there isn't really a choice to make Aurora a commercial game. If I did, due to the commercial-driven decisions that followed, it wouldn't be Aurora any more and it wouldn't last very long anyway. Once it was a job, the enthusiasm would disappear and I would eventually resent it. I know that is a very long explanation, but now its written down, I can point people to this post when they ask in future.
