Developing on a $0 budget is possible, but launching a game without money isn't possible.

[I Create Art!]

At least on my side of the world anyway. Things like Bank fees, LLC, Tax stuff etc... I've been developing with practically no money the past year and a half, got greenlit on steam and I'm close to finishing my game, but now I find myself facing fees that are adding up to almost $500 (usd) and I ain't got a single penny to my name, right now I want to finish development and am not really in the mood to find more freelance work to cover the costs , guess developing and launching without money isn't possible after all.

[Gnougnou]

Try to kickstart or something like this ? If your game is finished, you have a lot of thing to show. Try making a trailer and get some people to give you money. 500 is not that much, so that could do the trick.

[Alexarg]

Hi, could I ask what kind of fees are you in need to pay?
You still don't release your game, so I'm curious.

edit: I mean the fees are related to the game or your personal life?

[AP_Studios]

At least on my side of the world anyway. Things like Bank fees, LLC's costs, Tax stuff etc... I've been developing with practically no money the past year and half, got greenlit on steam and I'm close to finishing my game, but now I find myself facing fees that are adding up to almost $500 (usd) and I ain't got a single penny to my name, really not in the mood to find more freelance work to cover the costs , guess developing and launching without money isn't possible after all.

worst idea ever. releasing a game under your own name with out an LLC is asking to get crushed financially. If someone decides to sue you over, well, anything at all, you personally will be coughing up thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of $$. Your life will be destroyed if someone decides to come after you for any reasons. Food for thought

[smartyMARTY]

worst idea ever. releasing a game under your own name with out an LLC is asking to get crushed financially. If someone decides to sue you over, well, anything at all, you personally will be coughing up thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of $$. Your life will be destroyed if someone decides to come after you for any reasons. Food for thought

Getting sued is the worst case. Just as a daily business - you are personally responsible for all financials and debts as well. Of course, I am not a lawyer. Also, it depends on which country you operate out of and in. Judging from YouTube channel of the trailer, it is not the US.

[Errvald]

A showcase site for your game and a blog for news would help bring in more viewers and potential buyers. If your game is under development you can then ask for support (donations). That is if the game is catchy enough.

[DarkS474]

worst idea ever. releasing a game under your own name with out an LLC is asking to get crushed financially. If someone decides to sue you over, well, anything at all, you personally will be coughing up thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of $$. Your life will be destroyed if someone decides to come after you for any reasons. Food for thought

?? WHAT ?

Then most of Apple App Store developers publishing apps and games should have been put in jail long time ago.
Although the justice system is a mess worldwide it is not that lawyers are engaged to destroy freelancer developers lives daily.

[Burnz]

Don't forget the tax disadvantages when releasing under your own name. It's cheaper and safer to create a small company...

[Errvald]

?? WHAT ?

Then most of Apple App Store developers publishing apps and games should have been put in jail long time ago.
Although the justice system is a mess worldwide it is not that lawyers are engaged to destroy freelancer developers lives daily.

They would destroy a developer if their app/game was successful enough.

[DarkS474]

Don't forget the tax disadvantages when releasing under your own name. It's cheaper and safer to create a small company...

In which fantasy world ?
Big companies do have plenty of lawyers and accountants to avoid paying the highest taxes but very small, small and average ones can't escape easily in most countries. And for a freelancer alone would be a financial suicide.
In my country creating even the smallest size company costs a lot of money and taxes double or more.

[DarkS474]

They would destroy a developer if their app/game was successful enough.

?? It is not that everyone in the world is awaiting to sue you if you sell an app or a game and make some good money!
Really? Do you believe that ? Sorry but that is your own fantasy maybe based on plenty of news about scam agencies that keep suing on claimed patents rights they would own about everything and anything. Anyway most of those target big companies like Apple, Samsung, Google and so on because they try to steal big money from them in the court.

Again if that was ever true then the whole Apple App Store that is mostly made of apps and games created by freelancers that don't own any company of any size just wouldn't have existed and it wouldn't be the growing financial success that it is now.

[BrUnO XaVIeR]

Search the web for what happened to the FlappyBird developer.
What happened to him happens every day, you just don't hear about most of the cases.

It happened to me, I was sued by ex-employer, they tried to pocket in all earnings from last game I worked on;
I will never released a game under my own name again

[I Create Art!]

Doing business without an LLC sounds risky, and I'd opt set 1 up but costs here just ridiculous. after looking into a little more ive found out that where i am It costs $1000 to setup an LLC, the minimum balance for a proper bussiness account is $500. Are fees this high everywhere??

[mid_gen]

Doing business without an LLC sounds risky.

But after looking into a little more ive found out that where i am It costs $1000 to setup an LLC, the minimum balance for a proper bussiness account is $500. Are fees this high everywhere??

Varies. In the UK don't need any capital, or at least just some notional amount like 1 pound. Then your book-keeping costs but you can do that fairly cheap.

[SergeOvD]

With Steam Direct its will be even more "isn't possible".

You can try find indie publisher who will publish you game for free on steam.