ahnonamis

How much time goes into planning and building a decent sized local haunted house? Do they generally use the same layout/plan/props year after year or try to change them up so people who came previously don't know what to expect?

What's something that's been learned about ancient Egypt through modern archaeology that you wish more people knew?

As someone who spent 15+ years working in gaming and was one of the early "experts" in the free-to-play space, it's very, very tough to create a game that has a solid playerbase + generates decent revenue without being able to blow money on marketing.

Your best chance is to come up with something new, and hope you have a new enough idea that none of the bigger people can jump on it ASAP so you can build up at least a solid following who sticks with you.

Like you said, if something looks good enough, eventually someone with more money is going to make their own version. That happens no matter WHAT the starting game's budget is. Just look at what happens every time a new fad in gaming pops up. (MOBA, survival games, battle royale, etc.) If the idea is solid and seems like it can make money, you're going to be competing with everyone.

If your goal is to make a living as an indie dev, I'd recommend taking a hard look at why you have that goal. If you're like most people, you have an idea for a game that you've always dreamed of making, and you want to make it happen as your career. You can often make a lot more money working in non-gaming industries, and put some of that salary toward hiring people to help make your passion project.

That way you can get your game made (working on it in your free time + having outside help), but if it doesn't defeat the odds and become a break out hit then you're at least not finding yourself in debt without a job in your 30s/40s.

And if somehow you do defy the odds and your game is one of the few indie games each year to break out, you can quit your normal job and go fulltime toward that.