A €50,000 game dev stipend just as my savings ran out

The story

I quit my job a few years back to realize my dream of developing (indie) video games on my own. But after three years, my savings were running dry and I still was far from finished with the game. I was so close to giving up and already filed for unemployment. My sister was about to get me a job as a teacher, when one day by the most unbelievable coincidence I went on a date with a woman who was also into gamedev and she told me that there was a new one-time stipend program for talented game devs set up by the state in a rush to spend all funds before a new government was set up (the previous government just collapsed). It was all very hurried and she told me just in time to take part in the application. For two weeks I felt like obsessed and wrote and drew day and night without even knowing what I was doing but strangely trusted the process. I couldn’t believe how after two weeks everything came together perfectly and I knew immediately that I would get the stipend. And that’s what happened. There were more than a thousand applications and I was one of the few that had been selected with full funding for 18 months (about 50,000€) and a comprehensive workshop- and mentoring-program plus additional help like free tickets and booths for big and small gaming fairs and festivals. Truly felt like divine intervention and an unbelievable stroke of luck, especially with regard to the timing and this being a completed spontaneous one-time program.

On the flip side, it also set off a lot of difficulty on another plane of my life, but in terms of money and opportunity, this felt like nothing short of a miracle to me. Like the universe urging me to continue pursuing my dream.