Quote:

Hence my inquiry as to how some of you got working




I used a bootstrap method:
Year 1: Built a small prototype (0 USD).
Year 2: Used this to raise some funds for a larger prototype (a few hundred USD).
Year 3: Used this to raise some funds for an even larger prototype (a few thousand USD).
Year 4: Once the prototype was convincing enough, I used it to raise enough money to build a demo (a few ten thousand USD).
Year 5: I'm currenlty building the demo that will (ideally) attract the investors to actually build the game (a few million USD).

I'm creating an MMOG so you can actually do this much quicker and for less target money but the approach is the same: "Dream Big, Start Small".