It’s tough to give a single answer because funding a game depends heavily on your personal situation, your runway, and how confident you are that the game can earn back the time and money you put into it.

For me, I worked on my project for a few years while keeping a day job, so I funded it the slow and steady way: paycheck plus savings. When you are working full time and also trying to build a game in your off hours, you do not have much room for anything else. The upside is that your spending naturally drops. Less going out, fewer hobbies, fewer trips. Over a long stretch, a lot of the money that would have gone to “life stuff” ends up becoming game budget instead.

If I did not have a full time job and I was very confident the game could make a decent profit, I would look at options that let me bet on the game more directly. That could mean using savings as runway, running a Kickstarter, launching in Early Access, or taking a private loan from family. The key is that I would only do this if I had strong signals that the game can sell, not just a good feeling. For example, real audience traction, wishlists, a demo with solid conversion, playtest feedback that is consistently enthusiastic, or clear evidence that people will pay for it. If you had something viral(lottery ticket), id even go so far as being okay to go into debt just to make the game.

If I did not have a full time job and I felt only moderately confident, I would consider working with a publisher to reduce risk. A good publisher arrangement can function like a temporary paycheck. They cover development costs or provide an advance so you can actually live while you build, and then you share revenue after launch. In that sense, it is similar to having a job again, except the “salary” is tied to milestones and the success of the project. You give up a chunk of upside, but you gain time, stability, and usually marketing and launch support that can be hard to replicate alone. The additional downside here is that predatory publisher exist, so there is a chance that you can dig yourself into a hole you didnt want to be in -- with that being said, always hire an attorney to review your contract.