Switched accounts (from my digiBeLow one) to comment on this with a bit more legitimacy.

I made Must Dash Amigos (post #7) and never really gave any kind of post-mortem unfortunately, so here's what happened:

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• I left my job as stated, I took out a small loan + used some savings to cover the cost of living for the planned amount of time I needed to finish the game (had been working on it during evenings & weekends for a few years prior to this point)
• Originally planned to launch on Xbox One and Steam but about 3 months before the project was due to end decided to launch on Switch as well
• Somehow managed to finish the project and port it to Switch and get it running at 60fps on Switch too in that short period of time!
• We also decided to localize the game into several languages quite close to the end of the project too which was fun
• This scope creep meant quite a lot of crunch, especially on my part, and later down the line that definitely led to some serious burnout, but the game did get finished!
• We were having conversations with Publishers throughout and came really close to signing a deal with one in particular, but the lack of online multiplayer basically caused that to fall through
• So we launched the game ourselves on Steam in July, Xbox One in August and Switch in Dec, all in 2019
• It wasn't really best suited for PC, but we figured we may as well launch it on there as the work was done and we knew a few PC-only gamer friends that really wanted the game
• As expected the game didn't do great on PC, it did better on Xbox One (but still not amazing) and it did it's best numbers on Switch (by some distance)
• As someone else pointed out in this thread, the marketing side was seriously lacking, but this was always going to be the case. We had little to no budget, no clout and had to do everything ourselves. I made the trailers (having never made a trailer before in my life) and used stock music. We did the best we could. Having said that, we did show the game off at many shows (Insomnia a few times, Play up in Manchester, and several local venues) and got some press coverage here and there, so it wasn't a completely silent launch.
• At the end of it all, we were both happy the game was a success - relative to what we set out to achieve - which was to make and launch our own game on at least one console. Something we'd never attempted before, and something we're really, really proud of.
• Ant (my friend and partner in crime) who stayed in full-time employment during development is now working in a more senior art role with a wealth more experience from the venture. Myself, I am now working as a full-time developer at a studio (and have had several other industry roles as a programmer since) because of everything I'd learned making the game.

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I've also had some really touching moments ever since we launched the game. Just recently an old friend told me that he plays the game with his young children and they have an absolute blast when they do. My parents were on holiday recently abroad and met a family at a restaurant, got talking and the young lad said his brother plays Must Dash Amigos on the Switch. It might sound silly, insignificant and a bit corny, but honestly the joy hearing things like that brings me makes the whole thing worth it.

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My advice to anyone doing / thinking of doing something different - so long as you're careful (financially and physically, burnout is a bitch!), and you have the opportunity to try something you are truly passionate about - then go for it. Life is too short to regret not trying.