We are college students and we have plenty of free time and know many other people who do, as well. Eheh, we're not trying to pull off the next Crysis, ffs. A 3D game doesn't have to be that time consuming, believe me. Wasting our time in mods won't make us evolve or learn as general game developers as much, or nothing at all. Saying in your CV that you have modded for a game has as much value as saying you made a RPG in RPG Maker. If we make a game using the engine I programmed in XNA, adding it to our portfolio will have MUCH more value. Luck? We just need a good team. Remember, Braid was created by 2 people and is one of the most successful games ever. Were they lucky? Not really, didn't have to.
"You have to be prepared to work very hard for nothing, and it's difficult to do that when most people in this field have other stuff to do."
We're looking for people interested in games, after all. Mostly, modellers as students or modellers. We don't want modellers that use their time making living rooms or houses for architecture purposes, I believe you can understand that. Nothing? This can even evolve into something commercial. If there were no indie teams like us, the game industry would be a LOT worse. Besides, indie games are the fashion now-a-days. Also, who wouldn't want to finish their degree with a GAME in their portfolio?
We wouldn't waste our time with Flash games for iPhone. Unity has much more potential. Besides, the iPhone is already saturated with lots of "Flashy" games and unless they pull off something innovative, I think they'll stay with that opinion.
We'll stay with our stand. We'll try to get as much talented people as we can, and then see what we can do it that, maybe even start with 2D games. Remember that the main function of every indie game developing team is to LEARN, EVOLVE, EXPERIENCE, not making money or wasting time for "nothing" as you say
.