Releasing on Steam for a (very) indie developer

I like writing games (mostly arcade style shoot them ups) and I write them mostly for myself but I’d love to make a bit of money from doing so.

  • Is that a bad thing?
  • Am I being a bit unrealistic expecting money for this stuff?
  • Does anyone have any experience of putting Java games onto steam?
  • Do PC arcade games actually sell well (or at all)?
  • Is it easy to integrate a Java game into steam?
  • Is it straightforward to use their achievements, leader boards and cloud facilities?
  • If you have experience of releasing on steam - can I ask how you did? (a PM is fine and I promise not to repeat any info)
  • Is it mostly luck or is there a good formula to follow?

These are some of the games I have so far (Alien Swarm, Martian Assemblers and Seas of Neptune).