Slashdot Mirror
On Independent Games And Cutting Out The Middleman
Thanks to DIYGames for their two-part series discussing the problems independent game developers have with distribution channels, and possible ways to stop these distributors taking all the profits. The articles explain the positives of online sales: "Building customer awareness for a game took time and energy... [but] with the advent of the distribution channels like RealOne Arcade, Shockwave, and the others, indies now have access all the customers of the distribution channel virtually overnight", alongside the negative fiscal aspects: "In most cases the indie must agree to give up 60-70% of their game's profits for the privilege of having instant access to the distribution channel's customers." The piece ends by discussing alternatives, pointing out that "A [thriving game-related] community is as viral a selling tool as any, and it helps preserve the life of the game in the marketplace."
of some sort of generic payment system coupled with a slashdot mention has seemed to work fairly well in the past.
For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
Not only do I not have to pay some ridiculous percentage of my profits, but I am 0 steps away from my users.
Put up a decent website with a way of getting feedback from your users (I use the excellent and free phpBB message board). This can also help create a community around your product. If you listen to what they say then your game will get better and better. Another thing that I have done is try to optimize my website for certain google searches.
I can't imagine any paid distributor putting as much thought and effort into such things for one of a hundred small games they are dealing with. By doing it myself I am confident that it is being done well.
Doing this I have seen my game grow from nothing into a steady stream of sales. I'm glad I did it the way I did, rather then trying to go the easy way and get some other company to do it. See my sig for a link to my game's website, which includes a user forum and an online ranking system.
A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
The game "Out of the Park Baseball" was marketed briefly through Infogrames I think it was under the name "Season Ticket Baseball", but that deal finished with version 5. OOTP is a HUGE baseball game with a legion of fans, myself included.
The irony is, an independent developer distributing like this easily makes more money per copy than with a name publisher, and probably suffers less copying. OOTP for example is protected by Elicence which, last time I checked, has yet to be cracked.
More and more games are being released this way. It's very much like the indie film business. The most creativity and originality is with these indie development groups, while the mainstream publishers will only push generic "been there, done that" games.
In ten years, I fully expect the independent developers to rank up next to the independent filmmakers for kudos and cutting edge material.
When I spoke at IGC '03, one of my comments was "Publishers are tools.", and went on to explain that I included online publishers with that too. By that, I mean they are just another way to build up your business. Use them as you see fit, but, don't try and run your business using just one tool. While Dan mentioned that it's a $57 Million dollar business (download games), that's NOT that big of a pool to play in when you are up against some much larger opponents. Make use of existing channels - get your name out there some. But your core business should be building YOUR channel. Dan presented some excellent strategies for this sort of thing - some of which I'll be making use of since I've got some games going into retail space here in the next month or so. Use retail space and other online sales channels as a bit of a trojan horse for marketing your own channels.
Quick note side note / nearly off topic note about the GarageGames group, since Dan mentions them being great guys in his article - they invited Shockwave and some of the other publishers to talk at Indie Games Con '03, and they themselves are online publishers. Before getting up and insulting my hosts, I pulled Jay Moore of GarageGames aside, and told him what I was planning on saying. This would seem to be a setup for conflict - telling people not to make long-term use of publishers while talking at a publisher sponsored event. Not only did Jay say no problem, the really DO want Indies to build up thier own channels, and Jay encouraged me to say what I planned on saying. To me, they are guys who "Get it" when it comes to dealing with Indies. Shockwave, etc... well, they just want to be yet another retailer, selling online space instead of shelf space. They "Don't Get It" when it comes to dealing with Indies, and I'm waiting to hear the horror stories about Indies who depended solely on channels like them to start showing up in about a year or so. IMHO, these guys are just as likely as big publishers to start bending development teams over the table.
(And in the interest of full disclosure - I talk to Dan McDonnald on a semi-regular basis. But then again... that's pretty typical for Indie game developers these days to chat, talk shop, and strategize with other indies :-)
Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - looking for something to read? Check out my three free novels at MidnightRyder.org
One example of an indie game that's turning out to be a very good product is "Live For Speed". They're keeping it as an independent product, and seem to be doing OK. I don't know what their sales figures are, but based on the # of online players, it can't be too bad.
I find it amusing when people make a big fuss about not being able to go indie - when others just do it.
p.s. Anyone remember Doom?
If your game rocks 150,000 people will know about it within two days. If your game sucks, well, the same number of people will know about it but it will be your fault. :)
Is the only hope for independents in this age of consolidation. Publishers are less and less likely to take on projects from companies with unproven track records. Even if they do, the devs often get the short end of the stick in terms of royalties and keeping their IP.
Let people download software for free after paying for a serial number to register it with. If the game involves online play, only allow a certain number of serial numbers acive simultaniusly - like neverwinter nights or diablo. Use file-swarming, like BitTorrent, to keep costs of serving the large files down. You could even incorporate file-swarming into the application - if it has online play - so that users with broadband connections act as low (1-2kbytes/sec) seeds. Most of this, of course, depends on the game being partially or completely multiplayer. But what kind of game is it now-a-days, if it isn't multiplayer?
a service just needs to crop up that offers indie game developers site/game-downloadhosting, and secure payment for a basic monthly fee (to cover hosting) and then a small cut of any profits (to cover CC transactions).
offering optional web design service, marketing service, and software protection/activation service would be a plus, but not particularly necessary.
Another handy thing would be a gaming press that actually paid attention to the indy scene, instead of just the mainstream scene or the japanese import scene.
Indie developers just need someone to let them start taking sales when and if they ever get done. mixing it with the most primary community building/advertising tool (the official website) is just natural.
i dunno, all these other 'channels' like shockwave and such seem like unnecesary overhead. sure those sites can drive people to your game - but so could ads on those sites, or more importantly ads on sites known to garner serious gamers. the kind of people who -know- indie gaming isn't all inside the stereotypes (as pointed out above).
the problem is, traditionally 'publishers' are the people indies -want- to talk to, because they have seed money to help the thing happen. Personally i don't think any indy should go that route, and i don't think any game that does go that route can be called 'indy'. quite simply - big business will never be interested in fringe and unproven games (unless from a multiply proven team) - and quite frankly they shouldn't be. it isn't good business to keep taking big risks.
Furthermore, not having a publisher is rather the bit that keeps most indy games what they are. true to the intent and spirit of the designer: not marketing, not sales, not focus groups, not suits.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"