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Indie Post-Mortem Shows Developer Problems, Pitfalls

Posted by simoniker on from the after-death dept.

Thanks to Game Matters for its weblog post pointing to ex-id programmer Brian Hook's post-mortem on his indie developer, Pyrogon, discussing "a good time to sit back and reflect on what went right and what went wrong." With Pyrogon, particularly known for its Flash-based Web games like Candy Cruncher, "ceasing further development of new titles", some of the trials and tribulations of the independent developer are laid out, with headings including: "Publishers Never Say No, They Just Stop Answering E-Mails", "A Good Demo Is Not Enough -- It Must Be Jaw Dropping", and "Unless You Are Chocolate Covered God, Any Deals Offered Will Suck."

3 of 18 comments (clear)

  1. The View From 20,000mm by MiceHead · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's a thread about this in the Dexterity indie developer forums. Some of these folks are from the industry, (i.e., having left development of commercial titles to work on independent titles) and are familiar with Hook/Pyrogon. Another developer offers a different perspective on Pyrogon's closing, here.

    --
    We're indie. We're working on our 14th game.
  2. Re:Why they failed ... by Deraj+DeZine · · Score: 3, Informative

    Well, you probably only play free Flash games (as I do) and they're charging money.

    Additionally, they appear to only have one Flash-based game, Fruit Frolic, that is their most expensive game, and they addmit in the linked article that it was their worst-selling game:

    Our last game, Fruit Frolic, was the one we had the most confidence in. We felt we had nailed variable game play, music, animations, flash, you name it -- and it ended up our worst selling title.
    --
    True story.
  3. The failure is simple to understand... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    All their games are highly derivative of other games that were already on the market. (By companies like GameHouse and PopCap). I don't understand how anyone can expect to be successful in this industry by just churning out clones.

    I was once on a team back in '95 who were developing a 2D PC side-scroller. They kept keeping themselves optimistic by quoting that Epic's "Jazz JackRabbit" sold XX number of copies. That in itself is a big mistake. The whole idea that if you copy a product, you'll attain the same level of success. It just doesn't work that way. You have to have a unique product people want, and you have to market it right, and all the while keeping a conservative reign on your expenses.