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Questioning the Manifesto
Next Generation has a Q&A with Greg Costikyan, discussing the reveal of the ambitious Manifesto Games portal business. From the article: "If you look at almost any other medium there is a way for people to succeed with product aimed at more of a niche audience, with more manageable development costs. But that largely doesn't exist in the games industry because of the narrow nature of the retail channel, which is 'hit big or don't try at all'. My belief is that it possible to be successful with niche product. The technology is there; there are plenty of good games out there; the issue is probably about marketing. The question is, figuring out how to reach consumers and make them aware of it." We discussed the announcement yesterday. Relatedly, Next Gen also has a look at digital downloads from the developer's point of view, and from that of the digital distributors themselves. We took a look at the first part in that series on Tuesday.
I would say that word of mouth is the most important issue when it comes to how successful a game will be. Sure some games like Doom III and Halo don't really need work of mouth, but take Snood for example. As any recenet college grad knows, that game is adicting, and you don't find out about if from websites or commercials. It is your peers that expose you too it.
Let's not forget that there are plenty of "niche" games that survive via downloads, the shareware model, or downloadable client. EVE Online is a perfect example of a niche game that is distributed primarily (I admit I have no numbers to back this up, so I could easily be wrong) to the best of my knowlege through a freely downloadable client.
IMHO Shareware is still the most successful strategy. I downloaded (and later bought) demos of DOOM, Duke Nuke'm, Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, etc. Of course most of those were available through traditional retail channels, but they also predated broadband. The reality is that if I could have commercially-downloaded the full games I would have.
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It's true, it's getting that little bit of exposure that's tough. I'd like to believe that on-line game reviewers that are part of larger networks would be the perfect way. You write a game, send it to them for review, they devote a little bit of space and if your product is good you're on your way. What's probably closer to happening is you write a game, send it to a reviewer for them to work in. If you catch the reviewer in an off month, you're set. However, if it's the month he just got Doom III, Halo 2 and some other spifftastic game (or some game that takes a long time to get through) your product gets back-burnered for the bigger things.
Maybe some sort of third party site would be good. Basically, indie developers pitch in for time on a site where the reviews are done strictly by non-professional reviewers (i.e. us). You go in, see what's new and the genres you like, download it and give it a shot. If it's good, give it a high mark and inspire other people to give it a shot. I dunno, maybe there is such a site and I don't know about it.
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
Jesus, talk about preaching to the choir 10 years too late. It's been possible to do well as an indie for a loonggg time. Iron Realms, Simutronics, 3 Rings, CCP, Sulake, etc etc etc etc etc.
Here's a marketing approach that'd work. At first you don't need all the subscribers in the world, but in the long run you're going to try for them. Release a game thats playable and sort of fun, and with the revenue you get, use it to improve the game. As you improve the game, more people will come on board, allowing you to improve the game further. You don't need everyone to play your game at launch, but if you have a game that'd last the test of time, years even decades, then you could make big money.
God spoke to me.
He's not funding projects, so what's he doing? Just creating a web site that hosts and allows you to buy all these games? Does some marketing for you?
You mean like games.yahoo.com, games.real.com, etc?
He's not helping you get your game made. What so special about this?
If I make an Indie game, how is he helping me?
I hope he comes up with a clearer message...
I also worry about the ranting of his manifesto and the links. Investors like rebels, not radicals. His writing comes across as rants.
Let's hope he does a better job then God Games did. When they started up, a lot of the same things were being said and they just pissed everyone off and look at them now?
I just hope he can avoid the temptation to pump hundreds of crap games onto his site when the money starts coming in. He could end up with a household name for the place to go inbetween big budget highstreet releases for cheap fun quality games downloads. This is definitely what the indie games world needs, a way for the real quality to be lifted out of the sea and shine.
My suggestions would be:
Some more casual suggestions, but they're still good!
Another few candidates were mentioned here: indie games list thread with pics
Linux is only free if your time is worthless
http://www.garagegames.com/ and there are many others out there already.
It'll be interesting to see how it turns out, but the competition is stiff, especially from gaming portal sites like Yahoo Games, Popcap, Pogo, etc, etc.