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Indie Game Devs Should Give Up
Red Herring is covering an indie game panel held this week at E3, at which Warren Spector essentially told independent game developers to just give up now. From the article: "Fellow panelists echoed Mr. Spector's sentiments, telling a room full of game company representatives, industry consultants, and members of the media that the path to entering the $7-billion market is fraught with more pitfalls than Tomb Raider. While opportunities do exist, small companies and startups find it difficult to secure funding and distribution for their work. They often have to deal with past projects that pigeonhole them and potentially hamper future expansion."
All your game industry are belong to us.
You have no change to survive make your time.
No, they should not.
Creativity is vital, and an indi dev gets more lattitude than any shop dev would. Hopefully the big shops will be less afraid and buy indie title rights (funding the dev for their next title) and enhance it into mainstream.
-nB
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Certainly didn't stop PopCap... ;)
If Indie companies want to compete with the big boys, dont try to do so as a "big boy" do so as an Indie. You dont need huge ammounts of funding to make games. If you have the talent and the ideas, then make games. Start small, self publish and re-invest in your company until it has grown until you can finance the projects you want to make. Have games you make, which you make money and hone your skills, be your stepping stones to a blockbuster, not VC funding.
Why not expand that to other areas... like music, sports and movies? Countless people want to be make it and become a professional musician, athlete, actor, etc.
I don't think anyone would dispute the fact that few ever make it to such a level in such fields, but should that prevent a person from trying? Absolutely not? If people don't at least try to make good on their dreams they've got zero chance of making it... they just have to be realistic and recognize that they may not make it and have a backup plan... like an English or Communications major so that they can play football in college.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
Looking at where the game market is heading in terms of PC, PS3, and XBox360... more is better. People want their pretty graphics, isn't that the whole point of the PS3? HD this, Bluray that, massive res, cool lighting, explosions, gore...
Except all of this content doesn't just magically appear when the hardware is made. Someone has to make it. And that someone has to be paid. So at this point, the entry into the big name game market is similar to the entry into the big name movie market. If you want to push out a blockbuster title in either industry, you have to put down the big bucks.
Luckily... with the PC and Wii market, there is a chance for indy developers to make cheaper title that are still fun, similar to the small indy movie developers. It won't be huge in terms of special effects and big name actors, but it's still got a chance to be good. Good movies do not require millions upon millions of dollars, and the same with games.
The sooner people realize a good game doesn't need great graphics (like how good movies don't need great special effects), the easier the lives of the indy guys.
If you actually RTFA, you see that he's specifically saying that indies shouldn't try to work with existing publishers like EA. He's not telling indies to give up entirely.
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...that indie game devs stand to make _more_ money than those working at game companies.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/8/14
Great article.
You may have a hand for sketches; put this to use in making creative game content. You may have an eye for scene; use this to construct compelling environments. You may have a knack for math and physics; use this to enhance your engine design. Basically, know what it is that you do well, and do it well. Yeah, "duh"--but it's very, very easy to lose sight of this once you get elbow-deep into game development. Your strengths can act as a catalyst to help you get through the more tedious parts of game development.
That said, know and accept your limitations. Mine is time management; I'm absolutely miserable at keeping on schedule, and it shows in the fact that I've been sitting on a half-finished tech demo for the past couple months. If art isn't your strong suit, avoid making games people expect to be "pretty", and do something novel with words or physics instead. If you can't write dialogue to save your life, don't make a story-driven RPG.
Finally, and most importantly, make a plan and do your best to stick to it. Avoid feature creep like the plague; it is virtually guaranteed to sink your project. If you think of something cool to add on, make note of it and do it after you finish the current version. Don't bite off more than you can chew; ask yourself what you think you could realistically accomplish in twelve months, then cut that estimate in half. Save your masterpiece for later; get a few basic titles under your belt before you embark on that grand quest. Don't get hung up on any one aspect of the game; if you're constantly unhappy with something, walk away from it for a few weeks, focus on some other part of the game, then come back to it and try again. Don't just dive headlong into making your game. You'll just end up with a spaghetti mess of nothing particularly good. (Of course, once again, I could benefit from a bit more of my own medicine, but I digress. Do as I say...)
You're never going to be able to go toe-to-toe with the Big Boys and win. You stand just as much of a chance as running faster than a Ferarri in a 100-meter dash. Instead, poke around and find one of the many, many, many niches that the Big Boys simply don't cater to. Remember, though they'll beat you at their own game, they're not interested in anything that won't make them lots and lots of money; if they don't even show up for the game, you've got a real chance at winning. You'll never beat them at making a realistic football game. You can bypass them entirely by making a wacky football game with exaggerated physics, corny sounds, and goofy images. If people like playing it, you'll be in business--regardless of whether or not it has AAA production values!
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Give up now! You cannot overcome the intertia of middle management! Twelve publishers passed on Harry Potter! Disney passed on Lord of the Rings! Skeptics always become middle managers and when they say "it'll never work" they are ALWAYS WRONG.
Once success is achieved the cynics and the skeptics sneer with open contempt at the new ideas and the people who build them. Nothing turns my stomach more than the entitlement attitude of tall dollars. The arrogance is so repulsive there are few words to describe it. Business builds walls around the "free market" and then tells everyone how fucking stupid they are for not being able to figure out how to be an "entrepreneur."
The fact is we, as a society, HATE ENTREPRENEURS and we do EVERYTHING WE CAN POSSIBLY DO to THWART and DEFEAT THEM. They're either "geeks" or "nerds" or circus acts on reality television after they got fired and laughed at on the other reality show.
It makes me fucking sick. Congratulations, gentlemen. The game industry sucks ass. You got exactly what you wanted.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
Really, this is like the big movie companies telling small indie movie producers that they don't have a shot in hell at getting a huge movie distribution deal. Duh. Of course the barriers to entry are monumental, but there are great indie films coming out all the time. Occasionally one will hit the radar of the big time and get picked up, but generally it is under recognized.
However, indie film directors don't make films with the intent of securing a huge deal, they make them because they love the art. I assume the indie game producers think the same thing: I make games because I love the craft. If I happen to hit a big success, great... but it's not my driving motivation.
Just an indication that the people on the panel are now tuned to business ideals, vs. the craft. Not surprising or unexpected, but still myopic. Fred.
I don't know, that sounds pretty familiar. Hmm... let's try this:
Fellow panelists echoed this sentiments, telling a room full of scruffy hackers, academics, and professional software developers that moonlight as "free" software hackers that the path to entering the $7-billion market is fraught with more pitfalls than DOS boxes running BBSes. While opportunities for hobbyists do exist, no serious software can be supported by any less than paid programmers working for corporations. Hobbyists often have to deal with past projects that pigeonhole them and potentially hamper future expansion.
I am of the opinion that Free (think freedom) games can do very well in the current climate, assuming that you don't play the same rules as everyone. Games that are simple at their core but allow for easy community extension and are backed with a strong sense of what the eventual story should be, while putting an emphasis on the game actually being fun to play could probably get a sizable following. Sure, you won't make millions and you won't be able to animate the fur of the rats in your film-noir inspired MMORPG revenge game, but you and a bunch of other people might have fun with it.
That's the point of games, to have fun (and maybe learn), right?
What if the entire Universe were a chrooted environment with everything symlinked from the host?
Um... Ultima Underground 1 and 2, System Shock 1 and 2, Theif 1 and 2 and 3(?), Deus Ex.
This guy has deserved his reputation and by no means did his games suck. Hell, im not even sure he was involved in the Wing Commander games, that was Chris Roberts.
PC: Typically used with a screen too small to fit four players.
... since those games feature high production values. But that doesn't mean indie companies can't make fun games, or make money to boot. They can, and are.
That doesn't make sense at all.
First of all, the indie dev community is alive and well. You'll find most of them working on web games: from larger houses such as GameHouse and PopCap, to your Garage Games, Reflexive Entertainment, etc. You can play a lot of these games at sites like http://games.msn.com/ http://games.yahoo.com/ http://www.realarcade.com/ and more.
Most of the games they make are single-player, but some can be multiplayer. And you're an idiot if you think that all multiplayer games must require broadband (as you alluded to in another comment).
As for getting on consoles, MS is leading the way with Xbox Live Arcade, where you can find a number of games by indie titles. And they're selling quite well. Both Nintendo and Sony are hinting towards having downloadable games to consoles as well, although it's still unknown whether they are welcoming indie developers the same way. I would imagine they have to, and that would be a good thing.
Now, if you're lamenting that an indie developer is never going to be able to create the next Halo or Madden title, then that's probably true
Once the indie developers start getting larger and have more capital, then you will see them start creating more traditional console titles. They'll work with the platform companies in the usual way, so they're more like regular developers now.
-- jchenx
When I worked at Lionhead, I used to get this lecture every year or so. I even heard it from peter before I started work there. It goes like this:
Indie gaming is doomed
you wont sell any copies
nobody wants small games
you will end up penniless and hungry
It always was, always is, and probably always will be total bullshit.
Yet peter (and now warren) crank it out for one very good reason
THEY DONT WANT TO LOSE GOOD STAFF
the best devs you have are the ones most likely to go start their own company. Lionhead has lost its entire R&D team and most of its good coders (fable team excepted) in the last 6 months, mainly to start their own companies. Peter has always tried to tell people 'for their own good' not to try it.
Funnily enough, when I left them, my indie game (www.democracygame.com) was successfull and profitable, and pays my living expenses right now. In contrast, Black and White 2 and The Movies made way less than they cost to make.
I think its desperately sad that 'big name designers' who once were passionate about making great games now go OUT OF THEIR WAY to ensure other people dont do what they did.
Fuck em.
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games