Slashdot Mirror
Introversion On Staying An Independent Games Studio
Dr. Eggman writes "bit-tech.net has up an interview with Introversion Games, creators of Uplink, Darwinia, and Defcon, on the hard work it takes to make games independently. They discuss the challenges and rewards, ranging from developing new technologies for their upcoming game, Subversion, to defining their own style in Darwinia — and nearly bankrupting themselves in the process. 'When we first set out to write video games we knew the damage that publishers could do both to games themselves, and the people writing them, and we were not willing to let that happen to us. In order to ensure our creative freedom, we had to be independent from publishers and license holders, and that independence has become a guiding mantra for us.'"
They're making a game about the life-cycle of code in source control?
Omega Vortex Corporation
Personally i've wanted to be a programmer for a long time and have looked into various career venues within programming. While games tends to be a low-paying market it is also very innovative. I can honestly say that Introversion (me being introduced to Uplink when it came out) perked my interest in games and I now write little things in my spare time. None of which i'm proud enough to release to the general public but it is a fun and rewarding hobby.
At first glance when I read that title, I thought it said:
Slaying An Independent Games Studio...
And images of the EA BioWare/Pandemic Acquisition came racing through my head.
Scary!
So independent they went with Steam?
I mean, more power to them, but to me, "independent" is the sales they make via their own website -- the relatively un-DRM'd versions with Linux and OS X support. I actually did go there to buy my copy of Uplink, and later of Darwinia.
Are they trying to say that this option will always be available? Or are they using some other definition of "independent", meaning "innovative but cheap graphics"?
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
If you're old enough to remember "Global Thermonuclear War" from WarGames and thought it looked like it would make for a fun game to play, I suggest you check out Introversion's DEFCON at http://everybody-dies.com/ . "It's Global Thermonuclear War, and nobody wins. But maybe - just maybe - you can lose the least." - from the site.
It's a great mix of Risk style strategy with real-time play and can support up to 6 players simultaneously on-line. Initially you layout your radars, silos, ships, etc, during a setup phase. As the clock ticks you move through the DEFCON stages allowing for ever more hostile play until DEFCON5 when you can launch your nukes. You can make/break alliances and try to get other players to blow each-other up before you unleash hellfire on those left alive.
There's actually a lot of strategy to timing your attacks so that your missiles can fly in from different silos, submarines, bombers, etc, and hit a target all at once. You need a heavy storm of missiles all coming in at once or local defense has an easy time of shooting them all down. But, when attacking, you become vulnerable - so you don't want to set too many resources to attack either.
Anyhow, one of my favorite games for any platform. And you can download a demo or buy it directly from their site for Windows/MacOSX/Linux, bypassing Steam and it's ilk.
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
I am big fan of all of Introversion's games. Darwinia basically burned a week of my life playing through it and investigating all its little corners. That I got to really worry for a bunch of green stick figures says a lot about the story-telling in that game. DEFCON is great, too. I think what really sells that game is the ambient sounds and music, coupled with the abstract remove you have from the destruction.
I've played the demo of Uplink, and I'm intrigued by it enough to buy it once my South Carolina to Arizona move is complete.
It works for me on Windows and I can always play Darwinia and defcon were ever I am in the world, which is very good. I've always favoured net installs over physical media, though I wonder what will happen in 10 years from now, will I still be able to play Darwinia through steam?
There really should be a non-steamed version for all the games, so you can run it without steam.
Relatedly, Mark Morris from Introversion recently participated in a free-form Q&A chat over at Xfire, along with a couple of other Indie games people of varying noteriety. He's got some interesting comments about Introversion's rise in there.
;)
You can read the transcript from the Q&A over at Xfire's site. This was part of a two-day event talking about the state of independant development, with the more structured debate (which, alas, Introversion was unable to attend) transcript available here. Jenova Chen (of fl0w fame), Amanda Fitch (Aveyond, etc.), and Josiah Pisciotta (Gish, etc.) were all notable participants; not to say the others weren't notable, too, of course.
Definitely worth looking at if you're into the indie gaming scene at all.
That green slime had it coming.
Steam allows independence, unlike a traditional publisher. For any of us that want to sell our games, things like Steam and Xbox Live let us put games out there without having to accept the poisoned apple that is publisher funding.
- getting people to pay attention to you when you don't have a giant machine behind you! :)
See GameTunnel's Indie Game of the Year awards, which slashdot didn't even bother printing this year:
http://gametunnel.com/cat_goty.php
I've gotcher 'Women In Gaming' RIGHT HERE!
I remember downloading it an liking the Tron-esque grafics, the fact that it ran on Linux and OS X and that it was a neat little independant publisher. However I found the gaming experience to be extremly frustrating - I couldn't get any meaningfull task finished. The mouse-gestures were unintuive and the enemy units far to fast to get organised against them. I never understood how the game made 90% with PC Gamer and recieved all the other awards.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Can anyone distribute a Steam game?
In other words: Is Valve functioning solely as an avenue of distribution, like eBay, or are they functioning as a publisher, like EA?
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Good, I'm interested in their software. Now, release it for a console, and I'll be sure to pick it up.
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
The soundtrack was terryfic, the sense of being in a bunker planning the nuclear holocaust made me think with "Dr. Strangelove" accent.