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Introversion On Staying An Independent Games Studio

Posted by Zonk on from the staying-sane-under-pressure dept.

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.'"

3 of 36 comments (clear)

  1. Cause and Effect on Indie Developers by Dinatius · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:Cause and Effect on Indie Developers by rucs_hack · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm into a little games programming on the side too. If you ignore the fact that the big players have all that money to spend, you can have quite a lot of fun.

      remember that a lot of the greats of yesteryear were literally written on shoestring budgets, usually by small teams or loners. Most genres were created/defined by these very same small teams and lone developers.

      Want to see some interesting history? Go read up on the development of the first ever Prince of Persia. I won't spoil it for you, but think 'motion capture'. If ever there was a story that could inspire someone to write their own games, that's it.

      I'm an indie game developer, albeit a lone one, with no budget. I have plans though. My intention is to finish something I've been working on for a while and try to sell it. I have no idea how to market a game yet, but since it'll be barking ages before I'm ready for such things, its not really an issue.

  2. I like steam by emj · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.