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Economic Climate Spurring Independent Game Success

Posted by Soulskill on from the all-about-the-benjamins dept.

Eurogamer is running an opinion piece suggesting that innovation and creativity have been on the decline for years within the games industry. Now, with the threat of the economic crisis looming, game publishers are shying further from new projects and ideas, instead choosing to rehash popular IP in order to minimize the risk of failure. The upside is that their reluctance, along with technological improvements that make game distribution easier, is allowing independent developers to gain exposure like never before. "This revolution will give us a new wave of developers who see games through very different eyes to those of their studio-bound compatriots. Forced to consider the financial bottom line, the technological bleeding edge and the whims of Metacritic at each turn, big studio development is by no means uncreative, but certainly has to follow certain set patterns. ... The studio system couldn't have created a game like Flower, the utterly beautiful PSN title which came out earlier this month; but more than that, it couldn't have created a persona like Jenova Chen, the mind behind Flower, who happily talks in interviews about evoking emotions, moving past primal feelings and 'maturing' the industry in ways that don't involve sex, blood and swearing. He talks about making games that don't empower gamers, but instead make them experience other things, other emotions. It's spine-tingling stuff. It's also commercial suicide — or would be, to a studio working in the traditional development context."

40 comments

  1. Not so much indie as low budget by KDR_11k · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The current economic situation benefits developers who go for a lower budget since that way profit is easier to make. Indie games are low budget but many commercial games can have relatively small budgets too (Wii Fit anyone?). The current budgets needed to produce a so-called "AAA" title for the HD consoles has massively increased from the previous generation while revenue remained the same. The economic situation just accelerates what was inevitable: That these high cost epics fail to make enough money compared to their investment. I've read an analysis that this would happen and that was written before the crisis was even started.

    The blame lies not with the economic situation, it lies with the companies themselves who throw gigantic amounts of cash at single games and then suffer when even one of them fails to live up to expectations. The economic situation is just a convenient excuse to make it look like this wasn't the fault of the people in charge.

    --
    Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  2. Commercial suicide? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's also commercial suicide â" or would be, to a studio working in the traditional development context.

    If people like it and it's good, who says people won't buy it? And if people don't like it, then why is it good and worth mentioning?

    1. Re:Commercial suicide? by tepples · · Score: 0

      If people like it and it's good, who says people won't buy it?

      Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. They act as gatekeepers, deciding which developers are and are not allowed to publish on a given console. This will become less true as HDTVs with a VGA input (i.e. any TV over $300) continue to replace SDTVs, as it'll be easier for PC game developers to cut the console middleman and publish for Windows.

  3. How low can you go? by tepples · · Score: 1

    The current economic situation benefits developers who go for a lower budget since that way profit is easier to make.

    At one end of "low budget", how does an indie developer working on his first title come up with $12,000 for a year's lease on office space, $4,000 for your region's objectionability rating, and other things that the console makers demand of all developers (source: warioworld.com)?

    1. Re:How low can you go? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You save like a motherfucker, that's how. Instead of blowing money left and right like most people, you save all you possibly can for a few years until you have six figures worth of capital you can use to bootstrap your business with. And then you continue to save by only spending the accumulated capital on necessities, like maybe a dev kit for the target platform, and whatever license(s) are needed. Office space, are you kidding? You're working from home buddy! The key is to keep your costs low, especially recurring costs. Those will eat you alive, as even small ones add up over time.

      For the record, I've never owned a business, but if I were to, that's how I'd approach it, rather than taking out loans or any kind of debt. I do save everything I can though, in order to invest it and grow wealth. And hey, maybe someday I will start a business...

    2. Re:How low can you go? by tepples · · Score: 1
      Anonymous Coward wrote:

      you save all you possibly can for a few years until you have six figures worth of capital you can use to bootstrap your business with.

      I end up with $5,000 per year after I've taken care of rent, food, utilities, and keeping my skills current. To get to six figures would require saving for 20 years. Or am I missing some obvious shortcut?

      Office space, are you kidding? You're working from home buddy!

      That's not good enough. Nintendo wrote in Become an Authorized Developer:

      We require that companies are working from secure business offices. Home offices are not considered secure locations.

    3. Re:How low can you go? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are no shortcuts and it's not easy (at least not at first), but it can be done. The idea is to live frugally. I only make an average salary for IT work, and still save about $30K/year. That's slightly over 60% savings of my net salary. When I say frugal, I really mean it, but not to the point of eating unhealthy foods. A mostly vegetarian diet that you cook at home is your best bet for both health and wealth. You also have to get away from the concept of "disposable" income. You only spend money on what you absolutely need to survive with and save the rest in an interest-bearing account. Internalize the concepts of "assets" and "liabilities" so that you can instinctively evaluate any purchase. Do a lot of research before spending any money. This eliminates impulse buys and also lets some time pass, and you may eventually find that what you thought you needed isn't needed at all. If you're not already married, then stay single and don't date. There will be time for all that later when you're successful. If you're already doing all that and still can't save enough, then it's either because your salary is too low or you live in an expensive location, both of which can be fixed if you're willing to try hard enough.
      It's not easy, and never has been easy, but it can be done and many do it. The vast majority of the population is content with living paycheck-to-paycheck and carrying large amounts of debt, but that lifestyle is not compatible with the kind of goal we're talking about.

    4. Re:How low can you go? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I forgot to address the home office thing, but you have to keep in mind that everything in the business world is negotiable. You cannot simply give up because of some words writen on a website somewhere. If you have a great product you should be able to get Nintendo to waive that requiment, if you speak with the right people. They probably won't do that unless you already have a working product though, and it might even be necessary to publish it through other channels first (Nintendo isn't the only game in town), but if they're at all reasonable and your product is good enough, they will yield. No sane business likes to pass up a good opportunity.

    5. Re:How low can you go? by cliffski · · Score: 1

      I think the answer is obvious.
      You develop games for the PC. There are no retarded acceptance boards at nintendo who can refuse me permission to make a PC game because I have a home office, and I can make the game I want, regardless of what publishers think.
      Consoles are a major hurdle for indie developers. They naturally belong on the PC platform.
      Plus nobody has to take a share of the sale price when you sell direct online to your customers.

      --
      DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
    6. Re:How low can you go? by cliffski · · Score: 3, Informative

      Forget the home office if you are mad enoguh to make console games.
      Nintendo contacted me about making games for the wii. Then refused to let me do so because I had a home office.
      I'd lvoe to make wii games. I'm not renting an office to just to keep the big N happy though. I *like* working with my fridge and kettle 10 feet away and my cats snoozing on the desk.

      --
      DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
    7. Re:How low can you go? by tepples · · Score: 1

      I think the answer is obvious.
      You develop games for the PC.

      So my customer has plugged four USB gamepads into a hub, and the hub into the front of the PC. But in an era when most of my target audience still have CRT SDTVs and few own scan converters. how does my customer fit four people (self, roommate, and two guests) around a PC monitor?

    8. Re:How low can you go? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Make your game playable over the network, whether co-op or deathmatch or something else that makes sense in the context of your game. A lot of households have more than one computer these days, even if it's a desktop and a laptop, and many of them are networked.

    9. Re:How low can you go? by XDirtypunkX · · Score: 1

      I contract to a small company currently... we have an office to keep people happy, but we do it in quite a tricky way. We co-rent a small office with 2 other companies in a similar situation. It has a small work area, a meeting room and a kitchen.

      Then we all work from home/on client sites anyway. A central server system + a shared calendar for booking the meeting room keeps all the businesses from stepping on each other's feet.

      A facade of respectability costs less and less these days.

    10. Re:How low can you go? by drsquare · · Score: 1

      I'd imagine that developers capable of making console-standard games all by themselves would have a job that'd make that six figures in a very short space of time. Or you could release on a console that doesn't require your own office, then use the profits to hire your office to make Nintendo games.

    11. Re:How low can you go? by tepples · · Score: 1

      I'd imagine that developers capable of making console-standard games all by themselves would have a job that'd make that six figures in a very short space of time.

      I wish I had such a job. It would take me six years to even gross six figures.

      Or you could release on a console that doesn't require your own office

      And which might that be?

    12. Re:How low can you go? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look for a local small business incubator. You'll be able to get a year's worth of office space for far less than 12k.

      Or you could develop games for PC and Mac. iPhone game dev is pretty popular among the indie studios right now...

    13. Re:How low can you go? by tepples · · Score: 1

      Or you could develop games for PC and Mac.

      I have four people holding USB game controllers plugged into a hub, in turn plugged into a PC or Mac. But how can I fit these four people around a monitor whose size is typical of those plugged into a PC or Mac?

    14. Re:How low can you go? by drsquare · · Score: 1

      If you are a good enough developer to make professional quality games, you'd be earning a lot more than that.

    15. Re:How low can you go? by tepples · · Score: 1

      If you are a good enough developer to make professional quality games, you'd be earning a lot more than that.

      My employer is a small business, and I'm being paid to make web sites and warehouse management software, not games. If I am (as I suspect) being severely underpaid, can you recommend a guide to negotiating a raise in this recession?

  4. Open source by lampsie · · Score: 0, Interesting

    In the name of spurring on independent production, are there any programs out there like SEUCK (Shoot'em'up construction kit) that average joe's can use to create games? I know SEUCK was limited, but it did give power to the average joe who could'nt program. In particular, I'd love to see a construction kit for SCUMM-type adventure games like the Monkey Island games. Perhaps open source to the rescue?

    1. Re:Open source by meist3r · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'd love to see a construction kit for SCUMM-type adventure games like the Monkey Island games. Perhaps open source to the rescue?

      Something like this maybe? It was used to create "Zak McKracken 2" ... Linux version is in the works and set to be released later this year. It's not exactly open source but it seems to work pretty well.

    2. Re:Open source by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      I found PyGame to be fairly easy to use. Yeah, it does require programming but you aren't going to get as much creativity into a system when you're restricted in what you can do (tweaking parameters only goes so far) and anything that's sufficiently versatile to do anything programming can is going to be just as complex. Any restricted system is going to involve hacks for true creativity and when you're going to pretty much hack your system apart you can just as well learn programming, it'll probably be faster anyway.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    3. Re:Open source by westlake · · Score: 1
      In the name of spurring on independent production, are there any programs out there like SEUCK (Shoot'em'up construction kit) that average joe's can use to create games?

      Adventure Game Studio has been around forever. It's the toolkit used to build Maniac Mansion Deluxe.

      The problem isn't the lack of programming tools - free or otherwise. The problem lies in assembling and supporting all the other talent you need: Story. Production design. Set Design. Characters and Props. Art and animation. Music. Dialog and Vocal Performance.

      The generic game engine may be all you need to animate the underworlds of Grim Fandango or Bioshock.

      But first they have to imagined, populated and given direction.

    4. Re:Open source by Hardtrance · · Score: 1

      It's not free and it's Windows only but I've always liked Game maker.
      In fact I wish there was something like this for Linux.

      --
      This post is LAW where prohibited by VOID. Prosecutors will be violated.
  5. RAD for 2D games by tepples · · Score: 1

    In the name of spurring on independent production, are there any programs out there like SEUCK (Shoot'em'up construction kit) that average joe's can use to create games?

    It's not Free, but I used The Games Factory by Clickteam for a few years. Even once I stopped creating the end product in TGF, I still used it for a while for rapid prototyping of 2D gameplay concepts. Even in 3D, there are plenty of PC-based game engines that can be modded using a scripting language.

  6. More Linux games please by meist3r · · Score: 1

    There's an untapped market for ya. World of Goo and the Penny Arcade games seem to have sold fairly well on the platform. 2DBoy says almost 5% of games sold through their website were Linux versions after just 2 days. I buy these "small Indie games" because they respect my platform.

    1. Re:More Linux games please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can vouch for plenty of other indie developers who offer Linux versions and get practically no sales. And wouldn't "after two days" mean "during the big launch announcement, which is probably the most linux sales we'll ever make"?

      Not saying that linux users *never* buy games, obviously, but it's not nearly as good an alternative market to aim for as the Mac.

    2. Re:More Linux games please by meist3r · · Score: 1

      I'm still confident that there will be a better Linux support for gamers in the foreseeable future. If the announcements are to be believed somewhere this year will be Postal 3 and with it the Valve Source Engine for Linux and Mac. I think once people have the chance to play some of the very popular games like the Source titles on GNU/Linux systems there will be more and more people that ditch their dual-boot Windows gaming for Linux only. If a momentum builds out of that Linux could be a valid system for many gamers, I remember that UT2K3 already had a Linux Client on the disc which was years ago. Lobbying and bad prejudice have kept developers from investing in the platform, that and some hard to make decisions along the development process (e.g. what sound system to use mandatorily).

  7. Sorry to crunch your happy place... by argent · · Score: 1

    But didn't the publisher of World of Goo just file Chapter 11? :(

    1. Re:Sorry to crunch your happy place... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ummm, no. They didn't.

    2. Re:Sorry to crunch your happy place... by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      The publisher for the US retail version did, neither the developer nor the EU publisher (who also financed the development to some degree) went chapter 11.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    3. Re:Sorry to crunch your happy place... by argent · · Score: 1

      Oh, good to hear. None of the stories I read included that detail, I guess it would have spoiled the drama.

  8. This reminds me of the dinosaur extinction... by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 1, Interesting

    A huge catastrophe caused the huge creatures to die, and this helped the small ones flourish.

    Just a thought.

    1. Re:This reminds me of the dinosaur extinction... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I'm prayin for it...

  9. Yay for the indygamers!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And screw everyone else! That will be one wheelbarrow full of hyperinflated fednotes please.

  10. Um...Flower is a product of the studio system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Newsflash, Flower is a Sony 1st party product. That Game Company works out of Sony's Santa Monica office and has a sweet 1st party publishing deal with them.

  11. small, cheap, indie games the way to go -- like... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Small, cheap, indie creative games are the way to go, definitely.

    If you're interested in zombie games or Rogue-likes, check out the free demo of Dead By Zombie, at:

    http://zodlogic.webfactional.com/deadbyzombie

    If you like the demo, you can also buy a license to upgrade to a Premium version with more game play and a larger world.

    Mmmmmm, tasty brains....

    Mike Kramlich
    Principle Mad Scientist
    ZodLogic Games

  12. Re:small, cheap, indie games the way to go -- like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Umm... your game is console-based and distributed in a tarball. Why then doesn't it have a Linux version??

    Wouldn't that take all of an hour to prepare; and if you pick up even two or three sales, wouldn't that pay for the hour of "cross-platform" development?

    Just curious...

    BTW, interesting concept!