I recently talked with a programmer who used to be in the video game industry back in 1995. He and his team (about 4 other permenant members) worked for about 3 years in true dedicated garage gamin'' form, going through rough financial times and all the long thinking that they just needed to put the game out and their money problems would be all over. Well, eight years and a $30,000 dept pay off later, I sat and listened to how miserably the project failed after the game was completed and the difficulty of getting the game out into the world (Did you know that a developer has to pay more to the producer for different rack positions and whether the game is displayed front cover forward or shelved like a book?) Then he asked me a question I really never thought about: Even if you (pertaining to the indepentent and low budget developers) make the best game ever created, how are you going to get it out into the world? The game industry is growing very fast and every day the giants of the industry only get more powerful and expand their empires, stomping the little guys in the dirt! These companies are being runned by people who care about money and not about games, why else would they be cutting off the majority (for they are a small organization, the minority, compared to the masses of the aspiring) of the gaming population, the undoubtable source of what''s "next" in the gaming scene and their very origins. So I ask this question: How can we improve the decomposing state of the indy developer? One preposal I have thought of is that we, the gaming community, send a request to major producers to endorse some sort of outreach program to people who dedicate so much of their time to create something, potentially ground breaking (Im sure you read the help wanted section), that will never see the light of day. Is anyone with me? Does anyone have any ideas that might help?

I guess I would be refering to publishers...

"Even if you (pertaining to the indepentent and low budget developers) make the best game ever created, how are you going to get it out into the world?"

How about using the Internet!.


Decomposing state of indy developer?

I don''t think so. Theres plenty of indie developers making money selling shareware games.

John

Yeah it''s a tough market to break into by all accounts. I''m willing to bet that their game wasn''t the best game in the world though. However I admire their dedication.

If you''re serious, the first thing you need is a workable business model. There''s no way you can go head to head with the big boys and win unless you have a good publisher.

"These companies are being runned by people who care about money and not about games"

I hate to break it to you, but this is a business. I too want to make money. And there''s a change happening, we''re having some industry guys drop out of retail and becoming indie''s.

So what''s the purpose of a thread like this? To tell us we''re all doomed and never going to be able to make any money.

You should be a little bit more constructive.

Keith

When was the last time you went searching for a freeware/shareware game and then bought it as opposed to going to frys or a large online retailer to buy the latest uber-title?

The problem is that the "Big Companies" do serve a viable purpose but there is no reasonable alternative to keep them in check. If you really did have the best game in the world to sell, then everyone would want it. In that case, you set the big companies on each other and get them in a bidding war. In the end the one who kisses your butt the most wins - but you need to understand ALL the business details. If you don''t you can guarantee that they will take advantage of that because it can mean margin for them.

There are shareware companies who are trying to provide an alternative like Extreme Games (Andre LaMothe) and Garage Games. They give you pretty good distribution rights and usually around 50% (which is WAY high) of the net - but do they get the kind of exposure that UbiSoft, EA, and Microsoft can provide?


So you have to ask yourself:

(Lower Distribution) x .50 > (High Distibution) x .03


Can you negotiate the percentage up on one side or get more ''buzz'' to increase the sales on the less known publisher. Is the less known publisher going to handle the cost of manufacturing, returns, and support? How much would this cost you if it doesn''t? Can the lesser know publisher get you into Frys, Amazon, GameStop, etc..?


There is a little more to selling a game then programming and most people are unprepared for the reality of the business side. Your friend is right - but I think the lesson is to educate and learn the business side or get a partner who does before you seek to distribute your IP. Otherwise you will get taken to the cleaners - and that''s just business.


#dth-0

Well xiuhcoatl, I am no business man, and your right, a lot of the people making games aren''t either, espesially the guy I talked to. It''s just the combination of his testiment and the size of the huge companies that just gave me a feeling of hopelessness, but I like to think that I still have a point somewhere. I know this is a problem because of all the people you mentioned fighting against it, maybe it''s just not as bad as I thought? And, I''m glad to see that you guys are looking on the bright side!

Sean

The point is that if you don''t have any business sense, you shouldn''t be doing business. Hire someone who does.

This is not unlike: if you don''t have any art sense, don''t do art.

If you don''t have any programming sense, don''t do programming.

A successful team is only as successful as its weakest link. If you can''t line up world-class programmers, artists, sound designers, game designers, producers/leaders AND business people, you ain''t gonna get success in the world market.

The industry does have plenty of problems but in this case the problem was this programmer''s decision to start on a three year project without first finding out how he was going to sell it. He should have spent time finding out how games are sold and what it costs to do the selling.

Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions

I agree with obsure.

They should have done some studied the market. Its suicide for garage developers to start a three year project as the first foray into the market.

As i recall, the developers of Orbz ( www.garagegames.com ) decided that they needed to create some smaller games first to build some revenue streams. They have a big project in the works, but they know that they need the backing a publisher or substantial capital before they could do that.

You friends sounds like the ''lept before the looked''.