A problem

Defcon1 · 2003-04-01T17:13:00

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?

Games Business and Law Business

Started by Defcon1 March 29, 2003 12:04 AM

11 comments, last by Defcon1 21 years, 7 months ago

DavidRM

270

April 01, 2003 12:18 PM

Samu Games spent nearly 3 years creating Artifact. 1.0 was released in 1999, and 2.0 was released in 2000. The game is still online and growing today.

3 years is a long time, much longer than we originally planned for. But, it''s do-able, even without outside funding (we spent only about $5K total on various expenses).

Don''t tell me what is and isn''t possible. And don''t let anyone else tell you that either.

Believe in yourself and your project and you can do anything you set your mind to.

-David

DavidRMDavidRM Software The Indie Game Development Survival Guide JoeIndie.com

granat

122

April 01, 2003 01:37 PM

"If you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything." - George McFly.

-------------Ban KalvinB !

Davaris

118

April 01, 2003 05:13 PM

DavidRM:

I think the point that you''re missing is those guys made a game that was too large to distribute over the net. They couldn''t sell it without publisher backing. In Artifact''s case you can do this and you don''t need no stinking publishers.