This article made it's rounds last week. I decided to write a response from the point of view of a musician. Check it out HERE.

Your article makes some good points, I enjoyed reading it.

If you haven't already, you should submit it to GameDev.net's article system.

Your article makes some good points, I enjoyed reading it.

If you haven't already, you should submit it to GameDev.net's article system.

Thanks! I'll look into doing that!

I've recognized some years ago that indie gaming was going to the same place indie bands have already been for years. In many industries and activiites you see this sort of opening up that's a sort of gold-rush at first, then it becomes oversaturated and/or the gatekeepers start consolidating, leaving everyone they're not interested in to fight for relative scraps.

There's a way around it, but it doesn't include everyone being able to get rich, or probably even to feed their families. There will be the occasional underdog success story, the even rarer meteoric rise (a'la minecraft), but those who rise above the din don't get there just by hard work for all the reasons this article points out. You have to have exactly the right thing at exactly the right time, you need to capture something you didn't even plan to be there, its equal parts hard work and happenstance (The harder you work, the more happenstance can work for you, but its no guarantee).

If you go into indie dev with an expectation of making real money, 99% of people are going to be disappointed, just like 99% of the people who start a band. You can be happy in what you do without achieving that kind of status or success, but only if you don't set your expectations there.

I've recognized some years ago that indie gaming was going to the same place indie bands have already been for years.

Actually, when it comes to indie music it's a 20 year cycle. About a generation. Remember the late 1970s and early 1980s indie music scene (I do, I was there)? Remember the late 1990s and ealy 21st century indi music scene (I do)? Remember the mass-produced sludge that came before it each time?

Same with the computer game scene. For the same reasons. Best way out of the current malaise is to wait another 15 years.

I've recognized some years ago that indie gaming was going to the same place indie bands have already been for years.

Actually, when it comes to indie music it's a 20 year cycle. About a generation. Remember the late 1970s and early 1980s indie music scene (I do, I was there)? Remember the late 1990s and ealy 21st century indi music scene (I do)? Remember the mass-produced sludge that came before it each time?

Same with the computer game scene. For the same reasons. Best way out of the current malaise is to wait another 15 years.

Interesting - the Indie Game Dev already had an indie scene about 30 years ago, with mass-produced sludge (from indies and larger companies) that ended up crashing the game industry. It was ~25 years before the indie scene re-emerged (~2007). Indie games still existed in-between, but they weren't major commercial successes, and people making a business of it were few and far between.

For sure these things ebb and flow in cycles. I tend to think that what happens is that the mainstream becomes so specialized and invested in their niche representation that it all collapses under its own weight, which leads to a flourishing of indies, which prosper for awhile on their own before the mainstream begins to succeed at exploiting them, then proceeds to overspecialize again. Rinse, lather, repeat. You can see for the past couple years that publishers with deep pockets have been exploiting small-scale, indie-style games with increasing frequency.

That's a separate thesis from what the article represents, and is in a sense the more fatalistic explanation of the current downswing. Since they're both on approximately the same trend cycle though, and indie media of all types faces many of the same challenges of exposure/success/boom/bust, we've got a lot to learn from musicians -- they're a few more times around the block than we are, they have people who've seen the cycle a couple times through and have learned something about how to adapt. If the '83 crash was the first bust period for games, we're probably overdue in approaching the second, though it may be happening alreayd and simply not look like the first -- The internet might have changed what these cycles look like from here on out.

much may have to do with economic cycles. "indie" games are often "marginal goods", which tend to do well in more difficult economic times.

Very interesting Blog post... I especially like the last point you make, which is something many smaller devs overlook and might come as a harsh blow to some of them.

Your game and company needs a face. Its a simple truth that most bigger companies embrace, hence the cult around famous CEOs like Steve Jobs... their biggest contribution is very often not "leading the company" (which is done by lower ranks in management in most cases), but "selling the company".... with all the marketing money big companies pump into their marketing divisions, people want to put a face on a company. One single face... hence the cult around top management when their input into the direction of a company is sometimes quite questionable.

I guess it is a good time for small marketing guys trying to get into the indie game market... many devs will not be able to stand in the spotlight and sell their games, be it for personal reasons (not enough self esteem, not good at speaking before an audience) or time constraints (after all, being a lone game dev or one of few in a small team is already much more than just afull time job, even before you get into paid gigs and part time jobs needed to pay the bills on the side).

Hiring a guy to not only organize the marketing, but also be the face of your game or small(ish) company might be a good idea for many, even small indies with limited resources.... after all, if the big AAA studios throw more money at marketing than producing a game, the Indies might need to adapt and do the same?

I wouldn't go as far as calling the current situation a "malaise"... I don't think the current situation can really be compared to the early 80's.

Very interesting Blog post... I especially like the last point you make, which is something many smaller devs overlook and might come as a harsh blow to some of them.

Thanks! Yeah I feel people really like to have a face to put with games. I feel like hiring some sort of PR guy might not be the best route though. I get that there's a lot of work to do making games and I get that a lot of people aren't very extroverted, but I feel someone who's only contribution to the game is spokesman would really give off the wrong vibe. A dev even without people skills just feels way more authentic. I'd much rather hear from a developer than the mouth the developer hired. I'm not going to pretend it's easy. It's definitely not, but it might be worth it.