[IGDA_indies] Self publishing and download.com

[Brandon J. Van Every]

Ronald Hobbs wrote:
> Why can I not bribe some store official at Game or PC World or
whatever to stick my boxes right up
> there next to the latest EA release?

As the ad says:

"Got Money?" [TM]

My impression is that Brick & Mortar retail outlets want rather large
bribes to move the products around.  Larger than you probably have.  But
if you're really flush... man! let's all talk to you and see if we can
make you our business partner.  :-)  Or steer you on The Perfect
Enlightened Path For Spending Millions Of Dollars To The Benefit Of All
Indiedom!  :-) :-) :-)

> Why not get a toy store to stock you kids games,

Who, Toys 'R' Us?  "Got Money?" [TM]

> or a model store to stock your war-game?

Possibly more doable.  But, a limited audience, and a patchwork of
independent stores.  Then there's Wizards Of The Coast, but they seem to
be as corporate as the next guy.

> I don’t see why we should always think of indie games as the small,
simple ones that you can download off the web.

Well I agree.  We should also think about direct mailing the CDs, and
broadband only setups.

> Did games like Savage and Spartan not prove that you could be an indie
and still get it on the shelves?

Yes it is possible for an indie studio to sign a publishing deal.  A
difficult road, however.  Well, all the roads are difficult.  Personally
I was horrified with all of Geoff Howland's stories of how long it was
taking him to chase publisher money, so I said to hell with it, I'll
bootstrap.  I mean, I really don't want to spend 1/4 to 1/2 of my
calendar year talking to publishers about them "maybe" doing something.

I hope the IGF has made it easier for deserving indies to nail publisher
deals to their benefit.  I'd really like a postmortem on how the IGF
Finalists and Winners have fared with respect to publishers.  Did they
get better terms?  Or was it like, "Hey kids, you've anted up, so pull
down your pants, heh heh!"

> I wonder just how much of the general public views indie games as the
small puzzle/platform variety
> that you can download off a thousand sites and not pay a cent for,

I seriously doubt the general public recognizes 'indie' games at all.
They just see games, and they don't think to call them 'indie' or
'foozle' or any other label.  They might call them 'web games' or
'downloadable games'.  Indeed, for IGF 2004 we added a web/downloadable
category.

> and I personally feel that this view is encouraged by indies
themselves. Why are indies consoling
> themselves to casual gaming markets and not out there exploring new
markets?

Because they're scared about their finances.  They're not tough enough
to go $80K in debt, have collectors calling them all the time, go to
food banks, face eviction, and register voters at $8/hour.  Basically,
they don't want to live the lifestyle of a starving artist.  And maybe
they shouldn't want to, because let's face it, I haven't shipped a
product yet.  One can get mired in R&D forever.  I feel pretty good
about my technology plans for the next 10 years, but right now I'm
definitely in survival mode.

Also I think many people underestimate what it takes to be an innovative
game designer, or even just a good game designer.  In 1998 I started out
thinking in terms of 1 million golf ball collisions.  That was my
enginerd 3d device driver background talking.  I saw the game design as
a technical problem.  I don't think (so much) in those terms now, and
actually that golf ball game could have been a good one.  But anyways,
innovative game design is quite challenging, and so is good game design.
I think it takes many years to develop either skill.  It isn't
programming.

Also, let's not forget this little wrinkle called the dot.com bust.  In
1998 I had no idea that I could ever possibly be in the state I'm in
now.  You have to be *really* hardcore to be taking indie risk right
now.

There's a lot less thinking involved with derivative games.  Also, let's
face it, a lot of people don't care about innovation, they just want to
have fun.  Many people are easily pleased.


Cheers,                     www.indiegamedesign.com
Brandon Van Every           Seattle, WA

Taking risk where others will not.