So you want to be an indie developer?
As I’m writing this I have exactly 40 hours left at my current job in a local factory before I quit and go fulltime on this indie thing. I was supposed to only work there during summer, and then try to go back to my super-slowly-progressing university studies, but I decided otherwise. I must be mad. I don’t have a team and I don’t have a big funding. All I have is a laptop and hopefully six months of time before I run out of money and starve to death.
What follows are some random thoughts from different aspects of the indie life and how I see it… These thoughts might change once I find out how it really looks inside. But for now… this is my truth. I swallow the red pill.
Easy to start, hard to master
I’m now 26 years old. I have been making games for 12 years. That’s a long time. In this time game making has gone from tough to even tougher. Don’t get me wrong. It’s easier to start now than ever. Lot’s of good tools, internet full of information, game-engines etc… All things you just didn’t have 12 years ago. But at the same time the bar has constantly been lifted up. You need more content, better graphics, sound and more gameplay gimmicks than ever to draw attention of the players. This can be seen in both, indie and mainstream industry. Way back on Amiga days, code was the king, but the new king is content. The amount of content needed for a high-quality indie title has been growing steadily. The pain caused by the new king is even bigger to us one-man bands that have to do everything ourselves. Good indie game can be done with small resources, but requires talent and mostly hard work.
Game development is bloody hard.
Passion over money
Passion and money. These two things provide the motivation to most indies. Some have to think more about the money than others, as they have more financial responsibilities (like family to support etc). It’s hard to survive making unique games, so more and more indies move to clone land. A kingdom ruled by portals and inhabited by sub par clones. I understand the need to make money, but not bad games. If you decide to clone, please make sure your game has the highest production values possible. Otherwise you are wasting your time and are in the wrong business.
I’m mostly driven by passion. It’s the mystical thing that, in my opinion, makes games an art form of some kind. I can’t explain it, but all the developers who enjoy making games have that same drive for being creative. I have nothing against money, but I have admitted to myself that my game is probably not going to sell enough to even cover the expenses of making it. Of course there is always the dream that my game makes enough to let me continue as a fulltime developer. But I’m being realistic about my chances. Still many people have overblown expectations when entering the indie scene, beginners for the most. It’s sad, as they’re most probably going to fail as far as making money is concerned. Unrealistic expectations combined with mediocre cloning is bad, okay.
Don’t play this game for quick buck.
Living the life
Ok, until this point we have only had hard times with no money in sight, so this has to be the fun part, right? Well, some of it is. Finally finishing a piece of code or getting a new gameplay element in after a huge struggle is always very rewarding. Or when you finally present your game to some friends and maybe actually hear some good comments about it. That’s great. What’s not so great, especially when you’re exhausted from your workday, are the lonely nights spent on bug hunting. And your girlfriend is pissed at you for not noticing her for many days, because you’re living inside your mind in a weird place full of gamecode. But perhaps the biggest challenge is to stay sharp and motivated without constant feedback. I’m still definitely waiting to be my own boss and see how it goes. If I fail, I have no-one to blame but me.
Indie life is tough, like life in general.
So you REALLY want to be an indie developer?
If someone would say it’s not a very smart thing to do, they would be correct. But what the hell is smart in this life? I don’t know about you, but I don’t care about that so much. I’m going to play by feel. Do this, and see what happens. Maybe later I’ll be wiser and can give different advice, but I think this ride is still unique for everybody, so all I can really say is,
Good luck.
This post was part of the ‘So you want to be an Indie Developer?’ blog project.
You can find the other entries via these links:
Gibbage.co.uk
Cliffski’s Mumblings
GameProducer.net
Lemmy and Binky
Reality Fakers
Zoombapup
Introversion
They Came From Hollywood
November 20th, 2006 at 6:24 pm
So you want to be an Indie Developer?
[…] So you want to be an Indie Developer? […]
November 21st, 2006 at 6:57 am
good luck on your quest for glory!
November 21st, 2006 at 3:56 pm
Thanks! I’ll surely need it
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:31 am
Hm, I read your article, and it sounded a bit like I was talking to myself. I, too, am driven by passion. I’m going to call it a success if I manage to lose less money than I’m losing now. If it ever turns a profit or gets funded, I’ll be ecstatic. I didn’t quit my day job for it though, you’re braver than I am. I did do independent contracting (not game related) for a few years, and that’s just as much a leap of faith as going Indie is. So I can 100% relate to where you’re at.
Here’s to hoping you catch a break before the cash flow dries up !
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:54 am
Thanks. I’m in a good situation in a way, that I don’t have kids or a loan. I just worked in a factory as long as I got enough savings to get by for about six months. When I run out of money sometime next summer, I just go back at the factory for a while (if it’s still there
and maybe repeat this cycle. So there’s really not too much pressure on me… And I can always work at the nightclub door (what I used to do on weekends) if I run out of cash suddenly 
So it’s really not that bad. I have just arranged my life in a way I can do this without too much pressure now…
Also I have to do this now… later I may have kids and a big loan… I can’t be able to try this then so easily… my future wife could get a little mad
November 26th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
Alors, vous voulez devenir un développeur de jeux indépendants ?
Plusieurs développeurs de jeux vidéo indépendants se sont associés pour donner chacun leur vision de ce “métier”. Vous avez donc plusieurs témoignages qui donnent différents avis entre ceux qui expliquent où ils en sont, ceux qui r…
December 3rd, 2006 at 4:06 pm
Here’s what Chris Crawford says about game designer career option:
http://www.erasmatazz.com/library/Game%20Design/The_Education_of_a_Game_Designer.html
I admire that you take the opportunity and go with feel, and I hope you get at least decent success.
January 24th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Nice Post.
That was well said. Always appreciate your indepth views. Keep up the great work!
John
May 25th, 2007 at 10:39 am
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