Have a look at Steam top 100 and you'll see loads of games made by lone developers. I think it's a great time to be an indie game developer!
The Rise and Fall of the Lone Game Developer
61–70 of 184 posts
Re: The Rise and Fall of the Lone Game Developer
#62We're rising again. We're just building VR software instead of mobile games.
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Re: The Rise and Fall of the Lone Game Developer
#63Personally, I'd like to think that the good games will still rise to the top. Monument Valley wasn't a fluke; it's a game based entirely about the art and the content, rather than stale one-off game mechanics that could be cloned in an afternoon. It got noticed because it was deep and unique. (Did they even do any marketing?) I've rarely found a game with that same level of quality that got no attention[1]. Most of t…
Deep and unique? It’s like a mashup of Naya’s Quest [1] and Fez [2] (or Crush or Super Paper Mario). [1]: http://terrycavanaghgames.com/nayasquest/ [2]: http://fezgame.com
If you're going to complain about originality, you really should be pointing at Echochrome. The Fez stuff doesn't really kick in until the MV DLC Forgotten Shores. That said, Monument Valley is a phenomenal improvement on Echochrome in style and art direction (though I really do appreciate the stark black and white style of Echochrome).
But it's easy to forget just how unusual those games are. There's a dearth of well made Escher games. I can only think of half a dozen off the top of my head, and perhaps none that are simple enough to be on the iPhone (4S in my case). Now, we can argue about what counts as well-made, as there are a few that were acclaimed that I didn't really like (I'm looking at you, The Bridge). But MV really is a fairly unique take on the idea, and about half-way through Forgotten Shores really begins to wake up into its own.
Re: The Rise and Fall of the Lone Game Developer
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The indie dev scene is thriving on PC. Back when I was a console developer at EA, the ambient wisdom was that the money was falling out of (non-online) PC games in large part because of piracy. Is that not the case? Do you happen to have numbers on what the PC game industry is like? How much of this is because of Steam?
EA is chasing a very different segment of the market than indie developers. Fancy graphics and gigantic projects that need to sell millions to break even. At that scale (and aiming at the lowest common denominator of consumers) maybe piracy is a big deal, but there are indie games that seem to do ok. Their problem isn't piracy so much as getting noticed with a marketing budget orders of magnitude smaller than most AA…
I think you've hit it right on this. I'd also add that the cost variations probably do play a big factor into what piracy does exist. I'm a lot more likely to take a shot in the dark on a $7 indie game or even a $30 indie "blockbuster" than I am a $60 AAA game (where half the cost is marketing anyway). Piracy probably just appeals more at the higher price points.
Re: The Rise and Fall of the Lone Game Developer
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
Were you on Twitter in the weeks before the game released? They did tons of promotion. It's not billboards on 280, but that's not how advertising is in the App Store world. As far as the game experience, it's far from being in the best of its genre (and I know many game designers who agree on that point). People like it because it's artsy and lends itself nicely to casual play, which is fine. But whatever, that's bes…
> from being in the best of its genre I loved Monument Valley and would be delighted to find more games in that vein. What do you have in mind?
Also not OP, but I'll second archagon's list.
If you're specifically looking for something that fits this thread's constraint of visually stunning, one-man indie dev Escher-style puzzle game, I feel an obligation to point you at Antichamber [0].
It's got some of Echochrome's starkness to it, but with some very nice writing/dialog(?) bits that play off the game's puzzles well. Most people will find something delightful about it, though be ready for a slower paced, introspective game. It knows you know it's a puzzle game, and will punish you for it :)
(I should note that Antichamber seems to have been in development before Echochrome or Fez, and as such likely deserves the originality that has been showered on it.)
Re: The Rise and Fall of the Lone Game Developer
#66More like, the iOS app store gold rush ended. The indie dev scene is thriving on PC. Stop throwing your time and money away developing for a platform overwhelmingly used by people that don't really care about your games, that are looking for brief distractions while they wait in the checkout line, and by and large refuse to pay even a dollar for the privilege. Don't blame the industry because you avoided the platform…
> The indie dev scene is thriving on PC. Back when I was a console developer at EA, the ambient wisdom was that the money was falling out of (non-online) PC games in large part because of piracy. Is that not the case? Do you happen to have numbers on what the PC game industry is like? How much of this is because of Steam?
When did you work there?
What you heard at EA applies to AAA console devs. If you're gambling everything on a blockbuster game with an enormous budget, it's true, I don't think it would be smart to make a PC exclusive today. That has everything to do with the crazy budget management, retail relationships, unsatisfiable consumer expectations, and unsustainable nature of the western AAAs, though. When a game like Bioshock Infinite can sell over six million copies and the developer still goes out of business, there is something deeply wrong with your business model.
If you are an indie, it's totally different. You can do everything on a very small budget with a very small team, perhaps even by yourself. You can plan to break even in the thousands or tens of thousands of copies sold, not millions. You can target the long tail instead of making or breaking your company on the first week of sales. You can have a direct relationship with your fans. Piracy changes from a death sentence to free marketing.
So for indies, PC is a clear win, because:
It's where most of the people that like indie games are.
The dev tools are free and available this second. You don't need to pay or sign an NDA and go through an approval process for dev kits, you don't need to pay for QA, you don't need to go through another QA process to push updates, you don't need a publisher. Just go and make your game.
There is no single gatekeeper. You always have the option to pick another digital distribution store or sell the game yourself. Even if you plan to rely completely on Steam, this fact makes Valve much more lenient and easier to deal with than Sony or Microsoft.
Most importantly, you can give people your game in a zip file. Free betas are awesome, especially for unproven developers. You get free word of mouth marketing, free playtesting, often great advice in early stages of development before it's "too late" to change things, and the peace of mind that people actually like your game and will buy it when you're finished. Do not underestimate the power of the free beta, it is easily the greatest benefit of the PC platform, and has singlehandedly made countless indie devs, even back before they called them that.
Re: The Rise and Fall of the Lone Game Developer
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except that the myth of the one-idea-making-a-fortune is mostly that. A myth. Minecraft, as incredible as it was, wasn't the only game of its kind. People routinely underestimate the role of luck in these things. There is room for the one great idea. But the point is that the minimum production values on the platforms that sell that idea has risen beyond one person now. As it did in the 16-bit era in the late 80s and…
Have you played any of the similar pre-Minecraft games? They are all almost universally completely different from Minecraft - interacting with the voxel environment is not the main point of the game. Minecraft drew heavily from other games, yes, but it was also revolutionary and one of the first games to have such an open development cycle. There is a reason that such a poorly designed and buggy game is arguably the…
Yes. They are not 'almost universally completely different'. There are elements in Minecraft (which didn't originate those elements) which are not in them, certainly. Minecraft brought a bunch of cool things together, I agree. And it was compelling enough to go places. But the idea that this was a thunderbolt of inspiration that hit notch with the best idea ever that then changed the world is just fantasy.
Post-hoc rationalization is humanity's only superpower.
Re: The Rise and Fall of the Lone Game Developer
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you played it? It's like watching an animated movie. There is negligible repeated content, at least as far as the art and levels are concerned. Unlike 99% of iOS games, I felt as satisfied in level 1 as I did in 10. (And in fact, some of the best content is in the last few levels.) Everything feels alive and dynamic, from the crows to your friendly neighborhood totem. I even felt feelings . In an iOS game. Can y…
I have. It is like an animated movie. Very pretty, but while the mechanics could be deep, I felt that the levels themselves were not. Unlike for example Braid or recently The Swapper, there were no epiphanies, just “rotate all the things and try to tap on the correct tile”. Maybe I shouldn’t have expected a puzzle game, but this sort of space bending would really lend itself to more interesting problems to solve.
I don't have much to add here except that Braid and The Swapper are both excellent, excellent games.
They don't overstay their welcome and both have very refined game mechanics while also telling an interesting story.
Re: The Rise and Fall of the Lone Game Developer
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you played any of the similar pre-Minecraft games? They are all almost universally completely different from Minecraft - interacting with the voxel environment is not the main point of the game. Minecraft drew heavily from other games, yes, but it was also revolutionary and one of the first games to have such an open development cycle. There is a reason that such a poorly designed and buggy game is arguably the…
Yes. They are not 'almost universally completely different'. There are elements in Minecraft (which didn't originate those elements) which are not in them, certainly. Minecraft brought a bunch of cool things together, I agree. And it was compelling enough to go places. But the idea that this was a thunderbolt of inspiration that hit notch with the best idea ever that then changed the world is just fantasy. Post-hoc r…
I don't know if anyone with any knowledge would argue that. Minecraft Alpha was decidedly dull. I think, more than anything else, the public development cycle was a huge part of Minecraft's success.
I also wonder how much piracy contributed. I know I pirated the game before I bought it.
Re: The Rise and Fall of the Lone Game Developer
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Deep and unique? It’s like a mashup of Naya’s Quest [1] and Fez [2] (or Crush or Super Paper Mario). [1]: http://terrycavanaghgames.com/nayasquest/ [2]: http://fezgame.com
Not to mention that the "gimmick" is taken from a couple of M.C. Escher prints. Gamers are easy to impress, I suppose.
With all the crap in the app store, if someone wants to base a game on Escher prints, that's a big improvement. I'll take it.