“Games here! Get your indie games here! Only 99cents!
…
…Anybody?”
Sound familiar? If you’re an indie developer you have heard it all too much. The daily grind of selling, marketing, and pleading for people to at least take a look at your game can get tiring and discouraging. The indie game community is definitely a niche group and to spark the customers’ interest is not as easy as the big timers (Rovio, Zynga, PopCap ) make it out to be. We need people to recognize indie devs are working just as hard, if not harder than the big boys in the game. Without advertising money, a following, or a big bank account, all you have to rely on is your drive and a DIY attitude.
Some indie game devs have a somewhat of a rags-to-riches story such as Andreas Illiger. He created Tiny Wings. Slide to play gave the game a perfect 4/4 and said that the game is “brilliant in its simplicity, originality, and ability to keep you coming back again and again.” Soon after his release he saw an influx of sales.
I tracked down and interviewed one of Astro Crow’s executive producers, Brian Stabile, to ask him some questions on how he feels about the indie community. You can check out their game The Last Ace of Space (iOS):
BagoGames- How long have you guys been a company?
Brian Stabile– Almost 3 years now. We’ve been only doing this part time though, as we need the steady income a 9-to-5 can provide. We both teach video game design at different universities
BG- What would you say the hardest part of being an indie dev is in today’s gaming market?
BS– Definitely getting exposure, cause you don’t have the budget for advertising.
BG- What’s your favorite indie app- besides your own?
BS– Hiragana Pixel Party (iOS)- it’s the most genius way to learn another language’s alphabet I’ve ever seen!
BG- What is your definition of ‘selling out’ when it comes to designing games?
BS– Making a game where not only you wouldn’t want to play it but you make it because you know what sells. Sometimes you have to do what you don’t want to do to pay the bills and that’s the biggest frustration with indie—you can do what you want, with nobody supporting you. You kind of have to clean up your act and not be yourself just to get approval.
BG- What are the pros and cons of being a part of the indie community?
BS– Pros of being a part of the indie community—you meet a lot of interesting creative people, you know? A lot of hard workers. You can run your business your way—you can hold meetings at a bar if you want. A big con is the disconnect with your audience, meaning a lot of them don’t want to support what you do by purchasing your games. But they would scoff if you tried to make something more ‘commercial’. It’s such a conflicting mindset. They don’t understand what goes into creating a game. Let’s say you price your game higher than $0.99, people these days think you’re just trying to do a money grab while really, you’re just trying to make rent. Even if you play our game for half an hour, I consider that an experience worthy of a dollar. Find a cheaper product anywhere else- maybe you can get some peanuts. Gum is more than a dollar these days, after tax.
To wrap things up, I leave you with this: be open-minded with indie games. Give em’ a chance! Just because they’re not a huge production doesn’t mean that they’re not worth your time. Who knows, you might even fall in love with the indie community!
Similar articles from around the web
