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One last PAX East related post! At the conference I was on two panels (Indies Will Shoot you in the Knees, and I Have a Great Idea for a Game), both of which had similar themes of giving aspiring indie developers some helpful info. Rather than rehash everything that was discussed (like Chris’ cat penis drawings) I’ll just go over some highlights.
Start up advice in no particular order:
- Don’t go it alone! Find other people to work with who complement your abilities. There are extraordinarily few people who can support themselves by making video games alone, and if you’re reading an advice blog post on starting up a video game studio you’re not one of them.
- Honestly look at your (or your team’s) abilities and assess what your weaknesses are in terms of game development. Once you’ve done that, fix those problems! Don’t just hope they’ll go away. Conversely focus on your strengths when making your game.
- If you are depending on the venture for a living then be sure to have a go-to-market plan that is better than “We’re gonna release it on the iPhone!” Marketing and distribution is really important, be sure to figure out a way that your game will be sold in a way that can actually make you money.
- Find smart people who have done this thing before and get advice from them on a regular basis. You can ask them to officially advise you if you’d like. These people should be local if possible since it’ll be easier to meet with them.
- Raise money! You need money! Without money, you can’t do anything. With money you won’t be going out of business. It’s ok to ask friends and family to give you some money to get started. Also, there is no shame in going to a publisher for funding! While it may not be “indie” according to some I would argue that making your original, innovative game is what is important, not where the money comes from.
- Be prepared to work really, really, REALLY hard. You’re probably going to be busting your ass for a while. This pretty much goes for any start up you might be thinking about, not just an indie studio.
- Take care of the legal stuff. If multiple people are founding the studio, draw up formal papers saying who owns what and how much. Form a company. A coding bug can cause you to lose a day or two of work; a legal bug can cause you to lose the company. Be careful!
- Try to strike out in a new direction with your game. If you are just copying another title out there you probably won’t be able to do it very well, and your chances of success will be small. Make something original! Think about all the successful indies you know – they ALL have some serious creativity and originality in their game, otherwise they probably wouldn’t have hit it big.
- Make your game! If you aren’t making a game, you’re not indie! Don’t just talk about it, do it!
Ok, that’s it for now. I know we talked about a lot more stuff than what I listed here but we can always do a follow up post if I missed a bunch of critical stuff. Other panelists (Darius, Chris, Ichiro, Scott), please feel free to jump in and remind me about anything good I might be missing here.
Of course, if I’m gonna have a post like this I have to open it to questions. Ask in the comments and I’ll be sure to answer!
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I really like this one. This was the main cause of seeing most student projects that people did fail during University. People who had really ambitious ideas for games, but didn't have what was required to make them happen, and didn't put the time into learning those skills either. The smaller your team is, the more you have to learn as a result, but that's all part of achieving what you want.
"Make your game! If you aren’t making a game, you’re not indie! Don’t just talk about it, do it!"
Nothing worse then this. I would go so far as even say by means of actually making a simple prototype can help you in leading up to:
"Raise money! You need money!"
I do it by working full time. It is tough, it is slow, it is a grind, it might not work at all. But time management becomes important.
I think one advice that I can give, being on the road now, for what it is worth:
"Start small, and I mean small. Don't attempt anything big, complex and complicated. Focus on good gameplay and be reasonable and honest to your own abilities."
It is easy to get overboard with your ideas and ambitions. You need to curb it and really be realistic what you can do. Especially if you never made a game before, it is very easy to try and do too much. I apply a general rule of thumb rule, that if you can't design your core game mechanics and dynamics within two days (no final balancing etc included) and build a simple working paper pencil prototype then your game is most probably too ambitious.
What can help you with that as kind of a guideline is the following article by Ernest Adams. Read, digest, use as you see fit:http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3104/dogma_2001_a_challenge_to_game_.php?p
age=2
@Simon: Good points. A lot of the successful game developers I've met started out with a one man team, simply trying to program basic board games, like checkers. Unity and the iPhone has made this easier than ever.
@Yung: Social media is possibly the cheapest and best marketing tool available to indies. The recent blog post on here mentioning knowem.com and socialmention.com in regards to an indie marketing audit really highlights how important these resources are. And don't forget about setting up a good Facebook fan page, posting on ModDB, setting videos up at GameTrailers.com, putting forums on your own site, as well as posting just about everywhere you can (as long as it's a constructive comment and not spam).
that said, the major point in success is simple: many people talk about doing stuff. few actually do it.