Hold on to the Tingles

I just posted this to one of the Indie Dev Facebook Groups that I frequent, as I see more and more indies getting down on themselves as their games continue to not sell very well:

Hey everyone! I just wanted to say that despite the current indie climate, and even if it changes for the better or for the worst, you should always remember why you are making games in the first place. 

You are doing something that is so very, very hard and frustrating and at times, I know, you must ask yourself why when you could put your talents into another industry, another trade and make much more money to get all the things you want for yourself or for your family versus this struggle.

I bring this up because I see so many worrying about "being able to support themselves" by doing this; its mentioned daily. I do too, but we can't all make games that sell hundreds of thousands of units, even if they all deserve to do so! There just aren't enough consumers for that. If you hold on to why you got into game dev, that tingly magical feeling of it, then your work will improve; your game will be so much better if its made out of passion and not to support yourself. 

Games made to make money are inspired by sales data, by current trends, by past successes. Games should be inspired by things like history, struggle, love, loss, victory, family, etc; real themes that we all, as humans, encounter at some points in our lives. Good games are no different from good books, as we all know. 

I'll leave you with a quote from the game I'm making right now:

"Fulfillment is a risky balancing act where one must risk breaking the cup they try so desperately to fill."

I think ALL devs should try to support themselves with their work, but that shouldn't be the reason to gamedev in the first place.

The Bootstrappers: Out with the 80s Guy, In with Indie

It's been awhile since my last post, but I have a slew of good excuses: prototyped my first game, put together a little team to build a Kickstarter campaign for it, and have been getting everything ready to (finally) make the big move out west to California or Seattle. While I also have 3 new blog drafts that will collect e-dust for eternity, I've noticed a paradigm shift in the industry that I had to write about.

See, the biggest problems I have with the games industry stem from the culture set in place by this guy:

The 80s Guy (Futurama)

That's not the cartooned version of an actual person, rather he's the archetypal representation of an obsession with the bottom line. 80s Guys do whatever it takes to score the most profit. They do not shy away from drowning others in legal shenanigans to get what they want. They play hardball 24/7.

The ironic part is that these guys made the video game industry as big as it is today. The problem is that they did so on the backs of underpaid developers. This industry is best characterized by the endless struggle between these two factions: those who are here to make their dream game, and those who want to buy yachts.

Now, that is an extremely polarized view. The majority of people in the industry fall into the gray middle area. And most of those grays do so out of necessity: games cost money. Having seen the industry from both sides, I am able to relate. Games need to make money since the people who make them need to feed and house their families. Yes, there are lots of fees from first parties, retailers put on a shitload of pressure (and fees), and then there's all the licensing, marketing, trade shows, and legal dues. Those other things can add up, but there are ways to avoid 95% of them.

The big question is: if 80s Guys are so bad, why do we need them?

In short, they built what we have today. They turned a curiosity into an empire. They were the first ones to make licensed games, to cross-promote, on-disc DLC, DRM, pre-order exclusives, Mountain Dew & Doritos, etc. All of those things are tools to squeeze more money out of consumers. The industry was started by the bright-eyed hopeful (or a few scientists and fantasy nerds), but it was made into the billion dollar force by the 80s Guy.

But the sun is setting on the 80s Guy. Games no longer require gagillion dollar budgets, lawyers, publishers, or retailers to sell. Making games (and still being able to sell them) now just requires a programmer and an artist. People are making games about being an immigration inspector, MUDs are making a comeback (!), and Steam Greenlight is just a spawning pool of all kinds of cool, thought-provoking stuff. But who is making these games for next-to-nothing?

The Bootstrapper - The 80s Guy Antithesis

He waits tables on the weekends to supplement his weekday pizza-delivery income, and spends every night plugging away on his game. He's self-taught through videos, psuedo-mentorships, books, modding. He doesn't care about profits; he cares about his family, his team, and his game. He's always looking forward to the "one day" when its released and its perfect. He is as indie and indie gets.

It's funny how the industry is circling back and relying on the same type of person who started it all in the first place. Without these super-indies the 80s Guy has nothing to push, no new ideas to steal. More and more bootstrappers are appearing as game development becomes cheaper. And the 80s Guys are retiring or moving to other, more profitable ventures. 

Their greatest accomplishment, the gaming console, is in its last generation. Will the Xbox Two even play games? Will consumers need it to? Who knows. All I can say is that I am happy that in the struggle between creativity and profits, creativity is prevailing. There is a merger between the two factions, a new breed of developer. See, bootstrappers also know how to market their games, how to land funding they might require; how to sell. They are not the bright-eyed curious hobbyists of the past. They are here to make games and sell them to make just enough money to fund the next one. Can their games do well? Of course! But money doesn't matter to them; money is an issue of filling a small tank that fuels their passion, not creating a stockpile of excess. 

Profit is the by-product to the bootstrapper, not the goal.