Making Money Making Independent Games
There have been some really good, frank discussions on the web lately about making money by independent game development. One excellent one (at least part 1 of an excellent one) is provided by Jeff Tunnell, of GarageGames:

http://makeitbigingames.com/blog/?p=20

Another one followed shortly by Phil Steinmeyer, with a more distinctly casual-game focus:

http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/71/how-much-does-an-average-casual-game-make

I feel a little awkward commenting on these, because I have limited experience in the independent games arena, with only one released "indie" game - Void War. But I figured I'd comment by chronicling one guy's independent journey so far.

When I first decided to get serious about developing Void War, I had no idea an indie game development community even existed. I guess I'd been in mainstream game development for too long, and wore blinders that considered anything less than 100,000 sales as a dismal, company-sinking failure. Or a lowly budget title that only existed on the fringes.

I started building the game first, in ignorance. As I learned more, I asked similar questions to the ones Jeff Tunnell mentions on his site. I hope my questions were phrased more like the professional one in his example than the wannabe example. Ultimately, the question is: What should I expect and plan for?

Since then, with much more knowledge under my belt, I give the same answer that frustrated me as a newcomer to the indie game realm: "It depends."

I was totally unprepared for the difference in scale for indie games. I learned that among the few (10%, or less) of indie game projects that actually make it to completion, only a handful actually rise to selling consistently more than a trickle of single-digit sales per month. Only the rare hits managed to sell triple digits per month (or more) on a consistent basis - and that is usually because they appear on multiple portals (with the devs receiving a typically reduced royalty).

Ouch! That was daunting information to me. However, I'd quit the mainstream game business in hopes of being able to make my own games on my own time. As Mark Knopfler sings, I had a day job and was doing alright. So I figured if I kept development costs way down, it would be a worthy experiment in my "spare" time, and I'd learn the indie side of the business in the process.

If I was purely mercenary, I would have pretty much abandoned development right then and there and gone on to do something far more lucrative with my spare time. If I was mercenary but still determined to make games, I probably would have abandoned the weird, nich-y 3D space-combat game I was working on and jumped on the action-puzzle "casual games" bandwagon (not that there's anything wrong with that - I still get the urge to do one, but it's so hard coming up with a concept that's not already done to death).

But I kept at it. Mainly because I loved games. I was in love with the concept of Void War. I was creating a game that I wanted to play. And I also figured it would be a great learning experience (Oh, if only I knew then what I knew now, though!). I expected to take the lessons learned from Void War and keep progressing, making better and better games. And MAYBE, someday, do well enough to transition Rampant Games from being a part-time effort to a full-time business.

Well, it WAS a tremendous learning experience. I learned more from creating, marketing, releasing, selling, and maintaining an indie game than I could have possibly imagined. I'd learned a lot about game design, development, and even sales and marketing as a hotshot young programmer working on some major console games (and some not-so-major ones). But it was still nothing compared to having to deal with the entire scope of a commercial product from start to finish (is it ever finished?). Things like managing a small team. Contracting out and licensing content. Business and legal issues. Marketing. And all the opportunities that can come from simply owning the full IP of a released title.

From a pure money-making perspective - well, the depressing advice I picked up on the long road to releasing the game was dead-on. I need to check my books again, but I *think* Void War actually broke even last month. By about enough money for me to buy a pizza. Woo! Go, me! I can share a slice with my buds who donated their time and talents to making the game a reality. They RAWKED.

But you know what? Nothing compares to the feeling you get when that very first order comes in. Realizing somebody out there thought your game was worthy enough to fork over their hard-earned money and spend their precious spare time playing. Or getting email from a player saying, "Wow, this game totally rocks, I'm having a great time playing it! Thank you!" This is a perspective you DO NOT GET working for a big development company insulated from the customer by layers publishers, distributors, and retailers. It's a Jerry Maguire-esque epiphany.

And so I keep making games. And I'm even working on a new (overdue) update to Void War. I love making games. I love playing them. Sure, I'd love to actually make money doing this, and I'm definitely taking the lessons learned with Void War and applying them to upcoming titles. Maybe someday it'll be all profitable for me and stuff, and I can spend more time making and playing games (on my own private island! Hey, as long as I'm dreaming, I can dream big, right?).

Long live indie games!

(PSST.... Want to help me with my down-payment on my next pizza? Please check out the games at Rampant Games and buy 'em if you like 'em! And tell their friends about this site!)

Labels: Indie Evangelism

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 3:09 PM (Permalink)