New Steve Meretsky / Greg Costikyan Game Hits the Web
Greg Costikyan (Paranoia, Star Wars, and Toon RPGs, Evolution) AND Steve Meretsky (Planetfall, Superhero League of Hoboken, Spellcasting 101) have just released an online game. It's a social networking game called "Nightfall - Bloodlines." It involves vampires.

The trick? It's on MySpace (a Facebook version is forthcoming). I don't have a MySpace account, so I can't tell you about it, but the screenshot included actions like "Seduce and Tap a Goth." Points for amusement factor.

You can read Greg's commentary here:

Play This Thing: Nightfall - Bloodlines

Labels: Indie Evangelism

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:55 AM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
Wall Street Journal on Indie Games
Wow. Suddenly being an indie gamer feels... sorta mainstream.

Joysticks and Easy Riders: The indie game movement echoes the personal cinema of the 1970s

My biggest amusement came from the quote from EA VP Robert Nashak. He states, "As new platforms emerge, it'll be indie game teams that take advantage of them."

This stands in stark contrast with the comment by another EA VP, Jeff Brown, who stated in 2005 that the cost of developing for the then-upcoming consoles was such that "It is now impossible to 'Blair Witch' this business."

What a difference three-and-a-half years can make.

Labels: Indie Evangelism

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:33 AM (Permalink) 1 comments links to this post

 
Nethergate Quick Look
Scorpia's got a quick look at Spiderweb's revamped Nethergate: Resurrection.

Unfortunately, her take is not humongously favorable:

What makes Nethergate different is the semi-historical setting of Britain during the Roman occupation, along with the ability to play as either Romans or Celts. Of course, there’s still plenty of fantasy, with faerie folk and fomorians running around, plus magic.

I’ve been through the demo portion as each side a few times now, but really can’t get into the game to where I’d buy it. Maybe it’s because Romans/Celts aren’t all that different.

You can read the full article here:

Nethergate Quick Look at Scorpia's Gaming Lair

Labels: Indie Evangelism, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:03 AM (Permalink) 2 comments links to this post

 
Fourteen Indie 3D Space Combat Games - And More!
I was eight years old when Star Wars hit the theaters. It was a mind-blowing experience for an entire generation. It was perhaps no accident that space combat themed video games were all the rage for the next decade, letting us pretend to be Luke Skywalker for a quarter. The ones that I loved the most were the first-person perspective 3D games, often using vector-based graphics systems that hurtled wire-frame bad guys at players. From Star Fire to the Star Wars arcade games, I was hooked. On the computer, we got some incredible games like Elite, and Star Raiders.

The big ones for me came out in the early 90's. Wing Commander was almost pure wish fulfillment, and was the game that made me seriously consider a career in game development. X-Wing (and later, Tie Fighter) once again brought back the Star Wars magic. Frontier, aka Elite 2, brought the space-trading game home with an incredible universe. Later, games like Wing Commander Privateer, Freespace, Freelancer, and the X series have kept the magic alive.

Sadly, the space combat or space trading game is something of a disappearing breed in mainstream games. Maybe George Lucas ruined it for us with his Star Wars prequel movies. Or maybe we're just not as inspired by space exploration as we were during the age of the space race and moon landings. And maybe it's just because graphics are good enough now that game developers don't need to stick us out in space to give us a believable first-person fighting experience anymore.

But the indies are keeping the dream alive. When I first released my own 3D space combat game, Void War, I was stunned by how much competition I was facing. And it has continued - both in commercial indie pursuits and freeware projects. When I get a hankering to enjoy a shoot-out in space, I do not have to depend upon my dusty collection of old favorites. There are plenty of great indie space combat games - new and old - worthy of attention.

While I still favor RPGs on this blog, I know many readers here have tastes as eclectic as my own --- so I'm going to share. Here are a dozen indie 3D indie space combat games for your womp-rat shooting pleasure.

Starshatter - The Gathering Storm
I remember Milo, the lead developer on this indie project, describing it to me as the "Falcon 4.0 of Space Combat games." There are a number of games here that would practically qualify as simulators but for their science fiction nature. Starshatter is definitely in the "simulator" category.

Starshatter provides you with the experience of flying both small fighters and big starships, and includes a dynamic campaign. And it includes more hardcore space physics as the default model, though it can be configured for the simpler arcade-style controls familiar to other Wing Commander vets. Both space-based and atmospheric-based flight is permitted. This is a hardcore space combat game for armchair pilots who loved X-Wing but craved something a bit deeper. Oh, and it has modding tools, too.

You can check out the free demo at the Starshatter Website.

Cellblock Squadrons
Super Furious Software's take on the space combat genre was to focus completely on the equivalent of boss battles - flying with a squadron of tiny fighters against big battleships.

Lots of big battleships.

There are five different fighter types to choose from, and a storyline based around the concept that you (and your squad-mates) are actually criminals, prisoners fighting against impossible odds to earn your freedom.

Venture the Void
A cartoony space-combat related single- and multi-player game (public games can have up to hundreds of players) that "refuses to take itself too seriously," it looks to have some monster-bashing and dynamic universe creation.

Evochron Renegades
This is a free-form, open-ended game by the makers of the Star Wraith series. It not only includes a vast universe with a huge number of activities that go far beyond fighting and trading, but also multiplayer modes. It also features a dynamic economy, exploration of planets in atmospheric flying and fighting, and a more realistic Newtonian physics model.

Arvoch Conflict
Another title from indie space combat veterans Star Wraith 3D Games, Arvoch Conflict is a "Squad Based" space combat title that includes a touch of real-time strategy and resource management into the more traditional space combat "simulator." Commanding the other ships in your squadron is as integral to success as your own piloting ability. And just like Evochron Renegades, it features multiplayer gameplay and atmospheric flight.

Universal Combat: Special Edition
Derek Smart, has had a much-storied history in the games biz since the early 90's as sort of an "angry indie." Universal Combat was intended to be a next-generation Battlecruiser 3000, somewhat streamlined, broadened, and more action-oriented for more mainstream audiences, but still sporting a level of detail that screams, "hardcore" (and "high learning curve.") And it has a scope that indies are just not supposed to be able to tackle - including multiplayer gameplay. The Special Edition includes the content from the original release, Universal Combat Gold, and the sequel, Universal Combat: A World Apart.

Dark Horizon
This is kind of a murky area as to whether Russian studio Quazar Interactive is actually 'indie' or not. But you'd be hard pressed to call Dark Horizon a mainstream title. And you'd be just as hard pressed to find out how you are supposed to download and buy the dang thing (hint: GamersGate). Key features include the ability to switch between two different combat modes, and the ability to create upgrades to your ship from salvaged resources.

Void War
Like I could delve into this subject without plugging my multiplayer space combat game! Blending arcade-style action with Newtonian physics, humor, and "special abilities" (and pick-ups) for each ship, Void War is more of an attempt to apply 3D, first-person action to old-school games like Spacewar!, Asteroids, and Star Control. It's less hardcore and more arcadey (particularly with pick-ups scattered across the space arenas) - though the Newtonian-esque physics still gives people fits.

It's now available at a reduced price, too.

FREE Games
All of these indie games are available at an attractive price that will let you stretch your gaming budget, and most of the ones listed here have demo versions you that can play for free. But there are a few games with full free versions available. These may be open-source projects (or using unlicensed content from popular film and TV shows or other games), "living" community projects in flux, or older / discontinued titles that have been made freeware.

Vega Strike
Vega Strike is kind of an open-source space-combat / trading engine, as well as pretty huge game in this genre. There are tons of mods for the it, including a remake of Wing Commander: Privateer called Privateer: Gemini Gold. Vega Strike is freaking huge, clocking in at nearly a half-gig download, and has the level of polish (or lack thereof) that reflects the non-final version of this community project. It may be years before it goes final, but it's playable now. And hey - it's free!

Star Wraith IV: Reviction
This is an older game in Star Wraith 3D Games' collection, which has since been released as freeware. You can definitely see the Wing Commander inspiration here, as well as note the evolutionary difference between this one and the later games.

Babylon 5: I've Found Her
Another quality freebie, taking place in one of the coolest science-fiction universes to grace television. I believe this game used the Freespace engine (which was released into Open Source many years ago) as a foundation, and built an entire story and multiple campaigns into it based on the Babylon 5 series. Perhaps its just the slick engine its built upon, but Babylon 5: I've Found Her contains a much higher level of polish than you'd expect from a freeware game.

Flight Commander
Flight Commander is described very simply as, "A space combat simulator in the style of Wing Commander." It also borrows a few assets from the Wing Commander games. It is designed to be very mod-friendly, so other Wing Commander fans could create their own continued sagas in that universe.

Coming Soon
Some of these games are older than others, but there are a couple here that are not yet out. They may never even see the light of day, but I sure hope so. If you needed any more proof that space combat is alive and well in

Naumachia: Space Warfare
Described as a fast-pace blend of RTS and space combat (with Newtonian Physics!), Naumachia promises to allow the player to build and fly fighters, dropships, and even capital ships. A popular choice. As you can see in the video, it also looks freaking awesome.



Blackstar
This is an upcoming anime-looking MMO featuring both space and ground-based combat. It definitely has a style all of its own, and should be worthy of keeping an eye on.

Bonus Games
These don't count, because they don't quite fit as being "indie 3D space combat games." But they are worthy of mention here for reason that it's my blog and I'll post whatever I want. :)

Flatspace 2
It's like any number of these deep, 3D space combat & trading games, able to match feature-for-feature with some of the others... except it's 2D, with a top-down perspective.

Allegiance
Touted by one reviewer as "The Best Game Nobody Played" (Hey, I bought and played it! What does that make me?), Allegiance has since been released by Microsoft as open source software, and is supported by its community. Not exactly indie to begin with, but I guess it's an adopted indie title.

Discovery Mod for Freelancer
I don't really want to get started on mods - we could be here all month! But I've been playing this one for Freelancer. While there are a couple of issues, it really turns an already awesome game into an awesome game with much longer legs, adding over 150 new or upgraded models of ships, 68 new systems (I think that's like... double the original count... or more), lots of new equipment, "roleplaying" options for roleplaying multiplayer servers, battleship-killing missions, and a lot more. The downside (if you consider it a downside) is that the enemy AI now know how to use their shield batteries and nanobots to repair themselves in mid-combat. This makes battles a lot longer and a lot harder.

Whew! Well, there you go. That's a lot of games. And - I must confess - I haven't played them all. And some I haven't played in a while. And this doesn't represent close to all the indie space combat sims out there - especially not the ones still in development. Or mods. But hopefully this provides a smattering to get you started if you crave for the "good ol' days" of the "Wing Commander Era."

Labels: Indie Evangelism

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:08 AM (Permalink) 8 comments links to this post

 
Interview: Indinera Falls of Aldorlea Games
Rampant Games recently (like, uh, yesterday) added Aldorlea Games' flagship commercial RPG, Laxius Force, to our line-up of great indie roleplaying games. It was a combination of a great indie title, and designer / producer Indinera Falls doing some great promotion work. I was surprised to find that while this was his first commercial-grade project, it was far from his first RPG. Indinera is a prolific and seasoned veteran from the trenches of freeware development using RPG Maker.

I managed to corner him (which was quite a challenge, since I'm in Utah and he's out in France) and ask him some questions about Laxius Force, previous and coming games, and his perspective as an indie game developer. I especially enjoyed his perspective as a hobbyist turned pro.

Rampant Coyote: Let's start at the top with an introduction! Who is Indinera Falls? What games have inspired you? If you had a fire-breathing monkey, what would you name it?

Indinera: Hi, I'm known as my nickname Indinera Falls and I am an indie developer of old-school RPG. My productions focus on detailed characters and great replay value along with strong storylines. As a result of many years of developing games I'm also the webmaster of two websites, LaxiusForce.com which is the official site for my latest trilogy (first part out now!) and aldorlea.com where I promote my own work and other games in the RPG and Adventure genre.

I have been particularly inspired by two distinct eras and style: the 16-bits console RPG (Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star, Breath of Fire etc.) and the mid' 90 era of PC RPG (Might & Magic 6, Daggerfall etc.). My own games are at the crossroads of those two styles. I take great inspiration from the "Golden Age" of gaming and I've never forgotten this period when games had fascination gameplay and enthralling stories. Now I am able to bring the essence and strength of those types of games to my new creations.

I never had a fire-breathing monkey but I remember, long ago, trying to catch the notorious three-headed monkey of Monkey Island.

Rampant Coyote: So what got you started making indie RPGs? What was the inspiration for the Laxius series? And what came first, Aldorlea Games, or Laxius Power?

Indinera: I'd always been interested in making RPGs. I used to create them on sheets of paper, drawing the characters and the battlefield in a tactical style like Shining Force. My family and friends would play them and drive my ambition even more, so this passion has been there a long time.

When I discovered what great tools there to make your own RPG, I immediately jumped on the chance. For me, it was such a fantastic find and with my drive and perseverance along with my love of storytelling it set me off on a journey I have thoroughly enjoyed.

The Laxius series is obviously inspired from my own tastes: I like games to be challenging, exciting, full of secrets and unexpected events. Games that flow too constantly tend to bore me.

As it happens, Laxius Power came way before Aldorlea Games having been created in 2001 while Aldorlea Games was set up in 2008 as the publishing house of Laxius Force, my latest game.

Rampant Coyote: Laxius Force is actually your sixth RPG. What have you learned from your previous Laxius games, and your non-Laxius title, Blades of Heaven?

Indinera: I've learned a lot of things. I always want to push my skill levels in making games, I'm driven to improve each time on what I believe are already great games. My many years experience now in game making are shown in the maps, stories, events and all other aspects. Game making isn't something that should stand still or stagnate and I have enjoyed the continual push to give the players a great game experience.

Rampant Coyote: How long did it take you to create Laxius Force, and how many people were involved in its development besides yourself?

Indinera: Laxius Force took about two years and involved the skilled Zeriab as a scripter and talented Vince as an artist. Both these people are very helpful, great at what they do and great members of a team to work with. Although Part 1 has been released two other parts are also going into production and much work during the 2 years was on building the basis and structure for the following episodes to come.

It is only fair to also mention Karks who is my sole, and outstanding, beta tester of the newly released game.

Rampant Coyote: So what can you tell us about the story in Laxius Force? And how do you make a story with something like 15 different characters work in an RPG?

Indinera: Laxius Force is a story of passion, danger and adventure. You are following the tale of a young couple, Random and Sarah. These characters are heroes of the past, resting now after after the trials and heartaches of past confrontations and dangers. The tale starts as you join them in their days of quiet happiness, but that does not last long - they decide to go back into civilization, little knowing how their paths and that of evil are once again about to meet and how they are heading towards become entangled with the acts of the most dangerous and dark secret cult organization around.

I believe you can introduce as many characters as you want as long as you actually take the time to properly introduce them and that they have their place in the story. Each character must have an history, a reason to join, and something that needs to be said. With a detailed story it's not really a problem of making them fit, it's more about making them all memorable and enabling the player to connect with them.

I believe Laxius Force develops unique characters that are far from the usual RPG clichés of how they should be.

Rampant Coyote: Do you plot out the story for several games in advance, or do you start fresh with each game and try to decide where to take the world and the characters next?

Indinera: For the Laxius saga the story was plotted out since the very start of creation in 2001. Originally it existed in a total of nine parts and with each game release the story unfolds and I am a step closer to sharing the extent of the tale with the player.

This story has been part of my life for many years now and so I am never slowed down wondering what to do next. I know what is to come and I know what I aim to achieve in each game release.

Rampant Coyote: What do you think makes Laxius Force stand out as a game?

Indinera: Laxius Force has many strengths - the unique characters, the detail of the plot and overall depth of the game. It's one of the longest games out there, and one of the richest as well - it is full of secret places, items, characters. Huge efforts were made to hide many things making exploration and detailed play so very rewarding.

Rampant Coyote: So what's next in the series? I understand you already working on the sequel, and have a third one planned. What should players who enjoyed Laxius Force expect from the next games?

Indinera: They should expect all that they liked, plus even more features, twists, secrets and A LOT of plot development. The war against the Order takes on a new dimension in part 2, and faces of evil never seen in the saga before will be introduced. Also Laxius Force Part 2 will be introducing Luciana and her party - Luci is one of the players' favorite characters of the past episodes so her introduction will bring anticipation and the game will be a lot of fun!

Rampant Coyote: Are there any secrets or "goodies" you'd like to reveal here for players to find in Laxius Force?

Indinera: Well...

Maybe you will get to play characters you hadn't expected to..I'm not going to tell you who! Old friends may be there to be found, new and interesting characters are there for you to see how they develop add that to over 500 Easter Eggs where only a hand full of people know all and you will see there is an entire game of secrets and goodies - just pay attentions and explore!

Rampant Coyote: What are the biggest challenges you've had to overcome developing indie role-playing games?

Indinera: The polishing and debugging of games are always the hardest parts. Both happen at the end of the development and you are usually exhausted yet keen to get the game out to the players - so you need to be thorough and keep going. Debugging isn't the most exciting of tasks and it is very repetitive but it is a very important stage to get the game ready for play.

Rampant Coyote: Do you have any pther wisdom would you impart to other prospective indie RPG designers?

Indinera: I think it's important to know your story from beginning to end, work on your game daily even if you don't feel like it and stay focused on it. I would recommend that you try and make a game that you personally like as that is the best way to transmit your passion to others who have the same.

Also, keep in mind the latest stages of development are the hardest, both mentally and physically, but should not be rushed.

Rampant Coyote: Any final thoughts?

Indinera: Just to thank you for this interview and giving me interesting questions to respond to. I hope people reading have enjoyed it and just to remind that as well as the games we have a fantastic community at LaxiusForce.org so please visit us, you will be made welcome!

Enjoyed the article? Be sure and download Laxius Force and give the free demo a try:

Download Laxius Force

Have fun!

(Vaguely) related interviews with other indie RPG developers:
* Amanda Fitch of Amaranth Games
* Georgina Bensley of Hanako Games
* Jason Compton of Planewalker Games
* Steven Peeler of Soldak Entertainment
.

Labels: Indie Evangelism, Interviews, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 9:03 AM (Permalink) 2 comments links to this post

 
Nine Things To Know About Being Indie
Andy Schatz of Pocketwatch Games has just published a great article "What Every Indie Needs to Know," or "Nine Things I Wish I Knew (Before I Went Indie and Made Two Hit Games).”

What Every Indie Needs to Know

This is another one of those articles I'd put on a "must read" list for anybody who asks the question (and you know you are out there... :) ) "I'd love make indie games and sell them online, but how do I start?"

It has little to discuss concerning the craft of game-making (other than a few hints about making a good demo), but a nice bunch of suggestions concerning the business aspects of being an indie - from developing business contacts to marketing to statistics on sales to working with publishers and distributors.

While the scant paragraphs on this subject is hardly enough to fully prepare a beginning indie game developer for the challenges that lay ahead, it is useful to get some idea of what is out there and to get a general idea of where the roads will lead and what to expect.

Labels: Biz, Indie Evangelism

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 1:42 AM (Permalink) 1 comments links to this post

 
Utah Indie Game Night - Fall 2008
Once again, the time came for another indie game night. And once again, our numbers were completely unpredictable. Last time, we had an excess of pizza when we were done, and this time we ran out. It's almost like you can gauge indie night by pizza consumption. Poor Lane, hosting the party on behalf of NinjaBee, never knows exactly how much pizza to order, but there are so many of us now that he has to order in advance.

Well, that's got nothing to do with indie games, really, though I imagine there are tons of indie games that could be made about pizza. I guess the point is we had a great turn-out. We had around 30 or more people show up, which I think exceeded our numbers from last time.

Once again, I felt like I viewed indie night through some sort of tunnel vision. We had a presentation on the Unity game engine, which was actually a lot more interesting than I'd expected. I'm not ready to move over to it for my own development or anything, but I like to keep up with what is happening on the inexpensive game engine front, yet I find myself continually pressed for time to try and keep up and evaluate. It was great to have somebody else provide an overview and answer questions.

He also showed us the steller Off-Road Velociraptor Safari, which anybody who has played it knows is full of oodles of indie goodness. It was built with the Unity engine.

Some students from ITT Tech who I have chatted with at earlier events were there showing their capstone project - an RPG using the new RPG Maker VX engine. I apologize to them here for not remembering the name of the RPG in development. What's cool about it is that the adventuring party you play is of... questionable morality. Not a nice bunch. People in town are all supposed to be capable of being pickpocketed, and being hounded by the law for getting caught in your misdeeds is all part of the game.

Where that takes the story, I don't know yet. But it sounds like an interesting start. The game - at least the "pilot" version of it (sound familiar?) is supposed to be done next month.

I also got the chance to see NInjaBee's new Wii game, Boingz. It looked extremely cool, and is very close to release.

Beyond that, the big chance for me was to chat with other indies and see how things were going - not to mention visit briefly with some friends at NinjaBee. One strange feeling I got from this meeting was that I don't feel quite as in tune with the "indie community" as I was, say, a year ago. No doubt my schedule and the growth of said "community" play a major role in this feeling.

One conversation we had last night involved the extreme growth in low-end Flash games. I was told that with the new built-in ability to provide cheap ad revenue in Flash games, there's been surge in low-quality flash games and applications as inexperienced developers attempt to "cash in." This means that quality games are harder to find through the crap. That's the double-edged sword of indie-dom, I guess.

I was also informed by Greg that Mike Smith's Caster was entered into the IGF competition. Mike is, unfortunately, no longer a local, but I wish him the best of luck with his game!

We also had a couple of 3D artists show up, who were immediately pounced upon by we "dime-a-dozen" programmers. Hopefully we'll be able to find some interesting collaboration opportunities there.

Anyway, as usual, it was a great night. Well, *I* had a great time. I don't know if anyone on the other side of my conversations can say the same, but I appreciate them humoring me.

Labels: Indie Evangelism

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 5:48 AM (Permalink) 7 comments links to this post

 
Reflexive Acquired By Amazon
Hmmm.... Pick what you think to be the most appropriate song by Queen:

Another One Bites the Dust... or We Are the Champions.

Reflexive Entertainment, indie game developer and publisher / online portal of both casual and somewhat less casual indie titles, has been acquired by online sales giant Amazon.com.

Reflexive Announces Acquisition by Amazon

My personal take? I'm cautiously optimistic. First of all, they were not acquired by an existing game publishing giant, or another casual portal. Secondly, Amazon has been kind of a maverick themselves, thus increasing the chance that Reflexive is going to keep doing what they have been doing unchanged, and allowing them to remain "indie." Well, as indie as you get when you are owned by a giant like Amazon. And thirdly - Amazon leads the world in online sales. This is perhaps *the* distribution partner for Reflexive, as well as for the developers with whom they work.

It also provides some indication (to me) of the advances indie games are making. This is a Big Deal. So I wish the guys at Reflexive plenty of luck and profit from their new overlords at Amazon, and hope that this will work out really well for them. Congratulations, Reflexive!

Labels: Biz, Indie Evangelism

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:31 AM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
Persona 3 FES - and Indie RPGs
I have done a bad thing.

Labels: Indie Evangelism, Mainstream Games, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:16 PM (Permalink) 10 comments links to this post

 
AOIA Rampant Coyote Interview, Part II
Looks like part 2 of the Alley of Infinite Angles interview with me is up. With a commentary! We really got more into biz aspects on this side. It sounds like I left Sun-ha a little bit wanting... perhaps because I didn't feel strongly that there were any real answers to his questions. In fact, I'm really interested in what other answers you guys come up with.

Anyway, here's Part II of my interview at the Alley of Infinite Angles.

And here's Sun-ha Hong's commentary.

I felt I was pretty upbeat about things. That's conscious. But I'm the first to admit that I don't see a "golden age of indie" anywhere on the horizon. The indies aren't going to be rising up and overthrowing the yoke of the big business overlords anytime soon. Feel free to sing "Won't Get Fooled Again" at this point.

You could say that indies are everything that the entrenched "institution" isn't, defining indie game developers by the mainstream. Except that isn't true, either. There are indies that treat approach the business side of making their own games exactly like the mainstream - with the exception of finding their own financing for their game. Indies are pretty much just about doing it their own way, and the mainstream dominance is simply just one more obstacle.

As to the question of why there isn't some kind of centralized "hub" of indie games - there really have been several that have been attempted, from portals to review sites to webrings to The Great Games Experiment. Every few months, someone proposes another one. Indies being who we are, we tend not to agree on details, and many of these projects die in infancy or just never quite hit the level of penetration they need. Trying to do anything like this requires some standardization and prioritization that is not beneficial to all indies, and will never seem fair to everybody.

What it really comes down to is that indies - the real indies - have that whole "independent spirit" thing going for them and don't want to be ever have their success chained down by something they have no control over. They may cooperate with these projects, but they won't make concessions to them. Why should they? They have their own businesses to run, and their own games to make.

That being said - there are also a lot of indies who are constantly looking for better ways to cooperate. I've noticed that many of the more successful indies out there seem happy to help out others... within reason. I'm on a few forums where the old vets are constantly batting ideas back and forth about how we can better pool our resources to improve things for everyone.

Labels: Biz, Indie Evangelism, Interviews

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:24 AM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
Another Interview With The Rampant Coyote - Part I
The Alley of Infinite Angles has part I of an interview with me about... uh... indie stuff. It's actually in two parts - part 2 will be arriving shortly. We talk a lot about the indie side of the gaming industry and how it relates to mainstream 'n stuff.

I don't know why you'd want to hear more about me and my shouting from the ol' soapbox, but in case you are that kind of masochist, feel free to check it out:

Interview With Yours Truly at Alley of Infinite Angles, Part 1

Labels: Indie Evangelism, Interviews

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:42 PM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
Interview with Nick Tipping of Moonpod
Here's the last of the semi-formal interviews I had with mainstream game developers who had "gone rogue" to become full-time indie game developers. This time, it's with Nick Tipping of Moonpod. Nick is another indie who is both a driven game developer and a great supporter of the indie game development community. If you have played Moonpod's games, in particular their latest RPG-esque Mr. Robot, you already know that they quality sets the bar pretty high for indie games. Darn them.

Rampant Coyote: So where did you work and what did you work on prior to going indie?

Nick Tipping: Mark and I were both at Gremlin Interactive, Infogrammes and Rage Games Ltd. We worked on a number of PC and Playstation projects: N2O and the Actua sports series mainly. The last mainstream game we worked on was Gun Metal for the Xbox.

Rampant Coyote: What propelled you out of the door of that cushy mainstream game development job to join the ranks of the self-employed?

Nick Tipping: We'd toyed with the idea for some months but when almost every major studio in Sheffield closed at the same time we decided it was time to give it a go. Severance pay and racking up huge debt on multiple credit cards saw us to the end of out first project at Moonpod. :)


Rampant Coyote: Were there any aspects of indie game development took you by surprise when you worked on your first game(s)? Any lessons you had to learn quickly?

Nick Tipping: Only really having to learn open source libraries because we couldn't afford any of the middleware we'd been using in mainstream development. With our first game we made a lot of design mistakes because we'd been developing console-centric titles for so long. Starscape didn't even have mouse support for the menus when we first released it although we added that in an update.


Rampant Coyote: What have been your your biggest struggles / challenges / disappointments as an indie?

Nick Tipping: Marketing and running our company was something we had to jump in at the deep end with. We're still learning things now, after 5 years of being in business. Things we thought would be invaluable turned out to be useless; Mr. Robot and Starscape got incredible reviews in magazines, but even the smallest website review has a much bigger impact than a magazine.


Rampant Coyote: Do you still prefer being an indie over your mainstream game job?If so, why? If not, why haven't you returned to mainstream, big-budget, big-studio development? At the end of the day, why are you an indie?

Nick Tipping: At Moonpod it was more about artistic expression than money but sadly there's always a base level of income you need to maintain to support that ideal. We essentially love making games so if we had to return to mainstream development we'd be fine with that. Ideally we'll keep Moonpod going though and maybe even get to the point where we can hire some staff. We'd love to respond to some of the ideas our customers have sent our way. Essentially we want to keep doing what we've been doing but always reaching to create a better, more fulfilling experience for those who play our games.


Rampant Coyote: What other differences between mainstream and indie game development have you noticed?

Nick Tipping: There's a surprising amount of freedom available to you as an indie developer but time is still your greatest asset and with indie dev there's little time available and more tasks biting into it. Like maintaining a website and running a business. Not to mention customer support.

Rampant Coyote: Okay, that's about all I had. Is there anything else you want to add?

Nick Tipping: Only to add that indies live and die by word of mouth so if you find an indie game you like then tell everyone you know!!!

Labels: Indie Evangelism, Interviews

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 1:30 AM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
The Indie Way to Win Customers and Defeat Piracy
Cliff Harris recently tried to open up a real dialog with pirates (I guess we are still calling them douche-bags here on this blog), and just published his results from this experience. His question to the pirates was, "Why do you pirate video games?" He received a flood of emails, many of which were pretty candid.

He explains the top reasons, and notes that the top responses involved quality issues, DRM, and game pricing. A lot mentioned that it is just easier to steal games (I'm sure most didn't use that word) than it is to buy them. Several complain that the demos were too short and didn't provide an adequate picture of the game. A very few actually cited weird political beliefs that they are somehow entitled to the hard work of others, or that they rip off games just because they can.

You can read his full report here:

Cliff Harris: Talking to Pirates

My take:

A lot of this smacks of justification, in my mind. I think the simple answer for 95% of piracy is simply because it is too freaking easy. With something like BitTorrent, it is ridiculously easy... and tempting... to simply type in the name of a game you've discovered that looks remotely interesting, and... if it is popular enough to have some feeds... viola. You are set within a few hours, or even just a few minutes for a smaller game. It doesn't take much for those small feelings of guilt to be suppressed.

I think Cliff's response is going to make his games better and hopefully sell better in the end, even if not a single pirate digs out a wallet and actually forks over a credit card number for his next game. The latest DRM shenanigans by mainstream companies lead a terrible taste in my mouth. And the issues of quality were particularly interesting - he said relatively few complained of graphics or "triple-A" production values, but most complained that the games were overly derivative, had gameplay issues, or simply grew boring too quickly beyond what was showcased in the demo. Those are quality issues that are within the grasp of any and all indies.

But I don't know that this is going to address the core problem with people ripping off software. I keep coming back around to Stardock's model, of producing constant updates that are more convenient to obtain legitimately than to pirate. I keep coming back to a point about business I have heard multiple times --- that business is about relationships. Pirates, almost by definition, have either no relationship with you as a game-seller, or a hostile one. Good games, and a good customer focus, can do a lot to build relationships between a company and a customer. Just look at how people respond to, say, Blizzard - or Stardock - as opposed to EA.

I think this is potentially something indies can do even better. After all, one of the advantages indies have is a direct relationship with their customers. And I think by opening up this dialog - and by being genuine about it, and trying to implement changes based on this feedback - has done a great deal to help build those relationships and goodwill. This is exactly how an indie should approach things, IMO.

Labels: Biz, Indie Evangelism

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:58 AM (Permalink) 11 comments links to this post

 
Pocketwatch Games' Andy Schatz Talks Indie Game Development
Continuing with the series of original interviews / questionnaires I gave to former mainstream game developers who have since "gone indie," today brings us Andy Schatz of Pocketwatch Games. Andy goes through his history of going from mainstream to indie on his Pocketwatch Games History page, so I'll just refer you there. In a nutshell, he used to work for mainstream video game companies Presto Studios and TKO. While at the latter studio, he was working on Goldeneye: Rogue Agent for EA during the height of the era documented by the industry-shaking EA_Spouse article. And he was miserable. After completing the game, he quit, and TKO floundered thereafter. Not that there was necessarily a causal relationship there. He was fortunate to receive some solid success with his first indie game, Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa. And now he's made indie games his full-time career.

So here's what Andy had to say about his transition and experiences going from mainstream video game developer to a full-time indie.


Rampant Coyote: In your case, you were fed up with your job and decided to quit. What made you decide to become self-employed as an indie game developer rather than seek out another position elsewhere in the industry?

Andy Schatz: I had the same thought a ton of other developers have had: I can do it faster, I can do it better, I can get real credit for my work. That's probably a fantasy for most developers, but the only way to find out if it's true for you is to put yourself to the test. Who hasn't thought to themselves that they've got the next Sims or GTA or Zelda in them?

It's also worth noting that no one ever got rich off a salary.


Rampant Coyote: Were there any aspects of indie game development took you by surprise?

Andy Schatz: Perhaps it's naïve to say, but three years ago I thought that with the rise of digital distribution, developers were going to grab some of the power back from publishers. But we've seen pretty clearly in both the casual game market and digital distribution on consoles that the publishing/distribution racket wasn't going to let us get away with that. The future does not look as bright for developers as it did three years ago, and the blame lies squarely with BigFish, Microsoft, and other major digital distributors. These giants have found ways to corral the audience, squeeze developers, and rip off our most creative pioneers.


Rampant Coyote: So what lessons did you have to learn once you became a career indie?

Andy Schatz: Interacting with the community is an essential piece of being an indie developer. As an indie, you require the help of business contacts, advisors, contractors, and press. I had to learn to interact constructively with everyone. The lesson I learned is to always put things in context of "what can I do for you?" rather than "what can you do for me?"


Rampant Coyote: Being an indie obviously isn't all fame, glory, and money. What have been your your biggest challenges or disappointments as an indie?

Andy Schatz: My second title, Venture Arctic, was a huge leap from its predecessor, Venture Africa. It was more beautiful, more interesting, and more expansive. But despite receiving critical acclaim, it hasn't connected with as large an audience. It's very disappointing to have a title that you really care about underperform with customers.


Rampant Coyote: What are the biggest differences between indie game development and mainstream game development?

Andy Schatz: The obvious one is that as a professional indie, you've got to all the business side of things yourself. You can't just bring home the bacon, you've got to raise the pig and kill it yourself.

The less obvious one is that it's much harder to stay organized and motivated at times. Sometimes it's incredibly easy, but at others, you can slip into the doldrums and let a week go by without much to show for it.


Rampant Coyote: At the end of the day, why do you stick with being an indie?

Andy Schatz: I support myself and I'm perpetually only one game away from being a millionaire gaming rock star. Why would I quit now?


I'd like to thank Andy for providing such an entertaining and insightful look into the world of full-time indie game development.

(Vaguely) related interesting words from other people:
* "Going Rogue" at the Escapist
* NinjaBee's Steve Taylor on Indie Game Development
* Interview: Cliff "Kudos" Harris on Being an Indie Game Developer
* Depths of Peril Creator Steven Peeler Speaks Up on Going Indie
.

Labels: Indie Evangelism, Interviews

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:26 AM (Permalink) 2 comments links to this post

 
NinjaBee's Steve Taylor On Indie Game Development
I have interviewed Steve Taylor before, but in this case I wanted to ask him directly about the joys and frustrations of indie game development as opposed to traditional mainstream game development. This interview was originally done to gather information for the article, "Going Rogue," for The Escapist.

Steve's company, Wahoo Studios (AKA NinjaBee), is a little unusual in that it combines self-funded "indie" titles with contract work from publishers. Their independently produced titles include the space tycoon game Outpost Kaloki, the XBox 360 version Outpost Kaloki X, the tactics game Band of Bugs, Cloning Clyde, and the upcoming A Kingdom for Keflings. Steve was also my boss for a little over a year, but the restraining order he placed on me has expired since then, so I was able to ask him these questions:


Rampant Coyote: Okay, keeping it simple. What rocks about indie game development? Why would anyone choose to do this?

Steve Taylor: Fundamentally, creative control! The ability to do something off the beaten path, and do it your own way. The ability to succeed and fail on your own merit and nobody else's.


Rampant Coyote: Cool. So... what sucks about indie game development?

Steve Taylor: What sucks is that everything I said in my first answer is not exactly true. If you want to reach a large audience with your game, the concept of complete creative freedom with Indie games is a myth. Portals and other distributions services impose their own rules and limitations. Supposedly-indie-friendly distribution options like Steam and Instant Action still have subjective gatekeepers, and they're the ones who decide if your game is good enough and if it's even the kind of game they're looking for. And if you want your game to make money, you have to consider what will sell, and this means adapting your pure creative vision to match the real world. Besides all of that, do you really have the resources to achieve your ultimate creative vision? There's just no such thing as complete creative control for the developer, in practical terms.


Rampant Coyote: As you crossed over to the dark side - indie game development - what surprises did you encounter?

Steve Taylor: Initially, since we had no idea what we were doing, we expected that making a good game would naturally lead to instant riches and glory. The surprise was that getting involved with portals and getting the word out there about your game is not as simple as it looks.


Rampant Coyote: Since you continue to work on contract titles, have your indie efforts colored interaction or relationship with publishers?

Steve Taylor: Our indie experiences have affected our work with publishers in two really interesting ways that I've been thinking a lot about lately:

Having successfully funded and released some games on our own, we've gotten some attention that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Some potential clients have recognized our ability to do high quality work in the downloadable game space, and this has led to a lot of discussion about work-for-hire projects and in a few cases has meant actual contracts. With our company partly dependent on contract jobs, we live under the constant stress of trying to line up that next gig, and having people come to us because of what we've done on our own is a pretty big win.

We assumed this would mean our potential partners would trust us to make something great on our own terms. After all, that's why they hired us, right? Unfortunately, contract work seems to be business as usual. When somebody else pays for the game, they expect to design it and control its creation, regardless of the circumstances that brought you together. This sometimes makes contract work a bit more painful than it has been in the past.


Rampant Coyote: What other differences have you noticed between indie and traditional mainstream contract work?

Steve Taylor: The thing is, I still believe traditional work for hire is valid and rewarding and has some major upsides. Sure, the taste we got of doing things our own way makes contract work feel a little more like slave labor. But with a contract project for a big publisher, there are resources we'd never have otherwise, marketing effort we'd never be able to muster up, and contributions from a ton of talented individuals outside our dev team. In the end there's the potential for a much better product than we could do on our own. And the experience educates us, improves our skills and tech, and builds our reputation. If only we could somehow have all of that *and* get to pick what color hair our characters have, life would be sweet.

Labels: Biz, Indie Evangelism, Interviews, Mainstream Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:48 PM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
Can I Get An AMEN?
Preach on, Tycho!

Labels: Biz, Indie Evangelism

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 2:27 PM (Permalink) 4 comments links to this post

 
Interview: Cliff "Kudos" Harris on Being an Indie Game Developer
Cliff Harris, of Positech Games, is the author of Democracy, Kudos, Kudos Rock Legend, and several other titles. Cliff is known for being an outspoken indie game developer, commonly found railing against "common wisdom," including the usual belief that success depends upon going through major game portals, and that downloadable games must address a specific audience to do well. Cliff has charted his own course, but he's also managed to make it work. He's been half-jokingly referred to as a "poster child" for indie success.

But aside from this, he devotes a great deal of time offering advice and sharing his own knowledge with other members of the indie game development community, even to the point of sharing the most secret of data, actual sales numbers. All too often, his advice is sadly ignored because of its contrarian nature, but its hard to find another indie who has been more active in helping others in the community. This is an email interview I had with him while working on the article "Going Rogue" for The Escapist. Many of the juiciest parts of this interview were included in the article, but Cliff had a lot to say which I didn't have room to include. I hope you'll find as entertaining and useful as I did. Here's Cliff Harris on "going indie":

Rampant Coyote: Can you tell me about your mainstream game development experience and career?

Cliff Harris: I tried writing games in 1981, aged 11, eventually I started making and selling them online in 1997 as a hobby, but I never made enough money to live off it, so I ended up in mainstream dev, working at Elixir Studios and then at Lionhead while the indie games sales built up. I was the AI guy and general games coder for 'the Movies' at Lionhead (for the PC). The X-box game I worked on for years at Elixir got canned...


Rampant Coyote: What propelled you out of the door of that cushy mainstream game development job to join the ranks of the self-employed?

Cliff Harris: One reason was money, my games made (part-time) as much as my salary did, so it made sense, and also I was fed up with the way games companies are run. The long hours culture, the complete chaos, and the fact that obviously I was a frustrated designer working purely as a coder. I had been self-employed before, as an IT contractor and a boatbuilder, and I think I just have the DNA that makes me a better lone gunmen than someone elses employee. I'm very outspoken and probably a bit of a volatile employee. Plus I had a juicy contract with Maxis to tide me over the first difficult few months, so I knew I wasn't about to starve.


Rampant Coyote: I assume you left the mainstream gig feeling like you had a handle on What it would take to make games on your own. Were there any aspects of indie game development took you by surprise? Were there any lessons you had to learn quickly?

Cliff Harris: I'd done it before but badly, so I had already learned from those mistakes. One thing I had to learn was decent PR and publicity. When you work for some big name company, journalists get on planes and get bought to your desk to see cool stuff. That doesn't happen any more :( I had to learn how to get my name out there and promote my games, rather than just making what I thought was cool and hoping people would discover them. I was luckier than most in that money was already coming in, so I could relax a bit and just develop games.


Rampant Coyote: What have been your your biggest struggles / challenges / disappointments as an indie?

Cliff Harris: My biggest struggle is working alone from home. Especially when sales are good, because there is little incentive to do any work. Nobody cares if I'm at my desk or in the pub, and nobody cares if I'm working or playing games, or surfing the web. Staying motivated on your own is really hard, and it's tough having nobody to talk to all day, every day. That's the hardest thing about being an indie.

All the other problems, money, contracts, programming, are pretty trivial in comparison. I'm sure some of the hardcore semi-autistic programmer geeks love it, but I'm a bit more chatty than most.


Rampant Coyote: Do you still prefer being an indie over your mainstream game job? What keeps you going as an indie?

Cliff Harris: I'm definitely happier as an indie because I like succeeding or failing on my terms. Working with other people is a nightmare. I can't ever see me taking a normal salary ever again. once you get used to being your own boss, the idea of someone telling you what to do all day seems juvenile, like being a schoolboy again. I can't imagine working for three years on one game again either, or being detached from the business side of things. Sitting at a desk working for someone else, on someone else's idea, with no idea how much money it makes, just seems ridiculous. If I needed a full-time job again, I'd try and get into marketing or some other area of programming, rather than go back to 'triple a' gaming.


Rampant Coyote: Steven Peeler mentioned that one of his frustrations as an indie involved piracy. You've expressed similar views in the past. Do you have any perspective on this as an indie that you'd like to share?

Cliff Harris: The thing that really bugs me about pirates is that some of them cloak it all with this thin veneer of 'sticking it to the man' and being 'anti-DRM and anti-big corporations', and then despite me giving a free demo, no DRM, innovative games, at reasonable prices with great tech support from a one-man company, the bastards still rip me off and take my stuff anyway.

I can understand people who have no money, or even just people who are morally corrupt who think stealing is okay, but the ones that drive me mad are the idiots that lecture me about my 'outdated business model', like they are some sort of kindergarten Bill Gates, or the ones who tell me I'm some corporate shill because my games aren't free. Almost as bad are the ones who insist I should be happy that people are playing my games, and doing it for the love of it. Such people are normally living in mom's basement with no rent to pay.


Rampant Coyote: What else could you tell me about the difference between mainstream and indie video game development?

Cliff Harris: Indie devs can take risks. No way would Lionhead or Elixir have made Democracy or Kudos, they both seem a bit too 'off-message' in terms of what people think gamers want. Democracy would have had a pointless 3D engine shoe-horned into it, and Kudos would never have got away with being turn-based. But I think it's those limitations that force people to make interesting games. World of Goo will be cool *because* of it's 2Dness, not despite it. Because we don't have the option of doing a HDR-lighting bump-mapped high-poly shader-driven 3D world, it means indie games actually look different to the stuff everyone else is making. Plus, because our dev budgets are smaller, we can support niches like turn based strategy, serious games or kids games.

One of the best benefits of indie gaming is the direct connection between developer and gamer. I literally take 90% of the sale price of my games sold direct. That's way better than handing lots of cash to some middle-man who doesn't even play games.

It also means I can talk direct to my customers, implement their suggestions, help them out and support them without lawyers in the way. If someone asks how part of the game works, I can post a direct reply as the designer, or even share some source code to illustrate it. That's very rare in big retail gaming.


Rampant Coyote: Thank you, Cliff!

Labels: Indie Evangelism, Interviews

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:43 AM (Permalink) 4 comments links to this post

 
Depths of Peril Creator Steven Peeler Speaks Out On Going Indie
Now that my article on mainstream developers going indie for The Escapist is out, I thought I'd share more of the interview responses I got while preparing it. These guys had a lot of great things to say, and a ton of interesting quotes and valuable information were left on the cutting room floor.