What Indie Games Can Teach the Big Leagues

[kebab4you]

That top notch graphics is not the key[footnote]Shouldn't even be considered when in the developing stage of a game[/footnote] for a good game(Looking at you horror/fps genre from triple A studios!).

Minecraft (Though that's not really indie any more)

So when did Mojang get bought up? o_o

 

[Joseph Alexander]

That DRM only hurts sales, and it's best to interact with your audience. If the developer seems likeable, then people will put that ahead of everything else.

For example, Notch interacts quite clearly through his blog, and generally seems likeable.
Also, his view on piracy is rather good. People may pirate Minecraft, but to get the full product and the ability to access proper servers, they must buy the game. I remember one time reading about a case where a guy pirated minecraft, and then him and a few friends decided to buy it. That's quite a few sales that would have been lost otherwise.

Key to preventing piracy: Making the purchased product notably superior to the pirated version. DRM does the exact opposite of that, as pirated versions do not have it (and thus are the superior product, even ignoring the cost).

first point: "DRM only harms sale"
the Witcher 2 would like to have a word.
they launched with no DRM, and suffered for it.
i think you mean BAD DRM is bad for sales, hell even if they had DRM that shut off after a set amount of time(or the company released a patch removing it) that'd be great.

point two:"Making the purchased product notably superior to the pirated version"
this is impossible with any single player game.
only games that improve when playing with large groups will this happen.
pirates will always crack games soon after release.
things like blizz's world editor and capability of trading user made mods within Bnet are what make SC2 a bad game to pirate, your missing out on so much its pathetic.
same goes for minecraft, "the more the merrier" is effectively the anti pirate.

 

[Fenixhart]

VVVVVV

Interesting Gameplay and Level Design make a game, not Graphics

You mean graphics or Aesthetics?


Andreally, this whole "Graphics don't matter" thing is just garbage. I'm no graphics whore, but presentation is important.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

To me, it has nothing to do with the idea that indie games can be arty; I much prefer VVVVVV to Braid, despite the fact that one is just a solid platformer, while the other one is supposed to be this great artistic statement -- no wait, it's because of that. Braid is a pretty mediocre platformer with an arty bent, while VVVVVV is my personal game of the year for 2010.

What I think the indie developers can teach the majors is that customer service and fair pricing are both highly important. The indie devs take care of their customers, they don't shove in annoying DRM that only hurts the paying customers, they listen to feedback, and they engage the community. They also tend to price things low, as low as $2.50 in some cases, because they realize they are in competition with one another, not a huge oligopoly[footnote]Which is exactly what the majors have. How they haven't been investigated for price fixing, I will never know.[/footnote]. Had VVVVVV been published by a major studio, even in this day and age it would have been at least $20, instead of $5. Had Breath of Death VII and Cthulu Saves the World been released by a major studio, they would have been hand held games selling for $30 a piece, instead of $2.50 for a two pack. Indie developers actually have a good idea of what their product is worth, and that's something huge that the majors could learn from them.

 

[USSR]

How has no one brought up Frozen Synapse yet?
It seriously has to be one of the best strategy games I've ever played.

 

[Voulan]

What I think the indie developers can teach the majors is that customer service and fair pricing are both highly important. The indie devs take care of their customers, they don't shove in annoying DRM that only hurts the paying customers, they listen to feedback, and they engage the community. They also tend to price things low, as low as $2.50 in some cases, because they realize they are in competition with one another, not a huge oligopoly[footnote]Which is exactly what the majors have.

That is a fairly good point - pre-owned games being condemned now especially makes cheap pricing better. But then again, mainstream developers don't really have the freedom of cheap sales, when they need to make a profit.

There is a simple solution to this, though - make your game actually good, so then you will be guaranteed good profits.

I also think not pushing deadlines and rushing is important. Gamers hate glitches, and developers are always rushing the games to make deadlines, whereas indie developers have more freedom than that since their game isn't necessarily expected or being watched.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

What I think the indie developers can teach the majors is that customer service and fair pricing are both highly important. The indie devs take care of their customers, they don't shove in annoying DRM that only hurts the paying customers, they listen to feedback, and they engage the community. They also tend to price things low, as low as $2.50 in some cases, because they realize they are in competition with one another, not a huge oligopoly[footnote]Which is exactly what the majors have.

That is a fairly good point - pre-owned games being condemned now especially makes cheap pricing better. But then again, mainstream developers don't really have the freedom of cheap sales, when they need to make a profit.

There is a simple solution to this, though - make your game actually good, so then you will be guaranteed good profits.

I also think not pushing deadlines and rushing is important. Gamers hate glitches, and developers are always rushing the games to make deadlines, whereas indie developers have more freedom than that since their game isn't necessarily expected or being watched.

Oh yeah, I wasn't suggesting an industry wide price point of $2.50, or even $10 for that matter. Just pointing out that the indie developers actually compete on price, which leads to lower prices overall. The big guys all decided on an arbitrary price, and nobody wants to break ranks. As far as I can tell, that's illegal price fixing, but nobody has bothered to sue them for it. If there was actual competition on prices, there would not be a single price point that every single new game came out at, but the publishers don't want that because the competition would drive prices lower overall.

They also really don't need to charge $60 per game to make a profit. I did the math recently, and at $60 a pop, Modern Warfare 2, which cost $50 million to make, broke even after the first 833,333 and a third copies sold. Considering that they sold seven million copies on the first day alone, it's pretty clear that $60 each is pure profiteering. The crazy thing is that $50 million is on the high end for game development. The average AAA game is probably closer to $30 million in development costs.

 

[Stealthygamer]

VVVVVV

Interesting Gameplay and Level Design make a game, not Graphics

You mean graphics or Aesthetics?


Andreally, this whole "Graphics don't matter" thing is just garbage. I'm no graphics whore, but presentation is important.

Aesthetics are very important, look at everything from Wind Waker to Super Meat Boy.

Raw power is not necessary though

 

[likalaruku]

My top Indie Games are Minecraft & Aveyond series, especially Aveyond 3; not only did it do episodic gaming nicely, but the story was fantastic & I really got into the characters.