JoHN gRaHam // THE BUSINESS
a sinGular Journey
Should I become an Independent game developer?
Given the explosion of
successful independent
games like World of Goo,
Braid, and more recently
Minecraft, I’m sure there
are some professional
game developers out
there, sitting in their
cubicles, wondering if
they too should attempt
to go indie. I’ve been on
the independent game
development team Wolfire
Games for two years now,
and because this is one
of the questions we are
emailed most frequently,
I’ve wrestled with this
topic a bit in my individual
responses. This is my first
stab at really compiling my
thoughts in one place.
thinkinG of fun Game
ideas
» If you’re going to go
indie, you have to start
with a fun idea—but don’t
overdo this initial academic
thinking phase by writing
out pages and pages of
design documents. The
truth is that everyone
can think of fun game
ideas, and when you go
indie, your real problem
won’t be generating fun
ideas, but implementing
them. Thomas Edison said
that “genius is 1 percent
inspiration and 99 percent
perspiration.” For games
this is especially true,
because you often can’t
objectively determine how
fun something is until
you build it. I’m not sure
how the big companies
do it, but indie game
development is often a
messy iterative process
that requires you to sculpt
as you go. Even Will Wright,
one of the greatest game
designers of all time, has
used the phrase “accidents
that worked” to describe
parts of his development
process.
testinG the water
» To go indie, you have to
anticipate the predicament
of having no brand, no
community, no budget,
and a large risk of no sales.
The good news is all these
factors can be mitigated
by fast prototyping. Build
something fun as fast as
you can and release it into
the wild. This will show
you quickly whether you
are headed in the right
direction. If the public
reacts positively to your
work, you should consider
iterating on your idea.
Several indie games like
cortex coMMand, natural
Selection 2, and especially
Minecraft have been
able to raise awareness,
goodwill, and decent
money for themselves
in early development by
following this model. If it
turns out gamers aren’t
interested in your released
prototype, you’ll be able
to scrap your idea and try
something new before
wasting a lot of time and
money.
planninG your
development cycle
» Game development
adheres to Hofstadter’s
law: “It always takes longer
than you expect, even when
you take Hofstadter’s Law
into account.” As such,
you need to have a plan
that gives you more than
enough time to finish your
game. Are you prepared to
eat ramen for an extended
period of time, live with your
parents, or get a part-time
job flipping burgers to see
your game through to the
end? Or maybe you’ve got
some severance from your
big studio job. If so, you
probably have just enough
of a runway to complete
your game. On the other
side of the equation, narrow
the scope of your game
whenever possible. Every
motivated developer feels
compelled to add more and
more to his game but you
must fight the urge to bite
off more than you can chew.
The dreaded feature creep
is even more damaging
when you go indie.
BeinG your own Boss
» It’s great to have
creative control over your
project. However, when no
one is looking over your
shoulder and scheduling
milestones and Scrum
meetings for you, you’d
better be able to manage
your own time. Having
hard-working team mates
can foster an ecosystem
of high motivation—so can
the stress of a continually
shrinking bank account. A
more unconventional tactic
we’ve been trying at Wolfire
has been to openly share
our development process
with the public from day
one. This has enabled
the world to look over
our shoulder as we craft
overGro Wth, essentially
making the community our
boss. There are lots of ways
to approach the motivation
issue for an indie team,
but the big thing to keep in
mind is that making your
own game should be fun.
If this is not the case, you
might as well have kept
your corporate job.
wearinG many hats
» If you’ve only worked on
games at big companies,
you’ve probably ended up
specializing in just a few
areas. Indie developers
on the other hand, have
to sweep through a full
gamut of roles on a daily
basis (programmer, artist,
game designer, story writer,
foley technician, composer,
marketer, community
manager, et cetera.). If you
don’t have all the necessary
hats for your project in your
wardrobe already, you’ll
need a plan. You either have
to be ready to learn new
skills, or assemble a team
that can fill in the gaps for
you. Some people hold onto
the notion that they can
just be game designers and
come up with ideas that
others will magically want
to implement. Unless you
can afford to pay a team
to work on your idea or
you have already proven
yourself to be a game
design rock star, best of
luck to you. Some hats
are more important than
others (e.g. programming
and making art) but it’s
best to be competent in
several areas so if all else
fails you can singlehandedly
get your project sailing.
As it becomes clear you
are headed somewhere
fun, that’s when others
will magically appear
to join you on your
development journey.
don’t Be a f***inG
pussy!
» At Fantastic Fest, I had
the good fortune to hear Jon
Blow explain how people’s
assessment of risk is not
always kept in perspective.
If you’re even considering
becoming an independent
game developer, you’re
probably not in one of the
many parts of the world
where you have to worry
about getting shot or bitten
by a snake every time
you walk outside. How
frightening can it really be to
risk not making very much
money for a year or two
(or three)? As Ron Carmel
once wisely told us, when
you’re 80 years old on your
death bed, you won’t think
to yourself, “Man I wish I
had never tried to make that
game.”
know thyself
» My hope is that this
article will help readers
who may be on the fence to
think critically and honestly
about how they would fare
as independent developers.
If you’ve contemplated
all these points and deep
down you can see yourself
having the motivation,
skills, discipline, and
resources to make a game
on your own, then going
indie might definitely be
the right choice for you.
John Graham is the COO
(Coffee Operations Officer) at
Wolfire Games and has been
known to grow beards.
www.gdmag.com 55
