The Independent View by Dan MacDonald

Sustaining Independence (March 29, 2006)

Some of you may be old enough to remember the glory days of Shareware. Companies like Apogee (now 3D Realms) and Epic Megagames were publishing Shareware games on diskettes and putting them in Radioshacks and Supermarkets everywhere. A few years later you could even download the demos on the internet if you had a dialup modem. These were the days of Commander Keen, Jazz Jackrabbit, Raptor: Call of the Shadows, and Duke Nukem. Then in my pre teens I remember drawing inspiration from these games and deciding that I (like many of you) wanted to make my own.

As I write this article now some years later, Shareware games have grown up and become "Downloadable" games. The downloadable games business (predominantly casual) has grown to an estimated 400 million dollar industry (including ad revenues). The industry once dominated by a few independent developers working out of their garages is now the playground of companies like Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and Real Networks. Venture capitol has seen the profitability margins and has followed suit, new publishers, distribution sites, and development studios crop up almost daily.

Increasingly the trend that I observe is the talented independent developers who have had moderate success are reluctantly going to work for the big players in the casual games business. Others are giving up on designing their own games and instead attempt to replicate the success of various titles in the casual games industry by iterating or cloning existing games and themes. Still others have moved on to pursue other interests and business opportunities realizing that they've had their fill of game development or were never really all that interested in it to begin with.

So why this abandonment of independent development occurring? How does an indie developer pursue their chosen avocation for a lifetime instead just a few years of passing interest? How does one endure when there are so many forces from market pressure to employment opportunity pushing and pulling in different directions? I can think of only one answer. An independent developer that wishes to remain so must pursue their own interests in game design and development and give them preeminence over their interests in business and profit.

In fact in almost every example I can think of the developers who decided to pursue the market trends make a game that was a hybrid between what the market wanted and what they wanted ended up falling by the wayside and wandering away from indie development. Of those who flat out targeted the market (with cloned or iterative games) and focused purely on the business of downloadable games, only a select few have been successful and arguably in the process have completely sold their independence (buy being bought out or going to work for a major studio). The only ones with any staying power, any endurance, are the ones who pursued their own interests from the beginning.

The reason is simple, and at its core is an age old principle. The pursuit of money is inherently an ambition devoid of any value or meaning. If the only value one derives from an activity is monetary, then the activity itself is of very little consequence. Achieving the monetary goals then has little impact on what one feels about the activity. However if the pursuit is to perfect activity as craft or trade and in doing so delight others then the significance and value one feels when achieving those goals is much deeper and more meaningful then achieving financial ones.

It has to do a lot with a developer's expectations. When a developer does a lot of market research and then makes a game to reach a lucrative market they are expecting it to do well. So when it fails to perform in the market (as 98% of all indie games, even the good ones do), thy find they have invested all of their time and energy into creating this product that doesn't really inspire them and that no customer is really willing to pay for. In addition, countless hours of time and energy were invested into unrealized hopes and dreams of financial success. A human being can only endure so much disappointment before they move on and pursue other means of wasting all their free time.

Even if the game is a financial success the developer now has a game and a market demographic they probably don't really relate to and some cash in his hand. Satisfaction when purchased with money is fleeting at best. It's the age old conundrum those who don't have money strive to acquire it and when they have it they realize it wasn't really what they were looking for. To some they may realize that they like games but their passion is to build a business and find some meaning there. However the pursuit of financial goals tends to lead them away from independence as opposed to towards it.

Compare that to the indie developer who's pursuit was to perfect his chosen activity. To exercise his own unique creativity and expression in game design and development and create games that capture his inspiration and excitement. Financial goals are secondary and not the primary motivating factor to create the game. Now consider this developer meets the same financial misfortune that the above developer did (as 98% of all indie games do, even the good ones). What is this developer left with? A game that he his proud of, inspires him, and compels him to take what he has learned and make another.

With each subsequent game he improves his skills in design and development that prepare him for games development in the years to come. Eventually he creates a game that strikes a chord with a group of people and he is monetarily rewarded. Now here is where the value and meaning come in. Values that enable this indie developer to continue his game development for years to come, while the money is nice the real delight of this developer is that he has managed to connect with a set of customers who are just like him, who appreciate the same things he does, and appreciate his work so much that they are willing to pay for it.

When you compare the financial success in both cases with second developer who followed his passion and the first who pursued financial gain, you will find that the sense of accomplishment and success with the first was fleeting at best, but the same sense in the passionate developer was deploy meaningful and an experience that they could rely on to provide motivation and inspiration for a long period of time.

An independent developer that wishes to sustain their independence must pursue their own interests in game design and development and give them preeminence over their interests in business and profit.

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By: Dan McDonald
Posted: Tuesday March 28, 2006