about indies developer

[harold35]

I have read this article :



I work on mobile game since 5~6 year and really it became each day harder to make some decent income. My benefits are divide by 4 in 10 month... And, maybe it's time to change of activity... What is the point of vue of peaple on this forum ?

[Selzier]

Carter, the fat american who wrote the article, obviously doesn't have enough willpower not to put the junk food down to save his own health, let alone the willpower to lift a single finger in entrepenurism.

Entrepreneur:
"A person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk."

Now let's see if Carter can grasp the idea of considerable initiative and risk... here is his own words:
"Find yourself a nice day job that you're content with, which pays the bills and keeps you comfortable."

So this is a complete opposite any form of entrepenurism whatsoever.

Yes, if someone is that lazy fat potato chip crumbs on his belly "indie dev" who doesn't have the willpower of cow, yes he better go get that comfortable job that pays the bills, and increases his belt size 1 notch per year.

Meanwhile, I'll keep doing what I'm doing, winning global game jams with cash prizes, scheduling meetings with Chinese investors, getting accepted to "Big Indie Pitch", going to gaming conventions even if I'm sleeping in the car.

There WILL be huge successful indie games... Carter won't make them.

[harold35]

lol it's a point of vue . A warrior point of vue, but well i like and respect this. Another point of vue ?

another link to the same subject

[lcocea]

Harold, I think that entrepreneurship and independent game development are different things and the lone wolf indie game developer had better be proficient at both

The main issue here is marketing. Apple and Google have taken all the steps to commoditize apps/games. An "app store" is now like a huge warehouse with a tiny showcase/window at the front door; peeking inside to see what's on the shelves is extremely difficult. If the target audience doesn't know about a game then that game doesn't sell, it's as if it didn't exist.

Marketing is the key, and unfortunately for the indie developer it's very expensive. What's missing in this ecosystem is the equivalent of malls for apps and games. A virtual place where you enter and look around, see if there is anything that you like and maybe buy it. A warehouse is hardly the place where I would go to see what's new and interesting.

The solution is to get organized and build our own indie "app/game malls" on the web. The "buy now" buttons would have to point to the actual app stores but the game discovery rules would change: no keyword search, no rankings--just a directory. Such virtual malls could specialize in only some types of apps/games and should be run as standalone businesses. Obviously there would be hosting/maintenance costs involved and thus a lease to pay per developer/store but this is how it has always been.

I imagine such a virtual mall being done entirely as a modular ShiVa HTML5 application. Each indie "boutique" would be an .stk that can be updated at any time.

[harold35]

harg.... Marketing .... lol