Why So Sad, Indie?
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 11:32AM in indies Indies are awesome. If there is one thing that has been hammered home to me this year at GDC, it's that independent developers are completely awesome, and we are going to save gaming as we know it, while simultaneously trailblazing the roads that mainstream gaming and the future of what gaming will become will eventually take.
Indies are successful and happy and relevant, they love eachother and their communities, and their communities love them back. I keep walking up to famous, respected indies, cutting immediately past the bull crap, and having delicious, inspirational, and deep discussions with them about games and science and food and life. We are the best thing there is in games right now.
So why all the self pity? Why all the jokes about being poor schlubs and being downtrodden? We are significantly less trodden than mainstream developers, and there's nothing schlubby about being an entrepeneur, no matter what your product is.
Why does everyone act like we have something to prove to mainstream development, that we are somehow second-class citizens? Is it because we don't participate in that incestuous ecosystem of stock-price-driven business decisions? Is it because we aren't willing to hide our voices beneath mountains of compromise? Is it because we don't want to release mediocre games into the world?
Sure, there are wastrels and hanger-oners and misfits in indie games. But so are there in every other industry and profession in the world. Indie! Stop acting like you have no worth!
I can't even count the number of below-the-breath grunts and groans I heard from the crowd every time a speaker dared to imply that we were somehow pathetic or worthless. Most of us know we are awesome, but for some reason keep clinging to these bizzare stereotypes.
Ron Carmel made an awesome point about Indie Fund, where he said that he wanted to make sure that he was (paraphrasing) investing robustly into indies, to show the rest of the world just how much indies are worth. I think we all need to take that stance and start projecting to the world just how awesome we are, rather than repeating the same tired jokes about "will code for food".
I can't say it enough: Indies are awesome. So why so sad, indie?
Reader Comments (4)
They're sad because for the vast majority of indie game devs their goal is not to create a game with wide appeal that will sell well, but to express an artistic notion. And, it turns out, most artistic notions generated by most folks are rather unappealing.
Simple, that. Go take a look at TiGSource and ask yourself "How many of these would I pay $40 for? What about $20? $10?"
Yeah, but those guys should be happy too; they are doing exactly what they want, and that's not sad, it's awesome. This post isn't about money, it's about pride. We need more of that.
freelance writer
Making indie games is a lot like making art (or in some cases, IS making art). There is a great deal of stress that comes with putting yourself out there, especially with out any guarantee of success at the end.
As someone who is having to look for work after nearly two years of full time indie development... I know full well the risks involved. When you pour your heart and soul into a project, the idea that it might end because you can't finish it or it just wasn't that good, it's frightening. So I think staying humble, recognizing that this is a difficult job with great risks, isn't such a bad thing.
That said, making games is awesome... scary as hell, but awesome! And if I were still single, it wouldn't be a joke for me to say "will code for food".