Indie project what. $ 1 million in a week: How indie developers Punch Club hacked the gaming market

A zero budget indie game.

How to develop it, how to sell it and why is it needed at all.

We bring to your attention an expanded and updated version of the report, which was presented in the framework of KRI 2012, as well as at the school computer graphics Scream School (British Higher School of Art and Design).

To do great game, three things are needed: a great idea, an experienced team, and a lot of money.

These are the words of Daniel Wavra, a man who at one time created game Mafia, now serving as Creative Director of Warhorse Studios. In the case of indie projects, as a rule, there is neither an experienced team nor money. What's left? Just an idea!

Why is now the best time to develop indie games?

The answer is simple - now they are “in trend”. Players paid attention to projects from novice developers, they like to play in them and they are ready to pay for them, albeit small, but money.

The first step in this direction was taken in 2003, when Valve introduced the STEAM service. Games started to move off store shelves towards the internet, and this has had a huge impact on the indie movement. If earlier players did not consider a game to be a serious game until the publisher packs it in a box, now AAA class projects are on the same virtual shelf with indie in the same STEAM. To publish games digitally, you can do without large budgets and any developer can act as a publisher himself.

Interest in indie has fueled the incredible success of Marcus Persson with his Minecraft. Back in beta, the unfinished game made developers millionaires. Braid, Super came out around the same time Meat Boy - for sure, these are not empty sounds for you.

IN recent times The Independent Games Festival, an annual indie festival held as part of the Game Developers Conference, is growing in popularity. The festival has been held since 1999, but if until 2005 projects like Fire And Darkness or Shattered Galaxy won there, then from 2005 onwards the grand prix won famous games... Gish, Darwinia, Crayon Physics Deluxe - you've probably heard of them before.

To submit your game to the IGF in the main competition, you need to pay an amount of $ 95. There is an opportunity for students and schoolchildren to participate in a separate category for free, but given the number of applications submitted, the competition there is much higher.

there is interesting contests and smaller scale. For example, Ludum Dare, where developers make games on a given topic on a tight schedule. There are excellent entries among the winners.
There is a Russian analogue of this competition - Gaminator, which is held on the forces of the gamin.ru portal. Everything is the same there, only the terms for development are freer - a little more than two weeks are given for the game. If you want to try your hand - here your project will be appreciated and commented on by the permanent community of the site.

Another argument for the indie trend is the variety of Indie Bundles. Several developers unite and present a set of their games at a very competitive price, and the players amicably support this initiative with a ruble. As a result, each of the developers receives a large amount of cash and, as a nice addition, good coverage of the game in the press. Players also get a good discount on well-known projects - thus, both sides benefit from bundles.

To give an idea of \u200b\u200bthe scale - during the sale of The Humble Indie Bundle V 599,003 kits were sold for a total of $ 5,108,509. 500-600 thousand dollars each
participating developers - agree, not bad.

An interesting movement began on the KickStarter website, where they collectively raise funds for the implementation of various projects. The developers chimed in when Tim Shafer posted his new game Double Fine Adventure there in early 2012. Tim hoped to raise $ 400,000, but ended up receiving almost three and a half million. It was followed by inXile entertainment with Wasteland 2 and Stainless Games with Carmageddon: Reincarnation. Even Larry's new part was sponsored! Novice developers should not count on such a technique, but it is quite possible to collect a small amount of money for KickStarter. The main thing is that you have a reliable friend in the US with access to Amazon Payments. The creators of KickStarter already promise to remove this restriction, but so far nothing will work out without such a friend.

The last argument concerns the players themselves. Not for nothing the same Diablo iii amicably minus on Metacritic - for ten years of development, all new ideas in the game can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Among the players, of course, there are conservatives who even like it, but those who want something more interesting, most likely, will look towards new projects. And the next $ 60 they will spend not on one promoted game, but on a dozen indies.

STEAM Greenlight

STEAM promised to take drastic measures in favor of modern indie developers. Their Greenlight service finally launched on the last day of August. Users can now vote for their favorite games, and the best ones will appear on STEAM shelves along with the usual assortment. It was possible to submit your game for review to STEAM earlier, but only the winners of well-known contests could really hope for publication. In the last year, most applications were left unanswered.

It's only been a couple of weeks since the launch of Greenlight, but a definite impression of the service has already formed. The first few days any user could send the game to the database for free and dozens of "trolls" immediately took advantage of this. Everything from Origin-exclusives with Half-Life 3 to porn simulators was put up for voting. Valve quickly re-evaluated the situation, but instead of logically entering preliminary moderation, they cleaned up junk applications and introduced a $ 100 payment for the right to post games on Greenlight. The collected money is promised to be sent to charity, but for some indie authors, even this amount can be overwhelming.

The first ten games that have received the green light have already been determined - among them the excellent Cry of Fear mod, Project Zomboid, as well as several long-term construction projects that have been collecting money for Desura for a long time - Kenshi and Towns. Approved for publication and modification Black mesa Source, but while many have already downloaded it from the official site and passed it, the release on STEAM has not yet taken place.

It's very sad, but the service does not show the players themselves from the best side. Fans of action movies, for example, do not hesitate to minus quests in Greenlight and start serious battles in the comments. It comes to outbursts of hatred in the spirit of “Fuck you all ...”. Talking about games as art against such a background is problematic ...

In general, the initiative on the part of Valve was good, but while the service is still crude and ill-considered, it remains to closely monitor its development and believe in a bright future.

Do it yourself

Pick up a camera, shoot something. It doesn't matter how petty and ridiculous, it doesn't matter who is in the frame. Write in the credits that you are the director. And that's all - you are the director. All that remains is to bargain for the budget and fees.

James Cameron

What do you need to do to release your own game? Where to begin?

First, you need a development team. A typical game will require at least a programmer and an artist. Without a programmer, nothing will happen at all, and without an artist you can only make a text roguelike. If you are counting on some kind of promotion of the project in the press, it would be nice to hire a PR manager with knowledge of English.

Considering that the budget for the development of the game, as a rule, is zero, future developers should be looked for among their friends. Surely you have gifted acquaintances who are just thinking about where to apply energy. Does a classmate solve programming problems in ten minutes? Does a girl you know perfectly draw ponies flying in the clouds? Does your friend play the best blues? Great! Their talents can be mixed in one bottle and see what happens.

We decided on the team. Now it's worth getting together in one place and thinking about how your future game will look like. It is best to stock up on paper with pens and write down all the ideas that come up during the brainstorming session. Pixel art and retro styling? Time manipulation? A new genre that has no analogues? All of this may well work. There are no restrictions for indie, moreover, the more pretentious the idea, the more chances that you will be noticed. The main thing is to plan a real game that you have the strength to develop. If the idea came to mind to make mmorpg for all the inhabitants of the Earth at once - this, of course, is good, but even Blizzard is unlikely to take on a game of this scale.

Calculate your strength soberly - it is better to immediately agree on certain dates. One month for the first game should be enough. The artist will just draw a dozen characters and locations, and the programmer will have time to write a simple engine. Enthusiasm tends to end, and if it is usually enough for a month, then later someone has new things to do, another developer begins to be lazy ... As a result, the game runs the risk of not living up to launch at all.

During the development process, try to show intermediate versions to all your friends - this way you can check the performance of the game on different computers, and you can better balance the project based on their feedback.

What else to look for? If possible, try to release the game not only on PC, but also on Mac and Linux. There are many indie players on these platforms - sharing the game with them can help you find loyal allies. In this regard, your programmer should pay attention to cross-platform engines like the gaining popularity of Unity or half-dead Flash.

Also among your potential audience are owners of weak laptops with small screens. The latest hits on their computer do not start, but sometimes you still want to play. A man buys an indie that suits system requirements, but here's a surprise - the screen resolution of 1024x600 is not enough for the game. If you do not want to read angry reviews in the comments to your project, it is better to work on this issue in advance and make support for the smallest screen resolutions.

"In the future, two types of companies will remain on the market: those who are on the Internet and those who have gone out of business."

Bill Gates

To advertise a game, you first need to create a website for it. The site is a very important place where both the press and the players will go for information. It is not necessary to bother too much with the design - the main thing is that the site is informative and understandable. The visitor should easily find a brief description of the game and a selection of concept art demo screenshots. If you have a trailer (purely gameplay and / or just in the spirit of the game) - it should be placed in the most prominent place. The video is great to showcase the main ideas of the game.

A press pack must be posted on the site. This is the logo, all screenshots and trailers for the game, packed in one archive. Don't forget to leave your contacts. It is best if it is just an email address, and not a separate page with a contact form. If you want the press to speak well of you, at least make the journalists' job a little easier.

To keep in touch with the press, you need to competently prepare and send out your press releases. Ideally, you should contact one of the foreign PR agencies - after spending a few hundred dollars, you will receive a competent mailing list for your project. If there is no money at all, you will have to write press releases yourself. Here are some nuances:
1) Write correctly. If the press release is in English, and it contains a bunch of errors, this is very bad.
2) Communicate politely. “Hello”, “Goodbye”, “Sincerely”, “We will answer all your questions”, “If you do not want to receive letters from us, we can remove your email from our list” - this is the key to write in this way.
3) Brevity is the sister of talent. The journalist is unlikely to read to the end a three-page story about how you had breakfast, went for a walk your dog, almost got hit by a car, and suddenly you came up with an idea for a game. It is better to limit yourself to listing the main features of the project and a brief retelling of the plot.
4) If possible, offer a working version for review (but only if the game works more or less and you don't have to blush for it). It is always more interesting for journalists to touch the project themselves than to fantasize about the game and rewrite a press release in their own words.
5) You can use graphics in your writing, but don't go overboard. One beautiful screenshot or art for a press release will be enough. Collect the rest in a press pack and add a download link at the end of the letter.
6) Keep in touch. If a journalist replied to your letter and wants to know some details, you must fully satisfy his interest. The only thing is do not agree to any bribes. Rarely, but there are portals where they offer to write about the game good overview for money. Few people read such press, so it is better not to get involved with them.

Where to send the finished press release? Go through popular gaming sites and look at the contacts section. Typically, there is a form for your newsletter or email for communication. If the game is interesting, and the press release presents it great, do not hesitate, they will definitely write about it.

How to get to shops?

If you already have a working version of the game (preferably the final one) and a promo site has been launched, then you can proceed to choosing a site for publishing the project. If until this day the game store was associated with STEAM only, you will find an unexpected discovery. In fact, there are more than a dozen such stores, and they all have their own audience.

The process for hosting a game is almost identical everywhere. To begin with, you fill out a questionnaire, where you tell about yourself, about the project, give all possible links to publications about it and to the working version, so that the employees of the online store can try your game themselves.

Further, two scenarios are possible. First, your game is not liked or is not suitable for this online store. As a rule, refusals are polite, logical and not at all offensive. For example, to a request for the placement of “Retention” from one of the stores, we were told: “The game is excellent, we enjoyed it, but 80% of our audience are women over 40 and they are more interested in playing poker with dogs”.

Surprisingly, the worst rejections came from STEAM. If you don't like the game, you will receive a short text that they send to all developers as a carbon copy. “We are not playing the game. In accordance with our posting policy, we do not comment on our decisions. Thank you for understanding". What they didn’t like, and whether anyone at Valve launched your brainchild, we can only guess.
On the Internet, you can find a story about how one company sent its game to STEAM and was refused. They did not lose heart - they established contact with the publisher, released the game in boxes and made good money on sales. After that, they once again turned to STEAM with an already promoted project ... And they received the same letter word for word in response. Here is such a steadfast STEAM.

The second option is positive. If you like the game, then you are given the green light. After that, you need to sign a contract, where all the conditions are negotiated, and arrange a game page in the store.
There are no special problems with the contract - you just print it on a printer, sign it, scan the signed version and send it by email. In response comes a new version with already two signatures - from your side and from the side of the store. It is not required to contact paper mail and it pleases.
In most cases, all rights to the game remain with the developer and no exclusivity is required from you. By placing the game in one store, you can send it to ten more and collect the total profit. The main nuance is related to payment - in the Desura store, for example, the minimum transfer amount is $ 500. Until the sales exceed this line, you will not receive any money. If the projects are not very popular, it is quite possible that you will release two or even three games before you collect the required amount. Also, do not forget about the percentage that the store and PayPal take for themselves. As a rule, a little more than 30% go past the checkout.

The first one specializes in indie projects and free modsso she already has a suitable audience. Desura also has a good client like STEAM, but, alas, several annoying errors remain in it from version to version. Downloading games sometimes freezes at 99 percent and frustrated players immediately start sharing their emotions in the comments to your game. One of our projects, "Inner Dream" Desura, was disrupted at all. The first 24 hours the downloaded game basically did not start due to an administrator error. As a result, about a thousand people could not play it, and some of them, with their votes, quickly sent a rating towards one.

It is, of course, sad, but still Desura remains one of the best STEAM counterparts, and we do not stop recommending it.

The second IndieVania store dispenses with a separate client and looks simpler than Desura in general, but it has a couple of significant advantages for developers. The creators of the service are themselves indie developers - this is the Alientrap company, the authors of such games as Capsized and Nexuiz. They are very familiar with indie problems, so they try to solve them with the help of IndieVania. First, this store does not charge any percentage of sales at all. All money, minus PayPal tax (5% + $ 0.05), goes to your wallet in full. The transfer takes place instantly - as soon as the player has paid for the purchase, the money is immediately in your account.
Secondly, you can play with prices in different ways. One of the available options is “pay what you want”. If you use it, then the players can choose the price themselves. You can let them download the game for free, or put a minimum payment of $ 1. In this case, many will pay the same dollar, however, there are also players who transfer an amount 4-5 times more than the full cost of the game.

In general, both Desura and IndieVania often have original projects that are practically not covered in the press. It makes sense to look there periodically, when the usual games have become boring.

Again, there are many other game stores: GamersGate, Impulse, BeamDog ... You can send your project to all at once, but neither the players who are more convenient to store their entire collection in one place, nor you yourself, will benefit from this, having spent a lot of time signing contracts. If your project is promised good advertising, a central place in the window and all kinds of support - then there is a point to think about it, but publishing a game under normal conditions is difficult to count on. But when the game is already out and you decide to fix the bugs by releasing a patch, uploading it to each of the 10 stores is a whole story. Somewhere files are transferred via the web interface, somewhere - via a separate program. And how to run the patch synchronously if it is approved tomorrow at one store, and only a week later at another. Such headache - do you need it?

Many have heard of the Good Old Games portal (gog.com), which has recently turned into an online gaming store. Alas, but getting there "from the street" is quite difficult - the authors are more focused on the publication of the classics, which, when trying to offer their game, they immediately report. Publishing games from the 90s will not work forever, so in the future they may open the door for indie. True, most likely, only for games in the spirit of a bygone era.

A similar situation is with the Humble Store - the beginnings of an online store that can be found in the bowels of the Humble Indie Bundle website. With its help, you can purchase some games from bundles, sometimes links from widgets on developers' sites lead here. There is a chance that someday this project will work in full force, but so far its future is uncertain. In general, it is very strange to sell STEAM keys bypassing STEAM itself - it turns out to be a kind of mirror store. Does it make sense?
If you are wondering what the Humble Store looks like now, here is a page with the game BIT.TRIP RUNNER for example: http://www.humblebundle.com/store/product/bittriprunner
It also sells the Voxatron alpha version, which is still in development: http://www.lexaloffle.com/voxatron.php

Alpha funding

A separate word needs to be said about the Alpha funding scheme, which was used in the case of Minecraft. The idea is that even during the development phase, players are offered a pre-order of the product at a reduced price, with the opportunity to try early alpha versions right now. The scheme was spread on various bundles, projects with KickStarter, and Desura even has a separate section for such games.

Alpha funding is primarily beneficial to the developers themselves, as it allows them to earn money even before the game is released. Alas, due to their inconsistency, players are now suspicious of such projects. If Minecraft made it to version 1.0, then some of the alpha projects are either proceeding too slowly, or even abandoned halfway. Long-term Cortex Command was sold on Humble Indie Bundle 2 in 2010, Voxatron on the bundle of the same name at the end of 2011, and these are far from the worst options - these games can at least be more or less comfortable to play. Some alpha projects offer the player who has just donated $ 20 a couple of figurines running in the desert and blank menu items when trying to do something. Will the buyer be satisfied with this? Hardly.

If you want to try alpha funding in your project, then it is better to immediately have a more or less working version for players on hand, as well as maintain a detailed development blog with constant updates. In this case, people will have at least some confidence that they are not paying money for zilch. Well, some bonuses for buyers like roll-call thanks in the credits also work a plus.

Take us with you

If you want to take part in any action like an indie bundle or a special sale, then keep an eye on the game announcements. As soon as you saw that someone was planning suitable event - immediately write to them and offer your project.

From our own experience, we managed to participate in the Because We May campaign (http://www.becausewemay.com), which took place in May-June of this year. The idea is that indie developers were simultaneously lowering the prices of their games simply because they can do it and are not dependent on publisher policies. As a result of the action, we saw a rise in sales, but not as serious as in the headliners of the sale. Nevertheless, this experience can be called positive.

If you want to participate in an indie bundle, then a lot depends on the game itself. Moreover, not only from its quality - rather mediocre projects also flicker in the bundles, but from technical characteristics... If you look at the past members of popular bundles, then a multi-platform project (PC + Mac + Linux) has more chances, which gets to the buyer in the form of a DRM-Free version and STEAM / Desura keys.

There are bundles that are handled by specific publishers. If they like your game, you will receive an offer to publish the project with subsequent participation in the bundle. Whether it's up to you to remain faithful to indie or sign this contract.

... Profit?

What's the bottom line? You shouldn't think from the first seconds of development that your debut game will become famous all over the world. One idea may not be enough for this - both budget and time will play a role. The same indie Amnesia took three years to develop and spent $ 360,000 on development. This is, for a minute, an apartment in Moscow and a nice sports car at the entrance.

Also, don't hope that the game from an unknown developer will be supported by thousands of players on KickStarter. This Project Eternity by Obsidian raises over a million dollars in its first day. A beginner can count on 10-20 thousand dollars, and even then, if he promises good gifts to sponsors, and will constantly advertise his project for a whole month.

It's almost impossible to make millions on the first game, so you shouldn't count on Notch's fame right off the bat. Moreover, for him Minecraft was no longer the first or even the tenth game. The first project will definitely have some sales, but money is not the main thing here.

The most valuable thing you will get is experience. It's one thing to read how other people describe the process, and quite another to try it out for yourself. If you don't stop, the second game will turn out to be head and shoulders above the first. Instead of dealing with technical issues, you will spend more energy on the game itself, and customer reviews will tell you what they want from you.

And the feeling that someone likes the project you have created is great inspiration. If you haven't seen Indie Game the Movie yet, be sure to check it out. This film perfectly conveys the developers' feelings about everything related to their games. Braid, Super Meat Boy or your own game - it doesn't matter. The intensity of passions will be the same.

Catch the wave and who knows, maybe the next project will become the headliner of the famous bundle, and Notch himself will write a tweet about you!

Box 1:
Retention - First Game Sometimes You

Our first game, Retention, is a small art project that goes from start to finish in just 10 minutes. We tried to give the player some new and unusual sensations in these minutes, and, according to the reviews in the press, we succeeded. In Retention, we have collected an unusual genre (interactive photo album), more than two hundred processed photos from personal albums and an atmospheric soundtrack, which was written even before development began, but fit well into the overall picture. A little more than a month took the main part of the development, another couple of months were spent on translating and advertising the game.

One of the most difficult moments of development was in August 2011, when Trauma was unexpectedly released on STEAM. Trauma with Retention has almost the same ties, and both games are based on photos. It was obvious that every second journalist would write about this similarity in his review. And if Trauma was already released in August, then Retention was still in the process of development - after all, they can be accused of plagiarism! Nevertheless, we were able to gather strength and bring the game to release. We believed in the project too much to take it and leave it like that.

Here is one of the first screenshots of the game, which eventually became Retention. Believe it or not, it was originally a 1D fantasy with wizards and dragons. That idea is still waiting in the wings.

Some experience about publishing on STEAM

Valve contacted me after the trailer and post on RPS (“Rock, Paper, Shotgun”, www.rockpapershotgun.com), just as I was about to send them the draft. Then there was a long review, after which I signed the NDA, and they gave me access to Steamgames and the Steam API (the api is very convenient, comes with an example for all possible functions, you can connect to the project pretty quickly). Then for another two months the game lay in finished form on Steam (it looks like they have everything planned for months in advance), towards the end of this period a distribution agreement was signed, and a specific release date was set. On the day of launch, there were problems with uploading videos, the server was brought up only in the evening, so the release was shifted by 1 day. I absolutely did not know what to expect from sales, in the first week I earned 3 times more than all the time before Steam.

Alexey Abramenko, the developer of "Intrusion 2", shared his experience.

Petya, returning from school, again took up a large volume on the art of programming - the parents were very surprised when their son asked not for a new game for his birthday, but for several large books about programs.

Petya is a young programmer, designer and screenwriter all rolled into one. For a month now he has been wearing the concept of his future game - original, cool, with a big twist in the middle , which no one has thought of yet. He writes down his wonderful ideas in a thick notebook in the classroom, and then transfers them to the electronic version, creating a design document. Petya does not really think about the future: before his eyes there is only the prospect of great success, big money and worldwide recognition.

But young Petya has few opportunities, huge books on advanced programming have not yet provided knowledge on how to make good games. Therefore, Petya, with a notebook in his hands, driven by blind enthusiasm, sets off in search of his game publisher. The goal is one - to get the required resources: a team of developers, designers, money for project implementation and a lot of time. Petya does not think about the success of his brainchild - he is sure of it.

Alas, Petit's plan did not work out - the publisher does not need ideas, as well as enthusiasts attracted only by the original concept. The golden window for authors of ideas has long been closed - this is a fact.

And the point is in the current game industry: creating a game today is a business in which there is not only success, but also risk. The price of Petya's innovation can be dear to the publisher.

This is business, Petya.

The bitter truth is that with original idea Petya is of absolutely no value to the industry - everyone has ideas, they are not in short supply. In the book for novice coders, which the parents gave to our hero, it is written that the presence of a concept does not guarantee success, but only provides its prerequisites.

Yes, and no one needs originality now - as it was previously written, because of the great risk. To keep their budget safe, the publisher creates a routine that is proven and profitable. All Battlefields, Cheats, Mobs and the like are created in the process of studying the market and the desires of the players themselves. There is a whole game fashionthat the publisher is targeting. It would seem that this approach - non-acceptance of originality - is not aimed at success, but in reality such a company turns out to be the most profitable.

The idea itself is a formless thing. Its main property is change. As much as young Petya would not like, his innovation will not be the way he intended it - the idea will lose its original form. The implementation process is to blame for this: all tasks and their solutions, all alternatives will lead the conceived ideal to the release product. This change can affect the structure of the concept, both positively and negatively. Long term transformation of an idea can lead to a fiasco - cool game, which Petya is planning, has a chance to fail on release only because the player does not accept the idea.

But Petya did not give up and decided to develop his own game. Reading tons of literature, watching thousands of video tutorials, drawing and practicing, he came to the point of implementation. Taking an idea in his right hand and enthusiasm in his left, Petya set about a long and exhausting work. Perhaps he created a game on a phone or on a PC - he doesn't change the essence: Petya worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so that his idea took shape.

Release point. Petya's game turned out to be not bad at all - maybe not what was intended at first, but the result inspired the creator. The work is done, all the finishing touches are done - it's time to release the game to the public. Here comes the moment of grief: no one downloads the game, it is not in the top, does not bring fame and money. With tears in his eyes, Petya asks a dumb question: "Why?".

It's simple, Petya. Nobody is interested in your game, and it's not about its quality. The idea, fading into the background, gives way to the banal principle “What can you offer”. Isolation of all fresh (and not so) games from the gray mass will not lead to success only due to the lack of a unique proposal. In other words - due to the lack of correct presentation in the Advertising. It would seem that advertising is a secondary thing and does not require attention at the stages of development. But this is not so - the project from the very beginning of its implementation should focus on the market, create a unique offer for the player. - the developer is obliged to organize a worthy place in the proposals for his future game.

Marketing is a complicated thing, alien to Petya. It is not his fault that his idea did not find its fan and did not endow the author with a mountain of money. An independent developer is one thing. What are the major gaming publications doing? For the development team, a specific document is being prepared with all the wishes, requirements and restrictions. In response, the studio agrees to all the nuances, stipulates the number of people working on the game, and the price of the issue. The main theme of the document is, of course, the game. All managers, analysts, marketers give birth to the basis of the project - they give a genre, a theme. Everything that is interesting and will be interesting to the player is taken into account and converted into a plan, which is eventually sent to the future creator - developer. He already thinks about the implementation of the project: about the plot, about the aspects.

Without leaving the dream of glory, Petya started a new job. This time he was more than serious. Asking his classmates what they would like to see in the game, Petya analyzed and created a whole system of options for transforming his idea. He was at the most difficult stage of development - at the preparatory stage.

During preparation, the developer, under the guidance of the publisher, works on describing the advantages and features of the future game. As a rule, a project idea is developed collectively - by all studio members. Each designer, coder, sound engineer, screenwriter contributes his own idea of \u200b\u200bthe final result. In this case, the initial concept is blurred beyond recognition. Preparation for development is the very moment when the studio tries not only to keep the original idea, but also to improve it.

The result of the preparatory work inside the studio is a whole document on which all ideas about the future game, all its features, all aspects are expressed. Such a document is sent to the publisher and is considered the ultimate goal of the work that the developer should strive for.

An indie creator should have this document as well - it will help ensure the integrity of the idea and increase the chance of success. Usually independent enthusiasts with such a plan are looking for help in implementation - either they try to push the document to the publisher, or they seek help from the same independent developers. But our Petya does not have the money to pay for a hired designer, and his age does not inspire confidence in potential sponsors - so he started development alone.

Today an independent developer has every chance to find success - crowdfunding, all kinds of communities of testers and developers, digital distributors can help any project. For example, the Early Access program in Steam already provided many developers with the right coin to help their programs reach the finish line in development. Or groups of novice testers and coders who are ready to work for an idea. All the offered opportunities on the Internet give a huge chance for people to translate their ideas materially, in digital form. Sooner or later, the range of all available services will expand, as will the availability of implementation.

After some thought, Peter decided to involve a group of players to test the game. The project has reached the Alpha stage and is able to show all its main features. Which, by the way, pleased the testers. But not everything is so optimistic: the tester is a critical person, his task is to find all the flaws and inform the creator about them. At the same time, he is able to bring something of his own into the game, proposing ideas at an early stage of testing. So, to Petya's headache was added a lot of suggestions and problems that can unsettle any developer.

In general, a game at the testing stage requires a huge amount of resources, time and effort, which any independent developer lacks. The alpha test obliges the creator to experiment, introduce something new, sometimes even follow the testers' lead, without departing from the intended result. It is at this stage that the further fate of the project is determined and a choice is made - the developer either gives in or goes to the end, despite all the tons of criticism. as if telling the creator: “Why are you doing this? Drop all this nonsense. " The developer must answer briefly and firmly "No", and then continue the exhausting work. The beta project is entering the home stretch, which is not as easy as it seems.

And here again - the end of development. The finished game, as a result of long months of hard work, lies before Peter and humbly awaits the release. Petya is in thought: what if it doesn't work out? Transform the idea into new image? The independent creator asks this question every time ahead of release, just as any other play writer fears failure before going on stage. Such worries are alien to large studios, but quite familiar to single developers.

The reality is that the idea is not the main thing today. Originality is replaced by proven solutions, something new is rejected not by game developers, but by the community of gamers. The idea itself is capable of moving mountains, but behind these mountains there may be a conservative who does not want the new, he needs the old. An independent developer only needs to put up with it and do what is accepted by the people for success.

What happened to Petya? Maybe his game still got to the top, and people liked the idea. Or maybe vice versa - something was not enough for success. Generally speaking, an indie creator must perfectly understand one simple truth: without bitter experience, you cannot hold a victory. His job should be to create many variations and make a great number of attempts. His essential qualities are patience and hard work. Its main engine is the idea.

Based on their experience, and the experiences of other developers, as promised, we will tell you what rules to focus on in order to become a video game creator. By the way, if you haven't read our articles on the best indie games, then we advise you to read some of our reviews.

1. Skills

It is worth starting with a simple realization that in addition to a dream and an idea, you must be able to make games, or at least have basic knowledge of programming or game design. This implies that you need to learn how to work in C ++, Objective-C, or C #. Ability to "play around" with such well-known engines as Unity, Unreal Engine or Source. This is the package of knowledge that will help you not easily write your game, but go to work in any studio. You can also practice in writing scripts, creating levels in the same RPG Maker, Unity, or trying to make mods, for example, for Skyrim.

Fortunately, you can find many courses on learning a programming language - so it all depends on your desire. If you already find it difficult to accept this fact, then think of Dean Dodrill, the creator of Dust. He was so eager to make a game that he began to study programming on his own, completely not knowing mathematics, but attending courses.

2. Plot and Gameplay

With skill, you must concentrate on the idea. It should be fresh, which the world has not seen before. However, looking for sources of inspiration is not always possible only in the head. Looking around at your life, you may come up with an idea that you will translate into your game. Think of Lucas Pope and Papers, Please - the creator took the boring experience of going through document checks at the checkpoint as a basis, flying from country to country, and made a tense story around it.

However, whatever the idea, at the beginning of creation you need to work out the gameplay.

3. Borrow, inherit, but don't be afraid to change everything in the bud

Do not forget that many mechanics, gameplay features, most likely, came up long ago before you, and do not be afraid to use them. A striking example of Daisuke Amaei, who created his Cave Story, inheriting the principles of Castalvania and Metroid, diluting it with an interesting setting and written characters. He just wanted to create good game in his own way, based on the ones he liked.

Eric Baron did the same, taking the casual genre of the farm and turning it into a new interesting project, changing the mechanics, and giving the world Stardew Valléy.

Or go ahead and change the genre. When Toby Fox was creating Undertale, he basically changed the concept of RPG fighting and made it possible, instead of fighting, to talk to enemies, to look for ways not to kill the enemy. He took combat mechanics from Pokémon and early RPGs with an emphasis on something else.

4. Focus not on graphics, but on atmosphere

Yes, today some can say that anyone who imagines himself as an indie developer makes a retro-like mainstream game that is lost against the background of the same. However, if you do not have the ability to draw, this is not scary. This did not stop Markus Person from creating Minecraft. The main thing is your idea, its depth and message.

And do not forget that without focusing on graphics, you must implement high-quality sound accompaniment... Yes, it will be a bit of a scam, but if you are not a composer you can always find someone to write you an atmospheric soundtrack.

5. Tell that you are a developer - share it

So you can find those who will support you, your like-minded people. Here are a couple of examples.

80s. Young programmer Sid Meier. Engaged in programming cash registers. One day he meets a former US Air Force pilot who played an arcade machine in the Red Baron pilot simulator Bill Steele. They got to talking, and that evening Sid beat him more than once in this game. Beal was amazed how it was possible that he, a former pilot, was losing to him. To which Sid replied that as a programmer he understood weak spots games and in general, can make the game a hundred times better. As it turned out, Bill was a businessman, and this is how their collaboration began: Sid - studio Bill - publisher. Today, this collaboration has led to the fact that you all know who Sid Meier is.

Edmund McMillen has always loved painting. In the 2000s, he was engaged in making original animations and flash games, one of which was Meat Boy. At one of the exhibitions, he met the same peculiar loner developer Tommy Refenes. They became friends, formed the Team Meat duo, and combined their skills to roll out the iconic Super Meat Boy.

6. Production, PR, finance and production again

Having an idea, skills, visual and audio design, maybe even a partner - push the game to be noticed. Today it is not enough just to make a project and wait for it to be noticed. To be more specific:

• Submit your game on Kickstarter, Green Light Steam
• Do beta tests
• Put demo versions for free
• Attend gaming exhibitions with your project

Do everything to get noticed by both gamers and potential publishers.

And remember the main thing: Do not quit the game, but do it until the very end, not paying attention to empty criticism.

Introducing Unity

Because one of my favorite genres is TD (tower defense) - I wanted to try to create something similar to a game in this genre. Before starting work with Unity (and accordingly with C #), I only worked with PHP and Python.

The Unity + C # bundle seemed to me more successful (and simpler) than Unreal Engine + C ++. To begin with, I got acquainted with C # (made a simple program in Visual Studio), and then I started learning Unity. If you already own good level one of the programming languages \u200b\u200b- C # will be simple and straightforward. Getting to know Unity itself is much more difficult.

Unfortunately, at the time I started creating the game, I had not read a single book on Unity. I started off with a few online courses and videos that give you a quick introduction to Unity tools. I can call this one of the biggest mistakes. That is, I learned to work with Unity directly working in Unity (creating a game). But in principle, this did not contradict what I wanted. At the very beginning, I did not think that the game would work out, and I will start selling it. I just wanted to get acquainted with the engine, maybe try UE after that.

First steps

After watching a few videos, as well as an excellent video tutorial on creating TD in Unity, I started my own business. I only had a few hours a week to create the game. I watched the video, read the documentation, googled incomprehensible moments, did something. The game began to turn from “circles shoot at squares” into “a man with an ax beats a wolf”. I slowly mastered the simplest Unity tools and interaction with C #. Unfortunately, the very first versions of the game, or screenshots, have not survived (those that exist are about 2-3 months from the beginning of creation).

According to my estimates, it took two weeks for squares to start running on the map, and circles to shoot at them. It will take a few weeks to replace the squares with enemies, and the circles with defenders and also the levels with something similar to TD.

I also made a simple menu, and something like a deck manager, because I have TD with CCG elements (collectible card games) and RPG. Then work began on the RPG component, I was interested in coming up with formulas for calculating damage, armor, accuracy, crit, etc. and also add CCG to it all.

Gradually, the game began to acquire features that I had not seen in other games, as well as interesting mechanics. Most of the questions were about visual performance. But since the game was made “for oneself,” there were no problems.

I didn't pay a penny to the designer, I took pictures and music from open free sources. For example, to create heroes, I used the free program Hero Machine, for map tiles I drew something myself, for music - YouTube. In general, for 2-3 months of development (as it seemed to me learning Unity), I did not even think about sales or so on.

First expenses

If free program she helped me to create heroes-defenders, I could not create worthy enemies. At some point, I wanted to make different types of enemies and at the same time look good. My gaze fell on freelance exchanges. I placed an order for the creation of a 2D wolf and its sprite animation on one of the exchanges (something like freelance.com). There were many answers, of course I chose the most budgetary option. The first wolf cost me $ 20.

After I integrated the wolf into the game and saw how much the game looks better, I thought about more enemies. I looked for guys on domestic freelance exchanges and found a person there who asked for less overseas artist, and I liked his style more.

He drew me new enemies "wolf", "boar", "ent" for the first act of the game. They looked cooler than all my game graphics, so I ordered a new UI from him. All the designer's work (drawing the first act + UI) cost about $ 200.

I began to see that the game was taking on some real shape. Added a blacksmith and a shop, the designer began work on the second act (undead). The designer drew the enemies themselves, as well as maps - levels. The second act cost me $ 100-150.

I started thinking about Steam Greenlight to get some feedback.

Game Planet 2016

I saw an ad for the Game Planet festival. For participation they asked for 5000 rubles, they gave a booth 1m x 2m. I was curious, so I agreed. I took a colleague from work as an assistant (thanks to him for his help), printed a bunch of waste paper (thanks to a free printer at work), prizes, banners, T-shirts, bought chocolates. In general, two days of the festival cost me about $ 150-200.

Also, for the start of the festival, I designed a Steam page to launch the game on Greenlight. It seemed to me that it would be possible to attract attention to the game at the festival and get through the selection on Steam faster.

In total, there were 8 booths in the indie venue. It seems to me not very lucky with the location. On my right was a racing game (represented by the PUBLISHER, developers in Ukraine), on the left was the game “Mushrooms Wars 2” (the guys themselves said that Apple helped them with the design). Why these guys considered themselves indie and why the organizers also considered themselves - I don't understand. In general, against their background, I (and the rest of the real indie developers) looked worse. I have shown the game on a PC and also on a cheap Windows tablet.

We showed our game, collected opinions, asked to vote on Steam, handed out certificates for the free Steam version, etc. We also tried to attract people to our groups on social networks (they promised additional sweepstakes, prizes and news there).

It was interesting to watch the players, what they understand, what caused difficulties. Players found bugs and spoke their opinions. Most of the complaints were about the schedule. She was too simple and it was foolish to argue with that. The graphics could not resemble old-school or pixel-based graphics. It was just bad (since I did most of it myself). People liked the mechanics of the game and were interesting to them. It is also surprising, but the children liked the game (up to 10 years old). It feels like they saw the TD genre for the first time, and they were very fascinated by it. One mother left us a child for several hours (both days of the festival), and he sat in the corner of the booth and played.

I also met a few cool guys (also indie developers) and I got people with whom I could discuss my creation, get professional opinion, advice.

As a result, I can say that all the benefits of the festival are a few votes on Steam, an understanding that the schedule needs to be changed, and a few new acquaintances.

There is no point in writing how Steam Greenlight went through. it won't be there anymore. But it all came down to the fact that you have to catch up with the "prepared traffic" yourself. Otherwise, no one needs your game and the standard comment will be “what the next shit !?”.

Boomstarter

I also tried a crowdfunding campaign on the Russian service Boomstarter. This has become a waste of time for me. The service does not have its own traffic, and if you do not have hundreds of people who want to invest in you, you will not find new ones there.

Life after Greenlight

Steam Greenlight walkthrough is awesome. This means that the hours spent on development, money on graphics, $ 100 for participation itself - it was all for good reason. Someone (besides you) is interested in your game, and he is theoretically ready to buy it.

Steam Greenlight left a mixed impression. First, I managed to complete it in just 2 weeks. It is fast and good and we should be proud of it. But secondly, I realized that without “prepared traffic” it would not have been possible to go through so quickly (one could freeze for several months or six months). I also read a lot of comments like “game - g *** o”, “author * Roskomnadzor * against the wall”, etc. As an unprepared person, it was unpleasant for me. I poklikav games on the same Greenlight put likes, if you like. If I didn't like someone else's game, I just walked by.

Then there was new Year, then I was invited to an interesting freelance project. I ordered my designer to redraw the maps (levels), because the existing ones did not fit at all. Development stopped for about half a year.

The new levels are prettier, I started adding particles for beauty. There was also a process of bugfixing and adding what the players from the festival suggested.

Several times I went to the St. Petersburg game girls parties, chatted, drank beer. The correct thought was expressed by Oleg Pridiuk: “games should be made not in order to make, but in order to sell”. This idea became close to me, tk. up to this point I hadn't really thought about selling. I liked the development process itself - to set a goal, to implement, to come up with a new mechanic - to do it.

In the meantime, I found another designer. The first had other projects (maybe more monetary, maybe more interesting).

With the second designer, we started by redrawing the main menu of the game (picture above). This is the first (after the cutscene) that the player sees and in my opinion it should have been cool. What happened - I really liked it:

This picture cost me about $ 40 but made the first impression of the game better. We continued our work and decided to start by redrawing the UI. The old wooden UI looked bad with new elements.

The new UI cost me $ 100. the first designer did not free himself - it was decided that the second designer would take care of all the new tasks. We finished the second act, interfaces, he made some comments on the color-font. I have scheduled the release on Wednesday November 8th. By the way, you can change the release date at least every day. The game will then hang on the "coming soon" lists and get some attention before it comes out. I didn't use such tactics, but they say it works.

Steam early access

The game in this form was ready (in my opinion) for the release on Steam Early Access. Surprisingly, the preparation took a VERY long time (from the finished build to the release on Steam). Starting from steam additions SDK and ending with hundreds of pictures that Steam needs for your game, also downloading the first build is incomprehensible (thanks to the one who helped figure it out). It is also necessary to fill in any tax information, create a description of the game and a description of early access (I did it in Russian and English), achievements, maps, emoticons, etc. I think the preparation process took me about a week.

I also tried to lead groups on social networks, the old man on IndieDB, etc. It all takes away HIGHLY a lot of time, and instead of making a game, I did pictures in photoshop. In general, if you have a person who can take on this work (or there are at least more than 1 of you in the team), then you are in luck.

It was also not easy for me to decide on the price and day of the week / date for the release of the game. I read several articles, and here is what I realized for myself:

• You cannot release games during sales, as well as a week before and after.
• The best day to graduate is Wednesday - Thursday - Friday. If your game falls to the top, it will hang there all weekend.
• VR games are very popular now. They score the whole top.
• Don't underestimate your game. As a result, I set the price to $ 9.99 (259 rubles in Russia). Steam has its own prices for each country. I think the price is correct, if I chose the price of $ 4.99 - I don't think I would get 2 times more sales. Although I cannot verify this. As they wrote in one of the articles, you know better how much your game costs.
• The exit discount is good. I bet 10%. While there was a discount, the game was on sale (about 10-15 sales per day). When the discount ended, sales immediately dropped to 1-2 per day.
• Due to Steam's policy (you cannot make discounts very often), I missed the Fall Sale. I already get to the winter one. So, when choosing a release date for the game, you can think about that.

Total - Early Access is very cool. Players are more loyal to bugs, you get a bunch of testers (who also pay you to play), their opinions, suggestions. At the time of this writing, the game has been sold 110 times (one month from the start of Early Access). But about 80 purchases were made in the first week, while there was a 10% discount. The game was also added to the “Wishlist” 760 times. I hope these people are waiting for the release / good discounts. I haven't received any money from Steam yet. payments are made at the end of the month, for the last month. As I understood from the articles, Steam first pays all sales taxes, and then takes 30% of the proceeds. As a result, 40-50% of the total sales may come out. Also, I do not yet have statistics on sales of collectible cards (Steam also gives a% of their sales), but I'm not expecting something special there.

By the time the game is released, I will have fixed all the bugs and added everything the community wants. Also, I will have a certain number of reviews (while it is kept in the “positive” status). So I don't see any minuses in Early Access - it's cool and works.

Ways to increase sales

What I tried and what I got:

• Posts in VK (in groups with the theme of the game of indie games). The most expensive one cost several thousand rubles (Igromania), the cheapest one was free. He also played several dozen keys.
  Bottom line: Russia is in second place in terms of sales on Steam - approximately 20% in terms of revenue and 45% in terms of sales. For example, the United States is 27% of revenue and 10% of sales.
• IndieDB. Wrote news - played keys.
  Bottom line: difficult to assess, but a few people a day come to the Steam page with IndieDB. If you have someone to do it, you have to do it.
• keymailer.co. An interesting service - you distribute the keys to the game for free to all kinds of reviewers and vloggers. In theory, they should play and post reviews on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, etc.
  Bottom line: for 200-250 keys handed out, 25 people played the game, only 2 made a normal review, some just reposted the trailer, the rest have not yet given a result. Maybe after the release there will be more sense.
• Festivals. I participated only in 1 and then at that time it was impossible to buy the game, but I ended up paying to give out a bunch of keys. The sense of the festival is new acquaintances of game girls, but it was possible to meet in another place.
• Bundles. Almost on the first day, they sent me an offer to participate in a large bundle. They promised about $ 600-2000 of income, but I'm on this moment refused. Bundles will not go anywhere, they should be used when the game is not sold at all.
• Coupons. You can configure Steam to drop high discount coupons to players for your game. I tried (30% and 60% discount), but only 5 people bought coupons, so I didn't see much sense. Maybe they will buy more at a 90% discount, but so far I don't see the point.
• Other. Also, offers from some individuals were poured into my mail to give them the keys, gave them to someone, sent someone, the result is not clear. They also write all sorts of "curators" from Steam, who are ready to write something for money. I did not use such.

Total budget

• Zero Designer - $ 20. I drew a wolf, which was then redrawn by the designer 1.
• First designer - 16,600 rubles Includes 12 cards - levels (the first 2 acts), monsters - wolf, boar, ent, zombie, skeleton. UI which was then redone. Movie for Steam Greenlight.
• Second designer - 23,000 rubles. A picture enters - a menu. Redesign of the entire UI. 12 levels (3-4 act). Monsters - Banshee, Orc, Goblin, Orc Shaman, and Demon Monsters for Act 4.
• GamePlanet Festival 2016 - RUB 10,000 Participation (5000r), prizes, chocolates, T-shirts, etc.
• Advertising - 6000 rubles. Posts in several domestic groups in VK and something else.
• Participation in Steam Greenlight - $ 100 (3000 rubles for Russia).
• My work is priceless. I can only roughly estimate how much time I spent. I think something in the region of 300-500 hours. It is useless to evaluate in money, I perceive the development of the game as a hobby.

Total: RUB 59 800 or about $ 1000.

I can already see that the game will completely discourage all investments, and even bring some kind of earnings. Of course, I could not live on this money, but a hobby that brings a small income is cool. I also want to try to go to iOS and Android when ready (this will bring another interesting experience). The game encourages playing on tablets.

Will I be making more games? Definitely yes!

PS: if someone wants to play, but doesn't want to buy for some reason - write, I will share the key for free (the number of keys is limited).

Computer and mobile games reproduce almost by budding: in 2016, more than 4,000 PC games were released in the most popular game store Steam, and in 2017 this figure exceeded 7,600 - it turns out that on average 21 new game... Competition among mobile developers is even tougher: in App Store more than 1,500 games are released a month, and in September 2016 there were almost 47,000 of them. The number of development companies, including small indie studios, is also growing, but most of them die before the launch of the first project or immediately after. To understand how things are in the not utopian world of indie development, T&P spoke with representatives of three Russian studios.

How it works

Workflows in an indie studio can be structured very differently than in large companies. Organizing five people is much easier than organizing 50, but at the same time, the leader must sensibly assess the strength of his few subordinates and set reasonable deadlines.

In a small team, everyone and everyone is often friends, which can both motivate employees and distract from work. In search of a middle ground between hobby and work, a sincere interest in projects saves - without it they cannot survive.

It is almost impossible to build a classic relationship "boss - subordinates" in indie, you have to rely on everyone's responsibility. The main task of the leader here is to create ideal conditions for the team and not interfere with people doing their work, says Oleg Parshentsev.

Oleg Parshentsev: An indie studio differs from a large company as a small family restaurant differs from a restaurant with a hundred seats and three Michelin stars. When you work in a small team, there is no “not my job” attitude - each meeting is held in a heated discussion of problems and attempts to find the most effective solutions. Everyone knows the common goal and sees how their actions bring the team closer to it.

Alexander Melkozerov: Our hierarchy is very different: it is horizontal. There is not as much work as in large companies, so there are highly specialized people, but there are no individual managers. None of our employees worked for large companies.

Sergey Glukhov: Often times, work in indie is not as well structured as in large companies, but this is not about us. A lot of effort has been spent on building and optimizing development pipelines, and this has borne fruit. Of course, there are some peculiarities: the main problems are lack of hands and super tight deadlines.

A place for creativity

It would seem that there is more room for creativity in the indie studio, but even here there are some pitfalls. One of the most important skills is to be able to stop in time, to redo something before it's too late, or to stop development altogether, says Alexander Melkozerov. But in general, the forecast for creative people is rather positive. Sergei Glukhov notes that in indie studios, the scope for creativity is wider - at least because there is no feeling of a "screw in the system". The work of each developer is significant and noticeable, and it's much more pleasant to work when you see that the idea was not in vain.

Alexander Melkozerov: The hardest part about working as an indie is choosing. If we don't guess, there will be losses. It is important to constantly monitor what is coming to the market and what mechanics and solutions are in demand from users.

Oleg Parshentsev: main feature creative process - rework. Lots of rework. Introduced a new store of magic items in the game and made a visual for it? Be ready to change it two, three, five times - until the player starts to click on this store and spend his gold.

Without self-education nowhere

In game development, few people believe in specialized education. There are specialties for which the right background is necessary: \u200b\u200bfor example, if you are going to monetize a game, you need mathematics, and not at all at an amateur level. But programming languages, programs for artists, management of game projects is quite possible to master on your own. When hiring, artists show portfolios, game designers perform a test task - no one is asked to show their diploma.

Alexander Melkozerov, an engineer by profession, recommends that all beginners train more, watch other people's work, use GitHub and come to work with at least a little, but practical development experience. In Rostov-on-Don, where his studio is located, good specialists are in short supply - Alexander is ready to finish teaching new employees if he sees potential in them. Such a scenario is possible in Moscow as well: mentoring in indie studios is a common practice.

Education never ends: a year of lag in IT goes over ten, so one experience will not go far - you need to follow the achievements of market leaders and constantly learn new things.

Alexander Melkozerov: Institutions do not teach what is needed. They need to unite with practices, do something together. Such symbiosis could change the situation with the personnel in the market.

In 2016, we took part in the international accelerator GameFounders - it helped us a lot, and I advise all beginning studios to use such opportunities.

Oleg Parshentsev: When I was choosing my specialization, there was no university where I could learn anything from game development. Therefore, only courses, books, conferences, podcasts, publics, news portals and much more. Now there is a huge amount of information, and most of - freely available, the main thing is to constantly improve.

How to earn

It's important to strike a balance: create games that employees are willing to play on their own (otherwise they won't be able to do really cool things) and that will be profitable at the same time (because even the most motivated enthusiasts won't last long without a paycheck). Alexander Melkozerov says that his studio had many failures - there is only one way to cope: experiment and watch the audience's reaction. People are willing to pay for something amazing that no major studio will ever do. But as a safety net, indie studios take part-time jobs - they carry out other people's orders as outsourcing developers.

Alexander Melkozerov: To all enthusiasts: show and tell about your project to experts, mentors, potential audience as much as possible, collect maximum feedback. The worst thing you can do is not show the game to anyone until the release, when it's too late.

What to expect from working in an indie studio

On the one hand, it is easier to get a job in an indie company, on the other hand, there is a chance that the game you have to play will simply not see the light of day. What else to prepare for?

Oleg Parshentsev: The industry looks so fluffy, but in reality ... Do you want to be an artist and draw cool things in a large company? Get ready to make boots or crystals for a couple of years. Do you like designing games and want to be a game designer? Welcome to fascinating world Excel tables and analytics. I can go on for so long. However, if this is truly your favorite business of your life, you will get incredible pleasure even from digging in tables.

Well, to open your own studio, you need experience or money for which this experience can be bought. Better, of course, both, because having experience and not having money, you will have to spend the third important resource - time.

Alexander Melkozerov: If you've never worked in game development, don't go to indie! Go to a large company and see how everything works. If you come straight to indie without understanding the inner cuisine, mistakes that are inevitable will discourage all desire to further develop in the field. You need to be prepared for the fact that you have to do everything at once.