I know even the likes of Larian Studios, the second coming of Bioware, have investors, but there are just too many glaring examples where I can’t help but see investor driven development as a blight on this industry.
Gaming is rife with examples where some belligerent nepobaby helmed conglomerate swooped into a successful gaming studio, bought it out, hallowed out its brain, and marched the resulting flesh golem off to die chasing some flash-in-the-pan fad or idiot trend.
The best games are still made by companies lead and controlled by actual, passionate gamers who want to make the best possible games. Not the most *profitable* games – the best ones. The most acclaimed games, the most celebrated games, the games people remember for years. The kind of games that make other people want to make games.
...
Yes, I know, the whole, “no, starry-eyed indie developers, don’t sell out!” shtick is at least doubly hard to take seriously in response to the industry staring down a major downswing. But if you were going to wind up being a corporate drone anyways, why get into indie development in the first place?
Just be very careful what you agree to, and if nothing else, maybe try Kickstarter first.
So Im just writing this as a general answer to some comments below;
It looks like the prejucidal forthcommings about investors in general is wrong here.
Not all investors invest for control and profit. They invest in your unique ability to make the shit only you can. Also, lo and behold, not all investors are in it for cold hard calculated revenue. There ARE still mecenats out there who know how to strike a good balance between investment and excitement.
And to The Bottom Feeder; no you must not have forums and discords and whatnots. These will mostly draw energy from the most important thing that is working on your unique sauce.
If you feel like you must have this kind of social pressence then hire someone to do it. If you cant pay for it then do yourself a favor and STAY AWAY. Mental hygiene is almost number one for artists who want to maintain stability in their output.
Thanks for a great blog tho. I dont agree with mebbe 30% of the stuff you talk about, and Im honestly a little worried that you are becomming jaded from overexposure in the industry (no hard feelings!), but hey, I love reading your thoughts and please do your thing that I dont always agree with because we dont need echo chambers!
I know even the likes of Larian Studios, the second coming of Bioware, have investors, but there are just too many glaring examples where I can’t help but see investor driven development as a blight on this industry.
Gaming is rife with examples where some belligerent nepobaby helmed conglomerate swooped into a successful gaming studio, bought it out, hallowed out its brain, and marched the resulting flesh golem off to die chasing some flash-in-the-pan fad or idiot trend.
The best games are still made by companies lead and controlled by actual, passionate gamers who want to make the best possible games. Not the most *profitable* games – the best ones. The most acclaimed games, the most celebrated games, the games people remember for years. The kind of games that make other people want to make games.
...
Yes, I know, the whole, “no, starry-eyed indie developers, don’t sell out!” shtick is at least doubly hard to take seriously in response to the industry staring down a major downswing. But if you were going to wind up being a corporate drone anyways, why get into indie development in the first place?
Just be very careful what you agree to, and if nothing else, maybe try Kickstarter first.
So Im just writing this as a general answer to some comments below;
It looks like the prejucidal forthcommings about investors in general is wrong here.
Not all investors invest for control and profit. They invest in your unique ability to make the shit only you can. Also, lo and behold, not all investors are in it for cold hard calculated revenue. There ARE still mecenats out there who know how to strike a good balance between investment and excitement.
And to The Bottom Feeder; no you must not have forums and discords and whatnots. These will mostly draw energy from the most important thing that is working on your unique sauce.
If you feel like you must have this kind of social pressence then hire someone to do it. If you cant pay for it then do yourself a favor and STAY AWAY. Mental hygiene is almost number one for artists who want to maintain stability in their output.
Thanks for a great blog tho. I dont agree with mebbe 30% of the stuff you talk about, and Im honestly a little worried that you are becomming jaded from overexposure in the industry (no hard feelings!), but hey, I love reading your thoughts and please do your thing that I dont always agree with because we dont need echo chambers!
$60000/year is ridiculous.
"Not dreams of being a humble, scuttling creature like me." - Ah, so good to know that cancerification effects game designers as well.