Post by Malia_Gede in Rethinking My Indie Game Development: Lessons Learned, Market Realities, and My Next Steps comments

Rethinking My Indie Game Development: Lessons Learned, Market Realities, and My Next Steps » Comments

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It seems to me that when many become drivers, they start to distance themselves from pedestrians, and when they become developers, they start to forget what it means to be a player (and a buyer of games).

I have been playing different games for over thirty years, and now the market is really oversaturated. But let's be honest - even among low-budget projects there are real masterpieces, and projects that were made by huge companies for years turn out to be a complete disappointment.

Personally, I have been playing a lot of indie visual novels in recent years, but it is impossible to give everyone a chance. And competent marketing will not help here. I know that now the opinion that people should do what they like is very popular, but this does not mean that others should like it too. Books or games, there is talent or not, but the lack of a broad outlook and basic education of game developers ... Cute ideas of cute kids will not replace minimal quality. People think that if they drew a line with a trembling hand, then this is already a picture that everyone should see, and even better, buy. And this is absurd. Artists draw thousands of strokes daily during training and still often remain mediocre. Our life is limited in time and it is definitely not worth wasting it on everything.

Last year, I watched hundreds of games on jams, but bought only four games on Steam. And I marked two more future ones. I deleted six games that took too long to develop from my wish list. I am no longer interested in these topics and similar projects have overtaken them.

I would also like to point out that many developers forget that Steam is not the most popular platform for sales by chance. It's just that in some countries you can only buy a game there. For example, I can't spend a single cent on itch.io for the simple reason that payment systems block our country. But Steam and GOG are quite accessible to me. And there are millions of us. The market really needs to be seriously studied. Marketing research is a science and a person who has the incentive can master it.

I am not writing all this to offend you in any way, because in the end I am your follower. It is just that perhaps you will be able to further adjust your future strategy if you feel like a player again.

Funigami Games26 days ago(+1)

If I had to sum up my post, it’s really about the struggles of a business owner who isn’t making a sustainable profit. and that’s pretty much where I stand. :)

At the end of the day, indie games (at least the way we know them now) were probably never meant to be profitable for most developers. That’s something we, as creators, have to accept.

Are there asset flips out there? Absolutely, more than ever. But at the same time, there are also more quality indie games than ever before. The space has always been a niche, but now it’s so competitive that unless you’re both exceptionally lucky and skilled, it’s hard to break through.

I completely agree that we should be making games for our players. Too often, we end up making the games we want to play instead of the games our audience wants. Striking that balance is something worth thinking about, which is why I want to take some time to think about how to develop Parallel Pulse.