Ever wonder what it's like inside the mind of an indie dev owner? Man you are in luck. I am a co-owner of an indie company and I am willing to tell you a little bit about it in case you are curious or hoping to open a place yourself. Let me give everyone a bit of insight here:
It's a fun job but it's still a job
We see videos and pictures of Dev teams having nerf wars in the office or razor scooter races in the halls and stuff like that and we all think: "Damn these guys just have fun all day!" Well we only post stuff like that since to watch us work is utterly boring. We sit at our computers or drawing tablets and for 12 hours (sometimes more) that's our day. This job kicks the ass out of every job I have ever had before it but the blood sweat and tears it takes to make it in this business cannot be understated. I love it and it is never boring for me but it is not the screw off job most of us tend to think. In fact the last time we had fun as a team was...
Gambling your future
When you open a company and you have investors and employees; it's about as real as it gets. You have contractual obligations to investors and workers and it is your sole duty to make the investor's money back and then some. If you fail to do so you will more than likely fail as a business. Should you fail as a business it becomes tougher to seek out more loans and investors to try again. In short you may get at max two tries to realize your dream. The pressure is enormous. Screw up once and it's over-one life and no continues the hardest of all games. Now some people get into this and literally empty the family savings into it. Sometimes future college funds are gambled in the hopes of a self supported business. It takes an awful lot of courage and confidence in your abilities to go ahead with something like this. Think about it-Your dream. If someone said you can have a shot at it but you must empty your bank account, risk future financial devastation and enter a realm where there are tens of thousands of competitors-would you do it?
People are People
Your workers depend on you for a living. Unlike some folks I give a damn about my employees. If they don't feel good don't come in if it is the anniversary of a death and you need time off-have it. We're doing Mc Donald's if you drive I'll buy for you-stuff like that. At the end of the pay period the check needs to clear they have responsibilities and mouths to feed. This seems obvious but it also seems that the gaming industry treats their workers as literal slaves. 38 Studios did not pay their workers for a period of a month, Free Radical Design failed to do so for about 3 months-the list goes on. In a world where such large profits can be made owners have a habit of forgetting where those games came from. My company hasnt turned huge profits and yet I still value my workers as people. We are still very small so I have the luxury of hanging out in the break room playing games and talking with my employees. I try not to forge friendships but rather just know more than their name and schedule. It's much nicer to hear "Hey Bill, how'd your sister's surgery go?" Rather than not being paid for a month. That's how I do things.
Engaging the market
Fans of games come in all frames of mind. I will admit that even in my 20's I had no idea where games came from-that they just appeared on shelves. This mindset is still around today and it's alright I know how that goes. There are others that think if it isnt AAA it is crap and there are about a million other ways of thinking about games. We often forget though that EA Activision and all these goliaths also were beginners at some point. That they were no different from my company at their start. A handful of guys with basic gear and a dream. Some people who look down on the indie side of gaming and claim it lesser than AAA are to a degree right. We cannot make a game to that quality-we simply can't. We do not have the staff or money to hire all kinds of experts and folks with 20 years experience and motion capture suits and stuff. We just don't. Basically we are the visual equal to a garage band. Rolling Stones Led Zeppelin all these rock gods were kids making noise in a basement somewhere at some point. If you don't like or don't support the indie scene that's fine but remember that those mega AAAs you love so much started there.
Watch the fine print
I have engaged in numerous contracts. Some I write up for others some I have to read thoroughly and discuss the benefits before signing. When I approach another company worth way more than mine I have to remember-They have something to gain from this or else they wouldnt bother. I have to find out what that something is and if it will in turn hurt me. Huge corps like Microsoft Sony etc they all swim in the hundreds of millions or billions per agreement. Asking me for a handful of Gs doesnt seem like anything to them but it could quite possibly be the world for me. Knowing what you are getting yourself into is huge. Typically a store or restaurant is in start up phases for three to five years. That may be the case here depending on my decisions. The important thing is to not get blind sided by the hopes and allure of millions. Huge distribution can promise you anything but whether or not it'll happen is up to the fans. Huge distribution won't give a damn if I cease to exist because of their contract-they need to make money too. Selecting how you go about growing and creating a buzz is more important than immediate return or simply going with huge distribution just so you can say you have to sound cool at a party or something. No one will do anything for free really so when negotiating or reading always remember that your potential partner wants something of yours. If it doesnt seem like a lot remember your fiscal year and tax season.
Quality of life
My wife and I do not live fabulously. We barely live. One of our cars is still broken and we havent had the money to fix it. My car is ten years old-very few indie devs strike a chord with the public and can retire early if they choose to. The other 10's of thousands of us get by and hope the next game does better. There is a myth out there that any good game will "just make money". It doesn't work like that. You have to invest time and money into ad campaigns and hope that professional reviewers give you a thumbs up hope people talk about it or go viral or something. Basically big time time success boils down to quality and dumb luck. I like to think we made a nice game here at my company but until it gains some momentum I won't really know if I can look for a house yet. Unlike a 9-5 where X is more or less guaranteed every week I rely on sales and nothing more. Nothing is certain. This has got to be the hardest yet most fulfilling job I have ever had. Those of you who are considering a future in gaming I applaud and encourage you. But I will tell you what no one told me. "Grab the bull by the horns and never let go baby cuz this fight is gonna last for a long time."
