Let's give Jeff Vogel some free publicity
Let's give Jeff Vogel some free publicity
Company News - posted by Monolith on Wed 23 January 2008, 21:08:26
Tags: Jeff Vogel; Spiderweb SoftwareGamebanshee's Brother None has interviewed Jeff Vogel, owner of Spiderweb Software and creator of a lot of indie games - among others, the critically acclaimed Geneforge 4: Rebellion. Jeff basically gives an insight into his business model and the development of indie RPGs in general, pointing out that there's a lot of room for further indie devs and what's necessary if your dream job consists of making ugly and widely unknown games.
GB: For all other (prospective) independent game developers out there, please give some words of advice: what elements of game design should be a priority and what elements can mostly be ignored? What is the best way to find and reach a target market?
Jeff: I always say this: Your game has to be AWESOME. It's not enough for it to be fun. It's not enough for it to be really fun. It has to be fun enough to get people to pull out their credit card and give you the number. That's a high barrier to jump over.
Play games. Lots of them. Go to the casual portals like RealArcade and see what sells. See how much fun other people bring to the table. If you can, try Aegis Wing on XBox Live. It's fun, it's pretty, and it's FREE. Ask yourself: Can your game compete with FREE?
Try the flash games online. There are lots of them, many of them are fun, and they are FREE. Can you compete with that?
Then focus on making your game so fun and addictive that it can compete. Worry about everything else later.I'd rather pay for his games than play Aegis Wing or 99% of all flash games ever made for free. Still, his point stands. Without the eye candy bonus or a million dollar marketing campaign of large publishers an indie dev has to deliver or kiss it goodbye.
Discuss.
GB: For all other (prospective) independent game developers out there, please give some words of advice: what elements of game design should be a priority and what elements can mostly be ignored? What is the best way to find and reach a target market?
Jeff: I always say this: Your game has to be AWESOME. It's not enough for it to be fun. It's not enough for it to be really fun. It has to be fun enough to get people to pull out their credit card and give you the number. That's a high barrier to jump over.
Play games. Lots of them. Go to the casual portals like RealArcade and see what sells. See how much fun other people bring to the table. If you can, try Aegis Wing on XBox Live. It's fun, it's pretty, and it's FREE. Ask yourself: Can your game compete with FREE?
Try the flash games online. There are lots of them, many of them are fun, and they are FREE. Can you compete with that?
Then focus on making your game so fun and addictive that it can compete. Worry about everything else later.
Discuss.
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