Truth about indy

[Kamaz]

I dont usually tend to post such kind of things around, but this seems the best place to do it.

In the past months I have come to conclusion, that indy developers are very interesting society, they are sometime the last hope of game industry. Considering I know very little of their behaviours, their lifestyle and way of earning money [if any], I am curious to get as good informed as I can get. And would really appreciate any help from your side, because some of you witness all game industry allready from its beginnings and mostly can answer the questions given.

More concretely speaking - I would like to know how one goes indy, how one lingers its existance, how one works. Would be pleased by any real-indy examples from history, the greatest indy successes and also failures. Things indy should take in mind before heading somewhere. What kind of people are those mystical indy devs? I would also like to know some statistical date on some indy organizations - earnings, losses, staff count, software used.

Long things short - I would like to hear any solid information about independant developers. Considering I have posted this in a General RPG discussion forum, I automatically assume, that I am speaking concretely about indy cRPG developers.

 

[Vault Dweller]

In the past months I have come to conclusion, that indy developers are very interesting society, they are sometime the last hope of game industry.

Yep, that's for sure. Even Black Isle is famous mostly for the titles it failed to produce, which is sad and ironic at the same time.

More concretely speaking - I would like to know how one goes indy

I'd assume when one gets tired of waiting for quality games that never come and decides to make one. I heard that actual programming knowledge is an asset. Avg price is $25. Jeff Vogel sells several thousands copies per game. Do the math.

There are many engines available to aspiring indie developers. I listed some of them in this thread. http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=4267.