And How Can You Be a Part of Indie Game Development?
So, Wikipedia states the definition of indie video game developers as:
“Independent video games (commonly referred to as indie games) are video games created by individuals or small teams generally without video game publisher financial support. Indie games often focus on innovation and rely on digital distribution.”
While this is true, indie game development is much more than that. It is a process of dedication, learning, devotion, long nights and best of all, fun.
The thing about indie game development, is that as long as you want to do it, you can. It does take a lot of time and research, and more than likely you will need to learn to wear many job hats. If you have an idea, go for it.
But I Don’t Know How to Program Anything?
This is a common fear. Well, it’s a good thing that there are game engines that do not require you to know how to program anything. RPG Maker, Construct 3, Spark, GameMaker and GameSalad are just a few of the game engines out there for you yo use that don’t require any programming.
But You Don’t Know Where to Start?
You start with an idea. Whether it’s a game you always wanted to make or a studio you always wanted to start, jump on it. If it’s a game developer studio you want to start, you can start in your basement. Most indie games are made in basements / garages / home offices. If it’s a game, get started. Hash your game idea out and download a game engine you feel you could work with.
Who Can You Turn to if You Have Questions?
You should join a local networking group. You get to meet other professionals, enthusiasts, students and beginners. These are your local peers and are always (for the most part) willing to help you out. You can go to Meetup.com and generally be able to find a game developer networking group within a reasonable distance to your home. If there isn’t one, start one.
Another place is the internet. Go to Google Search and type in your question. Google will give you several pages of websites that answer your questions. If you don’t find the answer you were looking for, find a forum that has a focus on the part of game development you are doing (like a Unity question in the Unity forums) and ask. Within 24 hours, you will probably get an answer.
Books are also a good choice. Many professional indie game developers and AAA game developers have written books about game development. They were once in your shoes, so they understand that you are just starting out and need some help. They know what you need to know and give you some ways to solve your problems or help you solve your game development problems.
You’re broke. Game Development is Expensive, So You’ve Heard
Yes, game development can be expensive, if you’re team is made of 100’s of people and you’re making the next Halo. But for indie game development, costs can be relatively cheap nowadays.
Most indie game developer’s are broke, and make an average of 10k per year, if their lucky. Most indie game developers also have full time day jobs to support themselves, especially when they are starting out. So what do you do to make a game with a minimal budget?
Take advantage of all the resources available to you, and pay for things only when you need to. There are many game development engines for you to download that are free, or free until you start making a reasonable profit while using it. Unity and GameMaker are two examples of free game engines for studios with a minimal budget and not a lot of income.
Also ask your networking group(s) for advice on which tools would be a good fit for you, based on your skill level in game development.
The Most Important Thing to Learn and Use is Marketing
That’s right. Many times, there are awesome video games out there that never get discovered because the developer is so wrapped up in making the game, that he or she or they forget about marketing it.
You don’t need money to start your marketing. There are plenty of available resources for you to use to market. The internet and social media are your best bets, as well as the press. You can create demo videos for YouTube and Vimeo, post updates about your game on social sites like Twitter, Facebook and Google+, write press releases and send to your local press, video game press and national press. You should also absolutely have a website either for your game or your company or both. There are free ones that act as subdomains via WordPress or Blogger, but really, a website does not cost a lot per year, so you should invest.
Conclusion
Starting to do your indie game development is easy. Staying dedicated and informed can be easy, too. Finding the time to do it might be more difficult, but if you really want to create your game, you will make the time to do it. Use your resources, join a local networking group and create the game you always wanted to.