Is there a 1% in indie game development?
From recent conversations within independent game development circles, and from my own experience, there seems to be.
Indie developers thrive on links and press. But many devs post press release after press release and get them butchered or relegated to unseen areas of the press sites, or even being completely ignored, instead of being featured like a very few.
Social networks don't work, because the indie devs that matter won't retweet our links.
Even at conferences, it's hard to get a moment with the big indie devs, because they're talking with their 1% clique.
Lump sums and low revenue shares are offered to games that could end up revolutionizing the industry.
We struggle to survive as our games sell in the single digits per day and we can't afford marketing because we don't make enough money.
We can't afford to upgrade engines because our teams don't have the experience or the time to take from updating the games so we get a trickle of people checking out new content.
We are stuck in the past because free tools are saddled with licensing issues that interfere with implementing APIs that increase virality.
We get low Metacritic scores because the press when they do come to us can't be bothered to review the game completely and see that content improves over time in a long dev cycle.
We get a few loyal community members who are sad because we can't implement new features that would bring new people in.
We are still paying off contractors because not enough people buy the game to provide for everyone on the team.
Wake up, Mr Free Man, Mr Indie, Wake up and smell the ashes.
We are the 99% and we expect better of the indie community.
Stop dividing by zero and keep the community united.
The indie community should have the imperative to work together and improve.
The indie community benefits from transparency and modding.
The indie community benefits from diversity.
The indie community creates art and beauty with computers.
The indie community improves the game development community and changes things for the better.
Don't let this great art form die. Don't let liberty fall with thunderous applause.
Help your fellow indies and create great games!
These are our demands. We are the independent development community. We expect great things.
The space marines will protect us. Let us derez our bonds.