It’s not that easy to just think of a game and create it, indie game developers express. Joseph Reaidi asks game developers Ryan Pinfield of Static Games and Jonathan Ridgway of Rebourne Studios about their experiences in creating a hit game.
Independent games developers now have the ability of creating a game matching a relative level of success as higher produced games such as Grand Theft Auto. Games conferences such as E3 often have a vast selection of indie games which are talked about just as much as the next Mario game. As a result, many software developers may believe that they can create a next ‘hit’ game – yet translating an idea to a tangible project is not as simple as one may believe it to be:
“No matter where or who you are, you can make games” states Development Director of Static Games, Ryan Pinfield.
Static Games are behind many independent titles, varying from PC or mobile devices. The Bournemouth based developers are perhaps best known for their ‘Steam Greenlit’ simulation project, ‘Mendel’s Farm’.
The game allows the player to farm mutated animals and fend of UFO’s whilst growing your farm land. It’s a simple concept with an intriguing idea, yet it still happens to be very complex to produce.
“We thought Mendels [Farm] would be a quick project” Mr. Pinfield assumed as the project launched on 2014, “but we’re still developing it and updating it on Steam today”.
While the independent developers were able to think of an idea for the project, they didn’t anticipate the various obstacles that games development would bring. Launching worldwide means that there should be a large user base, and with this large user base, players are bound to discover glitches within the game or become bored with the repetitive gameplay. Therefore the game requires constant tweaking, constant development. But how are small-time developers meant to fund such projects?
“We’re still developing it and updating it on Steam today”
– Ryan Pinfield, Static Games.
Fund the Game
Development funding schemes are often the first place developers look to when sorting out the finance of developing a game. The UK government are so enthusiastic in games development and the opportunities it can bring to the British economy, that even they’re funding grants up to £25,000 for independent developers.
Mr. Pinfield explains how he was grateful for funding organisation Creative England‘s, £10,000 start-up fund as it helped form Mendel’s Farm.“It was definitely worth it, but we ended up buried in paperwork”. So whilst grant funding can provide a large sum of money, it in some ways is also a hassle. Other options such as community funding could result with less paperwork, but would potentially lower the start-up money for the developers.
Scope of the Game
It’s also worth highlighting the key difference between indie ‘hit’ games and blockbuster ‘hit’ games. Whilst indie games can become just as popular, they can be nowhere near the same quality as other noteworthy titles.
“You have to think about is the scope of the game.” Mr. Pinfield suggests, “Everyone says they’re going to make the next Skyrim… but it’s not that simple.”
With small development teams and limited funding provided, indie games need a realistic niche idea to stand out in the huge market of video games. The scope of the game must have its boundaries, but with a compelling idea.
“Everyone says they’re going to make the next Skyrim… but it’s not that simple.”
– Ryan Pinfield, Static Games.
How to Market
Rite of Life by Rebourne Studios is a life-sim RPG title which is to be released in Summer 2016. CEO and Creative Director of the team, Jonathan Ridgway, describes the niche game in a similar style to Harvest Moon or Fantasy Life, stating that “they’re quite niche games, that have a relatively hardcore audience”. Mr. Ridgway hopes that Rite of Life gains the same hardcore audience, as he explains “the beauty of niche games is the audience is very aware of when games of a similar style are being released”. Since games like Harvest Moon haven’t had a new release in a while, Rite of Life could satisfy this hardcore audiences desire for a life-sim game.
Rite of Life, acting as a niche, essentially aids the marketing for the game as their target audience would seek to play it. The Kickstarter project was pledged £4,684 which is helping fund the development of the game.
Crowdfunding is a safer option for start-up projects, of course it doesn’t mean that it makes it easy:
“It required an insane amount of work in regards to marketing to get noticed even a little bit as we had a shoestring budget to work with” recites Mr. Ridgway. Yet he firmly believes that “it was relatively easy once they had seen our game to get them interested”
Rite of Life is a open-world indie game, expected to be released on Steam at Summer 2016. | Image from Steam page.
Steam & Publish
“We’re relatively confident of the game doing well on Steam” says Mr. Ridgway. “We’re trying not to get ahead ourselves. Indie development can be very hit and miss”. Rite of Life is the first project for the Bournemouth-based team. “We’ve learned a lot already and releasing the game to a positive reception will mean the world to us”. In order to publish the game, Rebourne Studios are reliant on Steam as a platform to distribute the game:
“With Steam, self-publishing is super easy. Once you have been greenlit you’re good to do for the most part” the Creative Director explains.
“It does however have its drawbacks as due to Steam having no quality assurance, it isn’t uncommon for games on Steam to be buggy and broken upon release”.
Rite of Life’s Kickstarter Goals | Source: Kickstarter
Steam has become the holy grail for indie developers due to its convenience. New releases are featured on the front page, with screenshots, descriptions and customer reviews on the products page. Then with a click of a button, gamers can purchase the title onto their computers. Yet it’s the exclusive sales and humble bundles which really attracts crowds, and Mr. Ridgway hopes to take full advantage of Steam’s convenience.
“We’re hoping through the use of the Steam sales we can reach the eyes of gamers long after its release as well”.
Planning
Behind the scenes of building a game idea to reality is complex and more times than often doesn’t work out. Creating a ‘hit’ game requires a lot of preparation in order to avoid failure.
Joseph Reaidi | Journalism Blog 
