GDC 2011: Successful indie developers share insight on Microsoft’s self-publishing service

On the final day of GDC, a bustling, excited room of journalists, students, and fellow developers listened acutely as James Silva, Robert Boyd, Nathan Fouts, and Ian Stocker recounted their trials, tribulations and successes as Xbox Live Indie Game developers. Brandon Sheffield, Editor-In-Chief of Gamasutra and Game Developer Magazine hosted the panel of accomplished indie developers and guided them through the discussions.

One of the largest hurdles for indie developers is exposure. Before releasing I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZoMBIES!!!1, Silva (Ska Studios) put out a press release riddled with nonsense such as “Hypermagic Engine 3.0 and the Megacore X parallelization processor.” This later went on a wiki which he released for his title, but essentially it provided synergy across the tone of his promotional material, as well as the game itself. Most importantly, it allowed the press to refer to something when building details for a story.

“Something as simple as a website can provide essential legitimacy” said Boyd (Zeboyd Games), who also suggested creating YouTube trailers.

The promotion issue is only accentuated by Microsoft’s own follies. When the Top Downloads list on Xbox Live freezes, so do overall sales numbers for most titles. The group agreed that there needs to be a way to view the top downloaded new releases in each genre. The existing Total Download list has been static for quite some time, due in large part to Silva’s wildly successful I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZoMBIES!!!1, which sold an astonishing 308,000 copies.

With Microsoft seemingly unwilling to promote their games, Boyd (Zeboyd Games) and Stocker (MagicalTimeBean) decided to band together and create their own promotion. What initially began as a form of cross promotion for Cthulhu Saves the World and Soulcaster II quickly grew into something far greater. By selecting a number of quality titles and promoting them as a seasonal package, the XBLIG channel saw a sudden burst in popularity and media attention. Large press outlets such as Gamespot and Joystiq picked it up and drove traffic to the channel. Despite the increased attention, Boyd and Stocker said the media hype didn’t actually translate into increased sales, but they are open to the idea of trying it again.

When asked about the business side of things, Silva called attention to the fact that operating a business is an endeavor. While each of his three employees draw a salary, including his girlfriend who handles the art, and Dustin Burg who manages the publishing, marketing, and web development, it wasn’t always that way. One thing they could all attest to is the fact that health insurance remains an issue. While the Independent Game Developers Association does offer an insurance program through an application in the membership process, nothing is guaranteed.

The group also spoke about how they got started in the industry. Boyd was formerly an English as a second language teacher. Silva began as a hobbyist and pursued development as a career after The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai tied for first place in the Dream.Build.Play Competition.

Stocker described how he generally performs his work. While most prefer the comfort of their own home, he finds it more relaxing to go to the local coffee shop where he performs 2-5 hours of development on a daily basis. He  also found that he works best when under a time constraint – each morning he hits F5 in his text editor to timestamp when he begins his work, and clocks out at the end of a set period. By breaking down his development into small and simple tasks, he is able to efficiently manage his work load.

Fouts (Mommy’s Best Games) emphasized the importance of taking breaks during the development process and Silva supported this notion, and said he works on multiple projects at once in order to prevent burning himself out. Fouts shared a similar work ethic, as he generally begins working at 10 am, and starts wrapping things up around 6pm. Most of Mommy’s Best Games’ work is performed by Fouts and a co-worker, and they outsource the dialogue, story and sound. Boyd on the other hand takes an alternate approach – his work is split between himself and a fellow employee. They follow no deadline, and his most recent title, Cthulhu Saves the World, actually shipped 6 months beyond his intended release date.

Finally, making a name for oneself in the community can prove invaluable, whether it is supporting others on the forum, play testing, or peer reviewing games before they launch. This not only provides a foundation for the community to stand on, but also generates favorable support for your brand from colleagues. Releasing products to coincide with your title’s launch is another proposition brought up by Stocker – he allowed for downloadable sales of Soulcaster II’s soundtrack. Fouts seemed to be of the same mind, and said “it is important to build and support your brand.”

Ultimately, a desire to succeed, wrapped in a yearning to educate oneself in game development has proven to be the most successful tools which these developers have armed themselves with. It all begins with a single idea written on a sheet of paper, followed by proper execution. I have no doubt that after that insightful panel, more than a few budding developers will grow from it. Only time will tell.

By Dave Voyles at May 20, 2011.

About Dave Voyles

Dave is based out of Long Island, NY and is currently working on projects using the Unreal Engine. He earned his degree in Communications from SUNY Oneonta and currently doing his MBA in Management of Information Systems. Dave is also Co-Coordinator for the Indie Games Summer Uprising on Xbox Live. You can follow him on Twitter, at @DaveVoyles