So, game development eh? What a flupping nightmare.<\/p>\n
Before I begin, I’d like to state that I can only talk about what I\u00a0know<\/em> as an indie developer based in the North-East of England, and I’m not going to comment on the really<\/em> horrible comments\/attacks since it’s flupping obvious that’s detestable and also utterly irrelevant to the conversation.<\/p>\n When we first went indie, our first venture was an extremely low-paid commissioned game which was a joint production between two of us in the North-East and one chap down in London. I must admit, it made us feel a little sad and isolated watching on the internet as all these exciting events and meet-ups were planned, photos were taken, fun was had – as two of us were cooped up in a dingy flat with next to no money. It’s possible that these events were mind-numbingly dull – but everything looks exciting when you’re not there and you don’t get to go to any. By the time that game was done,\u00a0the two of us in the North were penniless and panicking about what we should do next. That was when Zomboid was planned.<\/p>\n So there we were, with a vague idea, no money, and no actual friends in either indie development or working as games journalists. We’d made a few acquaintances<\/em>, I guess, since we did manage one or two trips to London in the two years or so we were working on that first game – plus there’s Twitter, but you don’t really make\u00a0friends<\/em> on Twitter – especially if most of your tweets are facetious. And even now – three or so years into making Zomboid, a game which has done pretty well overall, has had a modicum of exposure on “proper” games websites – I can count the number of games journalist friends I have on no hands.\u00a0There are just hardly any indie devs or journalists up here –\u00a0no trendy parties,\u00a0nothing. Unless everyone hates me and I’m simply\u00a0not invited.<\/p>\n Actually, that’s not entirely true. There was one\u00a0organised recurring meet-up which, at best, you’d describe as sporadic and infrequent. But most of the people who went to that were mobile phone \/ tablet devs and, well, sorry but I’m just not interested in\u00a0mobile games. At all. Also, a frightening proportion of the people there would describe their game as “the product” which immediately makes me stop listening.<\/p>\n So this indie dev clique thing. Is it nonsense? In all honestly I just don’t know. What I would say, however, is this:<\/p>\n In other words, I do not find it particularly surprising that all manner of connections can be drawn up between notable and\/or successful developers. I also do not find it surprising that the sorts of developers who have made huge amounts of money would also be the sorts of developers who would invest in other games, and also be the sorts of developers notable enough to be involved in panels \/ award judging \/ all that shit. Frankly, it would be a bit weird if that\u00a0didn’t<\/em> happen.<\/p>\n But here’s the trouble:<\/p>\n It doesn’t half look bad from an outsider’s perspective<\/strong>. And, I think, at the very least we can acknowledge that it looks a bit bad even if we believe it to be perfectly innocent and above board. Because, much like me – sat here in a part of the country where none of those swanky parties happen – it’s easy to imagine it all being better, more exciting, more career-helping than it probably\u00a0is. And it’s easy to become angry or embittered when you’re making a game and struggling for press attention when all those other developers\u00a0appear<\/em> to have things easier.<\/p>\n It’s easier to imagine that it’s some back-room dealings than simply some failure on your own part. And this is coming from a\u00a0developer<\/em> – someone with some degree of knowledge on how games are made and marketed. If you’re a gamer, however, you’ve got\u00a0nothing<\/em> to work with except some sense that something is wrong (given that there have<\/em> been documented cases of wrong-doings in the past). And when developers or journalists\u00a0glibly reply\u00a0to you, write off your conclusions\u00a0as laughable, focus on the manner in which you comment\u00a0rather than the message, paint you with the same brush as the worst<\/em> of the commentors, or simply say nothing<\/em>\u00a0– what are you supposed to do? You have no access to this knowledge that the devs and journalists have. It all feels a bit like Kings mocking the plebs, and it just adds to the frustration and anger which then increases the use of extreme language and the connections which you will find and the whole thing becomes a vicious\u00a0circle. Because, after all, questioning the press is a good thing in general. Sure, you might have drawn conspiratorial conclusions which (to those in the know) may be\u00a0so far off-base to be laughable. But it’s better to do that (in principle) than just to accept everything you read or hear as fact because\u00a0that’s<\/em> precisely how corruption starts.<\/p>\n Or there might be some truth to some of it. I don’t know. Perhaps there’s a city somewhere with an unusually high concentration of press and devs and things operate differently. Maybe the UK is different to other countries in this regard\u00a0but I can only comment from\u00a0my<\/em> perspective.\u00a0I read somewhere (I’ll pop the link in if I can find it) some journalist say words along the lines of, “all my news comes from dev friends” which\u00a0is less corruption and more being utterly shit at your job. But if there is some truth to some part of the claims, I suspect we’re dealing with a tiny tiny minority of devs and press because\u00a0most<\/em>\u00a0indie developers are like me. Sat on their own at home or\u00a0in an office with no other indie dev friends to speak of, no journalist friends, and no easy way to get exposure for their game.<\/p>\n\n