Triple J's weekly Hack program had a small feature last Thursday on the potential upside to the current wave of downsizing and closures in the games industry. They have a chat with two recently redundant game developers from well known local game companies that have made the move to indie games development.
John Passfield, co-founder of Krome Studios and previous Creative Director at Pandemic Brisbane, has gone full circle and joined the small Brisbane independent group, 3 Blokes Studios. John is already experienced in making casual games for the marketplace and provides some advice for those looking into the business of casual games development..
John Passfield, "Make sure you've got resources in terms of money so you can survive. It can take up to six or nine months to actually see any money, that's if you have a hit game"
Tony O'Dempsey, ex-Game Designer at THQ Studio Australia, is using his house deposit to start his own small games company (with an initial 1 to 3 people on board). He plans on making casual games and small apps for digital distribution menthods like Xbox Live and Steam.
Tony O'Dempsey, "This is the most opportunistic time for independent games developers that we've ever seen"
It's not just the big names
It's not just the big names that are going down this path ;)
That's true, I'm now
That's true, I'm now contracting in the casual games industry and loving it. It's really nice to not have to work on the next movie licensed title, sports or racing game. The casual game space is a really fun place to be, and it's not all games for women in their 30's. Check out Adult Swim for some cool little games with atitude. Being small allows you to be flexible as well. I'm going to be at GDC this year pitching a new casual title, I didn't feel like I ever would have gotten that opportunity working at a bigger developer, especially if you're a programmer/designer.
Plenty are doing projects
The other big name I know of who has gone indie is Tony Oakden (used to work at 2K Australia). His website is at http://www.charliedoggames.com , and his latest game (Atomic Worm) is *awesome*. His other games look pretty good too.
I know of two other ex-Pandemites who are doing casual games in their spare time also.
Oh, and the idea that John Passfield talked about in that audio clip sounds *BRILLIANT*!! Anyone know what it's called? It's an app where you walk along the beach and find shells, and when you collect enough shells, you get to write a message in a bottle and throw it out to sea. Other bottles wash up and you can read other people's messages.
I mean, seriously, it's the most brilliant idea. To me, it's the next step for www.bash.org ;)
Distant Shore
Hi Souri,
the game I mentioned is called Distant Shore by The Blimp Pilots. Check it out here: http://www.theblimppilots.com/home/?page_id=7
John
Awesome
Ahh thanks! They could probably expand a bit more on that kind of idea with some other small things to do (in the vein of Animal Crossing, Little Computer People - or even your The Chronicles of Jaruu Tenk (like grow plants etc, where things take time to germinate or get a response from), but otherwise it's an awesome idea!
Making Casual/Indie games is
Making Casual/Indie games is great fun and a real tonic after working on big budget titles. CDG only does indie but most of my time is spent as part of Subversive Games and we get most of our revenue from Serious games. The casual space is pretty crowded at the moment so it's difficult to make money so just be a bit wary about how much you invest. That said there are still loads of opportunities to make it big if you have the right titles and the funds to develop them.
Serious games rock!
regards,
Tony Oakden
http://www.charliedoggames.com
http://www.subversivegames.com