Your indie games are ruining PC gaming

Author: mgarcia Date: 2018-12-24 12:54 +1100 Tags: 2018, Blog, Industry, GameDev Comments: Open

Size: 797.87 KB Title and original post by u/catpace in r/gamedev

Quote,

My steam looks like miniclip from 2008 with all these poor flash and platformer games
Please stop putting ur crap on it, you've lowered the bar enough
Thank you

My reply,

Tell it to steam, they seem to be okay with garbage.
But you don't have to buy it, and if you fall for a pretty screenshot or video, leave a bad review and get a refund.
Telling 'indies' not to upload low quality crap to steam is like telling a child to stop crying about candy, it's just easier to give it to them... but you know it's really unhealthy for them in the long run (negative reputation).

But you can't blame indies... most are brain washed with self important and self proclaimed gamedev 'experts' (most are actually just blackhat SEO script jockies or just complete noobs) on social media , they hype the idea of making games for a living and that means getting paid for your first game!

Also, the games industry is a passion industry, which means it's a lot easier writing or making videos on how to do something, then actually doing it.

Most indies I see talking, always bring up money. Sure there's time and place for money, but it's not on your first game.

Another reply from gamedev.net: Self Publishing Advice?

Decoy82 writes,

I've got a game project that I'd say is about 85% complete. I'm about to finish my Game Dev/Programming degree here in a few weeks, and while I am job searching in the new year I'd love to finish my game up and self publish it. I have no delusions that it is going to be a huge hit, but if anything I think it would be a nice bullet on my resume to have a published game.

Right now, I'm thinking I will try to go through the process of releasing on Steam. But other than that, I'm not really sure. Is the Windows store even worth it? Any other marketplaces that would be a better fit and maybe have an easier publishing process? I see a lot of marketing related posts about getting your game noticed, which I will certainly be taking in to account, but any other advice on just the process of getting your game on to a platform to begin with?

It's a shoot em up in the style of Space Invaders, not a big project per se, and would probably only list it for 99 cents or so. But, I'm proud of what I did with it and would love to just get it out there in some capacity. Thanks for any advice you can give!

Dan

My reply,

Why sell it at all?

This is a huge mistake I see all the time by noobs... publishing is easy and it doesn't really mean much these days.
Your first game will make a lot of people angry that they paid 99c... ie: ask a friend of a friend (or better still a stranger to you) if they would pay for it etc
But your better off putting it out on itch or gamejolt for free and asking for feedback or emails or follows on social media etc...
Or better still get a website, blog and put it there!
That's called value inkind , and when you're starting out in something, prepare to do a lot of it!
And if you can't get anyone to play it for free, there's no point in doing a 2nd game, IMO.

Also, I hate indies that don't use their real names.. I don't trust anything where a person doesn't put their name to what they do, especially small/solo teams.
There's a lot of crap out there, be personable and don't sell crap!
lol personable... shrug ;)

well.. that's my advice, probably not what you wanted to hear, I could have said some youtuber "positive cliche" BS, but it's not very real... to me at least.

good luck.
Mike.

OP wasn't looking for validation to "make money", but I suggested they get a good mentor:

It's just my experiences.. I recommend you get a mentor you trust.. don't believe everything you read or hear online without some kind of proof.

“Will You Mentor Me?” : Mentorship in Game Development / Elena Lobova, Achievers Hub - 4C Conference

Update: I just came across this question, Why are people developing and publishing games online without charging money? , and the replies are interesting!

Thanks for reading.
PS: If you have a comment or feed back, please leave it below.
mgarcia