International Game Developers Association

A New Voice for the Independent Game Development Community

The Rant

We all know that the independent game development community consists - more often than not - of extremely creative and innovative thinkers. Games like Wik and the Fable of Souls, Darwinia, and Braid have all been incredibly creative and innovative. Projects like Experimental Gameplay have created games like Swarm, Tower of Goo, and Darwin Hill, and have captivated our imaginations while adding new waves of gameplay. And events like Slamdance do not always appreciate our art. We the Indies implement new game mechanics and new technology.

But there is a crisis in the independent game developer community. Some of the problems we face have been there for quite some time, and a few new ones are forming. Independent developers are assumed to be new and inexperienced when in fact many of them have worked for over 10 years in the industry. They are being shunned by mainstream developers. Even worse is that there are some reports that they are beginning to be turned away from local IGDA chapter meetings.

Independent developers face many challenges. They are struggling to find a voice for marketing. They are struggling to find capital and funds. They are suffering from fragmentation issues.

People are using the independent developer mark as a stepping stone into the mainstream industry. They abandon their projects within the independent community. Every few months a new form of fragmentation occurs. A new conference or a new review service or a new distribution service forms for independent developers. All of which do not last very long.

Fragmentation is not growth. There is no growth from unorganized new mediums. We are in a tachycardiac state. The heart of our industry is shaking but no blood is flowing through it. We are at risk for stagnation if we do not get organized, and fast.

Mission Statement

We will work to unify the independent game development community. We will encourage innovative individuals to do their best. We will never turn away a game developer with the passion to create the best game they can. We will show vision and extend our interests into the mainstream industry. We will work with various distributors to ensure an opening for independent developers to get their game out there and played. We will work with third party middleware and engine developers to provide licensing discounts to IGDA members that qualify under the title “Indie”. We will be the unifying front for independent game developers, and provide useful articles, resources, and community help.

What is Indie?

This is a tough question. Although almost everyone within the game industry knows what an Indie is, it is surprisingly hard to define. We have found that the definition of Indie has been expanding. There is a remarkable increase in misconceptions of what an Indie is. People have begun confusing Indies with hobbyists and students.

In the past, the IGDA Indie Special Interest Group has defined an Indie, as someone who has no formal relationship with a publisher. But this definition includes many non-Indies into being Indie so we are redefining what an Indie is. We did some research and found that the following common traits existed among independent developers but not necessarily among hobbyists and students.

An Indie has the intent to make a profit off their game.
An Indie tends to go outside of mainstream channels to develop, market, and distribute their game.
An Indie Is not funded by an ESA or ELSPA publisher (with some exceptions)

The Plan

Every 3 months

Work with developers and venues in major US game development areas to provide places where Independent Developers can show off their work. This could be done at cybercafes and clubs.

Yearly

Whitepaper: To address the current state, and voice of independent developers as well as addressing ways to adapt to changing technologies and methodologies for distribution and marketing.

Be part of the IGDA track at GDC and other major game development conferences.

Lunch
Breakout Sessions. (Flashmobs)
Roundtable Discussions
Panels
Lectures

Topics include:

Marketing
Distribution
Management & Development
Financing
What's next? Future theory

Year 1 - 2007

Improve support to the Indie SIG for:

homebrew (i.e. PSP, Dreamcast etc)
open source
Dialog between Independent studios.
News dissemination of Indie SIG activities.

Get revisions of SIG guidelines regarding interviews/voice issues and recruitment policies (make sure volunteering is allowed, and possibly allow for a jobs board (if not on the SIG site, at least link to major indie job boards)

Open a Newbie-SIG within the IGDA to provide information and support to

new IGDA members
non-commercial hobbyists
those who are Indies who are just getting into the industry or are coming in from another industry

Create easier ways for Indies to submit articles, job opportunities, and resources through the IGDA Indie Special Interest Group website. Network with independent studios to get them involved with the Indie SIG.

Work to create a commercially able sponsor (like the Mozilla Corporation is to the Mozilla Foundation) to help incubate Indie games and provide services like Steam or iTunes to Indie developers.

Year 2 - 2008

Work to get a single public voice for the Indie Community.

Work to unify the fragmented state of Indies and change our image from newbie developers to experienced independent studios.

Work to make sure that console and computer hardware manufacturers provide cheap API's to Indies and to the open source community.

Year 3 - 2009

Work to get a single major conference per major game development area for independent developers.

Open professional and mainstream distribution methods for independent developers.

Credits

Raymond Chandler III

Raymond Chandler just graduated from Full Sail Real World Education in Florida for Game Development and is already working to further the game industry into the future. He is dedicating his time to the independent community and currently writes open source software for use in games including his Gonzo Game Library, which is licensed under the LGPL. You can find out more about Raymond and his work on his website www.avengersoft.com

Michael Lubker

Updated October 2007 Michael Lubker has been interested in creating games since the C64 days. Starting with Turtle Graphics on the C64, and moving up to Clickteam's tools and eventually OSS, Michael is now working on an entry to the Independent Game Festival, and working in QA at Aspyr Media. He also constantly reviews games on multiple platforms, and has helped to coordinate the IGDA's Independent Games SIG for the last 3 years. He also has worked at the Chestnut Square Cyber Lounge in Bastrop, TX, and has spoken on independent game development in 2005 and 2006 at several conferences and meetings in the Austin, TX area, including Austin's Independent Game Conference, of which he is part of the advisory board. He is also a game design student at Austin Community College.

Christopher S. Charabaruk

Christopher S. Charabaruk is the programming director of the Toronto Independent Games Conference. He was one of the co-founders of hobbyist/indie game developer Meldstar Entertainment, and has more recently founded Death Cake Games following his participation in the first TOjam. Christopher is a member of international organization Toastmasters (Toast I.T. club 5556-60) and delights in giving speeches and educating people. For the IGDA, Christopher is one of the co-ordinators of the Indies SIG and looks forward to increasing his participation in the association.

For more details on Christopher's professional and personal life, please visit his website, at http://www.coldacid.net/.

Greg Costikyan

Greg Costikyan has designed more than 30 commercially published board, roleplaying, computer, online, and mobile games, including 5 Origins Award winners. He's written scads of articles on games and the industry, as well as four novels and a bunch of short stories. In 2000, he cofounded Unplugged Games, one of the first North American mobile game startups, which went out of business a few months after 9/11. After consulting for a time, he joined Nokia as a full-time games researcher, but left them in late 2005 to found (with Johnny Wilson) Manifesto Games, which works to build a vibrant, innovative, and viable independent games industry. He also coordinates the New York city chapter of the International Game Developers Association.

Revision History

2006 July 5 - First version
2006 July 24 - Revision 1
2006 July 28 - Revision 2
2006 July 30 - Revision 3
2006 Aug 9 - Revision 4
2006 Aug 31 - Revision 5
2007 Jan 11 - Revision 6
2007 Oct 28 - Revision 6 ported to Wiki

Indie SIG/Old Action Plan