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[Alex Vostrov]

I've been thinking about the future of this indie thing that we've going on here.  Right now there isn't any focused direction or vision to the project, other than making games that we want to make.  There's nothing wrong with this, of course - our creative freedom is one of our strengths.  At the same time disorganization is antithetical to any sort of world-changing effort.  So, a lot depends on how closely people's visions cohere.

I thought that taking a sample of people's plans and hopes would be a good barometer of future progress.  I see a lot of people making platformers, shmups and puzzle games.  Is this a permanent interest or do you plan to work on other things as time passes?  Where do people see themselves in 5 years?

Let's take my own work, for example.  I was inspired by Petri to abandon mammoth projects and to work on 1-week games.  It's been a blast, but I've noticed that my work has fallen into certain ruts.  Most of what I make is very conventional genre stuff.  A lot of the time I start by challenging the existing conventions of a genre - "What would a strategy game look like if the units couldn't move?"

I happy that I worked on the projects that I did, and they have quite a nice variety.  That said, I'm growing dissatisfied with the "What if?" approach.  I feel that there's much more interesting territory to explore if one draws inspiration from things other than games - books, music, art, world events, etc.  I hope that the games I'm making 5 years are worthy of people - that means exploring themes that are more subtle than what I'm doing now.

For example, I've always been dissatisfied with Christian games.  It always seemed like they are lame attempts to paint a thin coat of religious symbolism over an existing game.  I think that I can I do a better job of this.  I'm not Christian, but some of my favourite works of art have dipped into that well - The Last Temptation of Christ, to name one.  One day, I hope to make a game as insightful about the experience of prophethood and martyrdom.

[starsrift]

For me, regardless of the answer, the next question is, "Why not make that game now?" I've got an ever-increasing notebook of game ideas, and I can't produce as fast as come up with ideas. I'll just keep trucking on through them.

As far as just pie-in-the-sky dream projects, I've wanted to make a moral philosophy-based RPG, where the game questions your intent and adapts to suit your percieved ethics. But I'm not making that now because I'm not that confident in my understanding of philosophy, and RPG's are a lot of work.

[Kekskiller]

time goes by
blown in the wind
still stuck in a hole
nevermore

[RayRayTea]

I want to make cute and pleasant games that can be played by anybody.

[tim-bo-jay]

In 5 years? I'd like to be looking back at where I am now and think to myself "wow I've come far...now I'm gonna go for a fly in my private jet with my super model wife and gold encrusted dog called Superfly..."

But in reality in 5 years I'd like my team to be a known name at least in the indie games world and possibly have an Xbox Live Arcade Contract. We shall be the next Twisted Pixel!

[hatu]

This is like the classic job interview question. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I'm also making week long protos starting last week. I think I'll do like 5 or 10 and then do something with the best ones. I don't really plan that far ahead 

Maybe Citizen Kane 2 - Return of the Rosebud of games.

[HöllenKobold]

God Hand 2.

[skyy]

Duke Nukem Forever, definitely. 

[Jad]

If it's the same games I want to make today, and nothing new, then I'll have failed. Some of the ones I want to make now should've been made by then.

Very nice question though, got me thinking about scheduling myself on a larger level ' 3 '

[Alex Vostrov]

For me, regardless of the answer, the next question is, "Why not make that game now?" I've got an ever-increasing notebook of game ideas, and I can't produce as fast as come up with ideas. I'll just keep trucking on through them.

I don't have enough skill as a designer yet, nor the ability to accomplish projects of that size.  It's like lifting weights - have to work your way up gradually.

[FatHat]

Duke Nukem Forever, definitely. 

Don't let the dream die!

[Alex Vostrov]

This is like the classic job interview question. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

You think there would be an awkward silence if you answer that you plan to quit work and become an indie game developer?  I think that I mouthed something about business analysts when I was asked last time.  I have much clearer goals now.

[FatHat]

Shit, hard question.

It'd be presumptuous to presume that I know what I'd want to be making 5 years from now -- hopefully I'd have grown enough by then to have completely different opinions than I hold right now. If you had asked me 5 years ago, I probably would've described something like Crysis... but I don't particularly like games like that now.

I think, the first 10 or so games I made, I tended to make the sort of things I liked. I'd make first person shooters with lots of enemies and explosions and bullet time and such, because I thought being like the "professionals" was the way to go. In retrospect I learned a lot on the technical side and a little bit artistically, but in terms of design it taught me nothing. I think I was focusing so hard on the technical side because I really had no idea what I wanted to do with the design. Writing fancy tech was a way to avoid thinking about that uncomfortable fact, because it felt like I was productive. I was essentially procrastinating by doing something productive.

Everyone thinks they have good game ideas, but in reality, most ideas are mediocre. I remember I used to frequent the gamedev.net forums a lot, and one of the really popular memes there at the time was "ideas are a dime a dozen, what matters is implementation". I used to think that was true. So I'd make graphics engines from scratch in C++, and learn the greatest coding techniques, and generally just try to just be better than everyone else. I wanted to be like John Carmack.

The problem is, if you're doing the same thing everyone else is, it probably happens that someone is better than you at it no matter how good you are. I was writing first person shooters when I was 16, but... who cares? My games were impressive, but they could never compete against AAA titles, and worse, they were just as soulless. If I had channeled all that energy into making games that mattered, I could have made games that were a lot more worthwhile; but instead I was worried about pixel shaders.

So, I guess 5 years from now, I hope my games are technically unimpressive, but they have insight. I want people to play games I make, and feel like they've learned something, that maybe they've grown a little bit, or come to understand the world a little better. I realize that's pretentious as shit, but it seems like a better goal than making prettier graphics  

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

mainly the same types of games i'm making now, just better. i have about 10 ideas for major games written down in some form or another (usually design docs), and i doubt i'll finish most of those over the next five years.

[tim-bo-jay]

I really, really, really REALLY (really??) want to make or finish any of my MMORPG projects/attempts.... It's something I've wanted to do since I was very young, before those kind of games even existed. I tried two years ago, and I came this close: http://cyberpunk-rpg.terrorpunksyndicate.org but it's really a beast to tackle, the code is a complete mess and I've lost focus. Now I'm doing yet another attempt on a smaller scale, and hopefully I'll succeed this time. It's not gonna be World of Warcraft or anything (no, I don't even want that). No, I see it more like kind of a "graphical MUD".

Dude that game looked pretty damn good :D thought about starting smaller in the sence of a Diablo style game then moving up to a shard-server then full mmo? the small steps could help you because in one seance each game would be like a test for the bigger one that comes next. Also I so call dibs on beta testing!  :handshakeR:

[Hajo]

Maybe I'll make a breakthrough how to make combat-free, sandbox-like, dungeon exploration games interesting.

[mixzed]

I always wanted to make a survival horror game. Even though they scare me I still play them. In 5 years who knows

[tim-bo-jay]

I always wanted to make a survival horror game. Even though they scare me I still play them. In 5 years who knows

At the rate survival horror is going it'll be a dead genera in 5 years so your future game will be veeeery welcome cause I'm gonna miss wetting myself to the wonders of Silent Hill, (the old) Alone in the Dark, and (the old) Resident Evils.

Thank you, very kind of you I have considered rewriting the game, do it more "proper" this time, but you know.... motivation and things, or rather the lack of motivation is an obstacle I need to deal with. I could probably copy & paste and re-use a lot of the code I've already written, but I still have to make everything work. Again. But yeah, maybe someday... who knows. I'll let you know then, ofcourse

True motivation is a rare resource for all of us I think. I look forward to any future projects that delve into the MMO world though :D

[Ooghijmiqtxxa]

Project Natal has me really excited. I'd love to put players in really powerful scenarios like acting or performing on stage. And I think making a game without a controller would be fun and challenging.

[Reiss]

This is like the classic job interview question. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

You think there would be an awkward silence if you answer that you plan to quit work and become an indie game developer?  I think that I mouthed something about business analysts when I was asked last time.  I have much clearer goals now.

Hahaha, apparently Terry Cavanagh ended up leaving his job because of something like that...

Five years from now, though -- I think procedural generation is pretty interesting.  I tried to do some static level-generation stuff for my Assemblee project, but oh man did I get in over my head.  I don't even really think that static level generation is the most interesting thing procedural generation has to offer... I think Canabalt hit upon (maybe stumbled upon) the promise of procedural generation:  level generation that responds to the player, as opposed to some algorithm generating well-put-together but nonresponsive levels.

I also want to try out doing hi-res 2d games, and doing multiplayer stuff...  I feel like (non-massively) multiplayer hasn't been explored much outside of FPS's, and it'd be fun to not have too many mental genre constraints saying "THIS IS HOW YOU MAK AKSHUN GAM" or whatever.  I mean, how would you even make a nonmassive multiplayer adventure game?

So yeah, I guess in five years I'd want to be making a reactive procedural co-op multiplayer hi-res game.  Dream big.