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[Sketchwhale]

Welcome to my GDC talk 

So I'm nearing the end of my game. It's in early access, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
It's a simple game, yet it took years to make.
There are good explanations for all of it, but in retrospect, I some good notions of what I should have done.

Yet... I didn't have this knowledge before, so it was kinda unavoidable.
Or was it? I'm not the first to make these mistakes. There are post-mortems, blog posts, twitter threads, videos on youtube.

My mistake wasn't exactly feature creep or overambition, but more like "design perfection".
I wanted every mechanic to be RIGHT. Not exactly balanced, but thought through and purposeful.
Am I proud of the result? Sure. Did the game NEED this perfection? Absolutely not. Is the game perfect? Of course not, it was a fool's errand.

Next time I won't make THAT mistake, and the game will be out MUCH quicker 

What's YOUR "next time, I won't make THAT mistake"?

[Schrompf]

The things that come to my mind are a) not game-design but bussiness and b) might be outdated as my game recently had 10years anniversary on Steam.

a) I won't do bundles. Even back then people bought the bundle for the Steam Keys and resold them. I only cannibalized my own Steam sales while earning next to no money.
b) I won't do a OSX port. Even back then Apple was an asshole, and nowadays it's even worse. Only the biggest sellers will have a noteworthy return on OSX, it's not worth putting up with the company or their users.
c) I won't sell my publishing rights. Rented it out for a few years and then learned they never intended to hold their part of the contract. I got the money, yes, but if it wouldn't have been for a friendly valve employee, I'd never have gotten it back.

[Bombini]

I won't use the mindset "if it is working it's done" again and reserve at least 1/3 of my planned time and resources for polish, feedback incorporation and testing AFTER its done.

[Sketchwhale]

The things that come to my mind are a) not game-design but bussiness and b) might be outdated as my game recently had 10years anniversary on Steam.

a) I won't do bundles. Even back then people bought the bundle for the Steam Keys and resold them. I only cannibalized my own Steam sales while earning next to no money.
b) I won't do a OSX port. Even back then Apple was an asshole, and nowadays it's even worse. Only the biggest sellers will have a noteworthy return on OSX, it's not worth putting up with the company or their users.
c) I won't sell my publishing rights. Rented it out for a few years and then learned they never intended to hold their part of the contract. I got the money, yes, but if it wouldn't have been for a friendly valve employee, I'd never have gotten it back.

I didn't even think renting out rights was possible.

The bundles lesson is good! Do people still buy bundles?

I'm actually developing on a mac, but I agree, it's not worth it. Their verification bullshit is insane.


Bombini: seems like you've come at the problem from a healthier direction, than most.

[ThemsAllTook]

For what it's worth, it's still possible to release games on the Mac without engaging with Apple's verification ecosystem. My most recent game is an unsigned executable, and the only feedback I've heard about the Mac version is "thanks for making this available and easy to run!". Anything distributed via Steam seems to bypass Gatekeeper entirely.

I totally understand not wanting to support the platform, and it'd be hard to justify as a business decision, but for me it's personally worth it to know I'm not leaving a few particular people behind.

[Sketchwhale]

For what it's worth, it's still possible to release games on the Mac without engaging with Apple's verification ecosystem. My most recent game is an unsigned executable, and the only feedback I've heard about the Mac version is "thanks for making this available and easy to run!". Anything distributed via Steam seems to bypass Gatekeeper entirely.

I totally understand not wanting to support the platform, and it'd be hard to justify as a business decision, but for me it's personally worth it to know I'm not leaving a few particular people behind.

Right, right, that's true. Same for me, but not so much for itch.io releases unfortunately

[ThemsAllTook]

Yeah, what I did for itch was to include the terminal invocation to dequarantine the application (xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine MyGame.app) in the installation instructions field, with the hope that anyone buying on itch would be comfortable enough with their computer to be able to do that. Probably not a good enough solution for games with a wide general audience, but for a smaller niche project I have to hope it's good enough.

[Schrompf]

Thanks for the perspective on OSX development. If Steam is working without notarization, that's one blocker removed. It still needs a Mac for development, and those are expensive and quickly deprecated. My own Mac I bought back then for development wasn't updateable anymore like three years later... now it collects dust in my cellar, I can't even resell it. That's another blocker, and one I don't see mitigated anytime soon.

Still thanks for your report! And good luck on your games!

[michaelplzno]

One of the biggest issues I had when I started out was assuming that people who are famous are good people who want the next generation to follow in their footsteps. Usually, they can be nice when they feel they must, but good luck getting any actual help from a big shot.

[Sketchwhale]

[...]but good luck getting any actual help from a big shot.

Like them advocating for your work, or something like that?

[...]include the terminal invocation to dequarantine the application[...]

That's actually a kinda brilliant hack for a stupid situation :D

---

I got another one:

"Strive to pinpoint the smallest, most important mechanic of the game. The mechanical atom."

I often saw an advice similar to "make the game about the smallest thing possible, and iterate on that", which I think is a bit misguided. It makes it seem like games need to be about almost arcade-like experiences. Rather, what I realised, was that it's about discerning what the game is about. If the smallest mechanic/verb/idea (whatever you wanna call it) is atomic and easily describable, then you can tell a player: "press A to attack" and then not need to explain anything else. It provides grounding in more complex systems. It's why a big, complex game like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth can simply say "press to attack" and then slowly add complexity. My own game starts with "Press Z to attack", but adds "attack costs 1 ressources, and has 2 charges. Regain 3 ressources per turn, and both chargs each turn". Once you understand the rules, it feels good, but it's terrible design, because it's a loop of complexity.

[michaelplzno]

[...]but good luck getting any actual help from a big shot.

Like them advocating for your work, or something like that?

There are a lot of things more established devs could do for the next gen: connect people to potential collaborations, help younger devs find their style and voice, open doors at bigger outlets like press and publishers and streamers. Help new talent find jobs. Hell, even retweet someone. There are a ton of giant big famous devs who NEVER tweet anyone else's stuff. They don't want to "Clutter their feed" I'm told.

And I understand now why that is: most people who "made it" feel like they didn't actually make it. So, if they know someone who can help a developer, they hoard that contact for themself. Because they know someone, they aren't going to let some young guy come in and steal the contact.

I was working on Hundred Bullets and I managed to get the contact of a high-level Microsoft Exec and I asked him if he could help me take the game to the next level, and he said, "My reputation is too important to help you." I get that he can't really stick his neck out because you gotta look out for number 1, but it's crazy how many people who get to high levels pull up the ladder behind themselves.

Edit: I know most devs don't think this way, but unless you are actively devoting at least some of your work time to helping less established developers, you are a gatekeeper.

[michaelplzno]

Just to rehash:



This game has art that is good enough to go viral on twitter imo. Did someone like Derek Yu retweet you? Did any of the indie iluminati help get your game seen? Or are they all too busy playing power games to help anyone make it through the discoverability barrier?

[Schrompf]

You are a bitter man, Michael. These people live their lifes, they owe you jack shit. And you try to frame it as if they're actively sabotaging others.

Try to let go. It will improve your outlook on life. 

[Alevice]

Imagine being owed something to someone else just on the grounds you are (somewhat) famous. Like, ok, it would be cool if everyone could help each other lift up, but sometimes it happens you simply have a life and work to prioritize over the daydreams of others. Like why should derek post something you did if he doesnt find it cool? Or anyone else for that matter?

[Schoq]

I seem to recall Derek used to spend a lot of time running a pretty popular website dedicated to unreciprocally promoting other indie devs. Can't remember what it was called

[Sketchwhale]

I'm pretty flattered you think the art is virality-material, Michael 

It seemed like a good idea not to be too marketing-focused before I actually had a substantive amount of finished game, but focusing on being out there, communicating with players, bloggers, and streamers earlier would probably have been a good idea. The big indie names from 10 years ago were in a space with fewer actors, but there were also industry professionals that were very good and interested in marketing them. Once they were gone, a lot of community building seemed to disappear. No reason for it not to still exist if someone takes up the mantle.

For example, I remember a guy called Brandon Boyer was big in promoting indies. There was a big controversy around his behaviour (That never went into specifics) and since then he disappeared from public, but no one seemed to (or at least have success with) do the same thing. Then again, that's just one person. With the number of indies out there, it wouldn't be possible to cover everyone anyway.

[michaelplzno]

No one owes me anything, just to be clear.

People like Elon Musk *could* wipe out hunger instead of buying twitter, but yes, he doesn't owe anyone that.

A lot of celebrities *could* hold the ladder down for the next generation, but yes, they don't owe anyone that.

What do we owe each other? Not much apparently. Not a tweet, not a like, not a kind word.

But I'm trying to get over it, you are right, I would be much happier if I could ignore people with ugly souls.

[michaelplzno]

I'm pretty flattered you think the art is virality-material, Michael 

It seemed like a good idea not to be too marketing-focused before I actually had a substantive amount of finished game, but focusing on being out there, communicating with players, bloggers, and streamers earlier would probably have been a good idea. The big indie names from 10 years ago were in a space with fewer actors, but there were also industry professionals that were very good and interested in marketing them. Once they were gone, a lot of community building seemed to disappear. No reason for it not to still exist if someone takes up the mantle.

For example, I remember a guy called Brandon Boyer was big in promoting indies. There was a big controversy around his behaviour (That never went into specifics) and since then he disappeared from public, but no one seemed to (or at least have success with) do the same thing. Then again, that's just one person. With the number of indies out there, it wouldn't be possible to cover everyone anyway.

I'm mostly trying to work out my own issues, and I know Derek Yu has done a lot to help a lot of people through the barrier.

I spent decades trying to break through, and everyone says it comes down to luck and who you know. I have neither of these things. I'm currently searching for a "real job" and have admitted that I've failed to make something of my career just through being talented, willful, and individualist. I guess my games stink, or I cannot make games that count as good, or I just need to focus on what the market wants or something? IDK.

We should all know that there is something crooked about the system though. Maybe Derek is the best man on earth, I don't really speak with him. But something is off somewhere.

Edit: It's easy to blame the so called "Indie Illuminati" because when I was out in LA I ran into a group that literally played a game IRL based on that concept. If you can point me to who I should be mad at, please inform me who I should target the cannon that is my chest to shoot my heart out on.

[michaelplzno]

And it is probably that Yu and that group of people who were big back then had some secret marketing mojo, like getting into that indiegame movie, and other networking stuff that has nothing to do with game production. I have no idea how to do marketing. It seems like nothing can break through whatever algorithms are in place these days. I'm not even sure dropping 100k on youtube/facebook/twitter/tiktok/whatever platform ads would do much to get people interested in a game. I couldn't even get someone at one of those companies to talk to me about investing that much, I would have to do it through an automated panel on their website that just takes my money and spits back a number saying "GREAT JOB, MORE MONEY PLEASE"

But the thread is about mistakes. Realizing that the old indie crowd was not what it seemed on the surface, and that just making something good isn't enough is my biggest mistake. You can call me a piece of shit for being candid about it, but the truth is all I have these days.

[Pilea]

And it is probably that Yu and that group of people who were big back then had some secret marketing mojo, like getting into that indiegame movie, and other networking stuff that has nothing to do with game production. I have no idea how to do marketing. It seems like nothing can break through whatever algorithms are in place these days. I'm not even sure dropping 100k on youtube/facebook/twitter/tiktok/whatever platform ads would do much to get people interested in a game.

I have to say, this is a perspective I see a lot in gamedev conversations online, and I think it is a little out-of-step with reality. Those algorithms are not things to be "broken through"; they are effectively very single-minded machines designed to recognize things that people like to pay attention to, then to put those things in places where more people can pay more attention to them. Given that, I think that fixating too heavily on specific marketing strategies and avenues—as if the precise permutation of elements would suddenly rocket an otherwise-ignored game to success—can be a lot of wasted work.

Yes, things like buying ads and finding opportunities for publicity can be very influential in helping to get eyes on your game. Yes, it's important to try to identify and reach your audience. But if you're repeatedly putting things in front of people and are being met with apathy, disinterest, or aversion, I think you have to take seriously the possibility that people are just not responding to whatever it is you're making. And I think almost all game designers that have done well have done so not (merely) because they arrived at the perfect marketing formula for their games, but in large degree because they make works that people glom onto, get excited about, want to play, and want to share with other people. If you aren't making things that people actually like or want, why should they give you their time or money?