Indies of the world
UNITE! All over the world indie developers join forces to raise a fist against triple A studios and their big budget
Text: Er
ic Bar
telson
marketing campaigns.
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uppose you have a development budget worth of six months rent and a cupboard full of Cup Noodles. Once the game is done you might find it difficult, if not impossible, to actively market and promote it. All your money is invested in the game and you need cold hard cash for everything these days, right? Well… no. That’s not necessarily true. There’s a network of connected indie devs around the world ready to lend a hand -or a couch- if so needed. There is a growing number of trade conferences, consumer conferences and other cons happy to show of your new game. And if you play it smart, you can maximize the visibility and buzz of your game without spending crazy amounts of money. Indies just have to stick together. Unite. Make themselves heard.
Vital Rami Ismail, business guy at Vlambeer, world traveler and -according to Gamasutra- ‘an omnipresence’ within the indie community, Control
calls it ‘absolutely vital’ for indie developers to work together. “Indie can’t exist without uniting. We’re too small as individual studios to have any impact on our own, but together we can make a difference.” It’s one of the reasons why Ismail travels around the world and spends so much time on helping out with several initiatives and meeting different people. “I feel it’s important to support things like the Indie Megabooth and local Dutch conferences like Indievelopment and Control Conference. Free flow of information, support and having people to talk to is such an intrinsic part of the culture of indie games.” Ismail is convinced that there is an increasing amount of possibilities to reach an audience. “But there is also an increasing amount of competition to deal with. I feel democratised platforms like YouTube Let’s Play and distribution methods like itch.io seem increasingly popular. Also you can team up with a publisher to let them do the marketing.” Ismail is also associated with Indie Megabooth, one of the largest organized initiatives to improve visibil16
ity of small indie developers at game conferences like PAX, Gamescom and GDC. “PAX and other consumer events are such a great way of reaching out to gamers, to get feedback on your game and to figure out what you’re up to. Indie Megabooth represents a lot of my values, which is the reason I invested so much time and effort in the whole thing.”
Mega Driving force behind the Indie Megabooth is Kelly Wallick. She started the first one at PAX East 2012 when she got 16 companies together in one booth to compete for attention against the triple A studios. Since its debut the Megabooth has seen incredible growth. Starting with those 16 indie studios, the current count is over 80. Wallick didn’t know much of the games industry when she first organized Megabooth. As an outsider looking in, it just felt wrong to her to see small studios struggle to get the gamers’ attention. “What struck me was how passionate and thoughtful the developers were”, Wallick says. “It’s really inspir-