Video games are expensive products to make. The multi-million dollar project is not uncommon in the modern game development industry, in fact it's become the standard. It's like proclaiming the cost of production is some kind of bragging right owed to the developer. But now it's become popular to discuss how minuscule a game's team was or how it was made of a six figure budget.



Enter Kickstarter, the crowdfunding source for many small time, and some big name, game creators to get their project off the ground. Since the successful funding and release of Double Fine's Broken Age Kickstarter has been vindicated as an accepted viable means of collecting the monetary resources required for game development. Now more than ever, creative teams are flocking to this crowd funding option to pitch their idea to the world and rely on the generosity of gamers.

Crowd funding isn't a clear topic for either backers or creators. As a backer, you're more of a shareholder in the project than a simple benefactor. Essentially you are paying for development kits, software, utilities, and staff with your pledge of support so it's not unjustified to feel that your generosity ought to be rewarded - that the developers are in a way beholden to you. As a creator, not only are you concerned with getting your project funded, but you're also competing with numerous other fundraising campaigns. This is where smaller teams might get somewhat bent out of shape.


First, the term "indie" is a surprisingly vague one. Of course it means a project or group that has released a product without the affiliation with or belonging to a major publisher. This can be represented by anything from a one person project, to a team of three working out of someone's basement, or a fully staffed office.

When I read an article on Polygon about "actual indies" struggling underneath the greater presence of "big indies" I had to do some further research. The author of this article, Katie Chironis, is a member of the team behind Elsinore, who, at the time of this blog's release, has received almost three times their campaign amount. Her claim was that large development companies are benefiting from the fact that vast majority of gamers are oblivious to the actual costs of game development. She doesn't go on to explain how "big indies" are killing actual indies as her headline claims though.

Certainly there's more to game development than meets the eye. There are many unexpected and hidden costs and Chironis' piece does an excellent job of outlining the real cost of making a video game. She doesn't have high opinions of these "big indies" though and says they are in fact much costlier undertakings masquerading under a smaller price tag.

While this may be true, the article on Polygon did more to generate support for a smaller project than to enlighten the public. Chironis was probably disgruntled that the clock on her game was ticking and it was only half-way funded, while Bloodstained and Yooka-Layla blew past their crowd sourcing goals within days.

The truth is that indie is indie. The size of the team or the project or the budget is irrelevant. Whether a portion of funds are collected prior to a crowd sourcing campaign isn't an issue - perhaps the campaign is what the developers needed to get the last amount to get their project going. If assets are outsourced that's fine too, because indie is a broad umbrella term. An indie project is one that was born out of passion and creativity, where and how the creators get their money doesn't disqualify them from being "indie."

http://www.polygon.com/20...are-killing-actual-indies - The Polygon article
https://www.kickstarter.c...dventure-game/description - Elsinore Kickstarter

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