Because a developer wants to go onto something new. Some people would rather create new games than continually update an existing one. Tom's model is a successs, but so are others (creating multiple games, becoming a distributor, etc). I just think it is'nt helpful to answer the original question without asking whether he plans on continually updating his game. The answer really depends on what kind of indie company he wants to create.
I don't anyone is suggesting you have to become a slave to the game. The point is that as an Indie you have the advantage of putting in a little TLC now and again to keep it dusted-off. Starting new projects is completely compatible with that kind of strategy. If you truly want to make games, put them out the door, wash you hands of it, and start a new game then you’d probably do better in the traditional publisher model. But if you take a closer look few studios are doing that any more, they all put time and effort into building a community around their game, so maybe its just a pipe dream.
The TYPE of game really makes a big difference. My recommendation is to stick to game types that aren't technology sensitive. For instance, I'd never make a first person shooter. I much prefer strategy games because they tend to age well. We still make 6 figure annual revenue from Galactic Civilizations just off our electronic commerce server and that game was released at the start of 2003 (over two years ago).
Well, GalCiv may not be complicated from graphics standpoint, but in Credits section I counted about 9 programmers and about 27 people in total. I don`t know if they worked throughout whole production, but if so, you could have a AAA graphics shader engine with so many programmers, that`s for sure. Another issue is who`d pay for fps online. But it seems, like GalCiv was an enormous task. I haven`t played the game, just glanced at screenshots and manual, but it seems pretty complicated to program such thing and to balance the gameplay. Yeah, but there were about 27 people involved in production of the game, so if they all take some share of sales, it seems it isn`t very much. Though, a 6-figure number could be anything between 100k-999k, so if it`s in higher part, even with 27 people, it might be interesting. If it keeps you afloat and you can keep working on your next game just from sales of the game, then it`s fantastic. Anyway, how did you manage to finance the development of GalCiv ? Just curious. Out of sales of some other software (that`s on StarDock`s webpage) ? Bank Loan / Mortgage / Investors ? Or did at least half of the people work on this because of royalties ?
@VladR: It turns out stardock is actually a pretty successful company with some other products besides games that helped finance GalCiv's development. Check out the wikipedia entry for more details.
Thanks for the link. That explains my whole answer ! I didn`t know TotalGaming.net belongs to them and that they`re present so long in market. You know, I just thought it`s an indie game, but indie group of 27 people ? That seemed strange and improbable.
Dope Farmer has been around for two years, no updates, and selling just as well as it did when it came out. We are about to release an update, but it shows that games can last...
Aargon has been around for 5-6 years now with 1 major update and it was still my best seller last year. - S
That is very impressive! Any sense of what keeps these games selling? Besides good gameplay of course!
Big and Successful means not Indie? IMO, determining who is an indie and who isn't by size of operation is the wrong. Just because a company is successful and grows, they can't be an Indie according to your statement. Being an Indie is about the control of the product. Size has nothing to do with it. I hope to be one half as successful as Stardock.
I think it has to do with simply keeping the game available to the public. In retail and even portal business now you make your sales in the first 3 to 6 months and then you fall off the radar. But if you as a developer keep the game on your site and keep drawing traffic, you're going to make sales. I haven't had the benefit of a long games history yet but my texture collection (Urban Jungle) has been selling consistently on TurboSquid.com for over 4 years now - and that's a very small market.
Well I think Aargon is due for an update. But if I had to guess I'd say that it's not a game that relies heavily on wow factor. It delivers the concept solidly and for the kind of people that enjoy Aargon, it doesn't need to match the day's graphics. So it wears well with time. It's all about the puzzle. That being said... A Snake's Life still sells fairly well for me and it's been around a few years. I've never really noticed any significant dropoff for any of my games. The way the sell the 3rd month is usually how they sell forever.
No it doesn`t have anything with growth. I just said it`s improbable, i.e. it does happen but very rarely (AFAIK). Besides, indie, as I understand it, is a small group of people somewhere in the apartment (definition from the 80`s-90`s ?). As soon as they go out of home and pay for some office space with official company name, they`re a company, not an indie. A small one, but company nontheless. I too am indie. We are a group of 3 people but still in wife`s apartment. As soon as we hire somebody else and go into some office space, we lost the indie status. We`re a small company then. Without supervision from a publisher dictating what and how to do on one hand, but also financially unstable on the other hand. At least that`s how I understand it (or as it is usually presented on net). Though I could be wrong.
The "classical" definition of indie is "no funding from an outside source". It has nothing to do with the location (apartment vs. office). When you have no funding from an outside source, you have not relinquised control and are ind(i)e-pendent to develop what you want, when you want, and how you want.
1) This web site is called "IndieGamer.com" 2) Forums called "Indie Developer Discussion Boards" exist on this web site 3) An "Indie Basics" section exists on these forums 4) A thread with words "Life span of an Indie game" in the title exists in this section 5) A post at the end of this thread discusses "Indie" So, here we are, 5 levels deep into "indie ", as you are reading this. So it is funny to me, after all of this, that we are just trying to find out exactly what an indie is. LOL!