If you’re a dedicated gamer, you may naturally be wondering about a career in the gaming industry. For many people, working with the games they love so much seems like little more than a dream, but increasingly, whether streaming on Twitch or working behind the scenes to develop a new gaming title, it is becoming a reality for many.
One of the best ways to get into the gaming industry is undoubted as an indie developer. Why? Because when you’re an independent developer, you don’t need to wait for anyone to see your talent and employ you’ you can get to work on creating something special right off y your own back and, if you so wish, use the fruits of your labor to showcase your skills and move up the ladder if you so wish.
Sound good? Here’s are some tips to help you become an indie developer right now:
Invest in the right tools
Many people think that in order to become an indie developer, they need to go out there and buy the most expensive computer and the most expensive software packages available. This might have been true once, but it is no longer the case. That being said you will need to invest in a computer that works reliably, and which is able to run the many free and low-cost development software packages such as Game Maker and Construct. It may also be useful to click here and see what kind of IT support is available so should anything go wrong and you need to recover files or get your IT equipment up and running as efficiently as possible, you know what to do and who to call.
Think simple
When you decide to take your first foray into the world of indie devs, you are probably thinking big; you probably want to make your dream game, and there is nothing wrong with that per se, but you need to be realistic. You are working alone with what is probably a tiny budget and your own single skillset – games like Call of Duty and Fallout have budgets that run into the millions of dollars as with huge creative teams working on them so there is no way you can compete. You need to be able to come up with ideas for games that are fun and engaging without all the bells and whistles. Once you gain popularity and start making some money from your titles, you can start thinking bigger and better, but for now, you need to go back to basics.
Start with a popular genre
The indie game developers who do the best are typically smart about choosing the right genre for their release. They stay away from more obscure niches and stick with popular categories like shoot-em-ups and platform games. Why? Because releasing games in the most popular niches will give you more exposure when you need it most. If you release in obscure genres, no matter how good your games are, fewer people are going to see them simply because fewer -people will be visiting that section of Steam or wherever it is you decide to make your games available, and fewer people are going to bother playing them so they won’t see how good you are at what you do or make a point of seeking you out in the future. It really is that simple.
Follow the usual conventions
When you’re making an indie game, it can be tempting to do something weird and wonderful with the narrative or structure of your game. Unless you are the David Lynch of the game world and you can really make weird and wonderful work, at least when you’re starting out, it is far better to ensure that your games do pretty much what people expect them to, with the odd twist and turn along the way. People like the familiar and that is as true of games as anything else. They edict stories to unfold in a certain way and for gameplay to follow a recognized pattern. They want speedy restarts and instant visual information to guide them along, and most of all, they want there to be a point to them doing what they do inside the game. Give them what they want and you are fsr more likely to be successful.
Blog about what you are doing
As an inside developer, you should primarily be focused on creating the best possible game you can put out into the world, however, you will need to think about marketing it too. You won’t have a big advertising budget like Rockstar or EA Games does, so largely you will need to convince people to buy your games off your own back. One of the best ways to do this without spending a lot of your own money is to blog about your journey as an indie developer from coming up with a game idea to working on the coding to launching your baby into the world. Gamers will love following along with the progression of your new title, and if you write passionately and convincingly about it, they will be more than likely to download it and give it a go. You can then leverage their goodwill to generate reviews and spread the word so that, hopefully, more and more people will give it a go.
Have fun
There is no point being an indie developer if it is not something you enjoy, not only because life is too short, but also because if you aren’t enjoying the process and having a lot of fun coming up with new games, chances are the titles you do producer ill not be that much fun to play. Fun and enjoyment are what gaming is all about, and if you don’t have that passion, it will be much more difficult for you to succeed.
Anyone can become an indie developer, but fewer people will succeed. Hopefully, these tips will help you to be one of the lucky few.
