Definitions: Indie Game

Most people understand what indie movies or songs are, but when it comes to games, there is still much debate on what “indie” actually means. Whether a game is considered indie or not is largely based on how much creative control the developer has. Creative control is almost entirely based on funding. Whoever puts up the money has the final say on what gets released. In general the more funding a game gets, the harder it is to call it an indie game. There is no consensus within the game industry on what an indie game is. What I have listed here are the most common definitions.

indie game – a game made without publisher funding of any kind

This is the most pure definition. Without any outside stakeholders, the developer has absolute control over what gets added to the game and what does not. Usually, the funding will come from the developers themselves (their bank accounts and other assets) or a crowdsourced funding campaign such as Kickstarter.

Minecraft is a good example. Minecraft‘s success is seen as the prime example that this definition is the most fitting. There was no precedent for a game like Minecraft. No publisher would have funded it at the time. It could only be done by an indie developer.

indie game – a game made without funding from a major publisher such as Electronic Arts (third-party) or Sony (console-exclusive)

In this definition, the game is allowed to have a publisher but it cannot be a large publisher. Large publishers have been known to influence development of games by requiring changes for sales and marketing reasons. Small publishers are more likely to let developers do their thing after providing the funding. Some people will consider this enough to call it an indie game.

One example is Torchlight 2. Runic Games, the developer, is owned by Perfect World Entertainment, and PWE published Torchlight 2. I read many articles during the game’s development describing it as an indie game despite having a publisher, so for some people a publisher is okay as long as it is not too big.

indie game – a game whose development is funded without a publisher but whose marketing or distribution may be handled by a publisher

This is a more recent definition that has sprung up with all the crowdsourced funding that is happening these days. It leaves open the possibility of hiring a publisher solely to market and distribute the game. Most developers are specialists in developing, not these other activities, but those activities can greatly increase sales of a game. The developer has creative control for the entire development phase. The publisher just helps with a few things at the end. Of course, the publisher can still cause problems. Bad marketing has killed many games, such as Spec Ops: The Line.

Electronic Arts used to have a publishing label named EA Partners that was specifically for this purpose. A third-party developer could make a game on their own and hire EA solely to help with marketing or distribution. This arrangement was used most commonly to get games on retail store shelves. With digital sales becoming more popular, there is less demand for this service. Electronic Arts closed the EA Partners program.  However, marketing is still important for a game’s success, and a publisher might be better suited to it than a stressed out developer trying to finish their game on time.

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Definitions: Genrefication

Genrefication is the process by which media like movies, music, and video games are classified. When it comes to video games, this involves categorizing games based on a combination of their gameplay and narrative styles. Some games, such as Tetris, are purely game with no narrative whatsoever. Other games, such as Heavy Rain, are almost entirely narrative. Most games have some combination of both. While the definition is pretty basic and easy to understand, what is interesting are the issues genrefication has created in the game industry.

In the early days when computers and consoles had many technical limitations, it was all about the gameplay. These days we are getting to the point where narrative heavy games are feasible for the big studios to make. Developers now can choose to innovate in story or gameplay. There is a lot of debate within the game industry on whether developers should focus on creating new, interesting stories or new, interesting game mechanics. It is usually very hard to do both. There is just not enough time in most development schedules.

There is debate even from the player perspective. Sometimes a good story is enough. Bioshock Infinite had a great story. Even though the gameplay was not anything new, it was still a fun game to play because of that story. There were a few key player choices in the game that could influence the story too. Story-heavy games are also easier to introduce to non-gamers. If video games are ever to be a serious medium, we need people of all ages playing them. A game that feels like a movie will naturally feel more familiar to non-gamers, and maybe they will branch out to more gameplay-heavy games.

It is possible narrative games will become their own entity separate from traditional games. Perhaps a better name is interactive story. Imagine going to the movies. At certain points, you could vote for what choice a main character would make using a device attached to the back of the chair in front of you. The other people might not always vote for the choice you wanted, so later you could buy the interactive story to view at home and get 100% control over those choices.

Another issue caused by genrefication is getting funding from game publishers. When developers are trying to pitch a new game to publishers, it will many times be turned down immediately if the game does not fit into the clearly established popular genres (Action, RPG, Strategy, Sports, etc.). The publisher’s stance is actually backed up by studies. Games that fit the mold usually sell more than games that do not fit in. Most consumers like their familiar genres and do not want to take chances.

This problem has caused a lot of anxiety with developers. They feel like they have no creative freedom. There is a blueprint for making a popular game, and that is what they have to make. It is grunt work, plain and simple. Many developers have given up on AAA games and now make indie games. It is a lot harder financially to pull off, but that freedom can be worth it. Without the big budgets, indie developers have to focus on gameplay innovation, which is great for those developers (and players) that are not interested in the movement to make more narrative-heavy games.

Lastly, is the issue of how useful classifying games into genres really is. As indie games have become cheaper and easier to make, there is an incredible amount of experimentation in game development these days. Some games take elements from many different genres. They cannot be described by a simple genre label. You can read more about this in “The Age of the Hybrid Game Genre“.

The game industry is still young compared to the other media. It will be many years before these issues are cleared up. They may not be in favor of developers either, but it looks like indie games will be successful for years to come. Even indie games are not agreed on though. I will cover this in a later post.

Definitions: Network Effect

Definitions is a new series of posts on definitions of terms used in the game industry. These will range from slang that game players tend to use on forums to more formal terms that industry insiders use. Some of these are generic terms that can apply to other things, but I will explain what they have to do with gaming. I will also try to focus on words and phrases that are not so clear cut, words in which you cannot always infer the meaning just by context.

So network effect. While this is a term used in business in general, in the game industry it is usually a property that applies to Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs), which includes free-to-play games, but can also include non-MMOs. The basic idea when it comes to games is that the more players a game has — its player base — the more enticing it is for new players to sign up. Once a game gets a sizable player base the network effect can be such a big lure that the game balloons into a behemoth, popularly named an “800 pound gorilla”.

Big populations result in the network effect that the virtual world feels more alive. The main reason to play MMOs is because of the social connections you make. You do not just want to conquer the world by yourself. Unless other players can see it, all that work is meaningless. You want to work with a team to make progress, and then be able to show off that progress to other players you meet.

Large populations also have other network effects. One example is dungeon queues. World of Warcraft with 8 million players is generally going to have shorter queues than Rift with 1 million players. There are that many more players looking for a group. You are bound to find a set of matching players in a shorter time. When it comes to the in-game economy, large populations ensure stability. Inflation will not be an issue. Stable prices make it easier to learn the value of various items and not get ripped off.

It goes even beyond this to things outside of the game itself. A popular game is likely to have lively forum discussion and many bloggers writing about it, so you will always have interesting topics to read and discuss with others. There may even be professional sites with paid writers and video producers. External websites might do contests related to the game to feed off some of the game’s popularity.

It is important to note that game design can have a big effect too. World of Warcraft requires one tank, one healer, and three DPS characters to start a dungeon. If the balance of players is not right, you can have scarcity of certain character roles. The dungeon queues are then longer. League of Legends, on the other hand, does not enforce character roles in the queues. Queues to join a multiplayer game in League of Legends will always be shorter than Warcraft’s dungeon queues.

So far I have only written about how network effects improve the gameplay, but they also pull in players through their social connections. If you have a choice between two games, one all your friends are playing, the other, none of your friends are playing, you will pretty much always pick the one that has your friends. There can be other circumstances too, such as a popular celebrity professing their love for the game. If they are not being paid to say that but truly love the game, some of the celebrity’s fans might join the game in response.

A related term to network effect is critical mass. When a game reaches critical mass, it has hit the point wear the perceived value of the network effects outweighs the cost of the game or subscription. This is the point where the game just takes off and dominates the industry. World of Warcraft was a fairly popular game even at launch, but it was not until 2006 that it really took off. This was the time when non-gamers started being pulled into the game by their friends. It was common to meet players who had never played any game before World of Warcraft.

World of Warcraft is the historical 800 pound gorilla, but more recent games have also skyrocketed from network effects. Within the F2P world, League of Legends and World of Tanks dominate. Both are team-based games with a mix of strategy and tactics. Both games have reached the point where people are signing up because so many of their friends play. In the traditional console business, the Call of Duty multiplayer shooters have had this distinction for many years. If you are buying a shooter for multiplayer, you may as well get the one that most of your friends are playing, so you can play together.

This does not mean game design can be ignored. The base game has to be good for it to ever have a chance of becoming an 800 pound gorilla and benefiting from network effects. The existing players in the game better be having fun or they will just quit. The longer you can give them fun experiences, the  higher the chance they will invite friends to play the game. Even if those new players do not spend any money, they are livening up the game world and reducing queue times for the paying players.