Questions For Indies - Part I
Corvus Elrod and I decided to borrow some of the questions proposed in the XFire Debate Club last week that we didn't have time to answer, and offer some answers - in a lot more depth - in our blogs. Sort of a collaborative project, without actually having to collaborate. Since actually coming up with a topic is way harder for me than just spouting off about something I know nothing about, I loved this plan. And as a bonus, the ability to spout off about things I know nothing about makes me eligible to be used as an expert on Fox News!

Shamus "McLaser" Young fired five shots across the bow with stuff HE would have liked to know about how indie game developers work. Since his questions didn't suck, Corvus and I decided to start there. We figured we'd go in depth on two this week, three next week, and then tackle some of the others extracted from the logs as we go. And we are almost guaranteed NOT to agree with each other on all of these points. In fact, I really hope we don't, because he really hated The Witcher. And I ... uh, haven't had time to play it yet, but I intend to, I'm hoping it actually doesn't suck and that he was just smoking something. But he's also got a killer multipart retrospective going on about Ultima Underworld, so I can't dismiss his opinion lightly.

Incidentally, I also mentioned the questions to Amanda Fitch of Amaranth Games (you know, Aveyond and Aveyond 2 awesomeness) - she's actually made indie-dom her full-time job now, so she's more of an expert than either of us, so I will humbly refer you to her comments on the subject.

So Fire away, Mr. McLaser:

Question One: Why So Many Indie RPGs?
Shamus: RPGs seem really over-represented in indie games. (Or, you could say they are under-represented in mainstream games.) Why do you think indie developers favor RPGs so much?

This one took me by surprise. Because they... uh, aren't, unless you consider the dearth of mainstream RPGs these days to be "well represented." Short answer. Long answer:

Looking at The Great Games Experiment, as of a few minutes ago, there were a total of 936 games tagged "indie," and only 95 of these were tagged "RPG" (and some of those might be considered more, "games with RPG elements" and really stretch the definition of RPG. But we'll roll with it). So --- that's a hair over 10% of the indie games. Actually, if one out of 10 indie games were RPGs, I'd be a heck of a lot busier than I already am. But we'll look closer.

Subtract out all the titles that are tagged "in development", and we find that over 1 in 3 of those RPGs (36) are in that often never-ending vaporware state, as compared to under 1 in 4 of the other indie genres (224). So the number of completed indie games falls down to about 8%.

I think, however, that those numbers are a little skewed based on the community over at GGE, and that casual games (most of which are indie) don't have the indie flag like they should. There's over 1900 of 'em, and only 400 are tagged "indie." So if you assume only 2 / 3 of the remainder are actually indie games that just aren't tagged as such, the indie RPG count drops in half. Naturally, some RPGs (and other indie games) may also be missing the tag, so this is all just conjecture. But hey, you know what they say about statistics.

I personally would be thrilled to believe that 5% of completed indie games are RPGs. I personally think its closer to about 1%, but even at the above 8%, I wouldn't consider them overrepresented.

But Here's Why You'd Think That!
Indie RPGs had a banner year this year, and fans of RPGs can be pretty vociferous. This years crop got a lot of attention this year, partly because we had such excellent games released, and partly because there was really sharp, clever marketing going on (Thomas "Eschalon" Riegsecker, I am talking to you...)

I think a telling indicator - even if it's hardly exact - is the higher ratio of incomplete RPGs listed at GGE. I remember hanging out on the GameDev.net forums a few years back and hearing people constantly talk about how they wanted to tackle an RPG as their first project. These days, they've upped the ante and are usually talking about MMORPGs. More power to 'em... but even fewer of those will likely see the light of day.

But RPGs have a little deceptive quality to them. If you've played D&D, or a Final Fantasy game, you probably realize how the rule system (at least a scaled-down version of it) could easily be turned into a program. I mean, everybody computer geek and their cousin was doing it for their Apple IIs and Commodore 64's back when I was a kid. And RPGs are - as much as any other genre except maybe adventure / IF games - about story. Everybody has stories to tell. Just throw some graphics in there, and you got game! And hey, there are several RPG engines out there that could be used to just throw together a game! Why, you and some artist buddies could throw together something commercial with 'em by the end of the month, right?

So RPGs are tempting projects for indies to start with. So you may hear about a lot of indies making RPGs. Just far too few actually cross the finish line, unfortunately.

Question #2 - What Technology?
Shamus: Naturally indie games have to use older technology, which is less labor intensive and doesn’t require (as much) expensive software. But I don’t think that’s the only reason to do so. Certainly the older graphics - done right - can have a certain stylistic appeal as well. The other reason to aim low on the tech tree is so that you can hit the widest possible base of users instead of just the fanboys with $3,000 computers. If you could use any graphics technology you wanted - from Infocom to Crysis - where would you choose to go?

Ummm.... dang. Actually the technology I'm using now. Only I'd like it better, more stable, easier to use, and more feature rich, plzthx. It really depends on the type of game I'm making. Part of the design philosophy behind Frayed Knights was me deciding what kind of RPG would go really well with the engine I had on-hand.

I'd actually worry a bit about something like Crysis, because SOMEBODY has to make all those gorgeous models. And that somebody is probably gonna take a month per model, minimum. As an indie, I don't have time required to make it look good. And nobody but the really hardcore gamers - who really demand games that make their major video card investment look awesome - could run it.

Now, as someone who's been doing 3D graphics their entire game development career (starting with the Playstation 1!), I still gravitate towards 3D - just to leverage my strengths. But I shy away from the bleeding edge, and I'm constantly faced with the challenge of making 3D look good without trying to go down the photorealism route.

My Dream Engine
Now - my dream engine would be some modified version of the Exult engine (built to allow you to play the Ultima VII games on modern systems) with some 3D graphics for characters. And the scripting system from Neverwinter Nights. Something where I could leverage the best of 3D and 2D and have them mesh together nicely, works on low-end machines, is nicely mature and bug-free, and can pretty much have the entire game scripted out cleanly.

I think that style of game still has a ton of story-telling and gameplay value left in it. And it was simple enough for player to enjoy without having to constantly fiddle with the camera or any of that other crap they have to mess with in modern games. The 3D graphics would allow for some pretty cool special effects, particle systems, and a lot nicer character animation. The NWN-eque scripting system would allow far, far deeper levels of interaction in the game than Ultima VII originally supported.

And now, you can probably guess what my answer to Shamus McLaser's final question will be.

So... if I ever go back and turn my "Forrest Gump in Ultima VII" experiment into a full-fledged project, I may actually get part of that dream engine. Who knows? Once Frayed Knights has run its course, maybe I'll go back and try that out.

Well, I hope I've properly beaten Shamus's first two questions into the friggin' ground on my end. Whadaya think? And do you think the "McLaser" thing will stick? And for other developers reading this blog: Why are you reading this instead of developing your game? But as long as you are wasting time, what are YOUR answers to these questions?

Okay. Wanna hear what Corvus had to say on these same questions? Me too, I haven't read it yet. But I will now direct your attention to the link he just sent me:

Man Bytes Blog: XFire Debate Annex #1

And - Lookie Here! The Debate Continues In the Forum!

Labels: Indie Evangelism, programming, Roleplaying Games

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