“This Particular Version of An Indie Game I Like Has Been Cancelled!”

As we’re talking about new versions of things I thought I would quickly deal with an issue that vexes indies a great deal.

Brian Provinciano, the creator of the astonishing Retro City Rampage, posted this recently on Facebook about his forthcoming Wii version.  Essentially, it’s an admonishment to those in his community who have been “spreading rumours” that the Wii version has been cancelled.

I think the problem here breaks down like this:

1.)  People really want their favourite game on their favourite system, so they get emotionally invested when it’s announced

2.) They are used to constant drip-feeding of information about major titles

3.)  Indies can’t drip-feed all the time due to a (sometimes disproportionate) focus on development and not marketing

4.)  Big news outlets don’t tend to carry incremental updates by indies, so these updates only hit the very hardcore members of a game’s community

So, given this strong desire and the lack of information, many people assume the worst (“It’s been cancelled!”) instead of the probable (“It’s taking a long time!”)

I think we should fix this in the following ways:

1.)  Indies should be better at talking about what they are currently doing

We are bad at this from time to time and I’m hoping to improve it after we announce our new game.

I think constantly reminding people what you’re working on is actually the solution, as very few people see each update.  I cannot possibly tell you the number of times I have been asked about the iPad and Android versions of Frozen Synapse, despite repeatedly answering the same question on Twitter, in interviews, on Facebook and on this blog.  The system of getting information out about work-in-progress is not working.

Not only should indies talk about stuff more, they should do it in a more interesting way so news outlets are likely to cover it.  This isn’t always possible but, hey, it’s worth a try.

2.)  Some fans should dial it down slightly

This is never going to happen, but I thought I’d put it out there.  If you’re a fan of a game and you’re about to post a comment like, “They haven’t talked about this for ages, so it must have been cancelled “, you have to realise that you’re probably going to cause the developer some pain and frustration.  Maybe try looking for what they’ve said about it previously, contacting them (even though, as I’ve said, it’s irritating to be asked the same thing every day, it’s still better than someone blindly commenting that your cherished project is dead).

I think that 1.) is a lot more significant, important and likely to happen than 2), by the way.  I’m not blaming fans for being passionate (a million times hooray – someone even caring what an indie team is doing is magnificent) or, indeed, not very well informed (nobody has time to check for updates – these are games ffs – most people want to spend the gaming time they have on *actually playing games*, not on chasing obscure blog updates); I do think that sometimes the impact of an individual comment on a project is underrated.  At best, it’s painful to read; at worst it can actually damage the effort developers put in to marketing something.

So, the onus is on us indies to be more proactive and intelligent about communicating where we are.  It’s also on us to finish what we start, try to see projects through to completion and have some respect for our customers.  Equally, I think it would be nice if people refuted the OMG CANCELLED!!! knee-jerkers in comments threads, or took a minute to think before posting such comments.

I’m going to start this process by making a sticky post here on the blog that I’ll update when anything changes about what we’re doing.  Take a look here.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 3rd, 2013 at 2:52 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to ““This Particular Version of An Indie Game I Like Has Been Cancelled!””

1. GGCrew:

   § February 8th, 2013 at 7:00 am

   Specifically addressing Fix #1 “Indies should be better at talking about what they are currently doing”:

   Yes, but it’s also important *where* the talking is done.

   With the rise of social media (blogs, Facebook, Twitter), I’ve seen many developers move away from the tried-and-true centralized website. When I want information on interesting titles, my first stop is always the official website. Twitter and Facebook are good, assuming your fans are following the correct accounts and check their feeds daily (at least daily!), but posts/updates are quickly buried by newer items. And, of course, not everyone want to join walled-garden sites like Facebook.

   So, thanks for posting updates & such on your main site! I’m able to find exactly what I’m looking for!