Indie game market continues to grow May 5, 2006
Posted by mwj as business, games. trackback.Game Trove is the newest addition to a growing number of sites dedicated to the indie gaming phenomenon. Game Trove seeks to “puts the users in touch with the developers” by cutting out the middleman (big label producers). It’s only been online for 20 days, but has logged over four thousand game downloads.
This seems to be the next step in the burgeoning game market, which has always existed alongside mainstream games manufacturers. While some indie game initiatives seem to have faltered (like the Indie Game Jam conference, or Do It Yourself Games), the “industry” of independent games development seems to be doing quite well.
For example, there is an annual Indie Games Conference, which will be held again in Eugene, Oregon this October. The brains behind this event live at GarageGames.
GarageGames is an interesting phenomenon in the indie game world. They now own the license to the Torque Game Engine, and sell the thing for $100 a pop to indie developers. The Torque engine gives small developers unprecedented access to the 3D gaming environment, and has spawned games like Marble Blast Gold, which, if I am not mistaken, is included in the basic software suite of iBooks and other Mac products.
The reason I am interested in this development is simple: I can’t program, so if I’m going to get a start in this industry, it’ll probably be through indie games. There are a number of business models that come to mind when I think of this market. These include the advertising based Miniclip and Pogo. One could also argue that a Puzzle Pirates-esque game could be cobbled together through buying up indie type games and providing a broader narrative framework for them to inhabit.
Either way, I want to befriend this market. Now all I need is some money.
Comments»
Love the new site…except the “more…” tends to get a bit annoying everywhere.
[…] There are a number of sites out there that cater to casual gamers, including sites I’ve mentioned before like Miniclip and Pogo. Similar sites include Shockwave and GreenAppleGames. All of these sites are based on a similar business models. Either they distribute shareware versions of the games, hoping to hook players into dropping $20 for a full version, or they make some games free and the better ones available for a similar price. […]