Why Small Video Game Publishers Are Also Good Video Game Publishers |
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By: Jason LKS Posted: 2009-07-02 07:04:27 |
| Someone has said that the time of the smaller game publisher is done with. As games become a bigger and bigger market, surpassing things like music, and selling a ridiculous quantity of units with each new huge event, the industry has fallen prey to a sort of Hollywood mindset.Grand Theft Auto Takes a Long Time to MakeTo create again the stunning experiences and 40 hours worth of incredible gameplay inside a game like GTAIV, entire buildings of legions of game designers are obligatory. Budgets are gargantuan, and profits are expected to be just as massive. While games like this are great, they take a disproportionately gigantic quantity of the market, just like Hollywood spectacles do, and they tend to distort the rest of the industry in ways that aren't always great.Films are a helpful comparison here, because it is essentially the same thing: a top movie is a memorable movie, regardless of budget, and the same works for the gaming industry. There are tonnes of little works of art out there that simply don't have a way into the top distribution paths. And how many crappy movies or bad games-from big studios-have you seen or bought recently?Why Films and Videogames are SimilarOne of the principal concerns with creating video games on the blockbuster model is that a vision of good, fun gameplay disappears under all the other things that have to go into a huge game-just like the story of a huge Hollywood film can often be obscured underneath layers of other concerns. With a small development team, this doesn't happen-it's all about the game itself, the richness of the experience-whether or not it's fun to play, properly designed, and gives the gamer repeated enjoyment is fundamentally all that counts.The truth is that just because it's endlessly advertised in the store doesn't signify it's stupendous. And so the question is: how do we get to those small games, those medium game-makers working on quality, tried-and-true titles that aren't getting advertised on the normal platforms or endlessly talked about?Can Indie Games be Found Online?The internet remains the top solution. You can find distributors selling independent games that are developed on real values: like classic gameplay that keeps you coming back for more. Without the huge budgets, official trademarks, and big development teams that the big companies use, small game designers are making games that don't have the luxury of exciting you through crazy visuals alone: they need to be great to play above everything else.Even though a few big publishers have realized this, and have started pushing small development teams to go crazy with their wildest notions, most of the top, small, endlessly replayable games are being released by developers you've never heard of before.Old-Fashioned Distribution is Still Very ViableWhile everyone chatters about new distribution channels, the ones that are already set-up are still very much relevant: many of the best, most under-appreciated indie films can still be found at your video store, and many of the most fun, independent games can be tracked down online, available to you at extremely low prices-you get all the benefits of a box, a manual, something aesthetic to hold, but you aren't shelling out insane prices.Next time you're hunting down a quality video game, don't just look at the same old places. Remember that the best publishers churn out their portion of high-concept junk, and that indie studio you've never heard of might have just made your next favorite game. |
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