Because You’re Worth It - Puppy Games Has It Wrong |
posted by:Dani-SF 8/19/2014 9:26:23 AM |
Hey everyone, Dani here. I saw a bit of news lately that I thought really needed a response. So...
Recently [u:3sja35z1]Puppy Games[/u:3sja35z1] ([i:3sja35z1]a British indie team[/i:3sja35z1]) made a rant / post about how they saw gamers and PR in the indie space. In their post, they laid out some “truths” of the indie world (seemingly speaking for indie developers in general). Since they had their say on their piece of the internet, I felt it would be a good chance to have ours here.
If you want to have a look at the original post, ~Follow this Zelda~
[b:3sja35z1]So, let’s talk about it.[/b:3sja35z1]
[quote:3sja35z1]“Firstly, gamers aren't very nice people. Yes, you. You are not a very nice person. Statistically speaking. By which I mean, independent game developers get more nasty shit from gamers than they get praise. “[/quote:3sja35z1]
This is the first problem. You simply can’t lump “gamers” into one overarching category (and definitely not into the troll category!).
As many know, I’m a transgender woman (not the most beloved demographic in the world). Sure, I've had my fair share of trolls and nasty behaviour from people. But I've also had a great deal of praise for the work we are doing. When I look at gamers, I just see people (both good and bad), but still people I want to connect with.
And, isn't that really why we create games at all? Isn't that why we became indie developers? To create something to be enjoyed, to tell our stories, to communicate with others through a medium that we deeply love? We definitely don’t make games for ourselves, since in a cruel twist, by the time we are finished with our games they are ruined for us as creators having worked so closely to them for so long.
It isn't a “truth” that gamers are mean. It is simply a misguided perception….a dangerous one… and one, as we saw with Phil Fish, that can crush the indie developer spirit (the very reason we are doing this at all). Phil Fish didn't leave because he received bad comments. He left because when he looked out at the sea of gamers ….all he saw was people he didn't care to make games for any longer.
And that is the big problem. Jaded is what happens when you allow the nastiness to overtake your world view. When you begin to lose sight of all the good people out there, the ones who support and encourage and drive you to make even better games.
[quote:3sja35z1]“Secondly, there is a school of thought that says, there’s no such thing as bad press.”
“The more we argue, the more we bait the trolls, the more we seem to get into a death spiral of internet hate… the better it is for us. There is no such thing as bad publicity. Phil Fish may have turned into a gibbering bearded recluse but now he’s a famous gibbering bearded recluse. “[/quote:3sja35z1]
Well, I guess it might be true if a person is only seeking fame and fortune. Though, being an indie developer probably isn't the best place if you are trying to strike it rich.
But really, at what cost? To see the rest of the world as a faceless angry mob? To see your favorite medium become something ugly?
Even then, the idea that success happens if you just make people angry is rather misguided. In Phil Fishes case, he didn't simply make people angry...he also had an amazing game that took him years of obsessive work to complete. For every Phil Fish, there are scores of other successful indies that haven’t gone the “bad publicity success” rout.
A more ideal approach would be to just try and reach success with your sanity in tact (it really is possible!).
[quote:3sja35z1]“The upshot of it is, within 5 short years, the value of an independent game plummeted from about $20 to approximately $1, with very few exceptions.”[/quote:3sja35z1]
This is more of a complex business issue… but, short version is this isn’t true. Indie games still can demand a premium (just look at the great work Devolver Digital publishes from a variety of teams). The indie world really isn't as grim as some make it out to be…. ((It just also isn't easy
))
[quote:3sja35z1]“You are worthless to us.”[/quote:3sja35z1]
[quote:3sja35z1]“ But individually, you’re like ants. And all of developers secretly know it and don’t talk about it. You’re not worth supporting. “[/quote:3sja35z1]
I think this is the part I take exception with the most.
On the surface, a person might look out at the entire market for games and see an endless sea of people that could buy their game. On the surface, that looks like Ants (if that).
But those gamers aren't ours, it isn't the reality we live in (even though we may wish it to be). In our world, as an indie, we have very few people supporting us. A bit over 2500 actually (from our Kickstarter). Each one of those gamers aren't ants to us. They aren't worthless, or interchangeable. Each one is a person who trusted us, who believed in us, and reached out to support us.
As indie teams, we face a wall of discoverability. The simple fact is not many people have heard of us. Heck, even the best known indie isn't really known that widely (except Notch I guess, for Cliff Horse).
Like any artist (musician, writer, painter), we count on those who know about us and enjoy our work to help spread the word to reach more people. Each new work, each new game, slowly reaching further and further thanks to the help of those who follow us.
Saying that is worthless is simply insane. Those people, those group of individuals who take even a minute of time from their lives to help us, are worth the world to us.
In the end I guess it all comes down to appreciating what you have.
So, to Puppy Games, I say take a step back. Then, try to see through the jaded glasses you have on and remember why you began making games at all.
And, to everyone else, thanks for being there for us
Indie devs and gamers are really in it together.
comments...
Recently [u:3sja35z1]Puppy Games[/u:3sja35z1] ([i:3sja35z1]a British indie team[/i:3sja35z1]) made a rant / post about how they saw gamers and PR in the indie space. In their post, they laid out some “truths” of the indie world (seemingly speaking for indie developers in general). Since they had their say on their piece of the internet, I felt it would be a good chance to have ours here.
If you want to have a look at the original post, ~Follow this Zelda~
[b:3sja35z1]So, let’s talk about it.[/b:3sja35z1]
[quote:3sja35z1]“Firstly, gamers aren't very nice people. Yes, you. You are not a very nice person. Statistically speaking. By which I mean, independent game developers get more nasty shit from gamers than they get praise. “[/quote:3sja35z1]
This is the first problem. You simply can’t lump “gamers” into one overarching category (and definitely not into the troll category!).
As many know, I’m a transgender woman (not the most beloved demographic in the world). Sure, I've had my fair share of trolls and nasty behaviour from people. But I've also had a great deal of praise for the work we are doing. When I look at gamers, I just see people (both good and bad), but still people I want to connect with.
And, isn't that really why we create games at all? Isn't that why we became indie developers? To create something to be enjoyed, to tell our stories, to communicate with others through a medium that we deeply love? We definitely don’t make games for ourselves, since in a cruel twist, by the time we are finished with our games they are ruined for us as creators having worked so closely to them for so long.
It isn't a “truth” that gamers are mean. It is simply a misguided perception….a dangerous one… and one, as we saw with Phil Fish, that can crush the indie developer spirit (the very reason we are doing this at all). Phil Fish didn't leave because he received bad comments. He left because when he looked out at the sea of gamers ….all he saw was people he didn't care to make games for any longer.
And that is the big problem. Jaded is what happens when you allow the nastiness to overtake your world view. When you begin to lose sight of all the good people out there, the ones who support and encourage and drive you to make even better games.
[quote:3sja35z1]“Secondly, there is a school of thought that says, there’s no such thing as bad press.”
“The more we argue, the more we bait the trolls, the more we seem to get into a death spiral of internet hate… the better it is for us. There is no such thing as bad publicity. Phil Fish may have turned into a gibbering bearded recluse but now he’s a famous gibbering bearded recluse. “[/quote:3sja35z1]
Well, I guess it might be true if a person is only seeking fame and fortune. Though, being an indie developer probably isn't the best place if you are trying to strike it rich.
But really, at what cost? To see the rest of the world as a faceless angry mob? To see your favorite medium become something ugly?
Even then, the idea that success happens if you just make people angry is rather misguided. In Phil Fishes case, he didn't simply make people angry...he also had an amazing game that took him years of obsessive work to complete. For every Phil Fish, there are scores of other successful indies that haven’t gone the “bad publicity success” rout.
A more ideal approach would be to just try and reach success with your sanity in tact (it really is possible!).
[quote:3sja35z1]“The upshot of it is, within 5 short years, the value of an independent game plummeted from about $20 to approximately $1, with very few exceptions.”[/quote:3sja35z1]
This is more of a complex business issue… but, short version is this isn’t true. Indie games still can demand a premium (just look at the great work Devolver Digital publishes from a variety of teams). The indie world really isn't as grim as some make it out to be…. ((It just also isn't easy
))[quote:3sja35z1]“You are worthless to us.”[/quote:3sja35z1]
[quote:3sja35z1]“ But individually, you’re like ants. And all of developers secretly know it and don’t talk about it. You’re not worth supporting. “[/quote:3sja35z1]
I think this is the part I take exception with the most.
On the surface, a person might look out at the entire market for games and see an endless sea of people that could buy their game. On the surface, that looks like Ants (if that).
But those gamers aren't ours, it isn't the reality we live in (even though we may wish it to be). In our world, as an indie, we have very few people supporting us. A bit over 2500 actually (from our Kickstarter). Each one of those gamers aren't ants to us. They aren't worthless, or interchangeable. Each one is a person who trusted us, who believed in us, and reached out to support us.
As indie teams, we face a wall of discoverability. The simple fact is not many people have heard of us. Heck, even the best known indie isn't really known that widely (except Notch I guess, for Cliff Horse).
Like any artist (musician, writer, painter), we count on those who know about us and enjoy our work to help spread the word to reach more people. Each new work, each new game, slowly reaching further and further thanks to the help of those who follow us.
Saying that is worthless is simply insane. Those people, those group of individuals who take even a minute of time from their lives to help us, are worth the world to us.
In the end I guess it all comes down to appreciating what you have.
So, to Puppy Games, I say take a step back. Then, try to see through the jaded glasses you have on and remember why you began making games at all.
And, to everyone else, thanks for being there for us
Indie devs and gamers are really in it together.
comments...
Update - All is Good! :) |
posted by:Dani-SF 4/24/2014 8:32:54 PM |
Hey everyone. Just popping in with an update to the previous situation. Luckily it turns out the team over at USC decided to go with another name; so crisis averted
On top of that, James is back to building on the engine and I've officially started digging into the first dungeon. Overall, everything is going pretty well.
comments...
On top of that, James is back to building on the engine and I've officially started digging into the first dungeon. Overall, everything is going pretty well.
comments...
An Ugly Situation - USC trying to take Bloom? |
posted by:Dani-SF 4/2/2014 9:11:55 PM |
Hey everyone, Dani here. It has been an amazing year so far, with appearing on IGNs show for game design in 2012…to a failed kickstarter…. to a successful kickstarter … to publishers taking notice of our work…and even Dell / Alienware joining us as sponsors with some new machines.
We have been pouring our hearts and souls into this game, trying to push it as far as we can with what we have….and hopefully if it does well, the Bloom universe will be able to grow even more. We are just a tiny team of passionate artists and gamers and we definitely don’t have a lot in the world… but we can proudly say what we do have we worked hard and long for with the amazing support of players around the world.
But now we are facing an ugly situation that seems to only be getting uglier by the day…and the cards are stacked against us. The very name of Bloom (the name we have been using so openly for so long, which we have built ourselves around) is being robbed from us.
You see, a couple months ago I found out a program at USC (University Of Southern California) was developing a game started sometime last year with a suspiciously similar premise and title called “Bloom”. Luckily the game play and style behind the surface are different… but the name is already starting to cause confusion between our two games. So, when I found out, we tried to get in contact with them and sort this out.
This is where things start to get difficult….they ignored us.
So, after a while of no response, I tracked down the USC phone number and gave them a call. Speaking with some faculty there in charge of the program my concerns were largely dismissed… but they gave me a couple emails (the head of the specific project, and faculty for the program). Of course, I sent off an email right away saying we needed to chat and sort things out.
Again, they ignored us.
Were they busy? Did they take care of it? Or was it just a lack of respect? Either way, I had hoped it was the end of it…. But after a bit more time passed, I found out they were promoting their game and had plans to release into major digital distribution.
So, again, I reached out to try and solve this problem before it got even worse. I got through directly to the head of the project on the phone and was told he saw my email last month but that he ignored it because faculty told him we were nothing to be worried about.
Basically, they told us they are going to do what they want and if we have a problem we can sue them. Of course provided we have tens of thousands of dollars to throw around at lawyers.
I guess this is the crux of the issue, size and power. Trademarks and common respect for other developers just don’t seem to be granted to small developers in the minds of many.
The sad thing is this isn't even a new story, at least not in the world of game development. Other developers I personally know have also run into problems like this (and some much worse, completely cloning of games they have poured countless hours into). Vlambeer is famous for running afoul of such behavior. Somehow though, I never suspected it would come from a school like USC…and not towards us.
So what happens next? Well, I’m still trying to sort that out. I've been talking with lawyers…talking with other developers… trying to get USC to see reason or come to a compromise…. basically doing whatever I can to keep the name Bloom and not let them rip it from us.
The one thing I’m sure of though is we aren't going to take this laying down. As one developer told me “welcome to the dark side of indie games”.
comments...
We have been pouring our hearts and souls into this game, trying to push it as far as we can with what we have….and hopefully if it does well, the Bloom universe will be able to grow even more. We are just a tiny team of passionate artists and gamers and we definitely don’t have a lot in the world… but we can proudly say what we do have we worked hard and long for with the amazing support of players around the world.
But now we are facing an ugly situation that seems to only be getting uglier by the day…and the cards are stacked against us. The very name of Bloom (the name we have been using so openly for so long, which we have built ourselves around) is being robbed from us.
You see, a couple months ago I found out a program at USC (University Of Southern California) was developing a game started sometime last year with a suspiciously similar premise and title called “Bloom”. Luckily the game play and style behind the surface are different… but the name is already starting to cause confusion between our two games. So, when I found out, we tried to get in contact with them and sort this out.
This is where things start to get difficult….they ignored us.
So, after a while of no response, I tracked down the USC phone number and gave them a call. Speaking with some faculty there in charge of the program my concerns were largely dismissed… but they gave me a couple emails (the head of the specific project, and faculty for the program). Of course, I sent off an email right away saying we needed to chat and sort things out.
Again, they ignored us.
Were they busy? Did they take care of it? Or was it just a lack of respect? Either way, I had hoped it was the end of it…. But after a bit more time passed, I found out they were promoting their game and had plans to release into major digital distribution.
So, again, I reached out to try and solve this problem before it got even worse. I got through directly to the head of the project on the phone and was told he saw my email last month but that he ignored it because faculty told him we were nothing to be worried about.
Basically, they told us they are going to do what they want and if we have a problem we can sue them. Of course provided we have tens of thousands of dollars to throw around at lawyers.
I guess this is the crux of the issue, size and power. Trademarks and common respect for other developers just don’t seem to be granted to small developers in the minds of many.
The sad thing is this isn't even a new story, at least not in the world of game development. Other developers I personally know have also run into problems like this (and some much worse, completely cloning of games they have poured countless hours into). Vlambeer is famous for running afoul of such behavior. Somehow though, I never suspected it would come from a school like USC…and not towards us.
So what happens next? Well, I’m still trying to sort that out. I've been talking with lawyers…talking with other developers… trying to get USC to see reason or come to a compromise…. basically doing whatever I can to keep the name Bloom and not let them rip it from us.
The one thing I’m sure of though is we aren't going to take this laying down. As one developer told me “welcome to the dark side of indie games”.
comments...
Community is now live - in style! |
posted by:admin 11/9/2013 12:57:36 PM |
We had issues with our previous community (a serious serious spam overload) that caused us to shut it down. Today we introduce a much better community... REDDIT!
Thats right, we decided rather than try and reinvent the wheel, we would leverage what is probably the best community site in the world. It helps that I am a heavy redditor too.
So please, take a hop on over to our subreddit by clicking the community tab or by going directly to http://www.reddit.com/r/bloommemories
comments...
Thats right, we decided rather than try and reinvent the wheel, we would leverage what is probably the best community site in the world. It helps that I am a heavy redditor too.
So please, take a hop on over to our subreddit by clicking the community tab or by going directly to http://www.reddit.com/r/bloommemories
comments...
Kickstarter now Live! |
posted by:admin 11/7/2013 9:48:03 AM |
Our 3rd attempt at kickstarter is now live. We have come so far since last time.
Our Kickstarter Page
comments...
Our Kickstarter Page
comments...
Development Vlog Episode 1 |
posted by:admin 9/5/2013 2:02:40 PM |
a crazy week! - the good kind :) |
posted by:admin 5/23/2013 10:35:32 PM |
Hey everyone, Dani here again (I really need to come up with another way to start these), I just wanted to drop in and let you all know how things are progressing (abridged version - things are going great!).
This last week was been pretty crazy as we get everything set up to move forward with the limited resources we have. Thanks so much to everyone who jumped over to our PayPal (and amazon) campaign to make this next phase a little easier! It is definitely helping us out and we will be keeping it up as we forge ahead (so, plenty of time to hop over and take a look for those that missed it).
We’ve also been extremely lucky with some amazing offers of help on the project (including an animator from Dreamworks!)! So, we are taking advantage of the opportunity and over this last week we added on a couple more people to the team to get this out faster and better than we could have before.
Anyhow, for the next couple days we are continuing to get everything settled and sort out a few production details / who does what (I got dibs on the art!
). Then we jump into full production and keep pushing ahead! In addition to all this we’ve also come up with a couple new ideas that should be pretty exciting (like I said, it has been a crazy week!). I’ll be covering them once we have everything nailed down a bit more (so stay tuned
Also, once the dust clears expect loads of new artwork / creatures / concepts. And, as always, feel free to chime in with suggestions or thoughts as we go along (feedback is always welcome).
Thanks again so so much for all the support, this next few months is going to be bananas (in a good way).
comments...
This last week was been pretty crazy as we get everything set up to move forward with the limited resources we have. Thanks so much to everyone who jumped over to our PayPal (and amazon) campaign to make this next phase a little easier! It is definitely helping us out and we will be keeping it up as we forge ahead (so, plenty of time to hop over and take a look for those that missed it).
We’ve also been extremely lucky with some amazing offers of help on the project (including an animator from Dreamworks!)! So, we are taking advantage of the opportunity and over this last week we added on a couple more people to the team to get this out faster and better than we could have before.
Anyhow, for the next couple days we are continuing to get everything settled and sort out a few production details / who does what (I got dibs on the art!
). Then we jump into full production and keep pushing ahead! In addition to all this we’ve also come up with a couple new ideas that should be pretty exciting (like I said, it has been a crazy week!). I’ll be covering them once we have everything nailed down a bit more (so stay tuned Also, once the dust clears expect loads of new artwork / creatures / concepts. And, as always, feel free to chime in with suggestions or thoughts as we go along (feedback is always welcome).
Thanks again so so much for all the support, this next few months is going to be bananas (in a good way).
comments...
Welcome to studio fawn |
posted by:admin 5/23/2013 8:07:49 PM |
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