I’m fortunate to have known the strong indie developer presence in Michigan over the past few years. But passion and creativity aside, it remains a struggle for many of them to get noticed and make a living. My own view about whether or not it’s feasible to make a living off of your passionate hobby has solidified over the past decade, but even if it’s just the way things are for most people to not make money doing what they love… that doesn’t mean it’s right or the way it has to be forever.

Local communities have seen how hard it is, and are trying to elevate their groups, to bring more attention to the work their colleagues are doing. I’ve seen different ideas thrown around, and I have a few ideas of my own. My ideas are primarily from observing the mature “indie” scene in music, film and comics / books, which I think we could learn from. I thought I’d share a few of my ideas in detail below.

Keep in mind, there are probably several instances where these ideas have already been implemented, successfully or unsuccessfully. Do some research before trying any of these out yourself.

• Don’t Compete with AAA Games (applies to all below)
  • At E3 this year, the indie games presented at several online-stream “press conferences” had some of the best-looking games at the event… but for the first time, it also felt bogged down by literally hundreds of games with poor-quality trailers and narration, as if major press coverage was being given to student games with a $0 budget. I’m not joking: local University classes present their students’ final game projects each year, complete with a mini-E3-style press conference of trailers, and THOSE looked better than most of what I saw in June 2021. I’m not saying these indie games are necessarily bad and not deserving of your time, but watering-down things much further would only hurt E3 even more. For a more open and inclusive showcase, they should have a separate distinct event in a different month from the high-profile ones, to avoid any bad attention.
  • For movies, there’s a “popcorn blockbuster crowd” and a “foreign indie film crowd.” These applies to most media, including video games. Increasingly, it’s become clear that fans of AAA games couldn’t care less about smaller creative games. Try to get attention at the same time, and at best the AAA game drowns the indie game out, and at worst the indie game gets bad press and community feedback due to an unfair timing of comparison. Curation is still important in the indie scene, but is less of an issue when an indie event is truly distinct and separate from larger events in time and place.
• Curation is Important (applies to all below)
  • Even for these smaller events, curation is important: there are so many high-quality games to choose from in the indie scene, it would be a waste to spread focus with a “everybody-gets-a-prize” philosophy (but if rejecting a game, please give feedback as to “why,” in order to give the developer a chance to improve their craft. And a diverse-interest committee of judges helps too.). Festivals for music, film and comics have a minimum level of prestige associated with them and being accepted by them; there need to be more indie festivals that work like that. That’s to say, there needs to be more festivals in general, each with a unique line-up or specific focus, instead of a handful of global events and thousands of developers complaining they aren’t getting a fair shot.
• Focus on Local (applies to all below)
  • There are great, unseen developers in every corner of the world. Chances are, there’s also a few dozen great artists within a 1-hour drive from your home. All of the below ideas can be tailored to helping prop-up local games, and in a world where film festivals, comic festivals and anime festivals exist throughout North America, we could use a few more events for video games too. But again, focus on quality and curation (don’t just say “yes” because the developer lives in your state or province). And this only works if both sides are involved: too often, I’ve seen cities where dozens of developers do exist, but don’t care to work with a publisher / influencer that wants to help them, leaving the “local” organizer with little to work with for their trouble. If you’re a developer, reach out and attend meetups to see what’s going on, and whether you and your game can be involved. And if you’re interested in promoting your local colleagues, they will (hopefully) be appreciative.
• “Micro-Publishers” for Indie Games
  • There are probably a lot of game publishers you haven’t heard of, all trying to make a living themselves as a advertising business, while also promoting smaller games and helping drive sales for their respective developers. However, these companies bring into question the purpose of a game publisher: I’ve encountered publishers in my early days whose only offer was to market a game on Twitter, in exchange for being part of the publisher’s label and giving a cut of the profits. Usually from Twitter accounts that had less followers than I did. In my mind, a publisher (even a “micro” one) should be able to offer things the developer can’t get or afford on their own: investment and funding, an existing captive audience, booth space at trade shows, connections with other artists or companies, or connections with console representatives. Successful developers that already have these things could lend a hand by “publishing” a few local indies at the same time as their own.
• Regular Indie Bundle Sales
  • Including your game in a strongly-discounted bundle with other devs is a common way to get some extra short-term sales and attention. It can be good for you and the other developers involved (you’re helping them, and they’re helping you, by allowing the games to be purchased together). Why not do it with a more local flair, like a “Made in Michigan” bundle or the “Ontario Plays On” bundle? It has better opportunity for local press and attention, better for local pride and community building, and you’re likely to personally know the people you’re bundling with. However, it’s easy to do this too often and quickly lose the urgency and appeal: it would be a major event if it occurred once a year, and if there’s enough quality local content to support it, up 2 to 4 times a year to coordinate with the seasons might work out.
• “Anthology” Bundles
  • This is somewhat common in the comic-book space (see the “Flight” series by Kazu Kibuishi or the excellent “Apple” Korean-graphic novel series… even the “Shonen Jump” magazine is technically a version of this): have artists submit short stories or individual chapters and combine them as a graphic novel release. Even better, make it an annual series! Each time, you could feature new works, or allow artists to return with episodic adventures (they collect a portion of the profits, and at the end can release the complete story on their own). Episodic video games were popular a decade ago, and I think they could come back in some form: for the game you’re making, separate it into story chapters, levels, or locations that could each be played alone, about 30 to 60 minutes of playtime each, but combine to be a larger adventure. This would be a cool format to bundle indie games together, and make it more likely for customers to return for the next bundle, if only to support one or two series (and inadvertently supporting others in the process).  This could also be viewed as a more community-driven version of running a Patreon account to fund a single game and receive short updates as it progresses.
• Festivals with a “Festival Pass”
  • Game conventions usually charge for admission to… get an advance advertisement to new games to purchase later. Compare this to music festivals, where you get to hear a long concert performance, and usually can buy the CD on the spot. Compare this to indie comic festivals where admission is cheap (sometimes free!), and you can purchase indie comics on the spot. Compare this to film festivals, where the attendee is happy to buy a “5-ticket-bundle” or a “full festival pass,” expensive as they are, to see several exclusive films in the span of a few days. I think game festivals (not developer conferences or hype-conventions) can be organized with this philosophy: cheap attendance for talks and demos and an artist alley, with a single volunteer-run booth that will sell you ALL the games in attendance in a “Full Festival Pass” for $80. Or maybe a “Pick 5 Bundle” for $20. Throw in a t-shirt, pin or other exclusive festival swag to sweeten the deal. It’s not as cheap as a Humble Bundle charity deal, but works with the spontaneous-purchase behavior of modern culture, and might mean more when you know all (or most) of the profits are going to developers you just met in person. This would require approved games to actually be close to completion, enough so to have a store page and price. Printed keys could come from Steam or the more friendly Itch.io, and could easily be sold online for people who can’t attend in person. This is a new format of game festival, and I think it would be hugely beneficial to developers, and to fans who really appreciate the indie scene. And if the festival is good, it’s common for attendees to come back every year in tradition and to “collect” each bundle (I’m looking forward to attending film festivals again soon myself).
• “Pop Up” Marketplaces
  • I’ve seen some smaller events that are usually held in a back-alley or in a tiny warehouse, that focus just on selling indie games and related merchandise. These might occur multiple times a year. It’s a good casual atmosphere to bring some extra attention and opportunity for developers and artists to make some extra cash. And the word “pop up” sounds trendy, you know a certain crowd of people will show up for it, no questions asked. Tie it to an existing annual event (example: “Michigan Indie Games Festival (MIGF)” and “The Winter Michigan Indie Market, brought to you by MIGF”), and it would help with cross-promotion.

I hope some of these ideas are helpful, and I’d love to hear more here or on Twitter. We’re all in this together.