CONCEPTING FOR THE INDIE MARKET

By Carissa Vadella

OVERVIEW………………………………………………………………………………...2

RISKS AND RISK MANAGEMENT……………………………………………………...2

UTILIZING NOSTALGIA…………………………………………………………………..3

REVIVING OLD AESTHETICS…………………………………………………………..4

REVIVING OLD GENRES………………………………………………………………..8

HIGH DIFFICULTY LEVEL……………………………………………………………….10

ATTENTION TO DETAIL…………………………………………………………………13

COMBINING POPULAR GENRES……………………………………………………..14

FRESH PERSPECTIVE………………………………………………………………….15

HEAVY NARRATIVE INFLUENCE……………………………………………………...17

GAMES AS HIGH ART…………………………………………………………………..18

FURTHER INSPIRATION………………………………………………………………..19

UNDERSTANDING ONE’S ENGINE…………………………………………………...19

WORKS CITED…………………………………………………………………………....20

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES……………………………………………………………..22

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OVERVIEW

Commercial success often, though not always, corresponds with successful ​ ​ design. In examining the market as a whole for both its strengths and weaknesses, understanding what makes a concept “good” or “bad” is made easier. In indie development especially, although relevant to all game design, the main objective is to create as powerful and fun of a game with as minimal of work as possible, thus making every element impactful. The strategies discussed herein should be looked at as merely one way of achieving success.

RISKS AND RISK MANAGEMENT

One should have a clear target audience in mind. People will dislike your game; it is frankly impossible to make everyone happy. What is important is understanding why ​ they dislike your game and what, if anything, you should change based on their feedback. In a highly simplistic example, if one was creating a cutesy Sailor Moon inspired shooter, the advice of a dedicated Call of Duty player to add more explosions won’t always mesh well with the direction of the game. Whether feedback is discarded or used, a developer should always know why they chose what they did.

Indie development doesn’t need to be that much riskier than bigger name development. Drawing from proven solid techniques and finding under-realized markets can minimize the likelihood of failure without compromising the more experimental edge indie development is so often known for.

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Ideas are a dime a dozen. If a game idea isn’t turning out to be fun, and no easy fix exists, don’t be afraid to try something else.

UTILIZING NOSTALGIA

A common theme throughout indie development is the reliance on nostalgia.

Defined as “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations” (“Nostalgia”), nostalgia within video games relies on drawing and improving upon classic video games to remind the player of the strengths of their childhood favourites.

Nailing nostalgia relies on four key concepts: “take from multiple sources, emulate what worked, modernise what doesn’t, [and] give it a rose-tinted look” (Shovel ​ Knight and Nailing Nostalgia). Yacht Club’s Shovel Knight, the game featured in the ​ ​ ​ Game Maker’s Toolkit Nostalgia video, embodies these strategies successfully. The ​ ​ game draws clear reference from six classic games: Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden, Duck

Tales, Castlevania, Super Mario Bros 3, and Zelda 2 (Shovel Knight and Nailing ​ 1 Nostalgia), and modernizes the resulting combination, aesthetically, as mentioned later ​ , as well as drawing on more recent inspirations to update gameplay, including reference to the popular Dark Souls franchise for their checkpoint system. ​ ​ Another example of successful use of nostalgia is farming sim Stardew Valley. ​ ​ The game, unlike Shovel Knight, faced a rather unique struggle in that, other than ​ ​ FarmVille-- a hugely popular Facebook farming sim --and Harvest Moon sequels/spin-offs, there were really no other hugely popular farming games. As such,

1 See section “Reviving Old Aesthetics.

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the game takes from less obvious references with “‘...tried-and-true gameplay elements such as crafting and quests’” (Baker) as seen in traditional RPGs.

REVIVING OLD AESTHETICS

Retro art styles, including the ASCII based graphic of Rogue, pixel art in bit counts ranging from 8 to 32, and countless more.

ASCII:

(Left: Rogue (1980). Top right: Guilded Youth (2012). Bottom right: Dwarf Fortress (2006))

Cel-Shaded:

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(Left: Jet Set Radio (2000). Top right: XIII (2011). Bottom right: The Walking Dead (2012))

1-bit pixel:

(Left: Dark Castle (1986). Top right: Air Supply (2014). Bottom right: Obra Dinn (TBA))

16-bit pixel:

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(Left: Super Mario Bro (1985). Top right: Shovel Knight (2014). Middle right: Owlboy (2016). Bottom right: Gods Will Be

Watching (2014))

Why use older art styles at all? They translate better, especially on smaller screens such as mobile devices or in faster paced games where the visual elements need to be quickly and easily readable. On a similar line of thought, older art styles are less overwhelming, and make it easier to tell what the player should be focusing on. The styles also lend themself to nostalgia, and for that reason, easier marketing. More than that, older art styles can be easier to pick up and faster to implement than the hyper-realism of today’s big name games.

For convenience’s sake, our focus here will be higher bit pixel, though quite similar arguments could be made for using any retro art style.

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Shovel Knight emulates the 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System’s stylings ​ closely, modernizing when necessary to keep the game viable in today’s market. The

NES allowed only 64 colors in total, a number Shovel Knight mostly stuck to. There is ​ ​ obvious parallels between pixel count and level of detail. In terms of modernization,

Shovel Knight uses true parallaxing, as opposed to the faked effect of NES days, and ​ switches to widescreen, to suit the modern monitor’s aspect ratio. The game additionally uses modern color capabilities, in both an increased number of colors per sprite, as well as more palettes simultaneously on screen, compared to the NES max of 25 colors at once, and features the addition of a limited number of particle effects (D’Angelo).

Developers Yacht Club Games creating Shovel Knight as though “...development for the ​ ​ NES never stopped” (D’Angelo), imagining the influence of “modern design lessons”

(D’Angelo) and tech, but ultimately kept as close as possible to their NES inspirations.

NES enthusiast D-Pad Studio’s game Owlboy uses its retro muse more as a ​ ​ jumping-off point. The style has more--and different-- colors than the early system would have allowed, as well as a greater level of detail, but the referential art style lends to the tone of the game, a major focus of the developers (Couture).

Gods Will Be Watching uses pixel art in another way entirely: to speed up their ​ art production. Utilizing relatively little detail, the game’s take on pixel is notably simpler--and quicker-- than both Shovel Knight and Owlboy. The time saved is then ​ ​ ​ ​ applied to elements that improve gameplay more, such as the number of contextually specific animations that form an immersive “health bar” in the game. It’s a move that

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really sells the characters as real, and maximizes the impact of the player’s often life and death decisions.

Unfortunately, pixel has become a rather flooded market recently, however retro aesthetics as a whole remain a solid selling point in the indie market.

REVIVING OLD GENRES

Genres of times past, include arcade style gaming, multi-user dungeons (MUDs), point and click games, the text-based adventure,

et cetera.

Due to technical limitations, retro games were forced simpler than the kind of games possible today. As such, implementing the basic framework of an older genre is relatively quick, allowing more time for polish and greatly decreasing the scope of one’s project, with scope being the amount of stuff put into one game. In the case of the small ​ ​ and usually low budget indie team, managing one’s scope is paramount.

However, the main concern that arises when using older styles of gameplay is the player feeling limited and wanting for the sort of features allowed by today’s technology.

As before, for convenience’s sake, we will be discussing one of many older genres, the text-based adventure, namely through two games by developer Abigail

Corfman: Open Sorcery and 16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds. It is important to ​ ​ ​ ​ note, in genres even more than in art styles, examination of the specific limitations of said genre is key, a process outlined below.

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In Open Sorcery, one plays as magically enhanced firewall “BEL/S”. Gameplay ​ ​ centers around remotely monitoring the safety of the places the player is charged to protect. Via 16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds, the player is an off-duty vampire ​ ​ hunter trying, unsurprisingly, to kill a vampire at McDonalds before he eats the cute cashier. In terms of base mechanics, the two are nearly the same--use dialogue and inventory items to defeat an enemy or enemies. However, the two play very differently;

16 Ways is frustrating in a way Open Sorcery never was. ​ ​ ​ Text-based adventures’ limitations lie in its lack of visuals: location or inventory based elements are hard for a player to keep track of.

16 Ways deals with finding and combining items to build a suitable anti-vampire ​ weapon. Upon locating a new item, the player likely immediately thinks of ways said

2 item can be used, most of which are not the “correct” way to use it. The problem lies in that when the game displays, via text, the possibility to use an item, the player often has already forgotten about it, or hadn’t considered using the item in such a way.

Open Sorcery’s “inventory” is slightly more user-friendly, in that it is composed of ​ different magical elements of the enemies encountered. As well, these elemental categories are brought up every time BEL/S initiates a fight. Thus, inventory elements are tied more to an experience, and seen relatively often, making them easier to recall when needed and less ambiguous in terms of their intended use.

2 The game has the misfortune of falling into a common puzzle game pitfall, in that players often think of ways to solve the presented problem that would work in real life, but aren’t designed to work in game. The gameplay style within Open Sorcery mostly ​ ​ avoids such a thing on its own, but if such a similar pitfall were to come up, it is explainable as BEL/S is a programmed AI, and so logically would have rules of action that seem in inane to a player.

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As well, combat within the genre tends to take on a turn-based feel that doesn’t always mesh well with the game at hand. 16 Ways stresses item crafting, so combat ​ ​ serves as more a “check” to see if the player has truly figured out a solution to the

“puzzle” of killing the vampire. It is, in theory, a solid design move. However, it often leaves the player thinking they could have avoided the vampire’s attacks, and thus avoid death, if only this wasn’t a text-based game. It makes the limitations of the genre ​ ​ all too apparent.

Open Sorcery’s combat is atypical, as the protagonist is an AI, and so isn’t fully ​ comparable to more classic combat a la fighting a vampire. However, in the game’s major style of direct combat, solving riddles and timed puzzles, one feels significantly less restricted than in Corfman`s other work.

In general, Open Sorcery does a significantly better job minimizing its genre’s ​ ​ limitations, especially as any feelings of frustration can be explained lore-wise as mirroring BEL/S’s own and thus being immersive.

In more simplistic gameplay styles such as the text-based adventure, some variety of selling factor is often necessary to make the game exciting. Used here,

“selling factor” refers to anything other than the base gameplay, including lore, visuals, sound effects, music, et cetera. In Corfman’s Open Sorcery, a major appeal is the ​ ​ sentient AI concept, referential to late 70s/early 80s science fiction.

HIGH DIFFICULTY LEVEL

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A clear nod to the video game classics, creating a difficult game has its definite benefits. Like all retro-inspired games, it draws on nostalgia. Notoriously challenging games have a lot of appeal to streamers--as seen through countless Youtube playthroughs of games like the Dark Souls franchise--and the resulting publicity does a great deal to create hype. The increased level of challenge is both refreshing--in a market discussing commonly now the overuse of “handholding”-- and rewarding. High difficulty games maximize the amount of gameplay for the player versus work put in by the developer. As well, a tighter-knit community is formed. Players are forced into communicating more to learn the tips and tricks to get through the game, a la the “lazy newb pack” for Dwarf Fortress that provides new players with a good start for their fortress, and things like the old Nintendo tip line and game walkthrough sites, where players who have already passed through a given level advise players who are stuck.

Higher difficulty, of course, limits one’s player base. A good deal of people will be either not good enough to play the game or not interested in becoming good enough.

3 This in and of itself isn’t necessarily bad .

One of the biggest concerns when creating a game with such a high level of difficulty is the frustration outweighing fun. Indie games Crypt of the NecroDancer and ​ ​ Super Meat Boy do a good job of striking a balance. ​ Replaying the exact same thing without being good enough to move on is a key source of frustration in video games. Crypt of the NecroDancer alleviates this by ​ ​ introducing an element of chance, via highly random level generation. Going a different

3 See section “Risks and Risks Management.”

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route entirely, Super Meat Boy minimizes the amount of gameplay to be forced to replay ​ ​ by implementing smaller levels.

As well, the respective developers maximize the game’s “fairness” in the eyes of the player: Super Meat Boy through a highly polished movement code, and Crypt of the ​ ​ ​ NecroDancer via auto calibration of its rhythm element (Clark). ​ The games remain fun to play through careful design: Super Meat Boy makes ​ ​ death fun in dramatic montages of the player’s demise and bursts of blood. Crypt of the ​ NecroDancer creates a movement heavily based on the popular rhythm game genre. ​ In creating a difficult game, set aside a good percentage of development time towards playtesting to ensure a proper balance of fun and difficulty. Understand that, if outside sources are used in playtesting, not everyone will agree with you when you think a game is properly balanced, and that’s okay. The people that have to be convinced are the people taking the risk, namely the developers.

Important in any discussion of high difficulty games are so-called “rage games,” a la Cat Mario and I Wanna Be the Guy. Rage games mimic a more organic learning process via trial and error navigation of traps. The premise is interesting, especially in today’s market. However, the execution often ends up feeling more akin to blind memorization than truly “learning” the rules of the world. The traps make little sense even after seeing them countless times: returning to the example of Cat Mario, one of its trap--deadly background elements--look just like any other background element, even after both knowing them to be different and quite close examination.

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An easy fix exists: in, for example, Eric Barone’s Stardew Valley, a key enemy ​ ​ are rock crabs, a monster that, when not moving, looks almost exactly like a normal rock. However, attention to detail reveals a difference, in that the rock crabs don’t possess the shadow the background element they mimic does.

If rage games follow some sort of similar pattern, it is not a thing readily apparent. Such visual cues would help greatly in making the genre’s characteristic traps feel less out of nowhere and lend more of a feeling of fairness to it.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

One of the SNES`s biggest titles, Harvest Moon, is a 1996 farming simulator that features the player character revitalizing a small-town farm in disrepair by balancing daily tasks such as growing crops, raising animals, mining, fishing and more. Enter recent indie remake, Stardew Valley. Separating itself from the SNES title, Stardew ​ ​ Valley shines in the tweaks, balancing, and polishes made without losing any of Harvest

Moon`s original appeal, as well as smart additions, including an overhauled combat system and larger village.

Recreating a pre-existing genre with improved attention to detail is, business-wise, an extremely smart move in that the market already both explicitly exists and has been tested for success. Turning a profit becomes less risky. As well, marketing becomes a good deal easier.

A thing to be wary of is the comparison between a game and its inspiration.

Likely the inspiration game had a much higher budget, and the comparison won’t

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automatically be flattering. Remaking older games is a rather safe bet, in that technological improvements will help a developer “make up the difference,” so to speak, as well as drawing in nostalgia. In remaking newer games, often modding is a good place to start: the Counter Strike series stemmed from a Half-Life mod, one of many mod success stories. Whatever is chosen, thorough knowledge of the reference game/genre is required. The main advantage an indie company has is the benefit of time: imperfect design choices in the inspiration are made obvious through the

“playtesting” of the consumer.

Such an approach hides its real risk: high level of detail takes time. A lot of time.

With time being a very limited resource, one should be confident in one’s concept here to dedicate so much to it.

In such an appeal, copyright infringement is always a concern. Be sure you understand what is and isn’t copyright infringement.

COMBINING POPULAR GENRES

A simple way to create an interesting concept lies in combining two uncommonly paired genres. It is an idea not uncommon in the indie market; of note is Toby Fox’s

Undertale, which features classic Japanese RPG stylings with a bullet hell esque ​ combat system.

It is a smart move in that it draws in the audiences of both genres, and its implementation remains fast, as both genre’s elements are usually kept very simple.

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However, the combination can often come across as gimmicky. Care should be taken to marry the two genres as well as possible, and the game should overall be fun. ​ ​

FRESH PERSPECTIVE

Greater diversity of topic, including diversity of culture, morality, et cetera.

Citing boredom with the subject matter of a good deal of the market’s games

(Code), many are calling for fresh perspective. Regardless of one’s opinion on the matter, such complaints reveal an opening in the market. Below are listed a few examples of successfully presenting a less seen viewpoint.

Undertale, initially strikingly similar to the traditional JRPG, features the player character, a child who fell into the ​ Underground, fighting monsters to return home. However, the game features different play styles: of note is the so-called “pacifist run” option, where instead of attacking monsters, the player engages in conversation options to appease the enemy.

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Kitfox Games’ Moon Hunters is a random generated RPG adventure whose key quest is to find the missing moon and ​ ​ defeat those who had organized her kidnapping. Set in ancient Mesopotamia, the game faithfully represents less often seen cultural viewpoints, including Assyrian, Sumerian, and Slavic mythology as well as the oral storytelling tradition.

Depression Quest is a piece of interactive fiction by developer Zoe Quinn whose main premise is conveying the ​ unromanticized experience of clinical depression.

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Braid, developed by Jonathan Blow, puts a twist on the classic Mario-esque damsel in distress plotline through a ​ realistically portrayed “villain” as the playable character, and the game’s highlighting of non-heroic mistakes.

As well, moves such as proposed skippable combat and the “walking simulator” bring a fresh perspective to the game industry.

HEAVY NARRATIVE INFLUENCE

In utilizing a heavily narrative based approach to game development, the focus is on message and feeling over gameplay. “Narrative,” in the scope of game development, refers to the overall tone of the game, not only character dialogue and scattered audio or text logs, but also feeling conveyed through the environment and mechanic and more

Of horror, Thomas Grip of Frictional Games remarks “It is the only genre where it is okay to sacrifice gameplay in order to create emotions and build atmosphere’...”

(Thomsen). Some of the best narrative-based games, in fact, come from developers

Frictional Games. Their 2015 science fiction horror SOMA centers around protagonist ​ ​

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Simon Jarrett, who wakes up in the year 2104 in underwater research facility

PATHOS-II, among the last of the human race after a comet impact. The storyline stresses isolation and helplessness, a tone backed up by the game itself. The main gameplay involves hiding from mysterious patrolling monsters while unravelling the mystery of the research center. Serving as the exclusive quest provider is Catherine

Chun, researcher from PATHOS-II and sole other human encountered in the game. Her death, in the final moments of the game, leave Simon completely without even a goal to live for, and truly alone.

However, it should be argued using mechanic as part of one’s narrative is a thing all genres could and often do utilize. It’s seen--in just one example of many--in Lucas

Pope’s Papers Please, which uses its rather minimalistic gameplay to create the feeling ​ ​ of listlessness of the dystopian setting.

GAMES AS HIGH ART

Drawing from both a heavy narrative influence and classic literary devices, games that tackle an issue provide moral obligation for people of the same viewpoint to play, buy, and otherwise support your game. In utilizing an element of social commentary, a strong point of view is easy to get across, although care should be taken to make sure such an element is integrated into the story well without being overbearing. As always, your game should be fun even stripped of all its selling factors, i.e. art, story, et cetera. Games of note correctly utilizing such an appeal include Papers ​ Please and Nonadecimal`s Social Justice Warriors. ​ ​

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There are a great deal of implications within the market inherent in trying to raise up games as a medium, but for our business-driven focus here, only one will be discussed: money. As video games move out of the realm of “hobby” and into that of

“art,” developers can charge higher prices.

FURTHER INSPIRATION

What creates these smash hits like Flappy Bird are a well-marketed, well-made ​ ​ game, a bit of good timing, and a bit of luck. Luck as always is uncontrollable, but both timing and marketing can be helped by understanding one’s market. Game competitions and conferences are always a good indicator of where the market is, and where it is

4 heading. A list of the big conferences and competitions is provided below.

UNDERSTANDING ONE’S ENGINE

A couple of key engines include GameMaker, Twine, Unity, Unreal, and a custom built engine. The best engine for one’s project is that which will most easily and quickly be able to implement one’s concept.

With its click and drag coding, GameMaker is easy to pick up for those lacking programming savvy. As well, such a system makes it easier to implement a game quickly for the newer programmer. However, GameMaker makes level designing rather tricky, and the engine lacks built-in 3D. Of note, indie hits Undertale and Hyper Light ​ ​ ​ Drifter were both GameMaker creations. ​

4 See “Additional Resources.”

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Twine is a prominently text-based engine, and, for creating simple text-based games, is quite easy to pick up and quick to implement. Games such as Abigail

Corfman`s Open Sorcery, IndieCade 2016 nominee, were made in Twine. ​ ​ Most recognizable of the game engines are Unity and Unreal. Unity, all-around, is a solid choice in any occasion. Unreal features gorgeous graphics, but its programming “blueprints” are a good deal different from most programming languages.

As a general rule of thumb, if you can’t name why you’d want a custom engine, you likely don’t need one.

WORKS CITED

Baker, Chris. "The 4 years of self-imposed crunch that went into Stardew Valley." Gamasutra. ​ ​ ​ ​ Accessed 14 Dec. 2016.

www.gamasutra.com/view/news/267563/The_4_years_of_selfimposed_crunch_that_wen

t_into_Stardew_Valley.php

Clark, Ryan. "Game Design Deep Dive: Finding the beat in Crypt of the NecroDancer."

Gamasutra, . Accessed 14 Dec. 2016. ​ http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/225547/Game_Design_Deep_Dive_Finding_the_

beat_in_Crypt_of_the_NecroDancer.php?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Code, Brie. "Video Games Are Boring." GamesIndustry.biz, 7 Nov. 2016, ​ ​ www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-11-07-video-games-are-boring. Accessed 15 Dec. ​ 2016.

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Couture, Joel. "Using graphics to express character and theme in Owlboy." Gamasutra. ​ ​ ​ ​ Accessed 14 Dec. 2016.

www.gamasutra.com/view/news/282041/Using_graphics_to_express_character_and_theme

_in_Owlboy.php

D'Angelo, David. "Breaking the NES for Shovel Knight." Gamasutra. Accessed 14 Dec. 2016. ​ ​ www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidDAngelo/20140625/219383/Breaking_the_NES_for_S

hovel_Knight.php

"Nostalgia." Dictionary.com. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/nostalgia. Accessed 15 Dec. ​ ​ ​ ​ 2016.

Shovel Knight and Nailing Nostalgia. Produced by Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit, 2016. ​ Accessed 14 Dec. 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHhX5GtWNr8 ​ Thomsen, Michael. "Revival Horror: New Ideas in Fear-Making." Gamasutra, ​ ​ www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/5772/revival_horror_new_ideas_in_.php?print=1. ​ Accessed 15 Dec. 2016.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

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GAME MAGAZINES: http://www.gamasutra.com/ http://kotaku.com/ http://www.polygon.com/

CONFERENCES/COMPETITIONS: http://meaningfulplay.msu.edu/ https://www.thegdex.com/ http://www.gdconf.com/ http://www.igf.com/ http://www.indiecade.com/ https://www.sxsw.com/category/interactive/ https://www.e3expo.com/ http://www.paxsite.com/ https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/

SOCIAL MEDIA: https://twitter.com/hashtag/indiedevhour?src=hash https://twitter.com/hashtag/gameart?src=hash https://twitter.com/hashtag/gamedev?src=hash https://twitter.com/hashtag/screenshotsaturday?src=hash https://twitter.com/hashtag/indiedev?src=hash

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INTRODUCTORY ARTICLES: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/SarahWoodrow/20140102/206583/7_truths_about_ind ie_game_development.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/286091/Video_How_to_survive_in_indie_game_ dev_for_10_years_without_shipping_a_hit.php?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitte r http://kotaku.com/5979539/a-beginners-guide-to-making-your-first-video-game http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/AlexNichiporchik/20161205/286829/Punch_Clubs_gui de_to_Pixel_Art.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/135065/principles_of_an_indie_game_bottom_. php

OTHER: http://ludumdare.com/compo/