Create your own games» Game Creation Blog by Koonsolo

5 reasons why indie game developers should support Linux

Koen Witters — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:17:22 +0000

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A lot of myths exist about Linux users and the whole open source community. Because of these wrong assumptions, a lot of game developers still hesitate to support the Linux platform. As both a Linux user and an indie game developer, I want to educate everybody with hard facts about the advantages of supporting Linux.

Here follows the list of 5 reasons why it benefits for indie game developers to support Linux.

1. Doesn’t take more effort or budget

Sometimes you hear game developers having a realy hard time porting their game to Linux, sometimes they even give up just because they run into technical difficulties. Truth is that it all depends on how you wrote your game in the first place. If you choose the right technologies at the start of your project, porting a game to Linux or even Mac takes no serious extra effort, or it can even eliminate a porting step.

There are plenty of game libraries and frameworks out there that support all mayor platforms (Windows/Mac/Linux), so why pick one which limits you to only one platform? I personally use pygame for my 2D games, and it just runs out of the box on all these platforms. For 3D you got some powerfull engines (for example Ogre3D for rendering, Bullet for physics, etc…)

2. Yes, linux users pay for games

A common misconception is that Linux users are not willing to pay for software. They get a whole operating system, together with loads of software, for free. Therefore most think that the main reason they use Linux is because it’s free. The following might surprise some people, but Linux users actually use it because they think it’s a better operating system (compared to anything else out there).

You don’t have to take my word for it, just look at the statistics. The developers of indie game ‘World of Goo’ found out that Linux users are willing to pay higher prices for their game. And my own statistics on Mystic Mine show that Linux users are more eager to buy my game.

3. They love it when you support their favorite platform.

In a world where MS Windows dominates desktop computers and Apple’s Mac OS is a tiny second, Linux dangles as the underdog of Operating Systems. Hardware and software companies often forget to support Linux. In the past Linux users sometimes responded to this in an offensive and impolite manner. But that trend is changing. Of course you still have total jerks online, but they represent a tiny minority right now.

Anyone who supports Linux knows how nice that community really is. They are helpful, even giving advice and tips on a technical level. They also give a lot of positive feedback, and are very supportive for anyone who supports ‘their’ operating system.

4. Less pirating. Linux users are not used to visiting warez sites

A lot of Windows users, especially young gamers, are familiar with warez sites. These sites are full of pirated software and cracked serial numbers. This way they can download commercial software for free, but at the risk of bringing in malicious software like viruses or troyans.

As a Linux user, there’s no point in visiting such sites. Most Linux software is freely downloadable as Open Source software. And as long as Linux users don’t care about warez sites, warez sites won’t care about Linux users. It’s kind or self maintaining.

5. Easier to get noticed

As an indie game developer, you have to work hard to get exposure for your games. Most game review websites get tons of requests form other game developers. But since Linux is a niche market, even the most popular Linux gaming sites are eager for any news on a game. It’s the questions of what’s best for your game: A big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond. If you also develop for Linux, your game can be both the small fish in the Windows and Mac pond, and the medium/big fish in the Linux pond.

And again, it’s not just me that noticed this. The game developers from Wolfire concluded that “A lot of people heard about and supported Lugaru simply because we had a Linux build”.

Conclusion

As you can see it does make sense to develop your games for Linux. Or to put it in 2D Boy’s words: “There is a market for Linux games after all ”.

So I hope that with this article more games will become available for Linux, and more indie game developers can make a profitable business.

Koen Witters

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Who is going to steal your game idea?

Koen Witters — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:35:32 +0000

During the development of your game, you should already do some marketing. This way you line up some customers to buy your game once its released. But marketing means revealing parts of your game. And when developing an innovative game, your primary fear might be that someone is going to steal your idea, and… (Tune from Jaws here) daaa dum daaa dum daaa dum… bring out a cloned game sooner than you! AAAARRRRGGGG!
Well… I got news for you: nobody is going to steal your idea.

Take a look at Braid or Tower of Goo for example. Both are innovative games, both revealed their concept long before their release. And you know what? Nobody stole their idea.
Next to these two masterpieces, I’m shamelessly going to use my own game Mystic Mine as an example. To be honest I was indeed scared that someone would steel the idea of those impossible “Escher”-levels. But you know what? Nobody did! And if you think of it, this makes perfect sense. Why would you clone a game that hasn’t yet proven itself in the market? And if it’s already popular before release, people are waiting for the original game, not the clone. Besides, are you sure you will put the game faster on the market? It just doesn’t makes sense to clone a game that hasn’t been released yet. And your fellow indie game developers, they all have their own game ideas to develop.

So market the hell out of your game while working on it, and don’t worry about someone steeling your idea or concept. Now go do it! What are you waiting for?

Market research before creating your game.

Koen Witters — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:22:27 +0000

So, you know how to create games, you have plenty of ideas, and now you want to finish one game and sell it. You’ve come to the right place to get started on that. The first and most important thing to focus on is marketing. Marketing comes before creating your game, it comes even before thinking about your game.

Most people think that marketing is about advertising and press releases, but that’s only a tiny part of it. Get this into your head: Marketing is everything, and everything is marketing. Marketing is the kind of game you create, for which platforms, your price, your customer support, your demo, the graphics, game loading times, … everything!
Marketing focuses on the customer, it’s how (s)he experiences your products and services. If you want to sell a game, you have to start asking yourself the right questions, marketing questions. I’ll provide you with a list of questions you need to think about, this is crucial if you ever want your game to sell.

Know your customer

So, who is your customer?
Who are you going to sell your game to?
Which platform(s) does (s)he have?
What kind of games does (s)he like?
Why does (s)he buy games?

Know your competition

Who is already selling products to your customers?
What’s their price, quality, …?
How many competitors are there?

Position yourself in the market

Does your game offer something different than the competition, something better?
Is there a reason why someones should buy your game instead of that from the competition? Don’t focus on price but on value.
What extra value does your game have?
How will you reach your customers?
How and where will they find out about your game?
Will your game be lost in all other games, or can you stand out from the crowd?
What will you do to convince a player to put down what (s)he is playing and pick up your game?

If you asked yourself these questions, and seriously thought about them, researched and evaluated the competition, then you’re ready for the next step: become the customer. Don’t see things from your point of view, but get inside your customers head, think like him/her, and see things from his/her side. Go over the same questions, but really try to see it from your customers point of view. Be honest in your answers.

If you’ve evaluated all of the above, take a look at the following formula:

revenue = number of customers * revenue per game

So there are 2 ultimate questions to see if you can sell your game:

Can you get enough customers to buy your game?
Can you get enough revenue per game to make a profit?

I cannot answer these questions for you, so you have to be honest with yourself and try to answer them as good as possible. If the outcome is not positive, switch game concept or platform or … whatever. But don’t create a game that you can’t sell.

How to choose the right game concept

Koen Witters — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:44:11 +0000

You probably have tons of game ideas inside your head, so how do you decide which game to implement? Well, use the following flowchart. It’s straight forward, saves time, and makes sure you thought of everything.

The most important thing is that you’re able to complete the game, this alone will be hard enough. Second most important thing is that people are willing to pay for your game, which is even harder.

Koen Witters

So… did your game concept pass the test? Let me know by commenting below!