Why Indie RPGs? Indies of the Round Table #1
by Jay Barnson · 02/11/2008 (9:52 am) · 4 comments
I somehow managed to abuse my pretense at being plugged into the indie RPG scene (there's a scene?) and rope ten indie RPG developers together for a monthly Q&A called "Indies of the Round Table." The developers range from new developers making a splash with their first title, to seasoned vets who've been at this for several years.
The list of panelists includes some names the GarageGames community should recognize - Josh Engebretson of Prairie Games (Minions of Mirth), Amanda Fitch of Amaranth Games (the Aveyond series and Grimm's Hatchery - the latter made with TGB), Vince D. Weller of Iron Tower Studios (Age of Decadence - another Torque-powered RPG), and Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software (if you play indie RPGs at all, you've probably played his games).
The question they wrestle with this month should be a familiar one to the folks here: Why bother? Why Indie RPGs? With all the MMORPGs being released, the mainstream RPGs released in the last 18 months or so, and all the fan-created mods for games like the Neverwinter Nights series, what do indie RPGs possibly have to offer?
I hope you enjoy their answers as much as I did:
Why Indie RPGs? Indies of the Round Table #1
Please feel free to add comments, your OWN answers, suggestions for future questions, or just let us know if you liked the article or not.
Thanks!
Jay Barnson
Rampant Games
Tales of the Rampant Coyote
The list of panelists includes some names the GarageGames community should recognize - Josh Engebretson of Prairie Games (Minions of Mirth), Amanda Fitch of Amaranth Games (the Aveyond series and Grimm's Hatchery - the latter made with TGB), Vince D. Weller of Iron Tower Studios (Age of Decadence - another Torque-powered RPG), and Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software (if you play indie RPGs at all, you've probably played his games).
The question they wrestle with this month should be a familiar one to the folks here: Why bother? Why Indie RPGs? With all the MMORPGs being released, the mainstream RPGs released in the last 18 months or so, and all the fan-created mods for games like the Neverwinter Nights series, what do indie RPGs possibly have to offer?
I hope you enjoy their answers as much as I did:
Why Indie RPGs? Indies of the Round Table #1
Please feel free to add comments, your OWN answers, suggestions for future questions, or just let us know if you liked the article or not.
Thanks!
Jay Barnson
Rampant Games
Tales of the Rampant Coyote
About the author
Jay has been a mainstream and indie game developer for a... uh, long time. His professional start came in 1994 developing titles for the then-unknown and upcoming Sony Playstation. He runs Rampant Games and blogs at Tales of the Rampant Coyote.
#2
02/11/2008 (11:13 am)
Thanks! What was cool to me was that everyone I invited accepted the opportunity to participate. Everyone jumped at the chance to talk about what they do, and why they feel there's a strong place for indie RPGs. Unsurprising - I think many of them got into doing it because they were unsatisfied customers of mainstream games, and decided to write the kinds of games THEY wanted to play. 
#3
02/12/2008 (4:08 am)
Nice article (as usual) Jay :0)
#4
The long and short of it is that these guys are identifying places where the mainstream industry is failing to meet demand. If they can meet it - and the demand is large enough - and they can manage to market it and get the word out that they are THERE with something to make people happy - they can do well.
And there are quite a few indies on that panel who are doing just that, full-time.
02/12/2008 (10:47 am)
The nice part about this one was that - except for the intro and conclusion, it was all other people writing it. I think ANY aspiring indie ought to read it, because you could substitute "RPG" for almost any genre and many of the answers would still hold true (if the details might change).The long and short of it is that these guys are identifying places where the mainstream industry is failing to meet demand. If they can meet it - and the demand is large enough - and they can manage to market it and get the word out that they are THERE with something to make people happy - they can do well.
And there are quite a few indies on that panel who are doing just that, full-time.
Torque 3D Owner Rubes