GameCareerGuide Feature: The Indie Process

Author: by Staff

In its latest feature article, The Indie Process, IGF competitor and USC student Michael Silverman examines several different ways that different academic programs and developers approach the process of prototyping games. Silverman opens the article by explaining his interest in detailing the different prototyping processes used by independent developers: "Many big publishers don't have a structure for empowering the process of developing a new game concept. That's not to say mainstream publishers don't want new IP. The problem is process. Indies are crafting techniques to design games akin to artists refining perspective drawing. These techniques, combined with the failing economy, the rise of the IGF, and the legitimacy provided by academic game design programs are causing a golden age of indie development." The article goes on to offer discussions of the prototyping proccesses used by World of Goo, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Katamari Damacy, and more. Says Silverman, "In studying these new processes as they evolve, and watching which succeed and which fail, we need to find ways to combine the creative forces of these techniques to push the indie movement forward. All the schools of indie process use the one, preferred, prototype to design that 'great game.' But really great games should be strong in all regards." A call to arms against big, predictable, corporate games as well as an examination of process, the article The Indie Process is available today in its entirety at Gamasutra's education-focused sister site, GameCareerGuide.com.