Sex, Lies, and Wildlife Tycoon
Here's an e-mail I received from Ben Ormand, Dubious Quality Film Consultant and Nicest Person Alive:You need to write about this because it extends what we were talking about at E3 and it basically mirrors the “indie-film” revolution of Miramax which began with Sex, Lies, and Videotape. Once a market is realized to be underserved, all kinds of “external” forces (i.e. nominally excluded voices) move to invade that space.
"This" is an article in Business Week Online about independent game developers and the casual games market. Basically, while big-budget games are an endless arms race with a few winners and many big losers, those games are focusing on a very limited demographic (young, male, bang bang bang). Meanwhile, there are millions of people with PC's who aren't in that demographic. The computer-owning audience has become so diverse that it's created almost unlimited opportunities for small, independent games that cost only a fraction of a "big budget studio release."
Key to these opportunities are broadband connections, which make digital distribution much more attractive. And I think Microsoft, surprisingly enough, is also going to have a huge effect with Xbox 360 Live Arcade. Remember last year when I said that Steam was far more important to the future of gaming than Half-Life 2? Well, I hate Steam, but it's still true, and it's also true of any digital distribution system that removes layers of cost between game designers and their customers.
So everything is in place: an eager audience, digital distribution, and a low-cost development environment. These smaller games are inexpensive enough to create that it greatly increases the number of people who can make games.
That layer of gaming is going to thrive.
There's another layer above that, and it's thriving as well. Ben's reference to the "indie-film revolution" is already happening. The best three PC games of the year at this point? Space Rangers 2, Fate, and Darwinia. All very small development houses, all relatively obscure games, and all absolutely fantastic. It's the same mechanic as independent films--production budgets may be lower, but the essence of the entertainment isn't contained in the budget. Brilliance doesn't have to be expensive.
Here's a link to the Business Week Online article:
http://tinyurl.com/b2wza.
One of the games they feature in the article is called "Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa." It was made on a shoestring budget ($6,000) and has just been released. I downloaded it today and I'll report back with impressions in a few days.
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