Play NYC: Engaging With Indie Developers

Going to an indie video game conference is a weird experience for someone who primarily attends conventions centered around comic books. Comic creators love talking about their work. They might not always have the best communication skills, but they very rarely just let a reader pick up a book and start examining it on their own. Comic creators want to talk about their inspiration, their influences, the back story of their work, anything and everything that has to do with the art of comics and media in general. Play NYC was a completely different experience.

There certainly were developers who loved to chat about their creation. But in general, that information had to be clawed out of them. Unlike comic creators, who can direct a potential reader to a specific work, game developers would be perfectly happy just allowing a passerby to pick up a controller and start playing without any sort of introduction or greeting. This seems bizarre for a medium that requires context and instruction before getting started.

Of course, there may be a reason for this. Some games had tutorial modes that players could go through to introduce them to the game. It’s certainly possible that the game’s creators simply wanted to observe people going through the motions of the game without any help. That would help instruct them on how to best change the experience so that it is self-explanatory. Nevertheless, there was still too much detachment. Indie games aren’t the same as blockbusters. There’s a personal touch to them, so it helps to connect with the creator and associate them with their creation. Indie developers would be wise to rethink their approach.