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I am running a independent game business, Mistaril, that is relocating to the Digital Depot in Dublin during the turn of the year. My main product currently is Space Station Manager, a slow paced station building game aimed primarily at the US markets. I have been selling it online since february this year.
Are there any active (or aspiring) indie developers who do downloadable PC games? I would love to hear from you to get a feeling for the dev scene in Ireland.. :)
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More, more, tell us more! :)
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More, more, tell us more! :) [/quote:cdbe47d1b9]
Well, yeah. But about what? :)
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Been reading about Indie development, and it’s a very tempting idea to get involved, especially as there is no available alternative at the mo.
Is the project an idea of yours that maybe… or is it going and looking for a team? :>
I’m interested in space stations, technical game design, and have a fair amount of programming skills. I like the idea of being involved with digital hub, Don’t think post Celtic Tiger Dublin is the best place for an indie team all alone…
keep it going! -
…found the web site, DOH!?!
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Well, yeah. But about what? :) [/quote:43fc8d06a4]
Give us sorta post-mortem on your main project. What’s the buisness like, what’s the development like. You know, all the stuff that you’re uncomfortable to talk about on a public forum. :p -
Ahaa, you want all the gritty details .. No problem .. :)
My background is mainly in programming (some history with “demos” and games) and I had been running a business during 1996-2000 with a different business idea.
I started planning an independent game company in the end of 2001. The retail business was out of reach, I estimated I had too little cash and experience to successfully enter it. Mobile games were cool, but there were many experienced companies and I lacked substantial background in that area. So, in comes downloadable games. During the spring 2002 I secured enough money to last me through the first year of development and in the early summer 2002 I cast off, raised the sails and glided out to the sea.
My first few months of full time work were spend doing market research, I had about 5 viable ideas at the time and I played around with them to see which one would be the best. Space Station Manager won out in the end, there seemed to be a gap for a casual station building game.
The rest of the year was spent developing, and I nearly choked myself by holding out with the release until the last day of February 2003. Luckily I managed to get the product out, and blessed by even more luck I have been able to attract some of the best players around. The community has really been great, you can check out the forum at:
http://www.mistaril.com/forumThe game also started to sell well enough, so I have been able to continue tweaking the game full time. My plan is to update SSM for the next 5-10 years and start releasing additional games on the side as well. Compared to my heydays of Java development in the dotcom boom I have taken a salary cut but the long term potential of the company is much better now. And I really enjoy my work.
The biggest changes have been inside my head. Since starting out I have started to love customer support and marketing. Today maybe 50% of my time is actual development, the rest is spent on support, marketing and various business tasks. I initially started out working in a spare room at home, but moved in to a separate office in June this year. My main motivation was to have a clear separation between home and work, earlier it was too easy to work long hours at suboptimal performance.
To answer your questions ManE, I have been thinking about expansion for some time. I don’t yet know how to do it properly and what people are looking for in a salaried indie job. If someone approached me with a suitable completed game (fitting into my current concept) and asked me to publish it, I would seriously consider the offer. Between those two extremes there are a lot of options I don’t know enough about yet.
Anyway, I would be happy to mingle and perhaps learn something from the local scene. And if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.
[edit: stamped typos]
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Hey Kai-Peter,
I’m aware of your work on Spacestation as I myself have recently gotten into the area of indie development and have had a look at your game. I had come here today to finally say hello to all at gamedeveloper.ie for the first time and came across your post! I’ve set up an indie game developement company with 3 friends of mine from Birmingham and we’ve only this week finished our first title with 3 more games soon to follow. To refresh your memory Kai you might be aware of us as we sent you a bowling game quite a while ago, asking you to test the game and give us any feedback you had?unfortunatley I can’t answer your question about the Irish game development scene as I’m not a part of it , but hopefully we can learn more here!
I’d like to introduce myself but Firstly I’d like to congratulate all at gamedevelopers.ie for a great job your doing here, it gives me hope that one day I’ll be working in the media I love while living in the country I love(how cheesey, sorry!)I was born and bred in Dublin where I lived till the age of 22, I’m an artist who studied in balleyFermot college and after graduationg I got a job in England with a little known company called Codemasters! I moved on from there where I worked in Birmingham for Artworld u.k, anyway they went bust in january of this year and I’ve been freelancing and trying to get our indie development gig off the ground. It’s been very hectic but we’re starting to make headway! Our company is BigFizz games and you all can check out our site at http://www.bigfizz.com or go to my homepage where i showcase my art http://barrykeegan.bigfizz.com/
I’d love to hear feedback from everyone who reads my post and please please check out our games! We’ve released a sort of seasonal game for christmas which can be downloaded from our homepage and also our flagship title Party Bowling due out any day now! http://www.bigfizz.com/TenPinAlpha.zip
Anyway thanks for all your time and Kai keep us updated on your move to Dublin!
Anyway I better get back to it,
Cheers
Keeganb -
Hi Barry,
Yes I do remember. A big congratulation on releasing Snowball Frenzy. I noted that download.com included it in their “Seasons Software”, a nice extra exposure sure to bring in some sweet sales.. :)
Currently my dev gear is on its way to Dublin, with me following in a few days. Be sure to check in at the Digital Hub whenever you are back in the city. By the way, are you going to the GDC?
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