2008 was a big year for indie gaming. With the likes of Braid, Castle Crashers, World of Goo, and a host of other titles raking up big sales numbers, the indie gaming industry is growing right alongside its bigger brother. And, like the indie film industry before it, the smaller, more humble sector of the industry garners a lot of adoration and respect from its faithful followers. But now that the indie sector is growing, how does one stand out from the pack? According to one indie developer, the answer is simple: make games for Mac OS X and Linux.
Jeff Rosen of Wolfire Games recently made the case for indie devs to embrace cross-platform gaming on his company's official blog. Using the success of his own title, Lugaru, as a starting point, Jeff asserts that creating cross-platform games can have a huge affect on the way the market receives the title. Even though OS X and Linux may have a smaller market share, Jeff argues, the residual word-of-mouth sales generated by that smaller piece of the pie can potentially facilitate a marked increase in total sales.
"Obviously supporting Mac OS X and Linux means you tap into another platform and expand your potential market base," wrote Jeff. "That much is clear. But surely adding an extra five percent is negligible, right? Wrong. Not all five percents are created equal."
According to the sales statistics from Lugaru, which is currently available for PC, Mac, and Linux, Jeff witnessed a 122 percent increase in sales as a result of his decision to release the title on the OS X and Linux platforms in addition to Windows. To date, 50 percent of the software's overall sales have come from the Mac OS X version and another five percent of the Linux version.
Data source: Wolfire Games
Jeff's argument essentially boils down to "it's good to be a big fish in a small pond." By creating a title with a decent scale and scope for the Mac OS X and Linux platforms, developers gain attention from the media and the fan communities involved with those platforms, which can be a vocal minority. "Having a Linux build meant coverage on Slashdot," Jeff explained. "A lot of people heard about and supported Lugaru simply because we had a Linux build."
Those vocal minorities, if treated well, tend to evolve into evangelists, who in turn sell the game to others in a more passionate and contagious way. "A small minority of your users will go crazy with your game and spread it all over the place," said Jeff. "On the Internet, all it takes is one thread on a popular forum, and you've literally got hundreds or thousands of new visitors. Basically, a small amount of your users can make a huge difference for you."
"To conclude, if you're not supporting Linux and Mac OS X from a philosophical standpoint or for the fans, at least do it for the money," Jeff closed, bluntly. "If you don't support non-Windows platforms, you're leaving a lot of cash on the table. I don't know about you, but I'm not in a position to just say f— it to a large community of people who want to support us."
Ignorance, arrogance, and bad code
So why haven't developers gotten on board with what seems like a solid game plan? "In an ideal world, every game would be available for the Mac, simply because the economics make sense," Jeff told Ars. "You don't need to sell very many copies before the minimal cost of cross-platform development pays for itself." To Jeff, the answer lies in three key hang-ups that developers face: ignorance, arrogance, and bad code.
In Jeff's mind, ignorance is the first hump which stops the ball from rolling. "I think a lot of companies think it is harder than it is to support Mac OS X and Linux and that the pay off is a lot smaller than it is," Jeff continued. "The combination of these two fallacies means that it doesn't get off the drawing board."
As for arrogance, Jeff brings up a familiar story that Mac gamers might recall. "There is the famous case of Half-Life 2. Valve wanted a $1 million dollar advance on the Mac OS X version. No Mac developer has this kind of cash to front, and Apple decided not to foot the bill either, perhaps on principle of the unusual request. There is no technical reason that Mac users can't have Half-Life 2—it's simply messed up business development."
Lastly, bad code creates an obvious technical boundary that prevents cross-platform gaming from being a normal occurrence. "Even if you have used some proprietary technology that is only available on Windows, like DirectX, a Linux superstar can still salvage it if your code is nice and has reasonable abstraction," explained Jeff. "However, if your code is terrible, the porting process will not be easy. But porting your game to other platforms is not easy if you are not familiar with them. Just the act of getting a Linux machine up and running, and getting familiar with new developer tools is too much of a barrier for most people."
Even with cross-platform support, distribution is king
As the indie gaming community grows, indie developers will face the same challenges that big developers face on a micro level. Advertising, or at least getting the word out there, will be a challenge, and decisions such as making a title cross-platform can have a huge, sweeping effect on the overall sales of a piece of software. Jeff's own title is a good example of this, as is other software such as Aquaria. "Supporting other platforms will definitely give you a leg up on the competition," Jeff reiterated.
But at the end of the day, distribution is king when it comes to indie success. Exploring alternate release opportunities will be a key factor in the success or failure of indie devs moving forward. Steam, in particular, has proven to be an excellent avenue for indie game distribution. Having recently signed on to have his company's titles hit Valve's digital distribution platform, Jeff offered insight into the viability of these platforms for his company and his peers.
"While we did sign a deal with Steam and a few much smaller distributors, we are still waiting for replies from a number of other companies like Greenhouse," he explained. "Many distributors, even the ones that claim to be indie friendly, have not even replied to our multiple emails for over a month. Kudos to Valve for being on the ball, even if they don't support Mac OS X and Linux."
Independent developers will continue to walk a hard road, but the future does look bright. Distribution avenues for games are becoming more abundant and easier to access, and publishers are beginning to take more risks, as the costs of publishing games through digital distribution is minuscule compared to traditional retail modes. This allows indie developers to spend their time developing solid games and trying to break out from the pack in the quest to claim a piece of gamers' hearts. And that's good news for gamers—of all platforms.
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