3 ms·

I think it’s easier than ever. They engines are free and even individual developers can build incredible games. The harder part might be getting enough publicit

I think it’s easier than ever. They engines are free and even individual developers can build incredible games. The harder part might be getting enough publicity.

ocdtrekkie 5y ago
Even then, Epic Games will promote the heck out of a small indie launch if it's exclusive for a year. Many of the developers they've worked with are one or two person shops. The days where being buried in the bottom of Steam listings is gone, as long as you aren't insisting on launching via Steam.
minikites 5y ago
There are some types of games only a big studio with ample resources can make, like two current Blizzard titles: Overwatch and World of Warcraft.
- failuser 5y ago
  I would like to see why Overwatch is so expensive. They don’t have some cutting-edge tech, it could have been a Quake or Half-Life mod and have the same exact gameplay and marginally worse graphics. Ok, there is the networking and matchmaking. Ok, they need anti-cheat and perfected loot box drop probabilities. Still, free to play South Korean shooters achieve that for way less.
  - cmorgan31 5y ago
    You have too narrow a view which seems pigeonholed on technology. The majority of expense is rarely the technical line item or budget unless it’s a pure SaaS or PaaS in the cloud play. The expense is often from headcount, marketing, sales, creative, support, legal, esport, and operational costs. You can make an AAA clone but that won’t make it Overwatch or WoW. Their brand carried them and even back in the day their cinematic trailers carried the hype.
    - failuser 5y ago
      Right, I’ve concentrated on actually making the game instead of the whole business cycle. I would expect that a small developer would spend less on GR, PR and so on.
  - minikites 5y ago
    >Ok, there is the networking and matchmaking. This is the hard part, as I see it. Maybe that's not as difficult as I think. Also, creating and recording all of the voice lines. There must be hundreds, by a large and diverse cast.

I think it’s easier than ever. They engines are free and even individual developers can build incredible games. The harder part might be getting enough publicity.

ocdtrekkie 5y ago

Even then, Epic Games will promote the heck out of a small indie launch if it's exclusive for a year. Many of the developers they've worked with are one or two person shops. The days where being buried in the bottom of Steam listings is gone, as long as you aren't insisting on launching via Steam.

minikites 5y ago

There are some types of games only a big studio with ample resources can make, like two current Blizzard titles: Overwatch and World of Warcraft.

failuser 5y ago
I would like to see why Overwatch is so expensive. They don’t have some cutting-edge tech, it could have been a Quake or Half-Life mod and have the same exact gameplay and marginally worse graphics. Ok, there is the networking and matchmaking. Ok, they need anti-cheat and perfected loot box drop probabilities. Still, free to play South Korean shooters achieve that for way less.
- cmorgan31 5y ago
  You have too narrow a view which seems pigeonholed on technology. The majority of expense is rarely the technical line item or budget unless it’s a pure SaaS or PaaS in the cloud play. The expense is often from headcount, marketing, sales, creative, support, legal, esport, and operational costs. You can make an AAA clone but that won’t make it Overwatch or WoW. Their brand carried them and even back in the day their cinematic trailers carried the hype.
  - failuser 5y ago
    Right, I’ve concentrated on actually making the game instead of the whole business cycle. I would expect that a small developer would spend less on GR, PR and so on.
- minikites 5y ago
  >Ok, there is the networking and matchmaking. This is the hard part, as I see it. Maybe that's not as difficult as I think. Also, creating and recording all of the voice lines. There must be hundreds, by a large and diverse cast.