What is an "indie" developer?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by Osujxu, Jul 14, 2010.

  1. Osujxu

    Osujxu Well-Known Member

    Apr 11, 2010
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    Title says all...
     
  2. LBG

    LBG SeƱor Member

    Apr 19, 2009
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    nada ilegal
    31.560499, -111.904128
    A developer that is independent and typically doesn't have a publisher (i.e - the develop and publish the game themselves). They are usually small teams of devs too.
     
  3. sammysin

    sammysin Well-Known Member

    Feb 23, 2010
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    Government Official.
    Swansea, UK
    Yep, independent!
     
  4. Osujxu

    Osujxu Well-Known Member

    Apr 11, 2010
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    Oh.. ok i thought it was like a developer from the indies or something :eek:
     
  5. sammysin

    sammysin Well-Known Member

    Feb 23, 2010
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    Government Official.
    Swansea, UK
    Hahaha! For all we know, it may be that. :O
     
  6. APP-MASTER-360

    APP-MASTER-360 Well-Known Member

    Apr 12, 2010
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    I thought Indie was a company :p
     
  7. arn

    arn Administrator
    Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold

    Apr 19, 2008
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    been discussed many times.

    here's Frand's (secret exit) response from before

    http://forums.toucharcade.com/showpost.php?p=101720&postcount=5

     
  8. MidianGTX

    MidianGTX Well-Known Member

    Jun 16, 2009
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    So I guess you thought Indie music was all from The Indies too?
     
  9. ElectricGrandpa

    ElectricGrandpa Well-Known Member

    Sep 5, 2009
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    #9 ElectricGrandpa, Jul 15, 2010
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2010
    The way I look at it is if you have creative control, and you're not owned by another company, then you're indie. Something like that.

    The key thing is creative control. To me, a company like Valve could almost even be considered indie, despite the fact that they're relatively huge.

    Also, I believe "indieness" is a sliding scale and not on or off, so one company can be more indie than another one. The fewer the number of people who work at your company also makes it more indie, etc.

    If you're making games based on some else's IP and you're basically just a production shop, that's not indie. If you're just making rip-off games like Doodle Jumper, that's not indie either.
     
  10. AssyriaGameStudio

    AssyriaGameStudio Well-Known Member

    Dec 1, 2009
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    Actually independent studios often do go thru a publisher, there just not publisher owned... For instance Sumo Digital are an independant developer, but they are funded and publish games through a bunch of publishers (Sega, EA etc).

    Although yeah "indies" are typically considered small self-publishing development houses, while "independant developers" are considered larger...
     
  11. bravetarget

    bravetarget Well-Known Member

    Sep 14, 2009
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    an indie developer is someone who has lots of girlfriends.
     
  12. Jetwilson

    Jetwilson Well-Known Member

    Hehe

    The App store has been rather useful for us indie devs and gives us a reasonable shot against the big companies. Partly why so many are drawn to the iPhone, other than the fact that is an amazing device!
     
  13. Rocotilos

    Rocotilos Well-Known Member

    Dec 5, 2009
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    iOS Apps & Games Developer
    Dang... i don't know what to make of me then. :(
    :D
     
  14. headcaseGames

    headcaseGames Well-Known Member

    Jun 26, 2009
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    Mobile Game Developer
    Hollywood, CA
    Yeah, someone like Insomniac would still kinda be an indie. Just a particularly successful independent!

    We do need a different term for the small low-budget (or no-budget) indies, though you can often tell by the context in which they are being referred to, looking at their resume, etc.

    "indie iPhone developer" usually means a pretty tiny crew.

    If Activision or EA owns you, then you're not an indie.

    If Activision or EA publishes you (but doesn't own), then you may be indie (and in this case you may be doing work for both of them simultaneously)
     
  15. Nijo

    Nijo Well-Known Member

    Bedroom Coders? (working from home)
    Amateur Indies? (also holding down a real job)
    ...
     
  16. ptrhenry52

    ptrhenry52 New Member

    Aug 3, 2010
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    Independent video game development is the process of creating video games without the financial support of a video game publisher.The observation came during a public debate in regards to the future of micro-studios.They are usually self-funded small teams that operate over the Internet.They can retain creative control over the games that they make because they need not answer to an outside funder.
     
  17. jonnybbush

    jonnybbush New Member

    Aug 13, 2010
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    "indie developer" It includes war stories, videos links to sites where you can upload games, e-business, legal, free assets, game development techniques, and more. Its easy for developer.
     

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