With the momentum for small developers really starting to pick up across all formats, there’s still some hurdles getting in the way. One of those is something that smaller dev’s have complained about for a long time – that the success of their projects is still very much dependant on the need to find a publisher. It’s often a massive stumbling block for getting an Indie project off the ground.
So it’s amazing news (and so straight forward that you’ll wonder why someone didn’t so it before) that notable luminaries have grouped together to form the Indie Fund.
In their own words the fund:
“is a brand new funding source for independent developers, created by a group of successful indies looking to encourage the next wave of game developers. It was established as a serious alternative to the traditional publisher funding model. Our aim is to support the growth of games as a medium by helping indie developers get financially independent and stay financially independent”.
and there’s a pretty impressive list of people behind the scenes;
* Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler of 2D BOY (World of Goo)
* Jonathan Blow of Number None (Braid)
* Kellee Santiago of thatgamecompany (flOwer)
* Nathan Vella of Capybara (Critter Crunch)
* Matthew Wegner of Flashbang Studios (Off-Road Velociraptor Safari)
* Aaron Isaksen of AppAbove Games (Armadillo Gold Rush)
No Fund projects have been announced just yet, but with GDC and other notable industry events just around the corner there’s sure to be news soon. In the meantime you can find their site at www.indie-fund.com.
This sounds like a fantastic idea to get around one of the biggest issues that many small dev’s have been struggling to get their head around. In a world of digital downloads, why are people still hamstrung by a traditional developer / publisher relationship which can often prevent games from even being made?
Time will tell if Indie Fund can help overcome this. As gamers it can only be a good thing if it succeeds, since we ultimately get a wider choice of things to play and new experiences to discover.
