[IGDA_indies] next steps

[Ben Sawyer]

> Moving forward, the community should think about some outcomes/goals=20
> they like to see come out of the SIG.

Ok longer post then I original expected but...

I think this SIG should also focus on bottom line issues from two
perspectives.  One are there actionable things (aside from the good =
outline
of information that Brian put together) that the SIG can do or create =
that
improve the chances for indies to either save money or get new sales.  =
I'd
pursue these after the SIG has gotten through a good deal of Brian's
outline.

Obviously the independent games festival helps a bit in the - find new =
sales
category but there probably could be more to do?  I'm not saying these =
are
great ideas (some may suck) but these might serve as a catalyst to =
something
else:

* Maybe we can invent a simple way to lower the cost of advertising in =
some
magazines by creating a simple way for multiple developers to buy a =
single
page?
* Perhaps we should create a "buy idependent" branding campaign - sort =
of
like "made in the USA" type thing to raise awareness of idependent
developers.
* We should look for ways to get every tool company in existence to have =
a
low-cost option to their toolsets for qualified independent developers.
* Should we advocate that companies provide a means for people to charge =
for
their mods and total conversions if they want to do that? (I believe =
Valve
will be doing some of this shortly via Steam)
* Can a group of idependents ban together to fund a part time PR person =
who
could work to get the general independent game scene more mainstream =
media
coverage?
* Is there some software we can develop that might be helpful =
(registration
systems, customer management/support, PR, etc.)

With the Serious Games Initiative when we asked independent developers =
what
they needed from us they replied if we could find ways to shorten the
decision and sales time it takes to get someone to say yes to a project. =
 So
we began to think about how to do that and we've come up with a few =
small
ideas there.  While most are informational based they're directly tied =
to
the idea of trying to improve a cost issue for developrs.  We've been =
doing
a lot of informational stuff but we're trying to make the transition to =
more
action oriented items - it's not the easiest thing to do and we've got a =
bit
of funding.  But I think the indie scene can do a lot.  I'm certainly
willing to help a bit and share some experience I've got.

I think brainstorming some issues from that viewpoint, costs, or =
revenues
might be useful.  While some hobbyists might not care about revenues I =
can't
imagine they're devoid of being affected by costs 100% either.

What I think might be a good model to observe are some of the =
family-farming
cooperatives and other artisan cooperatives that operate throughout the
world.  Some of them come up with some great grassroots or low-cost =
models
that result in improving their collective bottom lines.=20

In terms of informational articles I think Post GDC I can enhance a =
piece
I've got on installing programs.  I've got two things there, one a good
roundup of the freebie ones and two I've got some code that I developed =
that
operates an in-installer based registration system that's coupled with a
backend registration management system.  The system needs some work (we
should port it to PHP and make it work with some other installers) but =
it's
been a simple godsend for some stuff I've done. I'd be happy to share =
this
with the group once my free time steps up.

Another actionable item I'd be willing to see done (since I could use it =
to)
is creating a shared PR database.  Keeping a PR list up-to-date is a =
really
difficult job.  Editors change, pubs come and go, etc.  I've been =
kicking
around the idea of creating a Web based DB for gaming PR that could be
"collectively" shared and managed by a group of people for their mutual
benefit. The way it would work is you'd apply for membership.  Once you
qualified (and maybe it even requires a small registration fee to =
further
separate the serious from the not so) you get access to the list.  =
However,
you can also update records which then must be approved by enough peers =
so
someone can't stomp stuff.  There is gamespress.com which is a nice =
little
service but it doesn't have a big DB you can parse name-by-name by any
means.  This would be especially good because it would probably help a =
lot
of people find names of pubs and sites they didn't know of (especially
international ones) and it could certainly result in the chance for =
better
PR.  The group might even be able to charge non-independent companies =
(at a
higher rate) to use the DB as a means of raising funds to fund other
activities on behalf of independents.

Any way my $.02 - glad to see things picking up.  Brian ping me for the
installer thing post-GDC I'll work it into my schedule.

- Ben