I used to spend a lot of time doing independent game development. The majority of my time was spent doing game design and marketing, with a smaller portion allocated to actual scripting. All the projects I worked on were multiplayer, which meant community development and somehow earning a profit while getting over the “barrier” of getting people to buy a game that is relatively non-validated.
The problem really occurs not so much in getting people to buy the game, as it does in what kind of friction you want to place on getting your game to spread so you have a lot of people playing it (Like Counter-Strike 1.6).
In this case, I think that the model set forth by Radiohead (selling 1.2 million copies at $8 a piece based on letting customers set the price they want for it) has great potential.
Pure speculation, really, but I wonder what would come of it if indie developers let the customers set the price for their game just as Radiohead has done for their album? It would be simple:
- When the user goes to download, an account would be created.
- This account could be accessed later on, and money could be added to the initial price paid.
- The ones who pay should get inundated into some sort of club.
- Those who paid can get into the early beta of some other game (or get access to a VIP area at special LAN events held)
Taken a step further, what if this was applied to games that had a subscription? Pay what you want each month. Just a thought.