Louis put together this series of short interviews before the recent Xbox Live update launched, and just about every developer complained about a lack of promotion for XBLIG on the dashboard. How would you fix Xbox Live Indie Games?
Indie titles enjoy a higher mindshare now than ever before, and yet gamers continue to overlook dozens of fantastic games (along with just plain old good ones). As a lover and supporter of the indie scene, I'd like to see Xbox Live Indie Games do a better job of giving these titles the exposure they deserve. And I'm not the only one -- I also asked a number of XBLIG developers for their own ideas to improve the platform.
To begin with, I think Microsoft should allow indie developers to add at least one Achievement to their games. Though I'm not a huge Achievement fan myself, they help to sell games -- every 360-owning friend I know is obsessed with the things, to the point of playing actively bad games if it means quick and easy Achievements.
Secondly, Microsoft needs to make indies -- especially the better ones -- easier to find. Currently potential buyers have to first stumble upon the indie section and then wade through over 1000 titles. I’d like to see some spotlights focused on indie role-playing games or other genres each week. Bringing the XBLIG titles to the forefront of the dashboard would give more exposure to games that otherwise disappear after their initial week on the top of the new releases tab.
Also, and this is a smaller issue, but why do these games require an Internet connection just to play? This is just silly. As someone with shoddy Internet in Alaska, sometimes a 'net connection just isn’t available. Players should be able to download, unplug, and unwind with an indie game.
But enough about me -- here’s what indie developers had to say about how XBLIG needs to improve.
Nathan Fouts -- President, Mommy’s Best Games
Shoot 1UP, Explosionade, Weapon of Choice
Shoot 1UP: This happens.
The 360 dashboard is the storefront, essentially. Imagine entering a mall, and there's a sign about the GameStop around the corner. First, you now know there's a GameStop. Second, you know where it is. If XBLIG had a simpler, higher-level entry point to the store, it'd be easier for more people to find. And a simple explanation saying that the games are unregulated by Microsoft, have no leaderboards or Achievements, and require a Live connection at all times would help reduce confusion and frustration.
Dashboard promotions themselves are great, again, because it's right where gamers find the games. If Microsoft could simply find one great indie game a week (which is definitely possible) it could help focus on the good and raise the channel's profile, rather than ignore and let people complain about the bad.
Josh Spinell -- Co-Founder, Lunatic Studios
Aphelion Episode One: Graves of Earth
One of the major issues is the way that the Indie dashboard as a whole is set up. The top downloads list, as well as new releases, are where the majority of the money is made on XBLIG. At any given time, probably 70 percent of XBLIG's influx is from those two lists.
The Indie dashboard can be difficult to navigate unless you specifically know what you're looking for, and the indie market by nature is very impulsive, so there's not a large amount of browsing. Customers want to quickly spend 80 or 240 Microsoft points burning a hole in their pocket, and then continue their business.
Unfortunately, the cream doesn't always rise to the top on XBLIG. Out of the top 60 or so games, only about 15 of them have four or more (out of five) stars, meaning that customers are continuously buying games that are right in their face, but then are disappointed in them.
There's dozens of quality games on XBLIG that gamers are likely completely unaware of, as they got a few days in the sun and then fell into an abyss. Vampire Rage, Kong360: Gorilla Warfare, Ophidian Wars: Opac's Journey, and Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess to name a few.
The further impact of this setup is that many games, whether phenomenal or poorly slapped together in a few days, often get the same amount of time in the public's eye. So XBLIG developers have shifted focus to making quickly built games. Instead of spending four or six months on a polished game, many developers spend only a month.
This further diminishes XBLIG's reputation, as many look to clone successful games for a quick cash grab, resulting in more shovelware apps for the service and further decreasing willingness to browse through lists.
Hopefully this whole problem will be solved in the new dashboard coming up with Kinect, but so far it's a bit of an unknown. [Editor's note: Post-update, I don't think many would consider this problem solved.]
Matt Kleen -- Co-Founder, Lunatic Studios
Success of an indie game is dependent on two factors. The first is the amount of attention your game receives. Sometimes great games go unnoticed while horrible games get a lot of publicity. It’s up to the developer to exhaust every opportunity to get their game out on a major site. You have to set yourself apart in their eyes to get attention. Indie game development is just like any other start-up business. Go out and make connections. The bigger your Rolodex is the better shot you have in catching a break.
The second and most important factor to me is the execution of your idea. We all have great concepts for games, but 99.9 percent languish forever incomplete or never started. Develop something you can create that is both unique and feasible. Easier said than done, right?
Unfortunately if there were a template for success everyone would succeed. It sounds corny, but figure out who you are and then do what works best for you.
Antti Ilvessuo -- Co-Founder and Creative Director, RedLynx
Maybe bigger sites could feature an indie section on their main page. This would cover all the platforms and all types of indie games. Something like one new game per day as a review or feature...just a thought.
Manuel Dejesus -- Co-Founder, Tempula Studios
Currently, the problem stems from two areas that intervene. The first one stems from a broad range of quality. As far as XBLIG goes, you see a lot of quick-buck shoddy games or apps. Everything gets lumped together and in turn doesn’t give the service a very good face. Its tough for someone to want to look for the quality titles when you have to go past 20 fart jokes.
Because of this, indie games tend to get pushed into a dusty corner on most services. You have your triple-A titles at the front and your indie games in a box in the back. The games need more exposure, so they aren’t seen as the illegitimate son.
Fredrik Westlund -- President, Shining Gate Software
Decay - Part 1, Decay - Part 2
The first thing I think about is that new games stay on the new arrivals list for a very short time.
The problem is that way too many games get released at the same time. This is a big issue for XBLIG developers as you can often miss out on the top downloads list.
If the new arrivals list were at least a top 40 list, and only one new release per day, it would help a lot.
