Wireframe_-_Issue_23_2019

wfmag.cc \ 05

ContentsContents

Toolbox Rated

CityCraft

Landmarks, and their usefulness

in level design

Game audio

Using sound to transform the way

players interact with your games

Ren’Py

A guide to making your first

visual novel

Source Code

Code your own Daley Thompson’s

Decathlon-style minigame

Ancestors

Monkeying around with Patrice

Désilets’s survival game

Blair Witch

The nineties horror movie franchise

branches out

Astral Chain

PlatinumGames’ latest has us

feeling like a freak on a leash

Oninaki

More sullen storytelling from

Tokyo 53* )actory

WELCOME

As you’ll see in the news on

page 14, No More Robots studio

founder Mike Rose has collated

some disquieting sales data

from Steam. As of August 2019,

indie games on the platform sell

an average of 1500 units, and

each makes $16,000 in revenue

during its first yearŬ

Those numbers sound low

by themselves, but there’s

something even more troubling

about .ose’s findingsŦ his data

only covers the top 20 percent

of games sold on Steam. As he

writes, “I removed the bottom

80 percent, as that 80 percent is

barely making any money at all.”

It’s a stark reminder of just how

tough the indie games market

is. We all love the ‘bedroom

coder’ narrative, but Rose’s

figures suggest that most indie

devs will never see their games

make a nrofitŬ

While it’s inevitable that some

games will struggle, more

arguably needs to be done to

ensure that talented newcomers

can get their games played,

and that smaller titles aren’t

eclipsed by triple-A behemoths.

There are certainly changes

to be made within the industry

• Rose argues that indie devs
  are pricing their games too low,
  for one thing – but there are
  things we can do as gamers,
  too. If you see a smaller game
  you like, then buy it, tell all your
  friends about it, and retweet
  its dev’s videos. It’s easy to
  forget how hard it is to get the
  word out without a marketing
  budget; if we all bang the drum
  for the indie games we like the
  most, then we’re all doing our
  bit to support a fragile and ever-
  changing ecosystem.

Ryan Lambie

Editor

12

60 44

wfmag.cc \ 05