“People wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long
hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition
in event of success.”
Paraphrasing Shakleton’s recruiting notice for Antarctic exploration
works surprisingly well for indiedevs too.
Today is the culmination (but not termination) of nearly four years of
effort. My game, Concealed Intent, is now out of Early Access and fully
released on Steam. It has easily been the largest project I have ever
undertaken and required intense effort to reach this point. Working
largely alone in a foreign country I often found myself questioning what
I was doing. However, in retrospect, I would still do it over again -
but with a few changes (see the “What went not so well” list below).
After a brief (and shameless) video interlude for Concealed Intent
itself, I will detail the things I think went right and not so well
during the development process. I have tried to think back to my state
of mind four years ago, just before starting and offer advice to that
naive and optimistic person. A later post, some time after the release,
will look at the business and financial side of the game - was it
profitable: stay tuned to find out!
Concealed Intent is a simultaneous turn-based game of tactical stealth
space combat, strongly influenced by games such as Homeworld and Frozen
Synapse. Players control their ships in a fully 3D world - hunting down
their enemies, just as they are being hunted themselves. In Concealed
Intent you know your enemies are out there, but not exactly where, or
even what they are. Concealed Intent includes a single-player campaign,
an instant skirmish generator and multiplayer options.
Let’s start with the positives.
What went well:
Luck (or not going broke) - I am immensely lucky the opportunity
to make any game came my way. I spent 15 years in software
development and was reasonably confident I could handle the coding
side of game development (which was lucky). Cheap or even free game
engines and assets have lowered the barriers to entry (luckily for
me). Then my girlfriend got a job in Malaysia where our basic
expenses would be covered by her employer (even more luck!). This is
what allowed me the financial freedom to work on a project of my
choice - and I chose game development. Concealed Intent would never
have been started without this safety net. Based on Early Access
sales, this game is unlikely to be a big success. I am lucky to be
in a position not to worry about a small loss, and still know I will
eat well and have a roof over my head. It is hard for me to advise
people to create a game on the basis of profitability. Potential
indiedevs, please consider this carefully.
Finished (or stubbornness) - So many days started with
questions: why am I doing this; is there a bad bug; will today be
the day I fail? However, I just kept going. Many times I wanted to
give up, but I didn’t have a good excuse other than it was hard
(money problems would be a good excuse, just not for me, see above).
I learnt to create a list of tasks looking only a week or two ahead
and focus solely on them. Eventually, I managed to get on top of the
project, and then the thought of actually completing a game
motivated me to finish. You have to really want to finish.
Professional help with art - I did every element of the game
that I could myself, largely due to my incredibly low budget (not
counting my time). This worked fine with all the coding tasks, but
not so well in other areas. One of the best decisions I made was to
hire a local freelancer to create the 2D art and provide advice on
the GUI ’s graphic design. After adding her work into the game, the
difference in player feedback was instant and massively positive.
Now I regularly get compliments on the GUI. People often call the
game pretty. This never happened in earlier versions despite all the
3D art remaining largely unchanged. Small things can make a big
difference, so pay close attention to everything. There are some
things you do well, and some things you don’t. Try to find people to
help you. Unfortunately, this advice will be repeated in the “what
went wrong” section.
Hold the core, let the periphery change - Concealed Intent has
massively changed over its development cycle. Not just in the
graphics. The game has also become much simpler. Originally the game
had a more real-world physics simulation model and vastly more
configurable ship controls. Playtesting suggested this was overly
complex. Various playtesters also suggested changing the game to be
2D, or real-time or ditching the stealth/detection mechanic to make
it more like other games they enjoyed. At this point I used a simple
rule. If something was central to the concept of Concealed Intent,
then I would not compromise on it - everything else would be
considered. To me the game would not be Concealed Intent if it
wasn’t completely 3D, turn-based and using a submarine-inspired
detection system. If these things changed, it would someone else’s
game. I may have backed myself into a small market niche, but
despite all the gameplay improvements and simplifications, the
original vision of Concealed Intent is intact. The current version
is recognisably the same game as the early prototypes - only much
better!
Early Access works (if you know what you want from it) - There
are many stories about Steam’s Early Access program, both positive
and negative. For me the experience has definitely been positive. It
has not made me much money, but that was never my goal. Instead, the
game has received the feedback it desperately required. Also, just
knowing that some people have paid their hard earned money for the
game is huge motivation to make it the best game I can (admittedly
not many people, but even one is enough). Lastly, almost everything
I know about game marketing I have learnt the hard way through my
time in Early Access. There is no doubt that if the game went
straight to full release without having passed through EA, then it
would have been worse and pathetically marketed (instead it will
just be poorly marketed - still an improvement).
What went not so well:
Too big, too long - Making a game is hard! Way harder than I
expected. The original plan for Concealed Intent was 18 months -
that was soon shown to be inadequate. Every system in the game has
been reworked multiple times. There were numerous tasks not
considered or even known about at the start. Everything took longer
than expected. Worst of all, the largest expense on a project will
be the time of the dev team (that is, me). By taking four years to
finish the game I have likely condemned it to unprofitability after
my living costs are considered (even in relatively cheap Malaysia).
The fault here lays entirely with me; I simply dreamed too big at
the start. Come up with the smallest decent idea you can, then try
to make it smaller.
Forever alone, and inexperienced - As well as being hard work,
game development requires many different skills and can take a toll
emotionally. Working alone just multiplies the difficulties. With a
proper dev team, tasks can be split up, different abilities used and
hopefully development time reduced. The benefits of companionship
should not be underestimated either. I know (from experience) some
publishers refuse to accept solo game developers. At first I thought
that was short-sighted, now I think it is wise. For most of
Concealed Intent’s development, I was alone, and it was hard. There
was no one to fall back on. Try to find people to help you, both for
their skills and company (remember that from above, it is repeated
as it is important!).
Marketing! - Obscurity is indie death. Did anyone who is reading
this know about Concealed Intent beforehand? I doubt it. I have not
done a good job with marketing. Lots of emails and review copies
have been sent out. I try to stay active on social media. There have
been some website articles and more Let’s Plays, but not really
enough. When the game went into Early Access I discovered that it
was not possible to do both development and marketing at the same
time. I couldn’t do all the things indie devs are supposed to do. It
was just too much, and too time consuming. I chose to prioritise
finishing the game. Over the last month I have reversed this and
focussed on marketing, but really it is an overwhelming job for a
solo dev, with a niche game, no contacts and far from any large
indie scene. My emails largely go ignored, probably in a pile of
emails from other indies in the same situation. I have no idea how
to solve this other than to keep going, do as much as you can, and
keep looking for opportunities. A good game helps too.
Lack of focus - Concealed Intent has a single-player campaign,
procedural skirmishes and online multiplayer. This is too much, it
would have been best to focus on one mode, at least at first. During
development I didn’t know which was best. Early Access feedback
suggested that procedural skirmishes were the most popular aspect,
and luckily that plays to my strengths. Unfortunately, a great deal
of effort went into the other game modes. They are still work well
and remain in the game, but are less than I hoped. Creating a
compelling (or even just acceptable) game story and online
communities is exceptionally hard. Keep the game’s scope down by
focussing on one type of gameplay and polishing it. It would have
been best to start with one gameplay mode and then add the others
later (as long as the code is designed to keep those options
available).
Niche and complex gameplay - Concealed Intent is much simpler
now than originally envisioned, but it is still complex. There is a
lot happening “under the hood”. I have found it hard to explain this
to players. It is also a niche within a niche - space, turn-based,
tactical. Think about this when designing games. Who are your
players? I made the job of selling this game hard for myself by my
choice of mechanics and setting. Although, this is the game I wanted
to make.
As a parting gift, here are some other things I learnt that might be
useful:
Don’t use the first version of a game engine’s major releases, wait
for the patches (yeah, I’m looking at you large Danish game engine)
Write a game you enjoy playing, because you will play it an
extraordinary amount
Music copyright is a minefield - upload any music you use as a
private video on YouTube ASAP to see if anyone claims it
Key scammers are common, and will not care how small your game is -
be wary!
Good feedback is hard to find and harder to accept/use. Be thankful
for all the feedback you get (as long as it’s not ad hominem)
There are a surprisingly large number of non-English purchasers on
Steam (at least surprising to me). Strongly consider localisation
from the start. It is probably too late for Concealed Intent, but
I’ll definitely be doing this in future.
The IGF competition doesn’t provide feedback anymore (at least not
last year). If you have been advised to enter mainly for the
feedback - check first!
Thank you and good luck.
Comments:I have removed the commenting system (for privacy concerns), below are the comments that were left on this post before doing so…
cwagner @ 2016-08-02 - FWIW, I bought the game because of this nice write up :) I found it on my steam queue (my filtering is so restrictive I sometimes get games not even available in English) and added it to my wishlist last sale. Was on the edge of buying it now until after I read this :) Good luck with the sales :)
Charles @ 2016-08-02 - Many thanks! So at least one reader knew about CI before reading, I was wrong :) I hope you enjoy the game. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or issues. Charles.
cwagner @ 2016-08-02 - Just posted a launch discount thread on gamedeals, maybe it’ll help ;) https://www.reddit.com/r/Ga…
Charles @ 2016-08-02 - It all helps, thank you. It is getting late here (nearly 2am), so I’ll have to stop soon, but tomorrow I’ll get to work on reddit - I plan on doing an AMA on /r/pcgaming
John Back @ 2016-08-08 - Fantastic write-up. See if you can get this onto Gamasutra - these 20-20 developer reflections are also the most valuable - really appreciate the time you’ve taken to do it.