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Indie Is as Indie Does

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2/27/2007

"What are you afraid of? Failure?"

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General

— joeindie @ 12:33 pm

“What are you afraid of? Failure?”

“So am I.” –William Shatner

If you’ve never listened to William Shatner’s 2004 CD, Has Been, I recommend it. The opening quote of this post comes from the title track.

Has Been

by William Shatner and Ben Folds

You talkin’ to me?

You callin’ me, has been?

What’d you say your name is?

Jack, never done jack

Glad to meet ya

Who’s your friend?

Dick, don’t say dick

Whaddya know?

And your friend, what’s your handle?

Don, two thumbs Don

Riding on their armchairs

They dream of wealth and fame

Fear is their companion

Nintendo is their game

Never done jack and two thumbs Don

And sidekick don’t say Dick

Will laugh at others failures

Though they have not done shit

I’ve heard of you

The ready-made connecting with the ever-ready

Yeah

Never was talking about still trying

I got it

Forever bitter gossiping about never say die

May I inquire what you’ve been doing mister?

Jack, never done Jack

And you partner, what’s the News of the World, Dick?

I don’t say dick

Don, of all the people you must be the Tattler

Two thumbs up

What are you afraid of?

Failure?

So am I

Has been implies failure

Not so

Has been is history

Has been was

Has been might again

It’s inspiring, in a way.

It’s OK to be afraid of failing. Just don’t let it stop you. And ignore the people sitting on the sidelines, criticizing you. They’ve never done jack. They’ve never said dick. And … well … you get the idea.

-David

Comments (2)

2/21/2007

Yeah! What he said!

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General

— joeindie @ 11:33 pm

Yeah! What he said!

Terrence over at Studio ArtFX asks this question today:

There’s a competitive world out there. … The question we really need to ask ourselves is “Do we really have to compete in it?”

Read the full post here.

Towards the end, he asks:

What is it that people are missing? What is that they are missing when they compete for top positions in some animation or computer game school, so that they can further compete for a job so they can become the guy who animated the smoke on layer 39 of a complex shot in yet another talking animal film or first person shooter? This wasn’t the dream when they started out. What is it that companies are missing when they “Command & Repackage” a game that’s been around for years or put new skins and updated graphics on the same old sports game and dare to call it something new for 2007? I doubt this was the vision of the people who started that company in a garage somewhere. Do they even continue to have a vision?

I sometimes find myself asking the same thing: Why am I the only person in my local circle of friends who does this whole “indie thing” (be it games, software, folding paper airplanes, or whatever)? Don’t the rest of these people I know want to get in on this???

Of course, for me, 2002 rather blew financially, and any one who missed out on that bit of indie-ness came out ahead. You weren’t missing anything.

Still, though, I like what I do. Even when it sucks.

Maybe, though, those others aren’t missing anything. Maybe they considered it, and decided that the whole indie thing wasn’t for them.

And not just because they were scared of the idea, or the lack of security, or any of that.

But simply because not everyone wants to be the boss, their own or anyone else’s.

Anyway, yeah, all competition doesn’t have to be a winner-take-all zero-sum situation, especially in this day and age. Like the man says:

If we have something to say we can create it and if need be, create an avenue to get it directly to our audience.

Yeah! What he said!

-David

Comments (2)

2/17/2007

How to Light a Fire Under Your Own Ass

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General

— joeindie @ 1:27 pm

How to Light a Fire Under Your Own Ass

You need:

3 good-sized split logs, properly cured

1 can lighter fluid

1 butane lighter, preferably one with a long nozzle

First, stack the wood around the base of your office chair. Arrange the wood like you would for a campfire. Or for a witch burning.

Second, douse the wood with lighter fluid. Go ahead and use the whole can.

Finally, while sitting in the office chair, facing your computer screen, reach down with the butane lighter and pull the trigger.

Now, see if that doesn’t motivate you something fierce.

-David

Comments (1)

2/13/2007

Random Thoughts

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— joeindie @ 2:52 pm

Random Thoughts

I’ve been feeling a bit scatterbrained the past couple weeks. Here are a few of those scattered brains…

If you can’t outsell your competition in the short term, outlive them in the long term. I can’t even begin to list the number of software journals/diaries that have come and gone in the 10 years since I released The Journal. And there have been … what? … three? … “generations” of MMO’s since we put Artifact online in 1999? Same for the Tams11 Lobby. Still here, years later. Maybe the examples aren’t making anybody rich, but they’re still here. Can EA say that about Motor City Online?

You can’t compete with an 800-pound gorilla. So don’t. Make a living instead helping the gorilla’s victims and/or cleaning up roadkill left in the gorilla’s wake.

Ran into this blog post today: Top 10 Ways You Know You’re An Entrepreneur

Are game developers stupid? Seriously. How many hard core game players are there? Surely, a finite number. And a staggeringly small number when compared to the mainstream players zipping about with their 2-years old (or older) graphics cards. And yet 99% of game developers, when asked who their target market is, say “hard core players”. Talk about your overserved group.

The future of indie games is artists and artists’s (content creation) tools. Just face it already. And maybe learn to draw.

I like the Dixie Chicks. But not that much.

A friend of mine told me recently that I could no longer call myself a “programmer.” I am instead, he insisted, “a writer who supports himself as a programmer.” Fair enough.

Making a living isn’t a bad thing. Sometimes it seems there’s more of a focus on Making It Big, and if you aren’t Making It Big you just ain’t making it. At all. That’s bullshit. If you’re making a living, you’re winning. And it’s OK to let yourself get comfortable. Just don’t expect to stay that way for long.

Enough rambling for now. Feel free to complain and disagree.

-David

Comments (3)

2/1/2007

Is It Wrong to Gloat?

Filed under:

Indie Software

— joeindie @ 9:15 pm

Is It Wrong to Gloat?

Imagine…

A user emails with a Truly Horrifying situation, desperate for answers.

Your stomach sinks as you read the email, because, Yay Verily, this is a Truly Horrifying situation. And you’re not even sure how to approach telling them what to do, and Clue 0 for how to fix it or work around it hasn’t occurred to you. You gird yourself to start asking the Important Questions and figure out what’s going wrong–

But wait.

You read the email again.

You’re not sure if you should believe it, so you check your customer records. And then read the email one more time.

Because, not only have they not purchased your product–though, of course, you provide outstanding service to everyone who asks for help with your software whether they’ve bought it or not (even people running cracked versions)–this person isn’t even asking about your product.

It’s a competitors product. Imploding.

And you feel bad. Because you want to help the person.

You would if you could, of course. But it’s a problem specific to that software, and you don’t have the first idea what to suggest.

All you can do is email back your sincere apologies, tell them that you are not the one they need to contact. Provide a link to the company they do need to talk to, obviously. And wish them the best of luck.

And not mention that you’ve heard horror stories about the so-called “support” offered by this competitor. Because, well, that’s just not useful to our distraught user.

So you just wish them luck.

And as you send the email into the ether you wonder if, maybe, you’ll be offering them a “competitive upgrade” discount soon.

Yeah.

It’s probably wrong to gloat.

All that really matters is that the user gets their software working again. And I hope they do.

-David

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