If you are considering investing in an indie game studio. Here are some key skills you should be looking out for. With indie games most developers wear multiple hats so understanding who does what isn’t as simple as listing out people's job roles. Some skills you’ll find in house and some will be filled by external contractors. It’s important that the studio is self aware enough to understand what skills they have and what they plan to outsource.
Coding: Maybe the most obvious skill for video game production is coding. You need to be sure the coding skills and experience match the game genre and platform the team is working on. If a coder hasn’t worked on a platform or has low experience in a particular coding language, the studio needs a plan to address this. Ask about previous shipped titles as this will show their coding is good enough to complete a game.
Games Design: It’s often a skill that can get overlooked in small teams. Designing a game may sound easy but understanding what makes the game fun takes experience. Publishers will consider how well a game is designed but also its features, target demographic, suitability for the platform and things like USPs. It’s a good idea to also consider these before investing in a studio.
The studio should be able to demonstrate everything they intend to create for the game, an itemised list of the levels for example. Studios will have a game bible or game design document to evaluate.
Producing: Probably the most undervalued skill in an indie studio is producing. Producers in the AAA world are commonplace as it’s easy to understand that large teams need constant planning and communication to stay on track. Successful indie studios don’t necessarily need a full time producer but they need someone who is responsible for the production planning of the project, re-scoping if things go wrong and implementing solutions during the lifetime of a project. Understanding how long the game will take across all the disciplines and knowing when to ramp contractors on and off are invaluable skills. The person in charge of production is also usually the person to speak to about churn rates, timelines and budgets.
Art and Animation: Studios should be able to demonstrate how they will produce the game ready art assets and animations needed for a video game. Art Direction is the ability to create a cohesive art style from multiple artists. Games with a well defined art style can do well as they can be easily identified, picked up by the games media as a talking point and stand out from the crowd. There is a difference between technically proficient art and good art direction. One colour games, low poly games or pixel art games can have good art direction that help make them successful. It’s worth considering if the art of the game exceeds the expectations of the player base. Video game animators can be hard to come by so ensure the skills are on hand for an animation heavy game.
Narrative: Every game has a story, even the most simplistic game has a narrative that is communicated to the player. Indie games can lean into narrative or keep it light. Regardless of the type of game, the studio needs someone who will be handling the narrative of the game. These people will often be the game designer and can aid in marketing the game. They will know what words best describe the game to potential players.
Sound: Usually one of the last parts of production is sound. Video game sound can consist of music tracks or score, sound effects or anything the player hears in the game. Sound is usually outsourced, don’t panic if a pitch doesn’t have sound. It’s easier to understand what sound assets are required after the ‘feature lock’ phase of a project as you then have a defined list of elements that require sound. There’s lots of talented video game music producers working in the industry so if ever there was something not to worry so much about, its video game sound. Keep in mind the sound elements still need to be implemented by someone technically proficient in the game engine.
Marketing, Community Management and PR: It’s easy to get these mixed up as there is some overlap in skill but they are different disciplines and should be treated differently. When a game gets to a certain level of success, 1 person isn’t enough to cover marketing, communication and PR. Tasks such as social media posts, video editing, trailers, events, PR networking can be covered throughout the team or be dealt with by 3rd party companies. Studios can start small and scale up through the production of a game. Publishers usually cover part of the skills required so if no publishers are being used the studio should have a considered plan to use 3rd parties. It’s not enough to make a great game by a great team anymore. A game needs marketing to be sold. Ideally the marketing plan needs to be implemented 12 months in advance of the proposed release date, 6 months at a minimum. They usually change and adapt over time too. Marketing and PR companies need time to create, implement and adapt plans. Steam Wishlists for example accumulate over time and the algorithm relies on traffic sources coming onto the platform. Once a game has over 7,000 Wishlists, organic steam growth gets a little easier.
Hiring: An indie studio won’t have all the skills in house needed to complete a game so they will be filling the gaps with contractors. It’s important to know how long it usually takes to fill specific roles. Some roles are more difficult to fill than others. Technical Artists are more difficult to come by than Concept Artists and Senior Programmers are more difficult to come by than Junior Programmers. Studios should be self aware enough to know what they can do well and what they need help with.
QA: Quality assurance or game testing is difficult to do in house as you need lots of data points from the potential player base to get accurate actionable data. QA is often outsourced to companies that can get lots of people to play the game. It can be done in house but takes time and experience to ask the right questions about the game and then make decisions on how to improve the game for the target audience. A studio should have a plan on how they will approach QA.
Localisation: is the process of taking a game out of the language it has been developed for and adapting it to work well in another country. Language is the main thing to adapt but other cultural aspects need also to be considered. It’s rare for an indie game studio to have these skills and expertise at hand for localisation. You can’t just use google translate. 3rd party studios are usually the way forward for localisation but it needs to be worthwhile. Localisation is usually considered after a game has proven to be successful.
Porting: is the process of taking a video game created for release on one platform and adapting it to work on another. A usual journey for an indie game studio is to release a game for PC on Steam and then port it to consoles. Porting takes time and the studio should have considered porting strategies. Using in house talent or 3rd party porting studios have their own advantages.
Biz Dev: Business development is an important part of any company and an indie games studio should be run as any other successful company. A team of former AAA studio employees may know how to make a game and have decades of experience between them. Regardless you need to be sure there is someone responsible for the Biz Dev side of things. It doesn’t necessarily need to be the CEO as indie game companies often prefer a flat hierarchy. This approach can work in teams, typically up to around 8 members.
I hope this article has been useful in identifying what skills are needed to successfully run an indie game studio. I’m currently qualifying a business idea for an indie game consultation firm offering services to companies wanting to fund indie game studios. If you are a business considering licensing an IP to a studio, a venture capitalist investing in a studio or an indie game publisher reach out to see if my services can be of help. I can offer Due Diligence, Skill Set Analysis, Production Planning and Strategy, IP Licensing Consultation and tailored solutions.
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