Starting of the project by approaching industry experts to get an overview of things i contacted Sebastian Zethreaus, project manager at Swedish Game Awards 2014. As it turned out, Sebastian is also a project manager at the up and coming indie developer Gone North Games and could provide both the industry and firm perspectives.
Gone North Games released its first game ”A Story About my Uncle” in May 2014 so they had almost a year of post launch perspective. The game idea emerged during school work at a game development program with Södertörn Högskola. After receiving some recognition at Swedish Game Awards the game was released on Steam and got featured on the first page for a short time. Reviewers were very positive about this original, non-violent and appealing adventure game. It has a very with nice atmosphere combined with alluring story-telling elements. I recommend for anyone who want to relax with a different and creative adventure game.
We talked a lot about the industry and its recent developments, among other things how the increased availability of graphics engines can be interpreted as a sign of the industry maturing (at least for pc and console games). A key issue, especially for small/new firms appears to be the dependency on digital platforms such as Steam. On one hand it provides a channel directly to customers, but it is a challenge not to drown in the noise. A noise that is increasing because of the before mentioned increased availability of tools, making it easier for people to start producing games with smaller means than before. This can be a key issue for understanding how industry conditions lead to diversity and growth.
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