Indie Developers Create the Indie Fund to Help Other Indie Developers

Austin MacKenzie

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Jan 26, 2010
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Indie Developers Create the Indie Fund to Help Other Indie Developers



Developers of hot indie titles like Braid and World of Goo have created a fund to help up-and-coming indie game developers.

The Indie Fund is the brain child of several successful independent developers like Jonathan Blow (Braid), Matthew Wegner (Off-Road Velociraptor Safari). The fund's goal, as stated on its official site [http://www.indie-fund.com/], is to give financial support to independent developers. The ideal end-goal is helping an indie developer get on their feet and stay financially stable and able to continue making games under their own power. Developers are already receiving money from the fund, and they are in the process of finding more fund recipients.

In addition to Blow and Wegner, Ron Carmel and Ty Gabel (World of Goo), Kellee Santiago (Flower's) Nathan Vella (Critter Crunch), and Aaron Isaksen (Armadillo Gold Rush are also contributors.

While the fund will give indie developers access to more capital to complete their games, it will leave distribution in their hands. "Developers have full control over their design, IP, publishing rights, etc. We collectively have a lot of experience in making high quality profitable indie games, so we will give our (hopefully) valuable feedback and advice on both design and business. But in the end, it's up to the developer to make the final call on everything," World of Goo designer and fund backer Ron Carmel said.

If a game does well, the game's creator is expected to contribute to the fund for a bit, but if not, the developer doesn't have to worry. "If a game never gets released or doesn't earn back the investment amount, well, we kiss that money goodbye," Carmel said. "We're not interested in owning or managing IP and we don't want to manage any kind of debt collection. We hope that the games that do well will more than make up for those that don't." Carmel will be giving a talk at the Game Developers Conference about indie development where he will give more information on the fund.

Indie developers are often a source of new and creative ideas in the industry, so this is great news for those hoping to get their games to a wider audience. Here's hoping they can help bring about a new generation of successful indie games.

Source: Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27446/Independent_Game_Luminaries_Announce_Indie_Fund.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GamasutraNews+%28Gamasutra+News%29]


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Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Thats pretty cool. I do hope it will help the communuity take more risks to make more awesome games
 

SavingPrincess

Bringin' Text-y Back
Feb 17, 2010
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This makes me happy in so many ways I cannot count. I hope this is the new business development model that levels out the industry.
 

Tiamat666

Level 80 Legendary Postlord
Dec 4, 2007
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So they are investing in a fund to create competition to their own games? Doesn't sound like a good business decision.

Austin MacKenzie said:
"If a game never gets released or doesn't earn back the investment amount, well, we kiss that money goodbye," Carmel said.
So people will be able to tap the fund for what it's worth and later say "whoops, sorry. No game" and everyone's totally cool with that? Doesn't sound like a good business decision either.
 

ma55ter_fett

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Oct 6, 2009
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Tiamat666 said:
So they are investing in a fund to create competition to their own games? Doesn't sound like a good business decision.

Austin MacKenzie said:
"If a game never gets released or doesn't earn back the investment amount, well, we kiss that money goodbye," Carmel said.
So people will be able to tap the fund for what it's worth and later say "whoops, sorry. No game" and everyone's totally cool with that? Doesn't sound like a good business decision either.
Hey if I was an indie developer;

I'd tap that.
 

Generic_Dave

Prelate Invigilator
Jul 15, 2009
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Wow. That's pretty cool. I see a good future for this...so long as no-one free loads and its not abused. Makes the Communal bit of my heart go all fuzzy.
 

seventy7l

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Oct 9, 2009
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Sure may not be the best buisness decision but this means more games and that means something slightly different will come.
I like same-y stuff but Yay for independent developers!
 

Heart of Darkness

The final days of His Trolliness
Jul 1, 2009
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Tiamat666 said:
So they are investing in a fund to create competition to their own games? Doesn't sound like a good business decision.

Austin MacKenzie said:
"If a game never gets released or doesn't earn back the investment amount, well, we kiss that money goodbye," Carmel said.
So people will be able to tap the fund for what it's worth and later say "whoops, sorry. No game" and everyone's totally cool with that? Doesn't sound like a good business decision either.
There's probably a limit to how much you're able to receive from it. You probably also need a working prototype at the minimum in order to be eligible for funding, which then needs to be reviewed by the people who moderate Indie Fund. Plus some sort of statement of intent, design choices, design documents, etc. Which should limit the amount of people who tap the system for it's worth and then break it for the next batch of indie developers.

OT: This is a good idea, and one I fully endorse. This is something I'll need to keep in mind once I actually learn enough coding to start my own games...
 

Angron

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Jul 15, 2008
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this is amazing, they guys are gods

they could be to thank for many new indie greats that will come in the year future and even if everything fails, their attitude to it is so great they will still be amazing