Entrepreneurs, business owners, and other indies have given me a good piece of advice that applies no matter what is going on in the economy: keep on top of the industry. Subscribe to magazines. Go to conferences. Read relevant blogs and books. Be familiar with what your industry is doing.
Why does it matter?
There are a few reasons. First, when you’re in business, you need to stand out and provide unique value. If you don’t know what everyone else is doing, how will you know where to direct your efforts without finding yourself accidentally duplicating someone else’s efforts? Worse, what if you think you’ve created an incredible game only to find that it pales in comparison to an existing game on the market? Being aware of the competition is not only good for helping you avoid problems, it’s also good marketing. What is everyone making, what do the customers demand, and what can you do about either?
It also helps to be aware of trends. You can ignore these trends or go with them, but knowing about them allows you to make an intelligent decision about it. For example, these days a lot of people are throwing their hat into social networking. With millions of people in a highly specific demographic using Facebook all looking for a fun, socially-engaging game, they are an audience with a need that indies and major companies are hoping to fulfill. Some indies are creating games to take advantage of this trend, while other indies are focusing on what they’ve been doing. Both paths are valid and profitable, but imagine if you didn’t know about the social media trend and you could have made a great MMO to take advantage of it. You miss out on opportunities you didn’t even know existed!
There are other benefits, but the point is that being informed, even if only to be aware of things on a superficial level, is way better for your business than being clueless. That isn’t to say that you need to spend more time reading about the industry than making a contribution to it, but knowing something gives you an advantage over someone who knows nothing, all things being equal.
One way to learn about who is in the industry and what they’re doing is to go to conferences. While conferences abound, they’re focused, usually annual events that happen a few days out of the year. So what do you do between conferences? Read up!
What should you read?
I subscribe to PC Gamer magazine, but aside from a few pages dedicated to indie games, the lion’s share of the coverage is for games with multi-million dollar budgets as well as the marketing budgets to buy ad space. Some people swear by Edge Magazine, Game Informer, and other popular game enthusiast magazines.
That’s great for learning about whatever major retail games are being released, but what about games being made by indies? You have a few options. Some are free, and some cost you money. Now, don’t let a subscription fee stop you from getting access to good information! If you’re running a business, sometimes you need to invest in your education, and it should be tax-deductible, too.
First up, the indie game review site Game Tunnel is a popular and free one. Full disclosure: I used to be a staff reviewer for Game Tunnel. This site has developer news, reviews, editorials, forums, and interviews. Add the news feed to your RSS reader, and you should be good to go.
Next, The Indie Game Mag focuses exclusively on indie games and their developers. While it has some free content, there is also a set of paid subscription options. I took advantage of their Pay-What-You-Want Valentines Day Special (which expires on February 14th) to get a subscription after I was given a free copy of Issue 8 to read. I was impressed with the developer-focused articles, such as the 6 part series called Beginner’s Guide to Indie Game Development by Mike Gnade, and the in-depth review of Gratuitous Space Battles by Positech Games. I printed out my copy, and the images and layout were still well put together in dead tree form. Becoming a subscriber gives you access to back issues and resources that are especially useful for indie game developers and marketers (that means you if you’re running the show!). You can also get access to the magazine anywhere you use a computer.
IndieGames.com is brought to you by the same people behind Gamasutra.com (another good resource, by the way). It focuses on finding the best indie games anywhere they can be found. It isn’t unheard of for 48-hour game dev competition entries to be featured alongside of artistic and commercially-available games.
And of course, The Independent Games Festival is held every year at the Game Developers Conference. If you want to see what indie game developers are making a creative impact in the industry, checking out the entries for the IGF is one way to do so.
What do you read?
So I’ve cited a few big resources that I read to keep up on the industry. What do you read? Do you have any must-haves in your RSS feed that I’m missing? Any books or blogs?
, I was able to get a good start with this statement:
(rated E) is also a WiiWare title, created by indie game developer 2D Boy. It’s a physics-based game in which you connect the balls of goo to form structures in an attempt to get the required number to escape to the exit. Of course, the levels are designed to make it tricky, so you have to figure out the best way to connect your balls of goo together. There are different kinds of goo, which requires you to use them in the most appropriate way. 
(rated E) is another game based on a blobby character and one that is a re-imagining of an original NES game. This version of the game was created as an update, and fans of the original game will find that it is a bit more casual in nature, allowing anyone to pick it up and play. Feeding the blob jellybeans turns him into different objects depending on the flavor, and you’ll make use of this feature to solve puzzles and progress through the levels. 
(rated T) is a first-person shooter that has been praised for its high quality graphics and intuitive, customizable controls. It features a science fiction-based universe involving an alien invasion and conspiracy. The graphics engine was capable of creating imagery above and beyond what most people thought the relatively low-powered Wii could do. 
(rated E) puts you in the role of a restaurant’s chef. While Cooking Mama is the big name in cooking games, Order Up! focuses on the pressures of putting together entire meals for multiple paying customers. As orders come in, you need to optimize your movement through the kitchen. You can’t focus on making one dish perfectly because other orders are waiting. You need to multi-task, fixing various meals together. 
(rated T) is an action-adventure game that was originally released for the Playstation 2, but enough fans demanded a Wii port. The art design is reminiscent of Japanese ink drawings and has been highly praised by the press and players. I watched 
(rated T) was reviewed as the best Zelda game to date by a number of reviewers. Like any Zelda game, exploration and puzzle-solving are the main focus. The general storyline involves the hero, Link, trying to prevent Hyrule from becoming consumed by the darkness of the Twilight Realm. When Link enters this parallel dimension, he turns into a wolf, which gives him certain abilities. Of course, besides the sword and shield, there are the typical bombs, arrows, and boomerangs, as well as several new items.
(rated E) is a frantic action shooter. You control a ship and can move and shoot in any direction independently. At first the enemies are fairly easy to take care of, but as you advance, more and more appear on the screen. The longer you survive, the bigger your score, and you keep playing until you lose your last ship. The graphics remind me of a modern version of the classic vector graphics from years ago. 
(rated T) is a role-playing game that is inspired heavily by Roguelikes such as NetHack. You start outside of Neuro Tower and you are trying to reach the bottom of it. Each time you enter, the dungeon layout is randomly generated, which means that no two adventures will be the same twice. As you gain experience levels, you get more powerful, but if you die, you are returned to the outside and have to restart at experience level 1 with all of your items missing. 
(rated E) is a truck racing game. If you ever played Excitebike for the original NES (which, by the way, is getting an updated sequel available through WiiWare), this game is being called the spiritual successor. While the main focus is on racing, coming in 1st place isn’t the main goal. Throughout a race, you’re trying to earn stars by doing tricks and stunts. The raceways features hills and cliffs, allowing plenty of opportunities to make crazy jumps. There are items that deform the road so it changes completely, making the tracks fairly dynamic. 
(rated E) is the latest game in the Mario Kart series. It features various racing modes for one or multiple players as well as Battle Mode, which is my personal favorite from any of the games. It even lets you play online with the Nintendo WiFi connection. There is a Mario Kart Channel you can get for the main Wii Menu which allows you to play against friends online and send them your best time trial sessions as well. 
for the Wii (rated E) isn’t so much a game as lifestyle software, similar to titles for the Nintendo DS. It keeps track of your balance and movement using the Wii Balance Board and Wii remote. Yoga features three modes. One is Story Mode, which sounds the most game-like. Training Mode teaches you new poses. Routine Mode allows you to go through a series of poses which are either provided by you or the in-game guru.
(rated E) was designed by the famous filmmaker Steven Spielberg. Yeah, I didn’t understand that either, but this game is a lot of fun. There are various play modes, including multiplayer party modes, and a built-in editor so you can create your own levels. The game features blocks, some with special properties, that are stacked up, and you generally try to knock them over, although some of the levels require building instead of destroying. 
(rated E), even with mixed reviews from the critics, is the best selling non-bundled game of all time. It features 9 games, all of which are playable by two players, and it comes with a Wii remote to let you take advantage of it. Among the games to play are “Shooting Range”, “Table Tennis”, “Laser Hockey”, and “Billiards”. There’s a fishing game, a cow racing game, and a couple of games involving finding or posing Miis. 
(rated E) makes use of the Wii MotionPlus, which makes the Wii remote much more accurate. There is a Table Tennis game in this one, but due to the better control accuracy, you can add spin to a ball, making the game much more strategic and true-to-life. There are sports games such as basketball, golf, bowling, and frisbee, as well as field games such as archery, swordplay, and canoeing.