Things GDC 2009 taught us: Indie games aren't always cheap. During the "Braving the Stormy Waters of XBLA and PSN: Smaller is NOT Easier" panel, Jonathan Blow revealed that his critical hit, Braid, cost $200,000 to develop.
Blow admits that development cost cuts could have been made, but his spending was to ensure a quality product. To maintain a high level of quality, Blow hired an actual artist instead of attempting to draw himself. Another large chunk of the budget? Survival. "A lot of that money was spent because I didn't want to live in a shack somewhere," Blow told the audience. According to the creator, development only requires a few essentials: "a PC, a dev kit and enough money to live on for the time it takes to develop.
"If you can live for three years at your Mom's house, you can make a game for free," Blow joked. Wait... what'dja you say about our Mama?!
Reader Comments (43)
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:05PM copa said
Uh, yeah. It sounds like he took advantage of some arcane loophole, called paying himself a "salary" (approximately $50K a year) for three years while he was operating his business.
I mean with that kind of accounting chicanery, he might as well have been investing billions in credit default swaps.
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I mean with that kind of accounting chicanery, he might as well have been investing billions in credit default swaps.
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:27PM (Unverified) said
What? "Shady"? Its his business, he can pay himself what he wants. This is simple econ 101 opportunity cost here guys. His time isn't free, why wouldn't it be included in the total cost of development?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:50PM (Unverified) said
He's just lucky he actually made any money. If the game had tanked he would be bankrupt and wishing he had shacked up in his mom's basement for a while.
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 5:46PM ludwigk said
@Pogfreak: I do find it disingenuous that he pretty much touts his "$200,000" development cost like a bragging point, when 3/4 of that was simply his own pay to himself. I get that paying yourself is valid, but it seems like a stuck-up way to discourage other indie developers. It is disingenuous to say the least.
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 11:07PM (Unverified) said
It's not disingenuous in the least. The cost of developing a game is hardware, software, salary of employees, as well as other things. Not factoring in cost of living would be disingenuous. His expenses are all things every indie developer would have to cover themselves and leaving out $150,000 of the cost of development would be misleading to other developers. Maybe he spent more on living expenses than other indie developers, but it's still an important factor that you can't just ignore.
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:00PM (Unverified) said
"If you can live for three years at your Mom's house, you can make a game for free,"
And lose your mind as demonstrated by Robert Pelloni.
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And lose your mind as demonstrated by Robert Pelloni.
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:01PM flameofdoom666 said
Such an amazing game....
I hope he makes loads of money off of it- and makes another creative game.
Gaming needs his artistic vision!
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I hope he makes loads of money off of it- and makes another creative game.
Gaming needs his artistic vision!
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:28PM Michelobius said
I think he's the guy to do it, too. Read this:
http://www.examiner.com/x-3414-Minneapolis-Video-Game-Examiner~y2009m3d16-Jonathan-Blow-Video-game-auteur
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http://www.examiner.com/x-3414-Minneapolis-Video-Game-Examiner~y2009m3d16-Jonathan-Blow-Video-game-auteur
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 5:20PM (Unverified) said
I've never played it bot how is this a novel idea? it looks like freakin donkey kong circa 1980, its so novel i almost shite in my pants.
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 6:52PM In A World said
"I've never played it bot how is this a novel idea?" ~ Jay
So, you're not impressed by a game you've never played and don't know anything about? Hmm... interesting...
YOU ARE A MORON.
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So, you're not impressed by a game you've never played and don't know anything about? Hmm... interesting...
YOU ARE A MORON.
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 7:15PM Arashikou said
Trust me - that screenshot does not even BEGIN to capture Braid. Heck, it doesn't even really capture what's going on on that one screen. (Which, yes, was an homage to Doneky Kong. It's one of a few homages to classic games in Braid, but it's just one part of one section of one level.)
Braid's a brew that doesn't taste good to everyone, though. I recommend getting the demo and trying it for yourself. But I assure you - that screenshot does it a disservice, and it is most assuredly not a Donkey Kong clone.
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Braid's a brew that doesn't taste good to everyone, though. I recommend getting the demo and trying it for yourself. But I assure you - that screenshot does it a disservice, and it is most assuredly not a Donkey Kong clone.
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:04PM MrMuggs said
Has it been reported roughly how much Braid has made in profits? I remember sales figures being reporting and I guess you could equate the sales number to a dollar figure. Knowing now that he spent $200k to make it would give you an idea of the profit.
Also, I think a very talented high school or college team could create something incredible. They have the "free time" and a lot of them are "living at Mom's house." I'm waiting for the game with a story like that which comes out and blows people away. Dishwasher Samurai might be that game.
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Also, I think a very talented high school or college team could create something incredible. They have the "free time" and a lot of them are "living at Mom's house." I'm waiting for the game with a story like that which comes out and blows people away. Dishwasher Samurai might be that game.
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:06PM PedoJokerBear said
Dont be a menace reference really saved this article...
bring yo simple ass tre!
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bring yo simple ass tre!
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:16PM (Unverified) said
Wait ONE! guy made that game... impressive. I imagine he had more then one artist working on it too, but living off 200,000 for 3 years for 2 two people isn't bad. That is 33,000 a year about what is averaged.
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:53PM Laser Sanchez said
He might have just paid the artist(s) a lump sum for his/her/their work which might have only taken a weeks or months. It's likely, because I'm guessing a lot of that time was spent on coding, play-testing and tweaking code until he went insane.
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:24PM Gemini Ace said
He obviously wasn't eating Ramen noodles every night, was he. Where did this capital come from? Did he have investors?
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:47PM LaughingTarget said
It isn't that difficult to get $200,000 together by just saving your own salary. You'd have to give up all the luxurious trappings you've gotten used to for a few years, but it's easily done. Would probably take me 5 years to pull if off if I minimized down to subsistence level living and I'm not exactly a wealthy person.
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:47PM Laser Sanchez said
A long time ago, before everyone went insane about the economy, places called banks used to lend money out for this sort of thing.
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:49PM Laser Sanchez said
@LaughingTarget Holy crap! I don't think I could ever save 40k a year. I'd have to give up a lot of beer, games, and meals.
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 4:06PM Gemini Ace said
It isn't that difficult? Yea, I guess if you're single with no car payment or credit cards. I still think it would be hard to save that kind of money.
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Posted: Mar 27th 2009 7:21AM LaughingTarget said
If you use credit cards and have a car payment, you've screwed up financially. You don't need car payments to drop $3,500 on a used 2001 car in good condition.
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Posted: Mar 27th 2009 12:29PM Gemini Ace said
Apparently you are superior to the rest of us.
Go develop a game.
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Go develop a game.
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:31PM johnpaul12 said
"If you can live for three years at your Mom's house, you can make a game for free," Blow joked. Wait... what'dja you say about our Mama?!"
Don't you guys live with your mom? They're watching you all the time...
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:43PM (Unverified) said
Am I the only one that wasn't really impressed with Braid? Novel idea, but I got bored playing it pretty quickly.
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:46PM Laser Sanchez said
How far did you get? A few of my friends finished it and didn't have as huge of a boner over it like I had. I guess it just resonated with me or some shit.
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 5:48PM 343 Guilty Fart said
I just finished the game two nights ago. I liked some parts of the game, some of the puzzles were clever, others not so much. I really didn't like the "meaning" of the game, as it's so open to interpretation that it ceases to have any real inherent meaning. A vague story about a princess who may or may not exist written in a style that tries at every possible opportunity to not let the reader understand its intention. If this is a game-as-art then I'll just stick with Portal.
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 7:41PM Laser Sanchez said
Don't forget the clusterfuck about the nuclear bomb and such.
I guess I'm the type that is attracted to uncertainties and such. I've thought about things I liked in the game over the past few months and I sort of discover new things I didn't appreciate when I initially engulfed the game. I'm starting to think it's just a game about making games more than anything. I listened to his Montreal speech this week and it made me think about certain things he did to make the game what it is. I guess it's just "neat", like speculating as to what the hell that monster in Cloverfield was, and so forth.
But yeah, Portal was the MFing stuff.
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I guess I'm the type that is attracted to uncertainties and such. I've thought about things I liked in the game over the past few months and I sort of discover new things I didn't appreciate when I initially engulfed the game. I'm starting to think it's just a game about making games more than anything. I listened to his Montreal speech this week and it made me think about certain things he did to make the game what it is. I guess it's just "neat", like speculating as to what the hell that monster in Cloverfield was, and so forth.
But yeah, Portal was the MFing stuff.
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 3:59PM Negatron said
Hell yeah, im still in my moms basement. Im gonna make a game that has a character kinda like Mario where you jump around and on things, but the game will be better if you are high. Think i'll call it Weaved.
-Thanks Soulja boy for your inspiration and to Blow for his tizzight info.
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-Thanks Soulja boy for your inspiration and to Blow for his tizzight info.
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 4:01PM (Unverified) said
What a cock. Some people just want to make money, it's no big deal and the indy scene doesnt need to be so anal about money.
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 4:06PM (Unverified) said
A successful/respected indie developer sharing info on his process at a "Game Developer's Conference" hardly makes him a cock. I'm fairly certain the majority of people who came to see him speak do think it's a big deal.
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 5:37PM (Unverified) said
Braid is cool, but i'd have to say something went Financially wrong here.
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Posted: Mar 26th 2009 5:57PM (Unverified) said
$200K is not peanuts, but it IS cheap for developing a real game. Not sure what you guys think it takes to make a commercial quality project, but even if you pay next to nothing, it adds up. Assume you can make a great game with only one dev, one artist, and outsourced audio (highly unlikely). Assume you only pay everyone including yourself $50K a year. In 12 months, you are at $150K with no other expenses. And you need to pay for audio, software, PCs, test, etc...
And while $200K may sound like a lot by itself, the fact that Blow saw a return from XBLA of well over $1M, that doesn't seem all that bad.
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And while $200K may sound like a lot by itself, the fact that Blow saw a return from XBLA of well over $1M, that doesn't seem all that bad.
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 5:58PM Saria the Cat said
"A lot of that money was spent because I didn't want to live in a shack somewhere."
Sounds like he used a lot of that money to pay himself so he could live comfy. Not saying that's wrong, but he can't say he was a "starving developer" either.
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Sounds like he used a lot of that money to pay himself so he could live comfy. Not saying that's wrong, but he can't say he was a "starving developer" either.
Posted: Mar 27th 2009 5:34PM Laser Sanchez said
He's a jerk for saying he was a "starving developer" that one time.
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